philippeauguste

[philippeauguste]

destiel has divorced multiple times but they would NEVER break up.

[philippeauguste]

WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO🥳🥳🥳❤❤❤

The third and final season of “Good Omens” will begin filming soon in Scotland.

“I’m so happy finally to be able to finish the story Terry and I plotted in 1989 and in 2006,” Gaiman said in a statement accompanying Amazon’s “Good Omens” Season 3 renewal announcement Thursday. “Terry was determined that if we made ‘Good Omens’ for television, we could take the story all the way to the end. Season One was all about averting Armageddon, dangerous prophecies, and the End of the World. Season Two was sweet and gentle, although it may have ended less joyfully than a certain Angel and Demon might have hoped. Now in Season Three, we will deal once more with the end of the world. The plans for Armageddon are going wrong. Only Crowley and Aziraphale working together can hope to put it right. And they aren’t talking.”

Amazon MGM Studios head of television said Vernon Sanders added: “’Good Omens’ has checked every box for a clever, witty, and funny comedy that not only made it a success on Prime Video, but also made ‘goodness’ watchable and fun thanks to Neil and Terry’s immense creativity. The final season is sure to be packed with the same dynamic energy that our global customers have come to enjoy.”

Gaiman, who has a first-look deal with Amazon MGM Studios, where he is currently working on his “Anansi Boys” TV series, continues as executive producer, writer and showrunner for “Good Omens” Season 3. Rob Wilkins of Narrativia, representing Pratchett’s estate, and BBC Studios Productions’ head of comedy Josh Cole also executive produce.

“Good Omens” hails from Amazon MGM Studios, BBC Studios Productions, the Blank Corporation and Narrativia.

[philippeauguste]

Ooooh I just got something about the mermaids flag for season 2.

Mermaids are half human half fish. Only complete with both their halves. When Ed tries to go all fish, but becoming a fisherman, he tries to reject the fighter, the violence in him. But he fails quite spectacularly at being only a fisherman. He’s not a soft man. Well he’s not only a soft man. He needs to embrace the softness, the lover side. The one craving love, tenderness and silliness.

And he needs to balance it out with his pirate side, the human side with the spear. The fighter, the warrior, the protector. The one who enjoys that adrenaline rush and can protect himself and the people he cares about.

So Ed and Stede need to become mermaids and accept soft and hard when necessary, the duality that comes with being human.

[philippeauguste]

enough about that other guy, i want to talk about stede in season two.

i want to talk about how he didn't even care that all his things had been destroyed, that his only concern was what that destruction said about ed's state of mind.

i want to talk about how he mucked right in with the crew at jackie'z and on zheng's ship.

i want to talk about that excellent belly flop into the fucking ocean when they found the revenge.

i want to talk about that absolute romantic hero moment on the rocky shoreline, giving the bottle a kiss before tossing it into the sea

i want to talk about how completely he understands ed, from burn the world or die trying to i know (you love me). i know that.

i want to talk about how he remains his bitchy, hapless, cringefail self while still growing as a person and getting better at things. His better may still be worse than other people's good but he's getting there.

i want to talk about how he gave up his swishy red suit because the crew needed him to.

i want to talk about how much more palpably comfortable he is in his own skin this season, with none of the finery that was a shield and a prison for him his whole life.

i want to talk about how he never, ever gave up on ed no matter what. Because stede was in Love, goddamn it, finally, and he was not going to lose that, to death or mutiny or anything else.

season two stede bonnet--i just think he's neat.

[philippeauguste]

say what you want about him but black pete didn’t miss even once this season. “oh look, running water” “you have impeccable balance, babe” “they must’ve been really into geometry” “you’re making it really hard to look up to you right now” “come find me when blackbeard isn’t living in your head rent free” “i never hear anything about the fact that you lived” “we’re sort of in the pre revenge window” just absolute bangers all around, no one is doing it like him

[philippeauguste]

"There will come a tempest" scene & possible S3 Crowley & Aziraphale foreshadowing...

When Gabriel is apparently possessed in the second half of Awning of a New Age, he and the woman who appears to be possessing him say something that is strangely repetitive:

"There will come a tempest and darkness and great storms, and the dead will leave their graves and walk the Earth once more and there will be great lamentations."

