The Curse of the Seafaring Life

Season

2

Episode

5

Air date

October 12, 2023

Writer(s)

David Jenkins
John Mahone
Simone Nathan

Director

Andrew DeYoung

Episode guide
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The Curse of the Seafaring Life is the fifth episode of the second season of Our Flag Means Death. It aired on October 12, 2023.

Synopsis[]

As Blackbeard remains plagued by the distrust of his crew, Izzy schools Stede on how to be an effective captain.

Plot[]

Blackbeard comes before the crew of the Revenge to apologize for his past transgressions and explain he wants to do better in the future. The crew aren't very appreciative of this, with Jim loudly voicing their anger, Lucius flipping him off, and Roach expressing his suspicions that Edward might have murdered Buttons.

Later in the day, Lucius confronts the crew about them being seemingly alright with Blackbeard being back on board and is distressed to find that they all seem to have made peace with it. He then singles out Izzy, who is whittling in a piece of wood, and asks him the same question, to which Izzy replies that he is fine.

Inside the ship, Blackbeard is already getting impatient to take off the sackcloth and cat collar he agreed to wear as part of his probation but Stede explains he has to wear them until he earns the crew's trust again. Edward then urges Stede to be more commanding as a captain and give him orders, so Stede tells him to help repair the ship. Ed goes to fix a broken door latch and is approached by Lucius, who is deeply traumatized by what Edward put him through. Eager to settle the score, Ed proposes to let Lucius put him off the ship as revenge.

Below the deck, Izzy is training with his sword, relearning to use it now that he is disabled. Stede approaches him, claiming that Ed credits Izzy for all he knows and that he would also like to learn from Izzy. Izzy then attempts to teach Stede how to fistfight, rope swing, and shooting a pistol, but Stede is useless with all of it.

At the bow of the ship, Lucius reenacts Ed pushing him off the ship with roles switched. Ed tries to climb up to the ship when he is approached by Fang who is about to go fishing in a dinghy. Izzy expresses his astonishment that Stede is still alive being as useless as he is. Stede spots a ship and decides to raid it to test himself.

The ship turns out to be full of mutilated corpses, and a giant pentagram is drawn on the deck. Below deck, Stede and Jim find a dying priest, who speaks in Spanish. Jim translates for Stede, explaining that the treasure on the ship is cursed. The priest dies and Jim flees in fear, but Stede is undeterred. He gets interested in a red suit with a coat. Izzy approaches Stede and urges him to leave the ship when Stede is attacked by a man who's been hiding in a closet. Stede punches the man before Izzy can attack him, pleased with himself.

Back aboard the Revenge, the crew are celebrating and Stede is displaying his new suit, when Jim warns him that it is cursed. Stede ignores the warning, but the crew get alarmed. In the Captain's cabin, Stede is still enjoying his bounty when Izzy - who sits in the cabin whittling - warns him that he has to burn it. Questioned by Stede, Izzy explains that he doesn't believe in the curse, but he is worried that the crew may become aggressive over this issue.

Black Pete is posing for Lucius, who's sketching in his book. He soon realizes that Lucius isn't paying attention to him at all and confronts him about it. Looking in the sketchbook, he finds a collection of various pictures, all with Blackbeard's face on them. Hurt that Lucius is so obsessed with Blackbeard, Pete walks away. Jim, Oluwande, and Archie are hiding in their room in a circle of salt and wearing wreaths of garlic in an attempt to protect themselves from the curse. When Stede comes in, they force him to leave them alone. Roach and Frenchie are enjoying peanut butter which they just discovered when Stede approaches them to thank them for their support on the issue of the curse. They are initially fine with it, but when they both develop an allergic reaction, they also start believing the suit is cursed.

On the dinghy, Edward talks with Fang, and Fang admits he considers Ed to be a dick. They talk about a game they used to play and Edward learns that what he always considered to be a sign of Fang enjoying the game was actually a sign of him being terrified. Fang talks to Ed about he tackled him after he was shot by Izzy, and how the crew abused his unconscious body. Eventually, Fang tells Ed that he's forgiven him.

