Creator David Jenkins explicitly pitched the series as a rom-com love story between the leads, and the plot repeatedly affirms their mutual attraction as the emotional core rather than incidental subtext. Multiple supporting relationships reinforce this, including the committed gay romance between Lucius and Black Pete, while Jim (played by non-binary actor Vico Ortiz) reveals a non-binary identity, adopts they/them pronouns, and receives immediate crew acceptance without conflict or pushback. These elements are not background diversity but foundational: every major romantic arc is queer, the pirate crew functions as a found-family haven normalizing non-traditional identities and relationships, and the show deliberately subverts traditional pirate masculinity through emotional vulnerability and gender nonconformity.

Jim's arc explicitly foregrounds pronoun usage and identity acceptance as plot points. Reception among progressive audiences celebrated the unapologetic queerness, with no significant counter-backlash altering the content analysis. The result prioritizes contemporary identity politics and activist framing of acceptance over straightforward comedic adventure, embedding progressive messaging as the premise itself.