There is no actual difference in definition between a "tempest" and a "storm." A tempest *is* a storm-- both are wind and rain together. The usage of them is more of a matter of manner of speaking-- it's situational. "Storm" is the common usage while "tempest" is just the more literary, more poetic way of saying "storm." Your local news station reports on an impending "storm" but a poet might call that same storm a "tempest." As a result, the prophecy is weirdly repetitive at the start, right? It really reads like this:

"There will come a storm and darkness and great storms..."

Ok, why repeat it? Why use "tempest" and "storms" in the same phrase? Why separate them? To Crowley? Maybe because whoever this is is trying to warn Crowley specifically of events, not just warn of them in general. Because the word that triggers the whole thing is "tempest"-- and it's Crowley who said it. It's Crowley who called what he just did in Awning of a New Age "a tempest" and not a storm because he's poetic and dramatic like that.

So... what if the first part of the prophecy is actually already in motion? What would this potentially tell us about S3?

What if it's kind of like Agnes Nutter's first prophecy for Aziraphale was in S1-- "...thy cocoa doth grow cold" being about *that particular moment right then* with a difference of it being unclear right now if Crowley really understands that someone is trying to warn him through Gabriel? If this is the case? Then S3 isn't about *preventing* The Second Coming-- it's about somehow trying to *reverse or fix it*... because it's already happening. The tempest is Crowley's storm in Awning of a New Age... which Crowley thinks he failed at but didn't really entirely. It's his failure, in his estimation, to get Maggie and Nina to fully vavoom that causes him to tell Aziraphale that it's Aziraphale's turn to try-- setting up the meeting/ball to go the way it does, leading directly to the end of S2. What comes next?

Darkness and great storms. The end of the world. The dead rising from their graves and walking the Earth once more. The Second Coming. And there will be great lamentations...

Obviously, The Second Coming sounds horrible in GO. It's The Metatron's plan and he's the main antagonist. It sounds like they're going to destroy Earth and the known universe and only the the chosen few will survive it but what intrigues me about this is why whoever is delivering this prophecy is warning Crowley about great lamentations. Crowley is the one who prophesied in S1 that he thought the real war that was coming was "all of us versus all of them", and he meant he and Aziraphale and humanity versus the system of Heaven and Hell. So far, he seems to be correct on that and given that it was a set up line in the final moments of the season for future plot, it seems likely to be true. This would be how he survives it. Armageddon in its S1 round was supposed to trigger a war between Heaven and Hell that could have resulted in Crowley and Aziraphale being separated for eternity after it. They managed to push it off until the end of S2 and now Round 2 is a different flavor of Armageddon. The Second Coming is what Crowley seemed to predict in S1... but someone here is trying to get a message to Crowley and it sounds as if it might be meant for him directly as much as it is for the world. And what might that prophecy possibly be saying about S3's Crowley & Aziraphale plot, specifically?

That after Crowley's tempest comes darkness, comes great storms, comes the end of the world, comes The Second Coming... comes great lamentations-- great grief, great mourning. I'm not saying that Crowley wouldn't be broken by the end of the world but I am saying that someone warning Crowley that in an era of "the saved" being given eternal life, that will Crowley will be experiencing great lamentations feels very much like Aziraphale is not among them. (I am not saying that the show will end like this-- it will be fine.) It also would be the height of irony if Crowley and Aziraphale spent their time together always thinking that they had the about 6,000 years until Armageddon and that it was probably Crowley who wasn't going to make it beyond then and then it turns out that Aziraphale, who always thought that he was the one who was going to spend eternity alone without Crowley if they couldn't figure out a way out of Armageddon... it's Aziraphale who then doesn't make it.

It might also be worth considering that Crowley is the character who was given information along with us about The Book of Life from Beez-- someone who would know and whose memory isn't damaged. He doesn't need this information if he's the one getting Book of Life'd. He needs it if his plot in the future is to try to un-Book of Life someone.

There is also that while Michael was threatening to Book of Life Aziraphale in the bookshop, they didn't just *do* it-- and then The Metatron said that Michael wasn't qualified to do it. I'm not sure how true that is or if it was just him getting Michael to knock it off and stop giving everyone spoiler alerts for his game plan lol but The Metatron *would* be qualified and is the angel associated with The Book of Life in religious texts and S2 ends, as we all know, with Aziraphale getting in the elevator to Heaven with The Metatron.

