helloiamunwell

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feel like shit just want them back

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when we’re done with our overwhelming grief we’ll eat i guess

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You guys do know you're supposed to reblog things, right

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i actually really enjoy winter i don’t mind that it gets dark so early

>completely dark before 5:30

i think being alive is the worst thing that can happen to a person

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I am unfortunately just like other guys. I like trashy horror, dog poems, cannibalism as a metaphor for obsessive devotion, religious imagery, people who use my name in a sentence, academic validation, lying for fun, being bisexual and bleeding out in the snow.

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sometimes I see older people and I’m like... how do you do it? how do you cope with the loss of people and places and things as life progresses

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now having watched the entirety of OFMD S1 and S2 multiple times, one place that never fails to take me out at the knees is the audience finding out that Ed’s mother was in service in the very same episode that he goes to a fancy rich person party where Stede—who is himself impossibly wealthy landed gentry—intentionally sides with the servants and his lowborn crew.

Stede slipping away from all the posturing and sniping to hang out with Frenchie “who was in service for a minute”. Stede who is more excited to meet and collude with Abshire than to talk to a single rich person from his own world. Yes, Stede burns all the rich people alive for being cruel to Ed and that’s very charming of him! But every rewatch, the thought of baby Ed growing up to find the kind of gentleman he always hated and envied embodied in someone who would take his side every time just knocks me flat. Ed sought out an avatar of everything he longed for (yet wanted to destroy) and accidentally discovered a lonely oddball who wanted him more than any of the rest of it. “I found the kind of person I envisioned as my bitterest rival and he smiled in recognition of a kindred soul only to swear he’d make all my most ridiculous and insignificant fantasies come true” is just so!!!!!!!!!

“the crew is my family now” and “peasants marry for love” and marmalade with a flourish of twine and Ed on the verge of tears finding Stede hiding outside the party agreeing with Frenchie about the absurdity of spoon politics. my god my god my GOD!

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i feel like americans generally are more likely to realise if they're being haunted because unlike britain most of their houses aren't semi-detached or terraced houses that are sometimes several hundred years old

like in the uk you hear fifty weird noises in the night and you just assume it's your neighbours on either side, or the wind getting in through a gap in the roof, or the old pipes, or your dodgy water heater, or something outside coming through your buggered windows, or your bed that's god knows how old you got from a charity shop creaking,,, i think you get my point

its only really in these manor houses and remote farmhouses that people usually tell ghost stories about (Ordsall Hall's white lady, Treasurers House's Roman Legion) bc, well, it's more interesting, but also because they can blame noises on a lot of things but definitely not neighbours and town sounds. maybe a bit more nature but nature can sound scary, like have you heard the noises foxes make?? the powers of suggestion take over, and who knows maybe they actually do see ghosts 🤷🏻

but my point was in america and probably other places, where there's way more space and all the houses look like they're practicing social distancing, a higher proportion of noises can be interpreted as ghosts bc they have less reasons to discount it

this is why the are way more "hauntings" and ghost sightings in the country than the city, they have different standards of general noise level

but the question is are some country folks' minds playing tricks on them or are there a load of city ghosts who are mad no one pays attention to them?

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this is how this scene went right [x]

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Bonus:

You can say anything and I will not abandon you. Unwrap the worst things you have done. Watch me hold them up to the light and not even flinch -  Trista Mateer

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We're joined to one another. Intertwined. We wrote our names on each other in permanent ink.

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I confess, my initial numb anger at the whole Izzy thing was one part hearing him finally, finally say the shit that was so obviously true about his relationship to Ed, but only after well over a year of trying to stand in place against an endless tide of ass-backwards fandom woobification, and another part the dull realization that this motherfucker was going to overwhelm all other topics of discussion again. I like Izzy just fine as a TV character, but as a fannish experience he is fucking exhausting.

