#But his problem is that Blackbeard is a persona

[drsilverfish]

Ouch the Heart Foreshadowing

Oh man this scene in 1x06 The Art of F**kery is so great (sorry everyone having to suffer my OFMD posts “late”, but it only just got released in the UK, on the BBC). 

Blackbeard totally bullshitting, Stede freaking out, Izzy losing his jealous MIND cuz he thinks they’re screwing on deck (which, of course, they are, metaphorically). 

But the best (worst) part is Blackbeard “forgetting” that the frigging heart is on the left side of the body (a pretty important organ dontcha think!) in a massive case of foreshadowing, because Stede is about to break his heart into a million pieces and he never saw it coming. 

And he’s right - being stabbed in the body with a flesh wound you can survive is one thing, coping with that pain on adrenaline and drink and the mania of his Blackbeard persona, he’s done it so many times before. And, being stabbed in the heart means death, so that’s it, you’re done. But getting your heart well and truly broken for love? Well, that’s another thing; the pain lasts so much longer, and when you finally heal, you’re never quite the same person you were before. Poor bastard, he’s so happy here, with his intimate flesh-wound.  

[actualhumantrashcan]

I can understand a silly workplace comedy about pirates not being everyone’s jam but I really can’t understand the amount of queer people I see hating on ofmd.

like for one thing most of the debates turn into gatekeeping queerness (which I think has a lot more to do with the ages of the main couples than actual concerns about authentic representation but that’s another post) and the rest are just hateful because it doesn’t directly name or label it’s queer characters but like why do we need that at this point?? listen I love heartstopper with all my heart but it is exhausting to watch them explain queer identities sometimes (even though I do think it’s super useful for younger audiences I’m just not the target demographic!) and ofmd is an explicit, violent, adult show that doesn’t NEED to explain it’s character’s identities.

queer people past their 30’s are usually very well aware of their queerness and have had (hopefully) plenty of time to go through the arc of discovering that. so why would we need to see Stede or Lucius or Ed going through turmoil because they’re attracted to men when they have already come to terms with that at this point in their lives?? i for one find it so fucking refreshing to watch a show where the characters being queer is not their main arc, they just ARE queer and life is still happening to and around them. maybe that’s just the millennial gay in me talking, but it gets emotionally exhaustive to watch show after show where the queer character’s arc is overcoming homophobia. yes obviously homophobia still exists and yes obviously if ofmd was trying to be historically accurate these characters would be living in a very dangerous time to be queer but it isn’t trying to be accurate!! it’s trying to be fun and diverse and kind!!

and also, they aren’t pretending homophobia doesn’t exist!! it’s just addressed in a different way. Stede was emotionally abused by his father for his entire life for being “soft” and then was chased down by his homophobic childhood bullies, one of which explicitly told him that he “defiled” the great pirate Blackbeard by simply falling in love with the man behind that name. Meanwhile Ed was forced into the world of piracy at a young age and developed the entire persona of Blackbeard (who fits the toxic, violent masculine stereotype of the time) to hide the fact that he’s actually an incredibly sensitive and deeply queer man! and is told multiple times by male figures in his life that sex with other men is fine but it is absolutely unacceptable to be in love with a man. both of their arcs contain homophobic rhetoric that is still present in society today, but its never presented as a problem that they have to wrestle with. they don’t have to come to terms with what it means to love each other, they just have to overcome some trials that go along with the complicated lives they both lead as a pirate and former aristocrat. the homophobia in ofmd is woven into the backstory of each and every character, it shapes them into the people they are at the beginning of the show when all of their walls are up and they are performing the “pirate” roles they are supposed to play. and then we get to see them grow and realize that they are in a safe space, part of a community not just on the ship itself but in the life of piracy (which in the show is pretty much explicitly an allegory for queer lifestyles.)

anyway, I could rant about this all day but just truly why do we have to tear people down for enjoying something? why do we have to find reasons to hate something so obviously created with sensitivity to it’s queer audience and with so much queer joy? if historically inaccurate gay pirates going on silly adventures and falling in love are not your thing, fine! but perhaps just let people enjoy things and find your own things to enjoy.

[suffersinfandom]

Controversial opinion (?): the Kraken Era wasn’t all that dark.

There’s a whole lot of meta and fic out there that portray early season two Ed as a bloodthirsty, hyperviolent monster, and when that portrayal is challenged, the rebuttal is usually along the lines of, “I’m just doing what canon did. Did you even watch the show?”

I did watch the show, and honestly? I expected Ed to be so much worse than he was! When I see people say they didn’t think Ed did enough to redeem himself or that he went past the point of no return, I just… don’t understand.

I already went into this in my way-too-long meta about Ed and abuse, but I do think it bears repeating (in a shorter post) because it seems like Ed’s actions -- more than the actions of any other character -- are scrutinized and discussed outside of the context of, y’know… a comedy about pirates. There’s tons of casual violence in Our Flag Means Death. Sometimes the violence is even funny! 

So what does Ed actually do?

As far as I can remember (I’ve only seen season two a few of times, so correct me if I’ve missed something!), we see Ed directly harm someone twice in the first two episodes: first on the wedding boat, and then when he shoots Izzy in the leg. Kind of unimpressive numbers, yeah? Tbh, I'd expect more out of a heartbroken Blackbeard.

The first instance involves Ed shooting a man during a raid. That man has a sword through his chest before Ed fires, leading me to believe that Ed’s still following his season one pattern of keeping himself a step removed from murder (technically, the sword killed that guy). We also don’t see the murder happen; the man tumbles offscreen before Ed shoots. This makes the action less brutal. If the writers wanted us to be appalled by Ed’s violence, we would’ve gotten a graphic kill (or several).

And the second instance is Izzy. Ed shoots Izzy in the leg after he suggests that the shitty atmosphere is because of Ed’s feelings for Stede. Hot take, maybe, but I don’t think that was entirely out of line -- definitely not for a pirate captain whose first mate is acting out! Ed’s feelings for Stede are not the only problem; a significant chunk of the problem is Izzy. Izzy called in the navy and led to their capture and, more importantly, Izzy bullied Ed back into the Blackbeard persona. This is what Izzy said he wanted.

We’re also told that Ed has taken more of Izzy’s toes between seasons. This isn’t cool -- bosses definitely shouldn’t be asking for their employees’ toes -- but there is a precedent for it: in season one, Ed told Stede that he used to feed people their toes for a laugh (yuck). For a laugh. This, to me, implies that it’s not a huge deal. It’s certainly not completely unexpected pirate behavior, and it seems more lenient than, like, a keelhauling or a whipping. I think both of those things would've felt way more gruesome and dark.