You know those unused concept art images of the bookshop that didn't make it into S2 where it's the last thing standing in what looks like some kind of apocalyptic nightmare around it?

Crowley saves the bookshop during The Second Coming? Sends as many from Whickber Street as he can to Muriel in the shop and makes sure it survives because he can't see it destroyed again and, in doing so, he might have preserved evidence of Aziraphale's existence enough for a plot to bring him back when he finds out he's gone? (I'm aware that the idea with The Book of Life is that the person is erased from existence and so never existed at all. I'm a romantic and this show is too, really. Aziraphale can't be fully erased and Crowley can't fully forget him. Fight me on it if you want to lol but I also can't see how a plot to bring him back happens unless Crowley somehow remembers him.) S2 also gave us way too many things Aziraphale has made in a way that kind of foreshadow his disappearance in a way that makes their existences more relevant. His sketch of Gabriel. His diaries. The photo Furfur took of him and Crowley in 1941... Then, there's this line. This bloody line:

...and that one...

...and this bit from S1 when Aziraphale is in a state of semi-existence and what can help them is what Crowley saved from the bookshop...

[philippeauguste]

1.04 | 1.07 | 2.08

[philippeauguste]

-the theatre, 1597-

aziraphale, wiping tears: what did you think?

crowley: ...

aziraphale: did you not like it?

crowley, hesitates: weeell...

aziraphale, sighs: what was wrong with this one?

crowley, shrugs: I don't know. it was all so...depressing. I mean, they were kids, angel

aziraphale, rolls his eyes: it's romantic

crowley: it's morbid

aziraphale, shakes his head: yes but it's about the star crossed lovers. the forbidden love. the tragedy. two feuding families. you wouldn't understand

crowley: *stares at him*

crowley, incredulous: sorry, did you seriously just say that?

aziraphale, oblivious: yes. so?

crowley, sighs: nothing *takes his arm* come on, let's get out of here

aziraphale, smiles: yes, I believe I owe you a drink. for coming with me

crowley, nods: several, I should think

aziraphale: it wasn't that bad

crowley, glares at him: dead kids, angel

aziraphale, agreeing: yes, I see your point

[philippeauguste]

The parallel between the opening scene of season 2, Crowley creating the nebula and the kids at the end of season 2 works so well on many levels.

The music soaring, Crowley telling Aziraphale that this is the fun bit and that he’s been waiting for this since alway.

And Aziraphale is charmed by him and his enthusiasm and confused about what’s supposed to happen. But when the stars are born, Aziraphale is mindblown and the galaxies and stars explode everywhere.

It tells us how they were meant to feel about the kiss. Something Crowley waited forever to have, something that makes more than firework. A revelation. And then, of course, the kiss ends on a sour note, the music gets darker because Crowley and Aziraphale can’t agree and be together. Crowley is still questioning Heaven as much as he did when Aziraphale told him about the planned apocalypse in 6,000 years after the creation.

And Aziraphale is still as fearful of going against heaven and tries to protect Crowley from repercussions.

It was beautifully done. Those 2 moments are what Crowley has been waiting for but both time, Crowley is not free to ask and Aziraphale is still too afraid to even question Heaven.

[philippeauguste]

crowley who has to physically fucking restrain himself from needing to touch aziraphale not even sexually just needing to be wrapped around him and his face nuzzled into his neck or cuddled up to him because fucking snakes seek out fucking warmth and aziraphale exudes the warmth of overwhelming love (but not just love for the creatures of the world, not just the regular all consuming angelic love, it’s stronger somehow, it’s different) and the gentle and enveloping warmth of the sun and crowley has to step away to stop fucking snake instincts from wanting to wrap himself up in him and feel that warmth and safety fill his blood and body and feel the tension drain from his woefully serpentine and painfully human form (the sun is 93 million miles away from the earth, aziraphale is 3 feet away from crowley and feels even farther)

[philippeauguste]

thinking about “we can be together” again.

this wasn’t “together” as in “with each other in the same place”. this was “we can be together - we can be in our relationship. i’ll be running heaven, so we’ll never have to hide from them ever again. we can be together.”

and crowley knows that. so he looks away, because when aziraphale looks at him he can’t say no. but here he has to say no. because he knows heaven won’t change.