This wasn't any great insight on my part, but I said at the start of the season: if you think Izzy is the true hero of OFMD, you don't actually like the show. And sure enough, Izzy died and we were treated to a vomitous tsunami of bile, because without Izzy, all the stans have left of the show are things they hate. (Aka everything that wasn't Izzy.) So I'm just...waiting for it to pass, so maybe we can just talk about this show like nerds together.

Because there was a lot about the death scene that was good! It was that OFMD density at work again - look at "Sit with me, Eddie." You have a callback to Fang's advice to Ed to learn to sit with himself. You have the opposite of Izzy's old attitude if "we need the plan now Ed now now now when are you killing that twat Ed now now now." And it recalls Izzy's shark, too, the idea that if you don't keep moving you die. Izzy was dying, so he could finally ask Ed to be still with him.

And finally, there's the use of "Eddie," which only seems to be used by people who knew Ed when he was younger, with the exception of the crew asking for a second song at the end of last season. "Eddie" was not necessarily a good time in Ed's life, but maybe it was before he and Izzy became completely dysfunctional - when they could still maybe pass for friends. Or maybe it was something Izzy refused to call him because it was too juvenile for the Great Blackbeard. Whatever it is, it's redolent of the past and of true affection. All that in just a few words.

I completely get why people were repelled by Ed calling Izzy his only family, but, uh. I actually one hundred percent buy it. Izzy was Ed's constant companion for years, and the person he was closest to. Did Izzy actually know him? Nope. Did they actually have a loving friendship? Also no! But it's as close as Ed got to family since killing his dad - the wire mother version of love. When Jack betrayed him and Stede left him...well, Izzy also betrayed him, but he stuck around after. So yeah, Ed thought Izzy was his only family, and that's incredibly sad.

Do I want to flick people in the ear when they say the crew hates Ed and only ever loved Izzy? Yes, of course, because it's hilariously wrong. They were plotting mutiny against Stede in the early going and took 30 seconds to mutiny against Izzy, but had to be driven to the brink of doom to do it against Ed. And no, it's not just because Ed was scarier - you think Jim would be held back that long by intimidation? It's because they hadn't grown to love Stede and Izzy at those points, and Ed was another story.

There should have been more verbal reconciliation in "Calypso's Birthday," but to argue, for example, that Archie cheerfully gave Ed a drink at the party while hating his guts is just disingenuous. She had absolutely no issues saying what she thought of Ed.

But that's a classic Izzy stan issue - this assumption that love is in limited supply, and getting it is a zero sum game, so if someone else has it then Izzy doesn't. And since that's unacceptable, clearly no one else can be loved in Izzy's presence or else. What a weird, weird way to watch this program. But it makes sense that with Izzy buried, to them there's no love left in the show at all.

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im rooting for the ned lowe survived somehow and kidnaps the kids theory someone came up with (sorry I cant remember who) so stede has to go rescue them

bonus points for ed and mary meeting because i'd give my left arm for that interaction

Something I would like to see in S3 (if we get it) would be a return of the Bonnet kids in some way. No idea how it would work but it makes me kinda sad to think that Stede is just okay with never seeing his children again! In flashbacks we have seen them have quite a sweet relationship, and surely he misses them. Hopefully they can visit the inn!

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delusionally clinging to the fact that in his show last night rhys darby said "we're all good friends here" to mean rhys is my friend

i'm friends with rhys darby guys

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so guys now that the sag-aftra strike is over (fuck yeah!!!) are we prepared for the flood of ofmd bts from the cast (especially samba)

because i might just scream

[helloiamunwell]

Okay, so – a few thoughts on Izzy’s death. I’m sure other people have also laid this out, but I haven’t stumbled across it yet, so this is partially for me to get my thoughts organized. For the record, I love Izzy – he fascinated me (in a horrified sort of way) in season 1, and then he grew on me significantly in season 2. What a weird little guy. But also – I’m fine with them killing him off, and also with how they did it, because I think it makes sense for the story. But I know that a lot of people are super upset about his death, and also about the way he died. So, a few semi-coherent thoughts on that: 

Why not a sacrifice play?