On the deck, Lucius approaches Izzy, who is still whittling. Lucius admits that pushing Ed off the ship didn't heal his trauma and confronts Izzy about Edward taking his leg. Izzy denies that it ever happened, claiming his leg was bitten off by a shark. Lucius points out that using fiction to deal with his trauma isn't really healthy and Izzy tells him it's better than not moving on, as he hands him a wooden shark he whittled.

Stede confronts the crew about the suit and they quickly turn on him, trying to rip the clothes to shreds. Stede flees to his cabin and whines about being attacked to Izzy, who's unimpressed. Ed confesses he went too far when he acted out following being abandoned by Stede. Fang urges him to sit in silence and focus on catching fish.

Stede goes below deck and tells the crew he's ready to get rid of the suit so that the crew can feel comfortable. The crew brainstorm about ways to get rid of it and decide to dump it on another crew.Aboard an unnamed vessel, the crew discuss how easily they subdued their enemy. A man tries to attack, but Stede shoots a warning shot into the air. The crew then leave the suit with the enemy, who are all bound to the mast.

Lucius takes Pete below deck and shows him a portrait of Pete he's drawn on a wall. They have a heart-to-heart discussion about their feelings, leading to Lucius proposing to Pete. Pete accepts and the two men kiss. On the moonlit deck, Ed shows Stede a fish he caught and Stede tells him about the suit. They kiss, but Edward asks Stede to take it slow. They share a tender moment holding hands before going below the deck.

After-Credits Scene: Fang is asleep while Ed is internally monologuing. Eventually, he manages to catch a fish.

Cast[]

Starring[]

and

Taika Waititi as Blackbeard

Guest Starring[]

Madeleine Sami as Archie

Co-Starring[]

Daniel Fernandez as Priest
Alessio Vannozzi as Sailor
Brett O'Gorman as Raided Ship Captain

Featured Music[]

Quotes[]

Ed: This is a safe space ship.

Lucius: Okay... That seems healthy. Using a bit of fiction to help cover up your trauma?
Izzy: Yeah, well... Not moving on is worse. Twatty. (hands him a carved shark)
Lucius: ...I actually love this.

Black Pete: You talk all the time about how you almost died. But I never hear anything about the fact that you lived.

Izzy: A curse is a curse. And once it takes hold, well... Well then it takes hold.

Stede: I did a punch!

Ed:You wear fine things well.

Trivia[]

Behind the scenes[]

This is the first time we see Izzy shirtless. He has a large network of scars on his back in this scene, which Con O'Neill provided additional pictures of on social media, complimenting the makeup artists. They are presumably from being whipped, though the origin is never mentioned. (citations needed)
According to bilingual fans, what the priest is saying in Spanish and what Jim "translates" are two different things. The priest never mentions a curse.
One costumer recounted that when Rhys Darby was originally fitted in the red coat, he did a twirl in front of the mirror. It was so perfect for the character that he was asked to do it again when filming. (citation needed)
The vocal inflections Blackbeard and Fang use to speak to each other in this episode is an instance of code switching by Taika Waititi and Dave Fane, as their tonal registers switch from Western-English to their native Aotearoan-English. Taika has mentioned in interviews that he purposefully changes the way he speaks to be more easily understood by Americans. (citation needed)

Cut material[]

One behind the scenes photo of the kiss in this episode shows Ed pulling Stede in by the neck, similar to their kiss in season one. However, David Jenkins gave Taika direction to act less aggressive during this kiss due to Ed's state of mind, which is why we see a more passive Ed and more aggressive Stede in the final cut of this episode's kiss. (citation needed)

Historical inaccuracies[]

Improvised scenes[]

Izzy crossing his legs and saying "Rude" was improvised by Con O'Neill. (citation needed)
Ed and Stede playing a game of stacking their hands after the kiss was improvised by Taika and Rhys (citation needed).