[philippeauguste]

the first and last episodes this season both have ed go on violent rampages while he thinks he might never see stede again.

he first rampage is, explicitly, pointless. he's not doing it for profit: he's making his crew dump treasure overboard so they can take more treasure which they will dump overboard the next day when they take even more. the goal he's pursuing is ned low's record, but the record is meaningless: he's doing it simply for the sake of desperately wanting to have some kind of purpose. because nothing in his life matters. there is nothing he wants. he cannot have the only thing he wants. there's nothing that can give meaning to what he's doing.

the second rampage has a purpose. he whispers "stede" and hallucinates stede's voice calling for help and that's all it takes to make him decide he is willing to murder any number of british soldiers standing between him and stede.

when he kills the british soldiers the same musical cue plays from when he had his kraken flashback in s1. we're used to associating that event with trauma and with the parts of ed that he hates the most.

but also: the act that birthed the kraken was violence done for a purpose, to protect someone he loved.

he could never accept that before. he thought it made him a monster. but now there's someone else he loves that much and that person needs him and he's not going to hesitate. he kills the british soldiers by strangling, the same way he killed his father, and he doesn't feel bad about it.

he's accepting that he has a purpose now, that love is what gives him meaning, that it's enough to give meaning even to the violence that's haunted him his whole life. he knows what the kraken is for now. he doesn't have to be blackbeard anymore, but he doesn't hate that part of himself anymore either, now that he has something worth fighting to protect.

[philippeauguste]

The Breakups

Stede and Ed have three breakups under their belt right now: Ed initiated two of them, and Stede is currently getting blame for one of those. The finale is releasing tomorrow, so hopefully this turns into a moot point, but I'm defending Stede anyway!

Part 2: The Breakups

Note that Part 1 is here:

This 2x7 breakup is likely to be over in 2x8 (.... I say less than 24 hours to the premier and trying to act like I'm a prophet...), and with rule of three, I'm going to say that's going to be their last one. Any more Will-They-Or-Won't-They would be tedious, especially since at that point, we'd be at about one-third of the series with them "broken up," and they need to start communicating as a couple already, but this oscillation is what makes OFMD unique isn't it?

Their breakups are about them as characters: the first time, Ed leaves with Calico Jack; Ed realizes his devotion to Stede but Stede has his fears confirmed... which rolls into the second breakup (Stede doesn't have those fears resolved early enough, and Ed feels like a discarded plaything), which rolls into the third. They need to address the fears and insecurities together and not spiral out on their own. I'm guessing (and using what HBO has shown us) that Ed gets his assurances early, and hopefully, we can put an end to this internal catastrophizing so they can face the world together.

Love, the emotion, may be easy, just like breathing, but a couple is still two people with different experiences and different needs, but real life relationships take work (...I say as a happy single person...). Romcoms end with the First Kiss, fanfics end with the First Sex, but OFMD seems to be carrying us through the growing pains of the relationship. Happily Ever After isn't a magical state that is achieved once you tell each other that you love the other, but so many pieces of media treat that as the end, but OFMD is treating it as a middle. Often times, it feels like the couple is just playing musical chairs, and if they're a couple when time runs out, they're going to be a couple forever!

In S2 speculation, it was not infrequent that people were imagining that the S2 cliffhanger would be Ed and Stede laying eyes on each other for the first time with a fade to black. That isn't interesting. We don't want these two to run out the clock.

But I want to look at the breakups specifically. Let's look at 2x7. Spanish Jackie lays down the truth to Ed, but he doesn't seem to latch onto the big point: does Stede know that this regular guy, no more pirate, part isn't a phase?

"He said at the academy..." Stede was dealing with other things, and from what he saw, Ed went back to piracy. To be fair also, the Revenge doesn't do much piracy itself, so Stede hasn't seen Ed's dissatisfaction first hand. A lot of audience anger toward Stede is an audience who saw the environment 2x1 and 2x2, who saw Ed in the gravy basket, who saw Ed's bored asides with Izzy. They're treating Stede as a member of the audience rather than as a character within the story. Stede didn't see any of this. Most of his interactions with Ed was cutesy fluff. Stede knows he likes being near Ed, but they haven't spent much time talking about deeper topics.