As far as violent actions go, that’s not a lot. Like, numerically.

Things get darker in S2E2 when Ed becomes increasingly desperate for someone, anyone, to send him to doggy heaven. He’s unhinged and working his way up to a murder-suicide before he’s stopped, but he doesn’t lay a hand on anyone. He orders Archie and Jim to fight to the death. He ignores anonymous crewmembers as they’re swept overboard in the storm. This is bad! It’s self-destructive and selfish! But violent? Monstrous? I don’t really think so.

In my opinion, the worst thing Ed does is force his crew to do violence for him -- not because it’s violence (again, they’re pirates), but because the violence hurts them. THIS is what traumatizes them! Their trauma flashbacks are scenes of them hurting others, not of Ed hurting them directly. Ed didn’t physically torture his crew (with the exception of Izzy, and that’s complicated). His crime was driving them to do one violent raid after another, killing and plundering without any joy or theatrics. Ed feels trapped in the role of Blackbeard -- the role that he’s been desperate to escape -- and, in his heartbreak, he opts to trap his crew with him. 

Yeah, Ed is messed up in the first two episodes of season two. I don’t blame the crew for almost killing him; it’s what needed to be done. I think that Jim, Archie, Frenchie, and Fang had every right to want Ed gone after Stede’s return. 

But I don’t think that Ed was a super violent monster who tortured his crew and murdered his way through his breakup. He engages in very little onscreen violence, and the person that most of his violence is focused on -- Izzy -- is the same person who told him to be violent. I think that anyone who says that Ed’s actions in the first part of season two are extremely dark is either looking at them out of context, misremembering what actually happened and just recalling the dark tone, or working with some kind of motive.

In conclusion: Ed is a man who, at his very darkest, was still operating pretty firmly within the bounds of "stuff pirates do" (but not stuff Ed has historically done, presumably).

Also look at him. Thank you.

GIF by unearthlydust

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

I adore Izzy and Stede's interactions in s2e3, because they're so consistently proving to Izzy that he does not know Stede like he thought he did.

Going into s2, even as Izzy begins to realize that he fucked up by threatening Ed until Ed went so hard back into the Blackbeard persona, Izzy has two big assumptions.

he knows Ed better than anyone else

Stede Bonnet is his rival

And in s2e3 Stede is just consistently responding to those with "??? wtf is your problem?"

Izzy telling Ed that he knows him better than anyone else was already laughable. At this point in his arc, he's still talking about Ed like some crazed animal with erratic, unpredictable behavior. He does not talk about or treat Ed like a person with feelings. But when he starts in trying to tell Stede about how Ed was a "wild dog" (that line still makes my lip curl, jesus) and makes Ed out to be wildly cruel by saying deserting him "was better than he would've done for us" despite how Ed literally did just that in the s1 finale, Stede consistently meets him by thinking of Ed's feelings, not taking the bait, and feeling awful for how much his actions hurt Ed. He thinks of Ed as a person and refuses to conform to the language Izzy uses.

Izzy, in s1 and at the start of s2, sees Stede as a sort of romantic rival at the same time as he clearly considers Ed and Stede's love for each other as a whim, a passing crush. Neither Ed nor Stede think of Izzy in romantic terms, this is abundantly clear, and Izzy (world's most repressed man) doesn't have a fucking clue what love looks like. Izzy spends so much of this episode trying to get a rise out of Stede, pretending he was the one who slashed up the painting, challenging Stede to yell at him after Stede sees what he thinks is Ed's dead body. And Stede doesn't give him fucking anything. He's just constantly kinda fed up with Izzy. His mental energy is elsewhere - he doesn't even look at Izzy when Izzy tries to thank him near the end of the episode.

Absolutely fascinating to think about where Izzy's mind must have been this episode. He learned he was expendable to Ed in s2e1, here he's learning that he doesn't take up literally any space at all in Stede's brain, either. Stede constantly proves him wrong by making thoughtful, empathetic guesses about Ed's mental state, and when he brings up the "doggy heaven" reference, something he wouldn't have known about had Ed not told him, it confirms that he was a confidante for Ed, something Izzy never was. Izzy never understood either of them, and this episode is him getting to realize that.

[tizzyizzy]

Seen some talk around the interwebs about how Izzy is a totally different, or his arc happened too fast, whatever. He is my argument to the contrary.

There are three major factors driving the change in Izzy's behavior.

Default Pirate Culture → Gentleman Pirate Culture

Izzy spent his entire pirate career before Stede acting like, well, a pirate. There wasn't room for softness. Being tough was expected. Blackbeard's crew's culture in particular discouraged weakness to such an extent crew were expected to kill their pets before joining.

In S1, Izzy's relationship to the crews and captains was ambiguous. Was he training the Revenge crew to be proper pirates? Was he in charge when the captains weren't on board? Was Ed planning on killing Stede and everyone aboard, or not? So it's unsurprising Izzy held himself away from Stede's crew instead of becoming part of it, and tried without success to make the Revenge crew follow his lead.

In S2, Izzy ends up in Stede's crew, and Izzy isn't in a place emotionally or socially to try to push to change the culture of the ship. He's outnumbered. Izzy has to adapt. At the very least, all of the expectations he has been living up to his entire pirating career are gone.

Taking Care of Ed → No More Ed

Izzy said he'd been cleaning up Ed's messes his whole life. Scenes from S1 and S2 suggest that is the case. In S1, Izzy is dealing with Ed making strange choices on his search for meaning, which requires him to manage restless crew members and deal with the risky spots Ed puts them all in. Once Stede arrives on the scene, Ed is contradictory and non-communitive, leaving Izzy to wonder if the plan to kill Stede and the promised captaincy were bullshit (they were).

And because Izzy has no emotional intelligence, he thinks that Stede is seducing Ed into losing everything, and he desperately tries to pry the pair ppart.

I mean, we all know what happened in the early S2 episodes. Emotional, off-the-rails Ed trying to himself and everyone else while Izzy desperately tried to protect Ed and the crew, until he was forced to give up on Ed.

After breaking up with Ed via bullet, though, Ed is officially Not Izzy's Problem. Ed isn't a threat to the crew. Stede is incompetent, but was clever and brave enough to escape Zheng's ship and rescue them. Izzy is free to have a drunken breakdown. After, well, he gets to do whatever he wants.