This writer’s room is so self-aware, so deliberate about engaging with tropes – there is no possible way that they sat around breaking the story of Izzy’s death and no one said “woah, wouldn’t it be symbolic and gut-wrenching if he sacrificed himself for Ed? Or Stede?” No way. So why didn’t they go that route? 

Izzy’s arc in season 2 has been all about becoming his own man, separate from Ed/Blackbeard. Like – that’s what he’s worked towards, this whole season. That is his growth. It would be insulting to take that away from him at the last minute, and make his death purely about Ed and Stede.

Listen, I love a sacrifice arc as much as the next person. But Izzy’s life isn’t about sacrifice anymore – that’s the whole point of his season 2 arc. He has spent decades sacrificing both himself and Ed to the altar of Blackbeard. No more. 

It also means that Ed and Stede’s mourning doesn’t have to be tinged with the guilt of “he sacrificed himself to save me/my partner.” They can mourn Izzy purely for himself, because he is worth mourning. This, I would argue, is the send-off that Izzy’s character deserves.

Izzy’s death wasn’t accidental on Ricky’s part – it wasn’t a stray bullet.

We see from the scene when the crew is locked up in Spanish Jackie’s that Ricky recognizes Izzy. We know from their conversation that, for Ricky, Izzy is the epitome of piracy – Izzy, not Blackbeard, is the legend.

The thing is – Ed and Stede are both in the scene where Izzy dies (I’m not sure if you can see Stede on screen, but the bts photos show Rhys’ position, on what would be the far right of the shot). Arguably, Stede would have been the easier shot – Ricky wouldn’t have had to complete a full 180-degree turn before he could pull the trigger. So why doesn’t he go for Stede, who abandoned him to the tender mercies of Spanish Jackie in the first place? Or Blackbeard, arguably the greatest/most famous pirate alive, with the possible exception of Zheng, who he’s already targeted? Sure, you could argue that he’d going for Ed here… but I don’t think he is. The shot’s too low to be accidentally aimed for Izzy – it would hit Ed’s knee or something, probably. I think that yes, it’s a panicked shot, not well-aimed at all. But if it’s aimed at anyone, I think it has to be Izzy. And at the very least, the symbolism of it is very much not accidental.

For probably the first time since they created Blackbeard, Izzy isn’t just a stand-in for Ed. His significance is his own in this scene – in all of his interactions with Ricky. He’s not targeted because he’s Blackbeard’s first mate (why go for the first mate when you could go for Blackbeard?). He’s targeted because he’s Izzy Hands – because he is significant, powerful, famous, respected in and of himself.

And more than that – this is an arc about the end of piracy. And Izzy Hands is piracy – the show has been telling us from the beginning that piracy is a mixed bag, full of the good and the bad, and Izzy represents that  – represents both the toxic, violent side of piracy, and the side of piracy that he grows into, that he explains to Ricky – piracy as family, home, belonging. Izzy dies, and it hurts, because not only is he a great character, but he represents in one person all of the complicated, hilarious, heartbreakin, violent, loving aspects of piracy – and of the show. But it is so, so important that Izzy dies as himself – not as a symbol or shield of Ed, or Stede, or Blackbeard. Not even as a symbol of piracy, but instead as the active embodiment of piracy – as something/someone who grows, changes, ends. Not as static or passive, but as better than when we first met him, as transformed as Buttons in his own way. 

Izzy’s death sets up a possible revenge arc:

We know that everything in this show ties back to the main relationship between Ed and Stede. Izzy’s death is, I think, significant on its own, for him as a character – but it is also, by necessity, significant to Ed and Stede’s relationship. Namely – it sets up an interesting conflict for season 3 re: a potential revenge arc for Ed. 

