Calypso's Birthday

Calypso's Birthday
Season	2
Episode	6
Air date	October 19, 2023
Writer(s)	Zayre Ferrer
Director	Fernando Frias
Episode guide
Previous	The Curse of the Seafaring Life
Next	Man on Fire

Calypso's Birthday is the sixth episode of the second season of Our Flag Means Death. It aired on October 19, 2023.

Synopsis

While the crew celebrates Calypso's birthday, Blackbeard faces a violent party-crasher seeking revenge.

Plot

Sadistic violinist pirate Ned Low is torturing a lighthouse keeper while reading a newspaper that says Blackbeard has beaten Ned Low's record of 99 consecutive raids at sea. The lighthouse keeper insists he doesn't know where Blackbeard is, and Ned says he already knows where Blackbeard is, and continues torturing the man.

Meanwhile, on the Revenge, Ed tells Izzy Hands that he feels a storm coming. Izzy tells him maybe he's just being a "mopey twat." They pass a bottle between them, and Ed says "Sorry about your leg" before going below deck, where he laments to Stede Bonnet that all of his plunder reminds him of his guilt. Stede suggests Ed do something good with it, then. Elsewhere on the Revenge, Archie is reminiscing about her last birthday party inside a snake. The crew complains that it's been a while since they've had a party, and Frenchie announces that it's Calypso's birthday, which Archie points out is made up so they can have a party. The crew agrees, laughing. Frenchie and Jim seek out Stede and get permission to celebrate. Ed explains, "They're just trying to Calypso you," but Stede suggests Ed use his guilt-loot to pay for the party. "Turn the poison into positivity."

On another ship, Ricky Banes is in English military uniform giving a lecture to similarly dressed onlookers about the dangers of piracy. He has a wax nose tied to his face with purple ribbon. After the speech, he receives a box containing a porcelain prosthetic nose.

A cloaked figure is playing the guitar on a tropical island, surrounded by colorful decorations and local vendors when the crew of The Revenge arrives. Frenchie and Fang as for expensive brandy since Blackbeard is paying, but the vendor says he only has cheap rum, so they buy that. Meanwhile, Ed hands a bag of 50,000 dubloons to two girls wearing rags, along with two knives and instructions on how to kill anyone who tries to take the money. Stede approaches, and one of the girls asks if Ed is a pirate, to which he responds, "No. We own an inn," and Stede agrees.

Ricky, now wearing the porcelain nose, is on Zheng Yi Sao's ship. She calls the nose "an invitation" while Ricky insists it's blackmail. They snipe at each other, but Zheng pours Ricky tea with a smile and says, "I want to talk about who you could be."

Nighttime on The Revenge has it decked out with colorful lights and flowers. Wee John is using a mirror to put on makeup when Izzy approaches. John explains he's getting dressed as Calypso. Izzy looks at himself in the mirror over Wee John's shoulder. Above deck, Frenchie is mixing up alcohol in Stede's tub and the crew is serving themselves drinks from it. When Stede and Blackbeard arrive, Archie hands them drinks. Ed says the using of a tub is a sacred Calypsian tradition, and Stede laughingly allows its use, to the hoots and hollers of the crew. They all quite, though, when Calypso herself (Wee John, in drag) arrives and tells everyone to raise their glasses "or feel my absolute wrath," to which the crew enthusiastically agrees. A moment later, Izzy arrives (in drag makeup also, wearing a rose on his lapel), tells Frenchie to play, and begins to sing La Vie En Rose. The crew begins to dance. Stede and Ed seem about to join them when explosions begin to take out the lights and decorations. After playing a few notes of La Vie En Rose on his violin, Ned Low steps onto the deck with his own crew and says he's going to torture them all.

Inside Stede's cabin, Stede and Ed are sitting on the couch with the arms bound while Ned stands over them with his violin, mocking them. He begins to monologue about his musically gifted younger brother, and when Ed and Stede interrupt him, he stabs Ed in the chest with a hot poker, then does the same to Stede. Up on the deck, the crew is in a similar situation, all tied with rope to the ship and to one another and subjected to various torture devices. One of Ned's crew, Hellcat Maggie, is overseeing the torture, though the crew points out that she doesn't seem very enthused by the idea, and she's much more interested in their party for Calypso than he own captain's orders.

Below deck, Lucius and Pete are getting dressed and drinking water after recovering from a whole day of "engaged life." After a moment, they hear screaming from the deck and realize the ship has been invaded. Above deck, Ed and Stede have been tied up above deck with the rest of the crew, and Ned goes about checking that everyone is ready for the "performance," and begins "tuning up," making everyone scream again. Below deck, Pete is loading Lucius with weapons. Pete says they have to do something, but Lucius hesitates. They both agree they need more knives first, and Pete goes looking for them. As Stede is being tortured with the rest of the crew, Ned berates Hellcat Maggie and they argue. Stede interrupts in defense of Hellcat Maggie and Ned tells her to kill him, but Stede escapes his ropes and holds a knife to her throat. Ned tells him to go ahead and kill her because she "can't even tie a rope correctly," which causes her and the rest of his crew to turn on Ned. Just then, Lucius and Pete burst out from below deck, ready to fight, but Ed tells them they're too late and Stede's already got it handled. Stede hands Maggie the knife, and she and their crew turn on Ned fully.

