fallenrocket

[fallenrocket]

[fallenrocket]

Forgot to post this but 🙇‍♀️ ive been obsessed with next to normal (and jack wolfe cough cough... id never even heard of the unlikely pilgrimage of harold fry until yesterday) but yeah i drew this and posted to instagram and he liked the post 😭🙏 still in (after)shock

[fallenrocket]

This isn't really meta, just thinking out loud on here...

The fact that Ed kept Frenchie and Jim keeps coming back to me and I haven't really seen meta about that that makes me go "they get it!", yet.

Like, Frenchie isn't just some cute, laid-back bard that can sew like the wind. Frenchie point blank asked Ed was he just making a personal appearance, or on some gangster shit when he first showed up. Ed's reaction (to ME) was very "Don't do all that in front of these white people, bro!".

Frenchie is the guy that came to Ed and Stede with that invitation and was like "We hating from inside or outside the club on this?" and Ed was HERE FOR IT.

Frenchie also ran that glorious con, smoother than Silk Sonic. FRENCHIE AND NOT STEDE was the first person to KNOW the party people had done some foul shit to Ed and Frenchie KNEW the racial component behind it. FRENCHIE TOLD STEDE THE WAY IN TO GETTING HIS OWN BACK FOR ED.

Frenchie code-switches in a way that Ed gets. He's navigating shit from a man of color's perspective, understanding whiteness and the way it works in a way that whiteness doesn't reciprocate. He understands that whiteness is incurious and inelegant.

Keeping Frenchie makes sense, when you've just been threatened by Incurious, Inelegant, Jizzy Izzy, The Cheeky Bitch. You need someone that will go unnoticed, unless some twat is waving a fucking gun at them for no reason - and be a reliable source of information and ideas. (the idea of shipping of Frenchie and Izzy is just skin crawling, in my Black opinion)

Blackbeard has been stealing shit from rich ponces for decades - I think he wants someone that can walk into a ships cabin with him and draw some conclusions about what they're looking at.

Because, (and I don't know who needs to fucking hear this) ED IS STILL GOING TO BE THE PROTAGONIST NEXT SEASON. I don't know why some people are trying to set him up as the villain in his story . but that's not gonna happen. He will need allies and Frenchie makes perfect sense beyond some of the frankly simplistic and silly reasons I've seen bandied about.

(There was a really great post about Frenchie and code-switching between genres that I will link when I find it again.)

(also - I totally forgot how to put shit behind a cut)

(I'm not here to argue with Jizzy apologists, so don't...)

[fallenrocket]

Miles Caton’s “I Lied To You” musical sequence from ‘Sinners’ is now available online, including the IMAX aspect ratio change.

[fallenrocket]

I love that Stede and Ed appear on the surface to be “opposites attract” and then turn out to be so incredibly the same, to such a degree that they are actually on a different wavelength from everyone else around them and it is actively annoying to spend more than five minutes in their company together (but that’s OK, they don’t want you in their relationship anyway). AND, when they are not together, everyone else’s lives are demonstrably worse.

Couple of all time, really. Do not separate and do not get in between.

(Also why no one will ever be able to write or create a credible OT3 with the two of them, they are an OTP who would annoy a 3 to death and also forget that a 3 existed.)

[fallenrocket]

I once saw a headcanon that they get super into roleplay, but they get so engrossed in the characters and the banter that before they know it, they’re like 45 minutes in and they haven’t even kissed yet. That is how I’ll forever picture them.

I love and appreciate any and all headcanons/fic/art about Ed and Stede getting up to all kinds of kinky shit.

However!

In my heart of hearts, I do think that, in the canon world, those guys have really amazing, loving, and basically vanilla sex. Like, yes, maybe Stede gets all “I’m your captain!” once in a while, but they can both keep that up for maybe ten seconds before fully dissolving into a fit of giggles and then getting down in one of their several tried and true positions that would impress no one else, but who the fuck cares about impressing anyone else?

It is, of course, great sex. They have a great time, 12/10, will do it again, probably in an hour or so, gonna have a thumb war and do the washing up first.

(Inspired-ish by this post!)

[fallenrocket]

Every 21st century piece of writing advice: Make us CARE about the character from page 1! Make us empathize with them! Make them interesting and different but still relatable and likable!

Every piece of classic literature: Hi. It's me. The bland everyman whose only purpose is to tell you this story. I have no actual personality. Here's the story of the time I encountered the worst people I ever met in my life. But first, ten pages of description about the place in which I met them.