Now, clearly they’ve carefully ended season 2 on a relatively high note in case we don’t get a season 3. But we know they’re gonna be terrible at running an inn, and we know there’s unfinished business with Ricky. Ed’s current strategy of dealing with everything that’s happened seems to be “I don’t want to be a pirate, get me out of here” – which, while fair enough, won’t last, because that’s the nature of unfinished business. So, at some point, Ed and Stede are going to need to confront Ricky again. And, if the writers decide to lean into the revenge arc, I’d say the odds are pretty high that, when Ed lays eyes on Ricky again, we get a flashback to Izzy’s death. 

And this sets us up for a pivotal, and necessary, moment in Ed’s character arc: when confronted with pain, loss, negative emotion in general – can Ed deal with it without losing himself? Ed needs a balance between the Kraken, Blackbeard, and Edward, and we see at the end of season 1 and beginning of season 2 how challenging that balance is for him to find, especially when confronted with loss or pain. We can see Ed working towards that balance when he’s interacting with Low – Low’s taunts don’t push Ed to violence, but instead get to Stede. But comparatively, Izzy’s loss is a much greater blow, and at some point, Ed is going to need to confront that.

Plus – we know the writing team are thinking of Izzy’s death at least partially in terms of the mentor/mentee arc, which often confronts the question of revenge – after the mentor’s death, the mentee is required to choose on their own how to go on, what kind of person they want to be. And this often requires a confrontation with both the mentor’s loss and a decision about how far they want to take their desire for revenge.

Why not a cooler death?

Okay — I get this criticism. I do. Izzy is an amazing fighter, we all love that about him. And you can keep most of the above symbolism and still have him die fighting two dozen British soldiers. 

But — again — we are back to the root of this show: Ed and Stede. 

Izzy has two deaths this season: one in the premiere, one in the finale. The first is Stede’s fantasy. Cool swordfight, and Stede triumphs, obviously — but the premise of the fight is that Izzy’s a great swordsman and Stede bests him because now Stede’s a great pirate. This is Stede’s ideal pirate fantasy. 

But Izzy’s actual death is not like this. It is messy and inelegant and painful and no one gets any glory from it at all and Ed is crying with Izzy dying in his arms, and Stede wants to help, goes for bandages, but he doesn’t know what to do and it’s not enough anyways — And this is not a fantasy anymore. This is piracy, and this is the piracy that Ed wants to escape. And it’s important that Stede sees this, sees what Ed is done with. 

And it’s also important that Stede tries to save Izzy. Izzy isn’t just a symbolic barrier between Stede and Ed anymore, to be sacrificed to Stede’s reunion fantasy. He’s his own person, with his own death, and Izzy has grown, yes, but so has Stede.

And by using Izzy’s death to make this point, we both get Stede learning the reality of piracy and growing beyond his fantasy, and the glorious fantasy fight kiss i love you reunion between Ed and Stede (if Ed and Stede had reunited by fighting off dozens of British soldiers, but Izzy had died doing the same, the dissonance would have messed with both the death and the reunion, because we the audience wouldn’t be able to distinguish between the fantasy and reality worlds). And getting both of these is the premise of the show — fantasy and reality both. 

And sure — you can be mad that the show used Izzy in this way. But that is the show’s premise — everything is in service of the protagonists and their relationship. This is not a surprise— it’s been openly talked about since day 1. 

You don’t have to like what the writers did. You don’t have to agree that it was the correct choice. But they have proven to us, time and time again over the last year, that they are self-aware and careful with this show that they know we love so much. So we absolutely owe it, to them and to ourselves, to ask why they made a choice that not everyone may agree with. What is the payoff? Why did they decide to do this thing that they knew would upset fans? Because we know it’s not that they hate us. So what is it? You don’t have to agree that the payoff is worth it. But do the writers, and the show, and yourself the favor of recognizing that there is a payoff here.