#david jenkins and his cryptic tweets

[temporal-discounting]

Not me refreshing my tumblr feed every five minutes to find out if our brave scouts have brought back news from the bird site. No, siree. (Thank you to those of you willing to venture over there; I salute your bravery 🫡)

[cursed-rat-of-homosexuality]

Fuckin hell david

[fushc8fjsp77]

David Jenkins already knew the fandom would be upset about this death, but he's making it worse with his little fake-outs.

Him purposefully liking that Button tweet about being a witch, insinuating some kind of plot device to revive Izzy? And keeping it at the top of his likes on purpose, not even liking any other positive/neutral tweets of people who actually enjoyed the finale?

Him tweeting cryptically "no story without Izzy"?

It's just sooo transparent what he's trying to do.

Why even bother playing with Izzy fans feelings like that, in the first place, with the news so fresh?

Why is he as the show runner not celebrating everything else that happened in the finale? I don't like the way David is acting on social media rn, it would've been better to either stay radio silent until things died down or celebrate the whole finale as a whole if he was really proud of the writing.

not djenks teasing izzy magical comeback like it was the plan all along, nah bro own your fuck up

[stedelovesed]

Creating generative value

Or: Why We Need to Stop Worrying and Trust that Nathan Foad Will Be Back for Season 2

Gals, gays and theys, (swash)buckle up. What we were hoping, crying and begging for happened: in early June, our beloved gay pirate show Our Flag Means Death was renewed for season 2. We’re going to get our BlackBonnet reunion. Repeat: we are going to get our BlackBonnet reunion. Stede and Ed are going to be together again, and they are going to talk about their feelings, and they are going to be happy. This, I manifest. 

Of course, there’s someone else that we are all desperate to see - Lucius Spriggs, the Revenge’s scribe, played by Nathan Foad. David Jenkins, creator, writer and executive producer of OFMD, recently Tweeted an image of the season 2 premiere script to announce that filming for season 2 had begun. The Tweet was accompanied by a very cryptic caption: “Anyone care to have their shit fucked up? Because this is happening. 🏴‍☠️💔🦄 #OurFlagMeansDeath #justiceforluciusrip” Leon Miller, writing for CBR.com, reckons that Jenkins’ hashtag #justiceforluciusrip “seemingly confirmed that Nathan Foad's Lucius Spriggs did indeed die at the hands of Taika Waititi's Blackbeard” in the Season 1 finale, "Wherever You Go, There You Are." 

Devastating if true, of course. Foad’s Lucius was nothing short of incredible. At the risk of sounding cliché, he’s the heart of the ship; warm, gentle, supportive, and, as a viewer, so, so funny. We watched as he comforted Stede during the events of the eighth episode, “We Gull Way Back, as Stede battled with feelings of jealousy towards Ed’s old friend and former lover, Calico Jack. Lucius’s romance with Black Pete (Matthew Maher) is nothing short of joyous. It’s deep and complex and filled with love, desire and respect - just another example of how this show elevates and prioritises queerness. 

The final episode, though. Agh. My heart hurts to think about it. Ed is heartbroken and believes that Stede left him on the beach because he didn’t love him back, and his coping mechanism is to wander around the Revenge in Stede’s old robe and take sad baths. Lucius is there for him through it all, offering support and kindness to Ed. And Ed, heartbroken Ed, decides to push Lucius over the side of the ship and leave him to die. 

Brutal. I still can’t believe I even typed those words. If I had more space in this post, I’d explain, at length, why I believe that Ed was so utterly devastated with grief that having Lucius around was just a reminder of Stede, but I don’t, so I won’t. Nevertheless, I’m convinced that we haven’t seen the last of Lucius Spriggs. Sure, Nathan Foad hasn’t been posting on Instagram about being in New Zealand for filming like other cast members. Sure, David Jenkins’ Tweet and hashtag don’t really give us a lot of hope for Lucius’ survival. Here’s the thing, though: Lucius will come back for season 2, and here’s why.

First of all, for all the reasons I’ve mentioned above and more - Lucius Spriggs is the heart and soul of the Revenge. If there’s one thing OFMD knows, it’s how to give its viewers the warm fuzzies. Second, the absolute drama that will erupt when Lucius appears, alive and well, on deck after Ed thought he’d killed him - there’s no way that David Jenkins would deprive us of Foad’s exquisite facial expressions during a scene like this. Third - and perhaps this is the cynic in me - but we’re here talking about it, aren’t we? OFMD is a television show that skyrocketed in popularity through word-of-mouth. Fandom is one of the best media marketing tools there is, and even for that reason alone, the ‘surprise’ return in season 2 of one of OFMD’s best characters would cause the fandom to go into meltdown, even if it was just to Tweet, “I told you so #Luciuslives”.