“Mermen” brings Our Flag Means Death season 2 to a sentimental, satisfying end

And so Our Flag Means Death comes to an end…maybe. We don’t actually know if this is the final episode of the show — creator David Jenkins has said that he has plans for a third and final season, but HBO hasn’t announced whether it will order one yet. But if the season 2 finale is the last we see of Stede, Ed, and the rest, I think the show is leaving them in a good place.

“Mermen” gives fans of Our Flag Means Death everything they want, namely a happy ending (for now) for Stede and Ed, who take after the old pirate couple from “Fun and Games” and retire to a little island where they run a little inn. Will they spend their time playing violent mind games like their forebears? To be continued. But at least they’re together.

At the end of last week’s episode, Ed left Stede to go become a fisherman, which seemed to me like a transparent attempt to break the pair of them up just so the finale could reunite them. And that’s pretty much what happens. Ed quickly tires of his life as a fisherman when it’s pointed out to him that he has no freaking idea what he’s doing. “If you were ever good at something, go do that,” his new very unhappy coworkers tell him. It’s funny, but I don’t know quite why we bothered.

Anyway, that sends him back to Ed, who is on the lam with Zheng after Prince Ricky Barnes brought down the Republic of Pirates last week. This episode has more of an action-adventure feel than usual. Prince Ricky has locked up most of our favorite characters in jail! Only Stede and Zheng can free them! Stede is predictably helpless at fighting the British, but in saving his ass, Zheng at least remembers that she still has something to live for even after Ricky blew up her fleet: revenge.

Now’s as good a time as any for me to say that I love Ruibo Qian as Zheng. I think she’s my favorite thing about this season. Again and again, Qian had me cracking me up as she stared straight ahead and delivered lines about blood and plunder and vengeance like she’s reciting items off her grocery list. Quin is an excellent deadpan comedian, but she also remembered that Zheng has a heart, one we see come out when she learns that Auntie didn’t die in the explosions last week. If Stede and Ed really are sidelined, I wouldn’t mind the show continuing with her at the helm.

But that’s getting way ahead of things. While Zheng fights off hordes of British soldiers, Stede and Ed find each other on the beach, running into each other’s arms like they’re on a gloriously gay version of Baywatch. Sure, the show had to contrive a situation where they were apart in the first place, but who cares? This moment is fun, and emblematic of what makes Our Flag Means Death unique. I can complain about contrivances when there are lots of earnest love stories about middle-aged men on TV. Until then, Our Flag Means Death gets a pass for novelty.

Is the season 2 finale of Our Flag Means Death, “Mermen,” the last-ever episode?

Meanwhile, the rest of the characters stew in the clink, while Prince Ricky and Izzy Hands glower at each other. The supporting cast doesn’t have much to do in the finale, which is a bit of a problem for the show in general. There are lots of good ideas for characters, but few really pop in the way that great ensemble casts from sitcoms past have popped. It’s pretty much the Stede and Ed show.

At the end of the episode, after the pirates have freed themselves and beaten back the British, it looks like Spanish Jackie has joined the crew. As played by Leslie Jones, she’s one of the most charismatic members of the ensemble, so if the show continues, I’d love for her to have more to do.

The episode ends with Lucius and Black Pete getting married, reminding us that Our Flag Means Death has a big mushy gay heart. They decline to slice up each other’s faces as is apparently customary in pirate weddings, reminding us that Our Flag Means Death sometimes gets “funny” confused with “random.”

It’s hard not to like Our Flag Means Death. It wears its heart on its sleeve and it feels very hand-crafted. At the same time, I could never quite bring myself to love the show, it part because of that ramshackle feel. The comedy is funny but not hilarious, the drama dramatic but not heartbreaking, and the action scenes clearly not what the producers are most passionate about.

This finale actually features a character death: Izzy, wounded during the fight with the British, dies in Blackbeard’s arms. It’s a sad moment, and actor Con O’Neill has certainly earned the right to a meaty death scene, but I didn’t quite know how to react. Part of me wants to say that killing off a character hits hard because it’s not something you expect a show like Our Flag Means Death to do, but honestly, I don’t think the series ever established a solid enough baseline for a diversion to be noteworthy. Two seasons in, it still feels like Our Flag Means Death is finding itself.

And I’d love to see it keep trying! On Our Flag Means Death, every strength is a weakness and every weakness a strength. Sure, the show feels a bit formless, but there’s also something exciting and fresh about that. If Our Flag Means Death doesn’t return, “Mermen” is a fine note to end on. If it does, I’ll be watching. Will you?

Our Flag Means Bullet Points

• Ed finds one of the love letters Stede was writing and shoving into bottles at the beginning of the season, offhandedly killing a couple of British soldiers to get ahold of it. That’s the kind of juxtaposition between heart-eyed sentimentality and brutal violence that I can support.
• Ed and Zheng take out, like, 100 British soldiers by themselves. Is Our Flag Means Death secretly a superhero show?
• Did I just now realize that Izzy’s real is Israel?

Episode Grade: B+

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