[fallenrocket]

Ed’s entire face journey here. He wants to impress Stede and continue to be super cool, but he also wants to go to the fancy party and wear fancy clothes and meet fancy people.

I think as much as Stede wants Ed to like him, Ed BADLY wants Stede to like him too. And the way Ed gets liked, in the past, is by being the cool and aloof dude who totally doesn’t care. But Ed very much does care.

Throughout the episode he lets Stede see his vulnerability more and Stede responds to it by being caring. Ed doesn’t HAVE to be cool around Stede. He can want to go to the fancy party.

(Also Taika should’ve won several Emmys simply for being able to convey so much with his face while it’s HALF COVERED.)

[fallenrocket]

the amount of sheer GENDER stored in these images should frankly be ILLEGAL

[fallenrocket]

A scene that I think captures the whole feel and thesis of this show (and specifically season two) is when Archie and Jim first kiss.

We start with Jim and Archie in the hidey hole protecting Izzy. Frenchie, now in the first mate role, tells them to "start with his leg, see where it goes" to save Izzy from the infected gunshot wound, leaving to get the first-aid kit.

Archie and Jim do just that and proceed to sit down in front of a passed-out Izzy, tissues in nostrils to keep the stench away. Pointedly, Jim is still holding onto Izzy's leg and is inspecting it. We get comedy thrown in during and right after the amputation. Joking about which leg to amputate, stating that "oh, he's a gusher," and Jim casually inspecting the leg.

And that is followed immediately by a sweet speech. Jim tells about the good times of the ship, their time with the old crew and specifically Olu. They call Izzy "a dick, but he's their dick" claiming him as part of the crew, the community, and reinforcing that at the heart of it, all of these characters technically aren't "good people," they are pirates, survivors, they've done a lot of morally ambiguous things, but that doesn't mean that they are past saving, past loving, past living.

This part of the scene shows us the community that the crew has for each other, how they are hiding Izzy and trying to keep him alive. It also shows the violence of this way of life. Violence in the past season has always been there but more in a cartoony way — people recover from being gut-stabbed fairly quickly and mysteriously or to the clearly defined bad guys. This season is no longer the fantasy (Note the gusto!) of being a pirate, but the reality of it (Our characters can get fundamentally hurt.)

((And Izzy living from this wound still semi fits the cartoony part of S1 because in reality he would have died from it, but in the show he lives from the wound and recovers fairly quickly, but we don't shy away from the mental and physical trauma of it like S1 would have done.))

As the scene continues, Archie leans in to kiss Jim and when asked why, replies that she likes Jim's optimism. We see here how Archie is used to the real-life violence of pirate life. But Jim, who was raised to be a killer as to seek revenge, has changed into a softer person. One who will try to save the life of the person who was once not enemy but enemy-adjacent. Someone who now tells Fang stories, one who remembers and implements the ways of their old captain to find healing and community in this dark situation.

This moment between Jim and Archie is as sweet and romantic as it can get for two people covered in blood, holding an amputated leg, and noses stuffed with tissue.

The kiss abruptly ends when Frenchie returns with Blackbeard. The moment turns ominous as Blackbeard laughs at them and tells them to leave.

But even in this small scene, comedy still shines through. From Frenchie's lie about not knowing this place existed to Blackbeard's "take the fuckin' leg."

And the scene ends (or where I am ending it for this analysis) with Jim bravely telling Blackbeard that Izzy was his friend.

This whole sequence shows the softness and heart of the show and of these characters in the middle of dark and violent circumstances,

Jim is turned away from the violence and toward the community/romance/comedy while still holding onto the other side the reality/violence, while on the floor with Archie. They then take that evidence of violence turned community/heart with them, balancing all the tones.

This two minute scene truly encapsulates all the elements of the show: humor, romance, community, all forms of love, and the grit of injury and piracy. And I find it fascinating that such a short scene can do all that and why I think it's a perfect example of the themes of the show.

[fallenrocket]

Frenchie - E05

[fallenrocket]

Frenchie was definitely the surprise vote to keep Ed that gridlocked the crew and forced Stede to go ask for a tie breaker. He's among the ones who voted to keep Ed, even though he was among the mutiny, and I think this was for several reasons, but she among them is the thought that as much as things got fucked, I think he was still hoping for Ed to pull through. He was hoping ugh would come out of his heartbreak and chill out and return to the guy who wrote a song with him and propose a talent show and was their friend. And, with the cream reunited and steed back, I think he was among those who was like, yeah that was really bad and it all went in the box, but we're together again and I think it'll be cool, it'll be all good.