On what Ed does with the breakup in 2x7, I'm bringing up this line from 2x4, when they briefly spoke like adults:

Ed shutting down the conversation and not letting Stede give explanations isn't fair to Stede, but it continued with the third breakup: in 2x7, Ed leaves Stede with some emotional whiplash. Stede was just having one of the best days of his life and was met with an Ed who refused to explain what was going on. When you look at what just Stede saw, it was utterly baffling! My post on that:

And then Stede insulted Ed's fish, thereby making him History's Greatest Monster, amiright?

Ed basically screams that fishermen and pirates are so different, it would be like if a mermaid and a bird tried to have a marriage. It's a self fulfilling prophecy at that point: cut Stede out completely so they have no chance to grow their lives with room for the romantic relationship. (And really, for those criticizing Stede, how do you respond correctly off the cuff to a random statement like that?)

This is devastating: Stede has completely cut himself out of his old life. He left Barbados for Ed, not for piracy. He laid out his feelings, and he made himself vulnerable to Ed. Just hours after being intimate for the first time, he's coldly told it was a mistake, and his sad face at that statement:

He doesn't run off in tears to have a breakdown like I would! He instead is reasonable with Ed: they can define their relationship however they want, but Ed cuts off any possibility of any relationship.

Stede does not know what's going on. I'm really confused what people who are "so mad!" at Stede here would expect of him, provided they only know what Stede knows in universe. Stede just wants to talk and work on their relationship together. Ed wants to start a new career, and more specifically, a life completely separate from Stede.

No, Stede doesn't respond to that pirate line, but he gave the immediate response to the part he cared about more (and likely replayed the conversation over and over in his head later with improved responses, as we do).

Stede does not run after Ed here, but why would he? He's told the audience directly that he thinks Ed is better off without him.

Lucius tells him, "Maybe the time he spent with you is the best it's ever going to get for him," and again, Stede directly tells the audience that he doesn't believe that.

This is not a man with high self esteem. Remember him being ready to be executed and being told he's the worst pirate captain ever? He thought that was fair.

Ed cuts off their relationship, and Stede thinks he deserves that, that Ed realized he was better off without Stede. So Stede lets him go.

On their breakups, the first one was short (Ed's back the same episode!), but the second happened at a season break so there was more time for fandom speculation. We all saw the theories, and a too common thread was "Will Ed forgive Stede??", and we saw the speculation that Stede should prostrate himself before Ed and beg for forgiveness, no matter how long it took. It simplifies the narrative, but is that the show we're watching and is that fair to Stede?

Stede instantly forgave Ed after choosing Calico Jack over him in front of everyone; the second breakup was longer and they had more time to do the whole negative self talk thing, but Stede still did deserve more grace, didn't he? With Season 2 (and its truncated run time!), we saw the criticisms that Ed forgave Stede too easily, but did he? They're on friendly terms, but there is still a wall.

See Ed's time in the Gravy Basket. The first three episodes were the Soup Show. It symbolized family or warmth or whatever (...I say as a robot who doesn't understand human feelings...), so it's a standout that Ed calling the soup poison is his feelings about accepting that warm domesticity, not something literal about Hornigold. He opened himself up to someone, and all he got was heartbreak and confirmation he was unlovable (and he was too scared to do anything about it).

And this is followed almost immediately by the baller line about a man being brought down in the place where he had definitely chosen Stede for the first time.

In the Gravy Basket, we had the metaphor on the feet (no shoes = death, shoes = life... there is good meta running around, but I'm too lazy to find it). Ed gains one shoe (putting him between life and death) when Stede starts to be led to his body, and Stede brings life to him (shoe shot!).

Stede is an anchor to life at this low point, but that doesn't mean that Ed completely forgives.

In Season 2, we don't have the Gloves as Metaphor with Ed anymore (half gloves when he meets Stede, no gloves at the academy, full gloves when he goes full kraken), but he still has other cues on how his feeling about Stede. We don't have the casual touches of Season 1, and everything feels "off." We're lacking in the tenderness, and Ed still is keeping his distance.