What does Izzy want? Well, he's finding out.

No Trust → Trust

The major reason pirates put on such a tough facade is to protect themselves. Being tough keeps enemies from messing with you. It keeps your crew too afraid to mutiny. It's easy to recognize that Ed puts on a persona of Blackbeard, but Izzy put on a persona too. A weak link can be targeted and broken.

Just look at the scene where Izzy finally breaks down and is comforted by the crew. Izzy doesn't make the choice to be emotionally vulnerable. He is behaving the same way he always with crew who question his orders. He yells, he curses, he commands. It is only the level of his emotional distress and the crew's acknowledgement of it that make him incapable of hiding his pain.

I think it's safe to say that has been hiding grief, frustration, confusion, sadness, etc. behind the "Get back to work!" facade for years. It only crumbled under extreme pressure.

But when Izzy breaks, and is at his most pathetic and vulnerable, the crew have his back. Under Blackbeard, they comfort him, hide him away, and treat his injuries at the risk of the captain's wrath. Under Stede, when he's at his most pathetic, the crew make him a new leg and accept him into the crew without judgement.

There's almost nothing Izzy could do in front of the crew now that would make him look more weak than he was when he was crawling across the floor drunk and repeating "You're born alone, you die alone" over and over. He hit rock bottom and there was a pillow there to catch him.

So, Izzy is in the "talk it through" culture of Stede's Revenge. He is free from obsessing about Ed as a man and as a captain. He is surrounded by people who saw him at his worst and showed him compassion.

Izzy's worst behaviors in S1 were motivated by fear. Fear of the new, fear Ed was losing it, fear of what would happen if he showed weakness. In a "safe space", where he has nothing to worry about? Of course Izzy calms way down. This is the Izzy that swaggered up to Stede on the island and at Spanish Jackie's in S1. Dry, sarcastic, sassy. Some flair for the dramatic with the swordplay.

It is because Izzy feels so safe that he can put on that makeup and perform. Wee John is doing it, and Wee John wouldn't let him do anything embarrassing. He's clearly got confidence in his ability to sing.

He's still Izzy. He says fuck constantly. He's kind of a dick. He offers good advice. He's a dramatic, whether he's cutting his name into someone's shirt or singing in French from a balcony. He's just an Izzy that can be whatever he wants without fear.

[celluloidbroomcloset]

It's interesting that Izzy is the one who sees Ed's attraction to Stede first. Yes, Izzy is the closest to Ed, and he pays a lot of attention to Ed because that's part of his job. But it's clear from his voiceover at the start of "Art of Fuckery," and what happens with his character subsequently, that he's watching Ed very carefully for signs that he's slipping out of his Blackbeard persona, and more broadly, out of the performative masculinity that Izzy believes is the mark of a real man.

A lot has been said about Izzy's internalized homophobia, but it's a very complicated kind of homophobia - he doesn't fit the trope of the closeted gay man using homophobia to cover his sexuality. Izzy has no apparent problem with homosexuality - as Calico Jack says, it's more or less expected at sea. The form of his homophobia has more to do with gender presentation and sexual roles, not the concept of gay sex or attraction.

The two men on the Revenge he has the most immediate conflicts with are Lucius and Stede. To him, neither of them perform masculinity correctly, and both of them, in their own ways, refuse to participate in the masculine hierarchy he's steeped in.

Izzy's problem clicks for Lucius immediately, because Lucius is an out gay man who has undoubtedly met men like Izzy before. He's not ashamed of his sexuality or his presentation of it, and so he defies the hierarchy by explicitly refusing to participate.

Stede is more complicated because he's not out at all. Izzy calls Stede a "ponce" and a "fop," but neither word would necessarily imply that Stede's gay; being a fop is not equivalent to sexuality (though in "Act of Grace," Izzy's emphasis makes it clear that "twat" is standing in for a much stronger word). It is Stede's presentation of masculinity, his effeminacy, that Izzy finds repellent. Stede's not a "real pirate" (read: a real man). The idea that Ed - the man's pirate and the pirate's man - would be seduced by him upends Izzy's worldview and is something he feels he must put a stop to.

At the start of the "Art of Fuckery," Izzy's realization that Stede has "seduced" Ed is immediately followed by the stabbing scene, which Izzy overhears. I'm still not clear if we're meant to think that Izzy believes they're actually having sex on the deck, but regardless, it confirms the "seduction" for him.

This is the one clear time that we see things filtered through Izzy's perspective, with the episode literally starting with his voiceover. He's horrified by what he hears on deck, and the obvious sexuality connected to it, and he immediately insists that Ed kill Stede.

This is not a subtle show. The stabbing on deck is explicitly sexualized. Not only is Ed being "stabbed" by another man, he's being stabbed by an effeminate man. In Izzy's reading of the world, there are men who penetrate and men who are penetrated, men who dominate and men who are dominated, and those roles are aligned with masculine presentation. It would be fine for Ed to be stabbed by Calico Jack, a properly masculine man who understands the masculine hierarchy, but not by Stede.

Stede defies Izzy's categorizations by quite literally not understanding the role he's supposed to play in the first place. Stede's not humiliated by his shirt being cut off in "A Damned Man"; he says that he quite enjoyed it. Izzy's threats go right over his head in "A Gentleman Pirate" - he can't even remember Izzy's name. It doesn't occur to him to be scared or humiliated. He further upends Izzy's reading by treating Ed kindly. Ed can't bring himself to fulfill his role in the masculine hierarchy by killing (stabbing) Stede, and Stede sits down and offers him gentleness.

Stede throws Izzy's concept of masculinity out of whack by being an effeminate man who penetrates, a fop who seduces a "real man," and whom Ed sees no shame in asking to stab him. He's too fluid for Izzy to get a hold of. He doesn't just not participate in the performance of masculinity that Izzy wants from him; he doesn't even know that there's a performance going on.

Later in the episode, it's Izzy who stabs Stede, pinning him to the mast and re-establishing the masculine hierarchy - Stede is the one to be penetrated by a "real pirate." Then Stede just...breaks his sword. He did it on purpose. Izzy is effectively emasculated, but Stede doesn't even know it. He just knows that he "did it right."