But the vote didn't go that way, which is why he is the one to break the news that unfortunately they have chosen banishment.

[fallenrocket]

this moment was so cute!?

[fallenrocket]

THE FACT THAT EPISODE 4 HAS LUCIUS AND IZZY DEMONSTRATE THE EXACT SAME LEVEL OF SAILING SKILL AND SEAFARING KNOWLEDGE

before i really dive into that tho i just want to quick point out how perfectly the show sets up this comparison:

so when ed asks izzy, "What've we got here?" izzy gives his summary of the situation. the ship is damaged, and the crew is "bottom of the barrel." what's interesting about this is how, as izzy's saying this, the camera pans from roach and frenchie picking up wood and debris off the deck (which is actually useful work) to lucius absentmindedly tapping the railing with a hammer while he listens to pete talk, not even looking at what he's doing. and in case we missed it, the next time that the camera cuts away from izzy and ed's conversation it brings us to lucius and pete, and the audience clearly sees how lucius is putting minimal effort into fixing the ship. he has one hand on his cocked hip, the other one loosely holding the hammer, and he's not so much hitting the railing as he is letting the hammer bob around in his loose wrist, occasionally knocking against the railing. so clearly the show wants us to know that lucius is not one for manual labor, and it wants us to know that izzy knows this about him, and that's why izzy considers lucius to be "bottom of the barrel"

now, getting into how this episode shows us that Izzy Is Not That Great At Sailing:

FIRSTLY we have the frankfurter cloud conversation. ive already discussed how this scene serves as proof of izzy's sailing incompetence so im not gonna get into that in depth here (if you read that post i recommend also looking through the notes, there are a lot of good takes there). the short version: izzy should've known that the weather matters in sailing. i'm not saying he should've been able to figure out ed's whole plan, or that he should've known that the cloud shape meant that the fog would roll in, but he should've at LEAST realized that when his pirate captain asked him a question about the clouds, he wasn't just commenting on the shape of the clouds for the hell of it. izzy should've wondered if the shape of the clouds meant anything to ed, and he should've asked ed about it.

SECONDLY. so this one's a small one but when lucius walks in on ed staring at stede, presumably he's doing it to try and get his captain to help with The Situation. it's unclear if lucius wants help with the fact that they're currently being occupied by blackbeard's crew, or if he's referring to the fact that the scene right before this one is buttons pointing out the approaching spanish ships. the way lucius says "things have taken a very-" makes me think he was gonna talk about "things" taking a turn for the worse, meaning that lucius is seeking out his captain to get his help avoiding Death By Spanish. aka The Thing Izzy Spends The Whole Episode Doing

so lucius, who izzy considers to be a "bottom of the barrel" and "absolutely useless" crew member, has the same strategy for trying to escape the spanish that izzy does: he asks his boss to do something about it. izzy doesnt come up with a plan until it's too late for anything except "fight to the death," which is a terrible idea and would definitely get them all killed.

THIRDLY, FOURTHLY, AND SO ON: ok so. izzy shouldve thought about the cloud conversation a bit more. he and lucius both had the same Ask The Boss approach to problem solving. but it's the reveal of ed's genius plan where things get really interesting.

at the reveal of The Fog, everyone thinks ed's solved everything with his sheer genius, including izzy. he says "i don't believe it" because how ed could've predicted the weather down to the minute like this, but ed fixes him with this stare and izzy decides not to question ed any further

interestingly enough, stede does question further by asking ed how he knew this would happen, and that's how we end up getting an actual explanation of how ed knew this fog was coming. it makes me wonder if izzy ever asks ed to explain how ed comes up with his plans, or if he just lets himself be impressed and amazed (which would further reinforce izzy's image of ed as the most brilliant sailor he’s ever met and also half-insane). i also think it's worth pointing out that it's not just the clouds that helped ed predict the weather. ed says, "the color of this morning's sky coupled with the brisk westerly wind made me think we'd be safe." and notice how izzy is paying attention. just like stede, izzy also needs an explanation to understand how ed knew this would happen. ed's plan is just as mystifying and brilliant to izzy as it is to the rest of the crew. (and that's not a diss on izzy, more a remark on how ed is written to be a Literal Genius)