Ed and Stede have held hands this season, but not in a romantic way.

When we get to the romance, Ed doesn't put his hands on Stede's skin/hair like Stede does for him (production stills don't count!). In the third kiss, he pushes Stede's collar up as a barrier.

With what the audience was invited in for their love scene, Stede is visually more exposed and ready, and Ed is more distanced and closed off (that is NOT to say that Ed wasn't into it...).

Everything is close to what it should be, but it's not the perfect expression of love exploding across the screen. Something's off. The audience can pick up on it, and Stede, our autistic king, may subconsciously feeling it, but he is taking a lot of it at face value. (They slept together! They're a couple and an unbroken team now!)

On The Sex, is this the first time that Stede has received (verbal) concerns about his welfare in the series? He was told he was a monster, a plague, a defiler of beautiful things, and he's just been trying to live his life with no one refuting that even in a small way.

Sure, Ed said his fake heads idea didn't suck.

Sure... uh.... Ed said he wasn't a girl?

He gets some affirmation, they do something to help them feel alive almost losing each other, and he's intimate for the first time with the man he loves. Everything is going great! But everything instantly flips 180 degrees a few hours later. He's been holding it together well most of the season, even after thinking that Ed is literally dead, and y'all shouldn't judge him for a few mildly harsh words said without thinking. He feels foolish and used and heartbroken, and his bad day has just begun.

I hope I can get some thoughts up on the last part of 2x7 before the finale, but until then, here's some bonus sad face Stede during their first breakup, where Ed broke up with him in front of everyone! Everyone saw it! ("Never left" psh, likely story.)

How can you not be sad when he's sad??

We'll see what the finale does with them soon. Overall, I'm happy so far with Ed/Stede in Season 2. The rest of it... eh, Lucius/Pete is my happy spot. I'm hoping we get a good Ed/Stede payoff in the finale, and that we get to see more of their growth as a couple in Season 3 (manifesting!). It's rare that a show/movie/book/etc focused on just a romance sticks with the couple after that "finally together!" spot, and I want to see what this writing team does with that settled romance.

[philippeauguste]

At the end of season one of OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH, I was a little confused why the epiphany that he loves Ed would change Stede's mind about running away. Wouldn't that just make you more determined not to "ruin" his life with your presence? Part of Stede's decision came, obviously, from realizing that Mary and the kids needed him to leave them be, but... I thought maybe he was just overly idealistic about the magical power of love or something.

Now, though, I get it. Stede decided that this relationship was too important for Stede to keep letting his "weak" nature and his personal qualms hold him back. He's been trying to make himself into the cool, manly, brutal, competent pirate captain whom he thinks Ed deserves. That's been Stede's quest this season--and now it's falling to pieces all around him.

Of course, Stede doesn't know that Ed is traumatized from piracy and that he just wants his sweet little goldfish who gave him a new hope for life. Stede doesn't see that he showed his crew a better way to survive through his transformative gentleness (which has most notably impacted Izzy, of all people!). Stede still thinks that the man who he truly is at heart defiles beautiful things.

[philippeauguste]

something something toxic masculinity

[philippeauguste]

Calypso's wedding

OK, so I'm out sick and have had time to do, um, maybe a few rewatches. And doing that has me bowled over by just how good this season is. So well-crafted and tightly narratively structured. Not only all the callbacks to S1, but all the internal callbacks within the season. Some of them IMO really adds to the understanding of the sex scene, hence another meta. 

There are so many incredible takes out there on episodes 6 and 7. (It’s a brilliant arc and narrative because the acting, writing, staging and lighting choices can be read many different ways and multiple things can be true at once). Ed and Stede's first time together didn’t happen under good circumstances. Things happened that they couldn't control, and it sent them crashing into that next stage in their relationship. Even so, their first time scene is set to not just an incredibly romantic song, but a song that's very much about long-term partnership.

