WhenOur Flag Means Deathfirst set sail in March, it was billed as many things.
Blackbeard has seemingly abandoned the ship, and British officers are closing in.
Stede and his crew are facing almost-certain death until Blackbeard reappears and urges everyone to surrender.
Rhys Darby and Taika Waititi in ‘Our Flag Means Death’.Aaron Epstein/HBO Max
Chaos breaks out on board, and Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain” starts to play.
But even as the British invade, Stede and Blackbeard only have eyes for each other.
“You came back,” Stede marvels.
“Never left,” Blackbeard replies with a wink.
It’s a delightful sequence, filled with chaos, naked pirates, and one very romantic toe touch.
Despite creating a pirate show, he himself says he’s not a huge fan of pirate movies.
Instead, he found inspiration in a very different genre.
“That song is just badass,” he adds with a laugh.
Alyssa Lane and Alex Sherman wrote the episode, with duo Bert and Bertie directing.
The camera swings across every corner of the ship, capturing all the chaos in slow motion.
(Joel Fry’s Frenchie, still playing his lute as he’s tackled!
Ewen Bremner as Buttons, fully nude as he dashes about the deck!)
The scene’s best and most romantic moment was also improvised.
“To me, that was like the height of romance in the whole season,” Jenkins says.
“I just like the camera being with them as they’re looking at each other.
That always gets my heart beating.”
But the showrunner says that fans should definitely expect some more dramatic soundtrack choices.
“It’s kind of the language of the show now,” he adds.