and when ed says, "and then the shape of the clouds confirmed it," that's when izzy realizes that ed's been planning for this the whole time. and crucially, izzy isn't mad at ed for not being upfront with him. muttering "fuck me" under his breath implies that izzy's mad at himself for not realizing ed had a plan. izzy HIMSELF recognizes that he should've been able to pick up ed's hint about the frankfurters

but do you know what izzy doesn't realize?? another crucial piece of ed's plan that izzy doesn't question, and that izzy most likely wouldn't have questioned even if ed had told him outright that he knew a fog was going to roll in once dusk fell and they'd be hidden from the spanish??

the Revenge is right in their path

izzy hands, alleged "only competent sailor on the Revenge," did not think about this fact. nobody thought of this fact except for ed, who thought he'd successfully planned around it, and buttons. buttons, who is implied to be the only person on stede's crew with actual significant sailing experience, who can spot ships without a telescope and is implied to have some level of magical ability. and this tells me that even if ed had actually told izzy "fog's gonna roll in at dusk, we'll be fine" it is a goddamn reach to say that izzy would've had anything to say aside from "good plan, boss."

then, and ONLY then, does ed mention the date. and another important detail: ed also says that tonight's a full moon, and that's not what izzy contests. ed could've said tonight was a full moon without saying it was september 2nd, and it's very possible that izzy wouldn't have realized ed was wrong. izzy doesn't deny that it's a full moon. the only thing izzy denies is the calendar date. and he's not the only one who does that

LUCIUS. COMPLETELY USELESS, BOTTOM OF THE BARREL, CANT EVEN HOLD A HAMMER RIGHT LUCIUS. IZZY WAS NOT ESSENTIAL TO ED'S ABILITY TO COME UP WITH A PLAN. THE INFORMATION THAT IZZY PROVIDED WAS NOT SOMETHING ONLY IZZY COULD PROVIDE.

one of the very first things izzy does this episode is call stede's crew shitty, but the the only skill or expertise that izzy demonstrates this entire episode is poor management skills and the ability to read Ye Olde Calendar. the one piece of relevant information izzy provides the whole episode is something that the ship's Laziest Gay also knew. the camera pans to lucius when izzy's calling stede's crew useless, but izzy ends up being ends up being exactly as useful to ed this episode as lucius is. less, if you remember that ed used lucius as a timer!!!!

[fallenrocket]

[fallenrocket]

Joel Fry appreciation!

You never get to hear West Country accents in media. There’s this negative stereotype that we’re all a bit slow. But Frenchie is shrewd with his cons, musically talented, loyal to his crew, a pillar of strength in the face of Blackbeard’s breakdown, even when afraid. All with that beautiful Bristolian drawl. I love it!

Yes, I’m from Bristol. Incidentally, a lot of pirates apparently were, including Edward Teach. Ah well. Who doesn’t love a kiwi accent?!

[fallenrocket]

ID: Our Flag Means Death gifset. It shows scenes of Oluwande and Jim together with text in the middle that shows the lines from Mary Bonnet’s speech about love. They will be described with first the line and then the scene that accompanies it, as follows:

“It feels… Easy. It’s just like breathing”: Oluwande casually gesturing towards Jim, who sits next to him, as he talks to Frenchie

“They understand my idiosyncrasies”: Jim dropping something off a table, then running off as Oluwande makes to grab it

“Finds them charming, even”: Jim and Oluwande almost kissing outside Jim’s nana’s garden

“We expose each other to new things, new ideas”: Oluwande, sitting on top of a cannon besides Jim (who’s sitting on the floor) and pointing at something off-camera. Jim looks up, squinting

“And we laugh a lot”: Jim smiling softly as they hold Oluwande in their arms, Oluwande laughing freely. They are both naked, covered by sheets

“We just pass the time so well”: Oluwande and Jim (still in their disguise from the early episodes) by the grounded ship, staring at something off-camera. Oluwande is laughing a little, but Jim is serious. They stand just inches away from touching, although Jim moves slightly away to get a better look.

“I’d call those things love”: Jim smiling as they grab Oluwande’s face and kiss him passionately.

Full text: “It feels… Easy. It’s just like breathing. They understand my idiosyncrasies. Finds them charming, even. We expose each other to new things, new ideas. And we laugh a lot. We just pass the time so well. I’d call those things love. End ID