What has thrown Izzy off is Stede's lack of participation in the masculine hierarchy. He doesn't know the rules that Izzy has been controlled by, and so he's not "doing it right." Being penetrated isn't inherently shameful. Penetrating isn't inherently about dominating or gaining power over. Stede's face when he stabs Ed is simply one of concern, because he's hurt him. He's not getting a sexual thrill out of harming Ed, and penetration doesn't equal power for him. Stede throws everything Izzy thinks he knows about masculinity overboard simply by existing.

(I think I've got more to say about how this all shifts in Season 2, and why that's so important to Izzy's arc, but I done wrote enough for now.)

[alex51324]

OK, so it is actually thematically relevant, but not necessarily in a good way

I've mentioned before that a lot of the flaws in OFMD S2 seem to stem from DJenks and the team trying to eat their cake and have it too: when they have two things they want to do, but can't--or don't have time, budget, whatever--to make them actually work together, they just jam them both in anyway.

The biggest of these is, of course, having Izzy die at the end, and a "kind ending," where Stede and Ed launch a non-piracy-based life, while the ship and remaining crew set off under the leadership of the younger generation.

As I've also mentioned before, Izzy's death makes narrative sense as a setup for a revenge arc in the as-of-yet-hypothetical Season 3. The finale gestures toward that with Zheng suggesting they team up, she to avenge her fleet, Ed to avenge his lifelong right-hand man--and the rest of the crew, presumably, to avenge their unicorn.

Ed shrugs his shoulders and fucks off to start an inn, and the rest of the crew sail off for new adventures. That ending would make sense as a series finale: Ed and Stede, having accomplished what they wanted to do in the field of piracy, launch a new, land-based life, while the other sail off to new adventures under the leadership of the next generation. It hasn't quite been earned yet, at this point--for one thing, Stede and Ed have some relationship issues to work through--but given another season, it could work really well.

The trouble is, that you can't cram a happy ending and a sequel hook into the same five minutes. Neither one actually works. You can kind of make out the general idea of both elements, but what actually comes across is the two captains flitting off into a doomed, whim-based venture while giving, a most, maybe half a fuck about Izzy's death.

And the reason that's thematically relevant, is that wanting two contradictory things and once, and refusing to choose between them, is the core of Ed's internal conflict.

He's bored of being Blackbeard, and he's tired of doing violence, and he wants to be soft and open and have genuine relationships with people--but he also wants the respect and deference that come with the Blackbeard brand.

He wants, as we see in the Gravy Basket, to be a simple innkeeper--but for the guests to never be rude or demanding (because they secretly know he could kill them).

He wants to be able to offer a half-assed apology and be embraced without criticism (because he's Blackbeard and they don't actually have a choice).

He wants to be a fisherman who does not actually have to catch any fucking fish (because the other fishermen should be impressed and grateful that Blackbeard is slumming it with them).

Most of all, he wants emotional intimacy with Stede, without vulnerability and the potential of getting hurt. (Because the main thing the Blackbeard persona always was, was a way not to get hurt.)

Ed's entire arc is painting a picture of a man who doesn't know how to make hard choices between two things he really wants.

And season 2, especially combined with the scattershot, contradictory postseason interviews, paints a vivid picture of a showrunner with the exact same problem, artistically speaking.

That may be part of the reason why that aspect of Ed's character is so convincingly and compellingly depicted, but it doesn't bode well for the show actually resolving the conflict.

[destinyandcoins]

ALSO the show draws a very clear line between how Ed acts when he's upset and processes his emotions and how Blackbeard acts when he's gone off the deep end.

Ed repeatedly retreats, hides himself somewhere safe, and tries to process his feelings of inadequacy and hurt. we see it when he hides in Stede's bathtub, when he hides in the blanket fort, when he leaves dinner at Mary and Anne's to curl up on the sofa under a blanket. FURTHERMORE we see Ed post-Kraken turn in s1 and in the first episodes of s2 crying alone in the captain's cabin, sighing wistfully over the wedding cake toppers, and just generally being a sad little lump of a man who is hurting

the violence Blackbeard displays is only ever in public, performative. He cuts Izzy's toe off in s1 to announce his return to this aggressive, violent persona that Izzy has demanded of him. He pushes the crew to violently raid ships and gets in Frenchie's face to intimidate him and shoots Izzy and makes Archie and Jim fight each other. and part of that is him pushing them to kill him in a way he can't bring himself to do (he always outsources the big job), but it's very important to remember that the way Ed reacts to being left by Stede and the way Blackbeard is being violent and traumatizing the crew are two different things entirely.

one is a reaction to being left by the man he loves and feeling unlovable, and the other is the direct result of being told he needs to be a monster and an extended performance of being that monster (and way of shielding himself from the threat to himself Izzy presents at the end of s1).

Ed and Stede are both men desperate to be seen and understood for who they are and not what people have told them to be. Stede tries to create a pirating environment that embraces softness and talking about your feelings, but he's still so caught up in running from himself and his problems that he has to go home and fix things with his family before he can truly live that way. Ed is suffering and feels like a monster because he's been told his only worth is being this fearsome pirate persona, and being that thing hurts, so he makes sure everyone else becomes that thing and hurts along with him.

it's not until the final episode that Ed realizes being a fearsome thing doesn't have to hurt, being capable of violence doesn't mean you are a monster, sometimes it's a thing you are (a thing you do) to protect the ones you love. you're not a dick, life's a dick; you're not your father just because you're capable of violence, you're a man who has something worth fighting for

[hummingbee-o0o]

I am so bloody excited and here's why!!!

This plot is going to be so gorgeous!

Season 2 is all about the reversal, the opposite of what we've seen in season 1, and ofmd is so incredibly character-driven. Even more specifically, the plot is driven the most (almost entirely) by Stede, Ed and Izzy.

The story is so driven by the three of them, they are linked together, for better or for worse, right from the start.

What happens in season 1?

Stede is running away from his life and he stumbles into Ed's. Throughout the season there are hints of his issues with fear, and then the big one happens: he's confronted with his greatest fear, aka ruining everything, and he runs away again. His biggest problem is his fear.

Ed is unhappy with his life, waiting to drown (hellooooo, season 2 metaphors), he's a Peter Pan-level lost boy. He doesn't know who he is. When Stede doesn't meet him on that dock he becomes convinced he's unlovable and becomes completely lost. Why? Because his greatest fear was confirmed.

Izzy's life is disrupted by Stede, he becomes Stede's antagonist. He's angry, he's jealous, he clings to the only life he's known to keep him and Ed safe, aka violence and unkindness. He becomes a catalyst for problems. Why? Because he's scared.

