‍Our Flag Means Death (HBO Max): it’s funny, it’s sad and people get stabbed. This TV series by David Jenkins is spun loosely from the real-life eighteenth-century partnership of Stede Bonnet, a wealthy Barbadian landowner who ran off to sea, and Blackbeard, the notorious pirate. Stede is partial to velvet dressing-gowns and keeps a well-furnished library on board; he’s more comfortable reading bedtime stories to his misfit crew than raiding other ships. Blackbeard wears full leathers and is jaded enough to consider his own death a novelty. Intrigued by the “Gentleman Pirate,” he seeks Stede out, swooping in when an encounter with the Spanish navy goes awry. Despite tension between the two men’s crews, a bond grows between Stede (played by Rhys Darby) and Blackbeard (played by Taika Waititi, who also produced the show) as they navigate the hazards of pirate life together: scurvy, boredom, execution. There are also mermaids, sea monsters and lighthouses, but not where you expect them. Watching Our Flag Means Death is like riding a storm in a dinghy—full of highs and lows with a strong hint of the absurd. The writers and costume department have a deft touch with historical anachronisms, the soundtrack ranges from Verdi to Lou Reed, and love comes in refreshing variety, though little of it runs smooth. The women—and non-binary Jim—are tough as petrified oranges and the men sometimes cry, or try to turn into birds. The show isn’t perfect—one crew member, “The Swede,” veers close to caricature (until he sings!)—but it is crammed with characters of depth who say hilarious, heart-squeezing and sometimes profound things. No wonder fans have been campaigning to rescue a stalled third season.‍

—Helen Godolphin