I only know the French version, and I'm so glad they used that one. Others have written on this, but despite the title, the song is not about seeing life through rose-colored glasses, i.e. in an unrealistic way. The lyrics talk of how being in love and being in a committed relationship can make living easier and less lonely. For two people who both live with complex trauma and with a lot of guilt and shame, that's such a hopeful message. The lyrics even state that being in love is ‘une parte de bonheur’, one part of happiness, further underscoring the season’s themes that you need more than just romantic love to have a fulfilling and meaningful life. 

The song keeps going over the credits, i.e. the fade to black love scene, and includes this part: ‘It's him for me, it's me for him/He has sworn it to me for life’. Like, these are vows. These are wedding kind of vows.

This is a deeply romantic and necessary moment for them, maybe even unavoidable because they are so deeply attracted to one each other. They're being so careful around each other and the ways in which they touch and speak. But circumstances changed, the past intruded in punishing ways and so did the plan of taking it slow. The fireworks couldn’t wait because they are alive right now, one of them needs comfort and Calypso’s birthday demands to be recognized. And so the sex scene both foreshadows a wedding and is a deeply intimate wedding moment in itself.

There's been so much wedding imagery during the season, and it's interesting to see how episode 6 has many callbacks to the beginning of the season. Calypso’s birthday party is colorful, exploding with flowers, dressing up, music and song. This in contrast to the the joyless wedding raid and the bizarro wedding cake party on the revenge with a lonely Ed playing with his cake toppers. This last imagery is replayed in episode six, now in actuality and in golden light with Stede leading Ed around the room in a dance of desire to live music. The very brief screen time explicitly shows an exchange of question and consent. It ends by drawing the curtains, giving both the sense of a veil and allusions to a chuppa (a Jewish wedding canopy the couple stands under; this is important to me as someone who headcanons Ed as Jewish). 

Their morning after has something of a post-nuptial feel to it, with the lazy lounging in bed. (It also feels true to first-time early relationship sex and the new reality of bridging distances after you've touched each other so intimately). But Ed’s warm in his robe. He’s had fireworks-grade orgasms. He’s both made and eaten something for the first time this season after rejecting food as poison in the gravy basket. The food is shared toast and marmalade, a callback to the first night they ever spent together in which marmalade became both a symbol of comfort and the possibility of change. There’s even a morning gift, which is a tradition in Northern Europe at least: A husband is to give his wife something (usually jewelry) the first morning after marriage. Ed hands Stede a piece of twine with a present of emotional intimacy and vulnerability: His memory of mermaid Stede saving his life. 

I love how this arc explicitly thematizes the way sexual intimacy can be so much easier than psychological intimacy and emotional vulnerability. Ed and Stede spend the next day initially relaxing together. As others have said, the color scheme across this entire two-episode arc is deeply symbolic, going from the very bright colors of the party, the red flower between them symbolizing red love, the purple symbolizing Ed's love for Stede, to a golden light that fades into the harsher light of the next day which brings back the realities of the external world. Ed is content and relaxed, eating meals, sharing of himself. But of course the disruption of the pirate world they exist in keeps growing until it's too much for him.

The mermaid scene in episode 3 was brilliant on so many levels. One of them was allowing us to see Ed’s deepest feelings and love for Stede in a situation in which he is unguarded and fully himself. The love. The affection. The trust. The joy. The comfort. The genius of structuring the narrative in this way is that we get to know about it. We get to know that these are Ed's true feelings for Stede, while seeing how guarded he still is emotionally and how much communicating they still have to do. It makes the painful lack of casual touching and the physical distance in their body language this season easier to witness, because it's completely understandable that Ed needs to protect himself still. 

The twine is a callback to rope, to fishing nets, to the imagery of the gravy basket. Ed is giving Stede a morning present of a piece of twine as an offering, a gift, a piece of his most intimate self. However, a piece of twine is also a string, a part of the ceremony of handfasting, another Northern European tradition: The old practice of a betrothal or temporary wedding if you couldn’t afford an actual wedding yet. (It’s the reason it's called tying the knot). Ed is giving Stede, in a rare moment in which he’s taken off his rings, the equivalent of a wedding ring. 

[philippeauguste]

Letters in bottles sums up their whole damn relationship so fucking well. Both of them having all these feelings and thoughts and wanting the other to understand but never ACTUALLY sharing them in any way that makes it remotely likely the other will. "Not the most reliable postal service but I love that you did that" indeed.