These three characters are all so scared and in such different ways that it creates an absolute maelstorm of a plot, and it's breathtakingly brilliant.

Now, season 2 is all about the reversal: of fortunes, motivations, lives, everything.

Stede is no longer scared and no longer running: he's in love with Ed, he knows he's in love. He becomes unstoppable. Now he'll go on without fear. (He lifts the covering off "dead" Ed's face, unafraid to see what he finds there.) He's going to show Ed how much he loves him, and he's no longer scared of ruining Ed. More than that, he accepts that he's hurt Ed, and that doesn't frighten him away from facing him. (Stede is also ahead of Ed and Izzy on this journey, because Stede is in charge of the narrative, and that's so gorgeous.)

Ed is now finding himself. He tries to find himself in the grotesque Blackbeard persona, but of course he's wrong, poor thing. He's spiralling, more and more lost. First change: Ed chooses life, he stops drowning (Stede as a source of light again, btw, sjldfhsjdf). Ed's journey now is about finding himself, deciding who he wants to be, and also to let go of his own fears. He'll be finding himself and accepting love and being brave enough to express love.

And Izzy! Izzy, in his own reversal, becomes a catalyst for solutions and a unifier, where he was once a divider. He stands up to Ed (and he chooses life too, jfc, he shot that torch out of Ed's hand in the middle of a storm, don't tell me he missed when aiming at his own head, the whole message of ofmd is choosing life!), and he reaches out to Stede, wants to mend things. He'll be teaching Stede how to be a pirate, he'll be helping. He will be letting go of his anger, which also stemmed from fear.

These three scared characters are now actively choosing to not be afraid any more, and they're choosing life. And this is how they'll drive the plot this time.

This is so, so incredible and beautiful, and I absolutely love it.

And it's not upending the order. No, no, that's what the first season was about. This? This is about putting things right.

And I can't wait <3

[poison-into-positivity]

The more I think about the scene in 2.02 where Izzy confronts Ed for the toxic atmosphere on the ship the angrier I get.

Ed asks Izzy to “enlighten” him as to why the atmosphere is fucked, and Izzy’s answer is “your feelings for Stede fucking Bonnet.” And Ed shoots him.

The part that makes my blood boil about this interaction is that the love isn’t the problem. Ed’s feelings aren’t the problem. The problem is that Izzy has been goading Ed into going full Kraken since the middle of s1, and has taken advantage of Stede leaving in order to fully take control of Ed. The problem is that Izzy doesn’t care for Ed’s wellbeing, he just gets off on seeing Blackbeard commit atrocities.

If the crew had gone through with Izzy’s mutiny in the s1 finale, or if Izzy had not been there for some other reason, I think Ed would’ve been okay. Heartbroken of course, but ultimately okay. He was working through his grief with poetry and art, and with the (albeit begrudging) support of the crew behind him. He was finding healthy ways to cope, and I think he would’ve continued to do so if Izzy hadn’t threatened his fucking life and forced him back into the Blackbeard persona that he made it clear he doesn’t like anymore.

And so in s2e2 when Ed challenges Izzy on the deck to say outright why the atmosphere on the ship is so toxic, and Izzy blames the love that Ed has for Stede, the only thing that’s fully and completely Ed’s and not tainted by Izzy’s influence, of course he fucking shoots him.

[mermaidlighthouse]

Why I think Izzy’s death was actually necessary despite me being sad about losing my favorite* character…

So I am once again looking to reframe a moment/scene involving Izzy around Ed because as much as Izzy was his own character (with a wonderful redemption arc) his function in the narrative imo is as an extension of the Blackbeard persona and therefore Ed and his perception of himself

Ok so this is gonna be long but I think it’s necessary to frame this properly

Izzy and Ed’s relationship is one of misery loving company and instead of finding ways to legitimately pull each other up and heal from whatever brought you to that place it turns to one of toxicity where you either repress the trauma (Ed never telling anyone that he killed his father, that he feels like a monster) or express it in ways that only perpetuate the misery. At this point that constant cycle of misery is so familiar it can be difficult for the participants to recognize what they’re doing to themselves and each other and it’s difficult to not fall back into those patterns.

So while Izzy is making strides and having his arc, instead of saying to Ed maybe don’t go looking for darkness when you’re standing in the light, don’t look for trouble or problems that don’t exist just because that’s what you’ve come to expect he says maybe you’re just a mopey twat and there isn’t a fuckin storm, when Ed does apologize for his leg Izzy’s only response is fuck off.

They can’t communicate with each other effectively and it’s already caused issues. When Izzy tells Ed to listen to the feeling of throwing away the trappings of Blackbeard, Ed does but he has also been told by Izzy that Ed isn’t good enough so why would Stede want him now that he’s not gonna be Blackbeard. I think Izzy meant well and had the right sentiment but the fact is that the damage of what they do to each other has already been done. Izzy doesn’t just represent the devil on Ed’s shoulder, he’s the voice in his head telling him he’s worthless without Blackbeard.

So could the narrative have just said Izzy went off on his own or went with the crew in the end? imho no they couldn’t because in order to have a healthy relationship with Stede, and just to be a generally well adjusted person Ed needs to love himself and the constant knowledge that his self loathing can just pop up out of nowhere (something explicitly shown as an Izzy staple) won’t allow him that freedom. (I recognize this isn’t how self development/self esteem works irl but this is a dark comedy rom com just let some things be hand wavy.)

Sometimes the best way to help each other grow and be whole is to recognize that you need to let the other person go. That’s true for BOTH of them.

Izzy dying was the only way they could finally communicate honestly without the jibes and the looming Blackbeard of it all they could just talk to each other as family as people who love each other (this is not my ship and I have a serious issue with the lack of nuanced takes on love in this fandom but that’s a separate issue).

To give Izzy some grace here I would like to point out that his story can also be seen as one that tells the audience that toxic people in your life or people you have complicated relationships with are allowed to grow on their own and make positive changes for themselves BUT that does not mean you have to accept them back in your life, you are not required to give them space after they’ve wronged you. You can celebrate their growth but you don’t owe them anything. Ed can recognize that Izzy has changed but he was never going to fully excise Izzy from his life he’s too familiar and too much a darkness to hide in and it would have created more toxic situations. So yes Izzy had to die.