On Zheng's ship, Ricky summarizes, "You've built a pirate navy, and you want the crown to pay them not to pirate." Auntie says they want them paid a living wage, and Zheng insists it will be more profitable to the crown and make Ricky famous for ending piracy "without a single shot."

Back on the Revenge, Hellcat Maggie thanks Stede for the loot and leaves in command of Ned's crew while Ned remains tied up on the deck of the Revenge, shouting insults as they go. Once they're gone, Ned asks how Blackbeard is going to kill him, but Ed declines. "You're not worth the poison." Ned continues to insult him, which prompts Stede to hold a sword to Ned's neck and walk him out onto the gangplank. Ned continues to insult Stede, calling him Ed's pet, while Ed urges Stede not to kill him. "You can't come back from that." But Stede is incensed and throws Ned's violin at him, knocking him off the plank to the cheers of Stede's crew. Stede, visibly bothered by what he's done, says he'll be in his quarters. A moment later, Ed follows. Stede opens the cabin door for him and interrupts Ed by pulling him bodily inside.

Above deck, Izzy sings La Vie En Rose again, this time in French, to a more mellow crew. Roach sets off fireworks using the ship's canons, which are visible through the cabin window as Ed and Stede progress from kissing to the bed. Izzy and the crew's singing, along with the sound of fireworks, continues over the credits.

Post-credit scene: Fang apologizes to the crew because, while they were being tortured, he was hanging on the side of the ship with a goat to keep it safe. Archie cheers with Roach that they survived, and Roach runs gleefully to set off the fireworks.

Starring

• Rhys Darby as Stede Bonnet
• Joel Fry as Frenchie
• Samson Kayo as Oluwande Boodhari
• Nathan Foad as Lucius Spriggs
• Vico Ortiz as Jim Jimenez
• Con O'Neill as Israel "Izzy" Hands
• Matthew Maher as Black Pete
• Kristian Nairn as Wee John Feeney
• David Fane as Fang
• Samba Schutte as Roach

and

• Taika Waititi as Blackbeard

Guest Starring

• Madeleine Sami as Archie
• Ruibo Qian as Zheng Yi Sao
• Erroll Shand as Prince Ricky Banes
• Anapela Polataiva as Auntie
• Bronson Pinchot as Ned Low

Co-Starring

• Josie Whittlesey as Hellkat Maggie
• Adam Brookfield as Lighthouse Keeper
• George Maunsell as Valet
• Lee Tuson as Rum Vendor
• TK Waititi as Girl #1
• Matewa Waititi as Girl #2
• Tim Dennis as Henchman #2
• TJ Snow as Henchman #3

Featured Music

La vie en rose by Édith Piaf, cover by Con O'Neill

Quotes

Stede: Turn poison into positivity.

John Feeney: 'Tis I, Calypso! Raise your motherfucking glasses, or feel my absolute wrath.

Ned Low: I'm just doing it for the LULZ.

Stede: You hurt my crew, you shit-talked my friend and damaged my ship. But worst of all? You fucked Calypso's birthday!

Trivia

Behind the scenes

• This episode, along with episode seven, were previewed to a live audience in New York City the Monday before the episodes aired on Max.
• The children Blackbeard gifts money and knives to were played by Taika Waititi's daughters.
• Hellcat Maggie is played by Josie Whittlesey who was David Jenkins' wife at the time this episode aired, though they subsequently divorced.
• Costume designer Gypsy Taylor revealed that Wee John's drag look was inspired by Divine.
• Make-up and hair designer Nancy Hennah revealed that her team went through four versions of Izzy's drag makeup before they landed with the one that looked right, specifying that it was important for them to make Izzy look beautiful and not comedic.
• Music supervisor Maggie Phillips revealed that Con O'Neill was initially scared to sing the original French version of La Vie en Rose as he doesn't speak French, leading to the show having the English version cleared for use as well. However before the English version was cleared, O'Neill taught himself to sing the French version, and the show ended up using both.
• Both Kristian Nairn and Con O'Neill have prior experience doing drag, Nairn having performed at drag shows and O'Neill having played the cross-dressing Val Pearson in BBC comedy-drama show Uncle. O'Neill also has experience in musical theatre, his role of Mickey in Blood Brothers having won him the 1988 Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical and a nomination to the 1993 Tony Award in the same category.
• Fans noticed that the kiss in this episode was actually filmed in the reflection of the mirror in the room rather than on the actors directly, as Ed's tattoos appear to be on his opposite arm for that shot.

Cut material

• Samba Shutte revealed that Roach was "suddenly blind and wet" during the party because there was a deleted scene of him bobbing for plums in a tub of rum.
• This party was originally planned to be Lucius and Pete's wedding before the season was cut by Max to 8 episodes and had to be drastically rewritten prior to filming. According to David Jenkins, the original plot involved the crew trying to hook up Stede and Ed after uncomfortable levels of UST between this and the previous episode. (citation needed)

Historical inaccuracies

• "Doing it for The Lulz" is a meme created in 2006, and this wiki editor feels ancient having typed that.
• "Blackbeard's flag" as seen in season 1 has no historical accounts of being used by Blackbeard, but was on record by contemporary sources as being used by other pirates including the famously violent pirate Ned Low. Likewise, there is no record of him ever being in conflict with Blackbeard or Stede Bonnet.
• The historical figure Stede Bonnet is said to have made victims walk the plank, a rare method of killing, though there's no contemporary written record of this attributed to him.

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