Nina Willis

"Our Flag Means Death" has absolutely changed me fundamentally. I was not in a very good place when Season 2 first came out. I had been under immense pressure at Uni, and I had just delt with a few personal job experiences that drove me up a wall. I remember joining a watch party with a couple of friends of mine, and we started from season 1. Having watched seasons 1 and 2, it helped me rediscover who I am as a person and what I want to be. To see queer people on the screen was refreshing. We have a central gay couple, we have minor gay and lesbian couples, heck we even have a non-binary pirate in the form of Vico Ortiz's Jim. Not only were these couples queer, but it wasn't demonized or made out to be "wrong" in any way, shape, or form. This show also felt REAL: real relationships take time and effort, and watching the central romance unfold felt amazing. Sure, there is comedy in it. But each joke landed extremely well, and balanced out some of the more intense moments. This was the kind of representation I would have ADORED growing up. But it is better to have a brand new generation be able to grow up on it.