*I always mean favorite side character because my favorite character is EdStede/StedeEd. If you don’t love them, together and separately then you don’t love the show because this is their story

[san-sebastienne]

I don’t care that it’s been months; I’m still thinking of how to tighten up s2 and make it have literally any narrative impact/emotional growth. So here’s my chopped and screwed s2 rewrite that nobody fucking asked for, PART ONE:

The big, overarching change is that Ned Lowe is the BBEG of s2. We’re saving Zheng and, more pertinently, Prince Ricky for s3 (that’s definitely happening in my world, shhh). This gives weightier narrative stakes to the Kraken era, since the looming problem is predicated on Ed’s actions – much like the Badmintons as BBEGs in s1 were based in Stede’s actions/past.

The season begins the same: the trauma crew are raiding every day, never making port. The Kraken is making everyone’s lives difficult. They break Ned Lowe’s record, but it doesn’t seem to matter (also Lucius is hiding in the walls of the revenge, causing even more stress and probably trying to haunt Ed. Let’s add a little levity.)

Stede and co in the ROP. Stede’s bartending at Jackie’z and hears someone talking about blackbeard… but they’re being very complimentary. Calling him “fascinating,” “a dedicated man” – not the kind of language that Stede’s gotten used to arguing about. Who’s this gent who seems to actually GET Ed? His name is Ned Lowe, and he’s looking for his old pal blackbeard.

Stede and the crew hitch a ride out of the ROP with Ned, since they all have the same goal – finding Blackbeard. Besides, Ned is genteel. He seems to have the same sort of appreciation for finer things that Stede has, and it’s nice to see after spending so much time cleaning up vomit at Jackie’z. Maybe Stede and Ned have a dinner in the captain’s cabin a la Barbarossa and Elizabeth Swann in the first PotC… everything is grand and well laid out, but something is very wrong. Stede tries to ignore this, but his “this guy is bad news” senses from being a gentleman are tingling.

Meanwhile, back on the trauma ship, Jim is trying not to mourn Oluwande. They’re very “everyone I’ve ever loved is dead; why would he be any different?” They’ve thrown themselves into pirating as a way to double down on their hardened I Am Vengeance persona, and this growing thing with Archie as a rebound.

Leg thing/Frenchie is first mate now/crazy storm thing/let’s kill Blackbeard are all the same. Except Lucius is there, probably spending a lot of time hiding with drunk/sick Izzy (there’s some hurt/comfort in both directions, as much as izzy can be lucid for it). He also shows up for that final shot of the crew looking down at Ed while Jim hefts the cannonball. Ed’s not worried about hallucinating anymore; he’s finally about to die!

It’s Ned’s ship (plus Stede et al) that comes across the storm wreck of the Revenge. Our crew still has to escape over to their old ship, not because anyone found Ed’s corpse but because Izzy, in a moment of clarity, is like oh shit, Ned Lowe is super bad news, we have to get the fuck out of here right now. This way we get the beginning of a basis of trust between Izzy and Stede, since Stede listens to the insistence of the Trauma Crew and takes Izzy’s advice on when to get out of a bad situation.

Gravy Basket happens.

Someone (Lucius?) tells Stede that Ed’s body is still onboard. MerStede happens.

Jim is extremely overwhelmed that Olu is alive. The two of them have a very sweet romantic reunion. They confess to Olu about Archie, but insist that she was just a rebound. Archie tries to laugh the whole thing off – it’s fine! This didn’t matter! Shit things are bound to happen to everyone! Jim feels mega guilty and starts to realize that maybe it wasn’t just a rebound – they might actually care for Archie.

The uicorn leg half of “fun and games” is pretty much the same, the big division between the crews being that The Trauma Crew wants to banish or straight up kill Ed, but they’re still very much being chased by Ned Lowe. Stede’s crew insists that getting distance here is more important than adjudicating that mess.

We do all still come together to give Izzy his new leg.

Ed is locked in some kind of makeshift brig, making everyone tetchy and uncomfortable. Except for Stede, of course, who sees this as his chance to explain himself to LITERALLY captive audience Ed. Stede has the “I love everything about you” scene with him there, and explicitly tells Ed that he didn’t go to the dock bc of Chauncey (holy shit, how does he never fucking bring that up in the actual s2). Ed is moved but not convinced to forgive Stede… yet. They do the hand holding thing here, but don’t have the conversation about taking it slow. Instead, offering his hand thru the bars of the brig is the only thing Ed does to show that he’s heard Stede and is considering forgiving him.

The other half of this episode is the crews re-integrating emotionally. Jim/Olu/Archie explicitly discuss their relationship structure. Jim can be with both of them. Lucius and Pete get to have a moment about how Pete thought Lu was dead; Lucius admits that he kind of thought he was too, since all he did was hide and hang out with a guy who was too delirious to even really recognize him.

Somehow we still get Ed in that catboy collar. Nonnegotiable.

Part two incoming…

[roz-ani]

Izzy deserved to hear that from Ed.

That's Izzy's family. It's Izzy whom the crew loves.

That was Izzy's arc, not Edward's.

Now, please, don't get me wrong. It is a part of Ed's growth. Still, the main focus has always been his relationship with Stede and his identity. You can absolutely dive into the captain's relationship with his crew, but you don't replace a character's arc with another one's, especially at the last minute.

I understand the symbolism of Blackbeard "dying" with Izzy. The gatekeeping, gaslighting, feeding the persona of the world's greatest and most merciless pirate staying in the past... I am also fully convinced that Blackbeard's right-hand man actually passing away to achieve that was unnecessary.

What this season did for Izzy was absolutely incredible. That man abandoned his ego and changed the way he perceived power, respect, loyalty, and support for and because of a group of people he despised at the beginning.

His main purpose has always been looking after any crew he was a part of. He had more contact with them than the captain himself, especially aboard the Revenge when Blackbeard was going through his mental breakdown. In the first season, we saw Izzy wouldn't be the best captain, but he did have the experience and eventually learned how to look after his subordinates. All because he finally experienced proper care himself.

He got his heart broken in more than one way, yet managed to find his people, his family. Izzy finally got to know what real appreciation looks like. He got it from the people he initially mistreated. The crew decided to look after Izzy because "he's their dick". They stopped fighting after seeing him at his lowest. They made him a new prosthesis out of the figurehead of all things, showing the audience how they see him - the crew's protector, the spirit of the ship.

At first, Izzy kept pushing them away. Not out of hatred for them, but for himself. Because healing is difficult, it hurts, it takes incredible strength and willpower to admit to yourself that your environment is harmful and that you might be the problem as well. Especially when leaving it seemingly deprives you of your identity or purpose in life. Besides that, come on, it's Izzy Hands. A man who wasn't heartless, but also not "soft", as he would have most likely put it himself. He was still rough around the edges and cynical. However, after all this time he finally allowed himself to let go and feel comfortable, so some of that bitterness disappeared over time. I still don't believe he was fully healed, but he was on the right path.

Despite changing his outlook on life, Izzy was still respected. He knew what mattered and what to do and say to make sure his crew's issues were properly resolved.

Now, Ed's apology. At first I felt like there didn't need to be any deep talk between the first mate and his captain, because they understood each other well enough. That's not what communication is about though. It's not about taking something or someone for granted. Especially is the conflict escalates to such extent. There should've been more to that. They should've both had a conversation about their relationship and what made them bad for each other. Most importantly, how they could fix that and heal together. If that would require them to part ways, so be it. At least they'd separate on good terms. Now we can only speculate.

I would say my biggest problem is not with Izzy Hands dying. It's about how he died. Although I doubt I'd support this decision in season 3, at least it wouldn't be so rushed. There was no proper build-up to it. Izzy and Richard, of all people, had a deep talk about understanding piracy, a concept that is a base for one's actions. This was probably the biggest red flag, which tragically appeared in the same episode Izzy died. The crew didn't thank him or bid him farewell. He wasn't properly mourned. He was buried in the ground.

"You should've expected that. Things were going too well. A mentor character always dies after regaining hope". I have two HUGE problems with that.

First of all: a mentor character? I guess? For two, maybe three episodes at best? Izzy did meet some mentor archetype points. He was Stede's mentor for a bit, I mentioned his experience and position as the first mate, but I wouldn't say that's his main purpose. The writers did, but we're going to talk about it in a second.

Second of all: this was many people's comfort show. Especially when it comes to the LGBTQ+ community. I myself have praised this show for its take on communication and found family portrayal. It was fun, light-hearted, safe.

I understand the need to tell your story, I truly do. I know that people don't have the right to tell someone how to create, because the audience, especially the more pushy members, can be very often self-centered and don't know what's planned for a show's future. Except that these days you really have to be careful with how you plan your story with the corporations holding all the power - that's why we need to support the strikes. You need to be prepared to disclose necessary information in a proper way if needed. You need to pay attention to what you're portraying.

Now, I also believe that media literacy is dead (exaggeration) and people really can't for example understand that stories develop over time, seasons, or chapters unless they're consuming a media piece that has already run its course. They do have the tendency to take things literally and not search for the context.

Still, in the postmodern era of creativity, you need to know you don't hold all the power, despite not owning people anything. Your audience can interpret things on their own. What you believe to have no power or significance can mean the world to your audience. Remember how difficult it was for people to believe this show actually has LGBTQ+ characters and a love story in it? Or how the creator admitted he was surprised by the scepticism? I don't. Not only because I started watching the show quite late, but also because I don't consider myself to be a part of this community. It didn't mean so much to me, because I currently focus on different aspects of the content I consume. However, I know how they perceive media and their products. I may not have the same experience, but I know where theirs comes from. And I know that this show was just different. TV series, books, etc. do not belong only to the creators nowadays. Yes, they are their products, but they are made for an audience that has the right to individually approach and criticise them. And even though overinterpretation is a thing, there is no one right answer to certain issues.

BUT THEN AGAIN: THE MONEY. Was it the budget? I honestly have no idea. Perhaps it was, because literally everything is dependent on it these days...

See, we could argue back and forth about the behind-the-scenes, but I don't think I have enough knowledge of that. I also don't want to get into the topic of disability, suicide, abuse, etc., because I am not the right person for it, even though some of those things are a part of my experience. There are people out there who can give you their thoughts on their perception of Izzy's character and his significance in those areas.

I suppose my point is... I'm mad and genuinely disappointed. I can't remember the last time I was so attached to a character. I absolutely adored Izzy's character and was drawn to him in the first season. I related to him struggling with his toxic environment and finding a safe space. I was ready to see him become a captain. Heck, even if that wasn't planned for him, I still trusted the crew to let the character be happy after everything he's been through. Instead, I got this: "As long as you turn over a new leaf and heal, your death is a good one... Redemption equals no happily ever after... Remember that life isn't fair..." Aren't we tired of such narratives? What does it say about us and the media we consume? Isn't hypernormalisation of such issues exhausting?

I'm disappointed because I had hope. Even after getting betrayed by so many stories in recent years, I still had it. I had hope for a different character. Hope for a different show.

Edit: Just wanted to make something clear because I see more and more people focusing on Buttons sitting on Izzy's grave and David Jenkins liking a tweet about him being a witch. You could call me a hypocrite for pointing out people's lack of media literacy and not even considering the possibility of bringing Izzy back. That was my first thought. I would absolutely love for Buttons to do his magic and revive our man. There is something inside of me still holding onto that hope. I'm just really, really, REALLY tired of having hope in shows nowadays. I'm choosing to remain sceptical. Who knows, maybe I'll be positively surprised. Still, I stand by what I wrote: I think killing Izzy was unnecessary in the first place.

[blue-b-bro]

Colour’s meaning in ofmd:

First rule is that brighter = more intense, and lighter = more open a feeling is. I’ll say more below, but it already says something about Blackbeard’s crew being all black and only black :’)

Yellow:

Yellow is a colour of truth. Colour of following your dreams and passions. Before the break-up gown, Stede is wearing the yellow one.

Teal:

Basically it’s a sea colour. It means sea and freedom. In e4 Alma has teal dress, while playing pirates with Stede, which also shows she was closer with Stede than her brother. There’s a lot of teal-ish colours around Stede, but most are actually “hidden”, darker. He was keeping it a secret from others. When he’s on his boat in s1 he’s almost glowing teal.

It’s the colour of sea and freedom, but more like an idea of it, not a realistic one, witch may be the reason many crew members have some teal elements, usually very small, and Stede is all teal and then, in e10 he destroys this idealisation to start something real. After his first “kill” in e1 Stede’s teal's never that bright again.

Pink:

It’s a colour of rejection. Not sure why, but it is. The moment Stede leaves, Mary’s wearing light pink. When Ed becomes distant and then leaves him to go with Jack, when Stede left Ed, they are wearing the break-up gown, which is bright pink. I’d say the difference between those two intensities would say something about the intensity of the feeling. Mary was abandoned, but she wasn’t so hurt by it, they weren’t happy together. But Ed and Stede were hurt very much.

Also all of the non-white crew wears pink/pink-ish in e1, while in disguise (because you know, to show racism) + Lucius’s very bright scarf & Black Pete’s light pink… something (probably because homophobia, and Lucius is very loudly queer). All the things white colonisers reject.

Red:

We all know, it’s a heart colour, Ed’s heart but not only. Ed hides his red, Lucius is wearing a lot of red, as someone who’s not ashamed of his love and usually helps with relationship’s problems, Stede, while destroying his teal is covering it in red and in s2 wears red scarf(?). At the end of e3 Stede is covered in red, even the background turns red, while meeting Ed for the first time. He's also wearing dark red when talking about his favorite horsie :")

Salmon/Orange:

It’s a colour of insecurity, feeling inadequate or incompetent, unsure. Stede wears light salmon/orange when Ed says he’s not ready for a fuckery, then very dark (almost brown, but still salmon-ish to me) when he feared Ed’s going to leave, because Stede’s wasn’t fun enough. Ed wears dark salmon in e4, when trying this new persona/thinking he was expendable to this Blackbeard legend. Stede is deprived of his salmon vest in e2, when he got more confident.

Purple:

I think it’s the creativity and adventure colour. I’m also not sure if it’s important that what Ed was missing after leaving the Revenge was a lavender soap (something something he wanted to feel clean and with Jack he wasn’t again, it’s a colour meta, let’s not go there). I mean we say it’s Ed’s colour, but I’m not sure anyone here has “their” colour. If colours are feelings, no-one has their own. For example, other characters wearing purple is Stede in e2 (when he has to use his creativity), Lucius (art), Frenchie (music, crafts and cons) and sometimes Oluwande. Characters get more purple when they need to figure out a plan or scheming something, get creative.

White/Beige:

Stede is all white in e3. He’s like a blank canvas (Lucius is immediately covered in red again), inviting pirate world, willing to learn. It also makes him stick out like a sore thumb of course. White is supposed to mean empty, nothing, bare, open. Stede made his white crew wear mostly white, to not be seen as suspicious.

Beige, as some kind of darker white, is not knowing what you want, figuring thing out.

Ed and Stede are white when discovering their love for each other, entering something completely new for them. Stede, at the end of s1 is colourless, but in s2 he gets a red scarf and later gets green/dark teal shirt. Jim is all beige while hiding and figuring out their identity. When being afraid that he’s not enough fun, Stede choose all beige for their adventure, showing he doesn’t really know what he’s doing but he’s ready to do it.

Beige is temporary.

Now, we have yellow&red-ish&teal ship, Stede’s dark red&dark teal at his wedding, Sted’s family portrait (everyone close and light yellow/orange, except Stede - dark blue/teal and distant):

But the real kicker for me is Stede’s pitch black cravat Ed wears on his neck. His feelings for Stede while always with him, hidden very deep inside.

I also recommend those meta: x x x x x

Edit: I'm rereading metas and now I remember why purple is thought to be Ed's color (Ed's red heart + Stede's teal freedom he offers -> purple) Still fits 🤟

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

I've gotta admit, the take that Ed and Stede are "running away" from their problems at the end of s2 absolutely baffles me.

The thesis statement of this show, as we know, is "a lot of the things we are taught about being a man are wrong." Harmful ideas of what it means to be a man are at the core of Ed and Stede's issues with themselves: Stede struggle to feel like as much of a man despite loving softer things, Ed's feeling forced into a hyper-masculine caricature of himself. These are the core problems at the heart of these characters, obviously there's more to it but when you boil it down that's what we're working with. This is why Stede's trying to live up the ideal pirate image in s2e7 is important; he's getting a taste of what he thought he wanted so he can choose to leave it behind for what's really important. Ed, too, is still struggling at the end of the season with figuring out who Ed is, once he can break free from the Blackbeard persona.

What would be solved by sailing away, planning to continue as pirates at the end of s2? How would that be addressing their problems or helping them live more authentically? Ed has wanted to leave piracy since we met him, and yes, Stede enjoys piracy, but the idea that piracy is the true and right end-state for him is a very basic reading of the text I think.

Ed and Stede making the decision to try building a life together in their new shack isn't running away from their problems - it's Stede prioritizing Ed over a life of piracy, because piracy isn't what he wanted in the first place. He wanted to be a part of something, he wanted to marry for love, he wanted to be appreciated for who he is. It's Ed finally realizing in the finale that he can use violence as a tool to protect the people he loves, but he's also allowed to step away from it. Will the inn idea work out? Maybe. Maybe not. Who cares? It's not the inn that's important, really, it's that they're both choosing to commit to each other and taking this step towards living more authentically.

We already know exactly what "running away from their problems" would look like, and it's the plan Ed proposed in s1e9. He wanted to run away to China so their old lives could be "gone, dead, never were." Ed just wanted to forget about his past, and Stede was riddled with guilt - wherever they go, there they are. The difference between that plan at the end of s1 and Ed and Stede's new plan at the end of the s2 is, first of all, they're both all in and they know it, and, secondly, they're both getting a lot better at meeting themselves where they're at.

[originallypoki]

OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH S2 SPOILER!

Izzy was on his way to finally outgrow Blackbeard, leaving that persona behind and live a happy life with the crew he loathed so much before. The others stayed pirates, they literally just changed captain, got a few new crew members and are back on sea. So why do they deserve to live but Izzy not, who had the most character development (besides Ed) of the whole show? Shouldn't that be rewarded?

But that wouldn't matter, because while I was unsatisfied with Izzy's death, now I'm just mad. Because David Jenkins gave us the reason for it;

And while it's debatable if Izzy was in love with Ed, no one, really no one ever has seen Izzy as Ed's mentor / father figur. Because he's fucking not!

Killing off the character who's whole character arc is to finally become independent, to give some other character more development, is just wrong. It destroys the meaning and impact of his story. Why give him this whole arc about letting go if even in death he's just Ed's tool again? 'It make it more tragic', I don't want tragic, I'm fucking autistic, I need sense and meaning.

Maybe more time could've fixed S2's problems, but I just can't really believe that. At the same time the first half of S2 was awesome. So who am I to tell? The only thing I know is that I wouldn't have minded Izzy dying, if it was with other circumstances. Not him being a tool.