#ESPECIALLY because he speaks that line to STEDE?????

[sunnibits]

ok I know we talk a lot about the love confession lines and the “rotting former first mate” line and all that but can we PLEASE talk about “you know what he did when I told him I loved him? he shot me.” BECAUSE OH MY GODDDDD WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK. INSANE FUCKING LINE.

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

Some musings on how to write Stede. He's genuinely a tough one to pin down because his voice is very him, he'll say things like "methinks" just as readily as "here's the deal, buckos." But I think I've got a few things nailed down and wanted to share in case they help anyone else.

Biggest thing: if you're struggling with getting Stede's voice right, his voice is a hell of a lot closer to Ed's than it is to the Aziraphale-brand "generic posh British" voice. If he's been surprised, Stede's more likely to say "oh shit" than "good heavens," you know what I mean?

My guy is not going to say something like "good evening! I was wondering if you would be interested in doing intercourse with me this fine evening" unless, and this is crucial, it would be funny for him to say that. Sometimes when it comes down to him using a fancier affect your judgment call needs to be based on how funny that line is going to be. Like, that line isn't in character if it's meant to be an example of just how he talks but if it's Stede trying to awkwardly flirt over text then it's fine.

I think that's important so it bears emphasizing: if you're going to have Stede talk overly-posh and use unusually fancy words, it's okay if it's funny. This seems to be the main rule the show uses, too.

Stede is usually polite but he's not timid. He has very few qualms about being a bitch to someone if he knows them well already or if they were rude to him first. Think about him telling Jim that they're "welcome to borrow [his suit]...or, well, look at it." Let queen bitch over here be a bitch!

Stede is ruthless. This doesn't mean he's unkind; it means he's very good at seeing exactly how to get from Point A to Point B and he will commit himself to getting there. The threat Ned Low posed is already neutralized? Doesn't matter. He hurt Ed, he's going down.

Stede's voice is much more formal and flowery when writing than when speaking. Think about "we're joined to one another, intertwined. We wrote our names on each other in permanent ink" in his letter compared to a more simple "I love everything about you" when speaking.

Let 👏🏾 Stede 👏🏾 Say 👏🏾 Weird 👏🏾 Things!👏🏾 This guy is weird, he's a weirdo, he doesn't fit in. If you're thinking to yourself "why the fuck would you say that" you're probably onto something. Let him make weird choices. Stede, especially after a bit of character development, is very himself - if he's a college professor, let him drag a full comfy armchair up to his fifth-floor office. If he runs a sex toy shop, let him proudly show off his invention called "the Cervix-Slammer 9000" that'll leave Ed very satisfied but also unable to walk for a week. Let him be enthusiastic and weird!

[queerfandomtrifecta]

How Izzy’s Death Could’ve Made Basic Storytelling Sense

Just to be clear, Izzy is my favorite and I wanted him to live more than anything. This isn’t about that, and that is NOT why I hated his death. Had it served the narrative in a way that made even the most basic storytelling sense, while I’d admittedly have been devastated in a different way (i.e. the character whose queerness was relegated to the subtext in s1 and as soon as it’s textual and his whole arc is that he’s killed, but that’s a whole separate post…), but at least there would’ve been a correctly crafted arc from a surface level narrative standpoint that ended in the death of my favorite character. But that’s not what this is about. It’s is about how the show could’ve actually made the death actually make sense and work effectively. (Also, if you want my unasked for thoughts on how most of the existing plot of s2 (minus 7-8) could’ve easily been adjusted to fix the narrative as a whole and keep Izzy alive, I wrote this)

But. For those in the fandom insisting that Izzy HAD to die, including DJenks who has said as such in interviews (for reasons I do not understand), from an objective developmental editor standpoint, this is what I think needed to change to make Izzy’s death serve the narrative, character arcs and dynamics, pacing, structure, and thematic elements correctly.

It’s about 2K words just so you know what you’re gonna get into. Spoilers under the cut.

Issue 1. Izzy’s relationship with the crew and how they truly became his family this season totally vanished during his death scene. The same crew who he protected from Ed during the later, worse parts of the Kraken phase. The crew who banded together to save his life by hiding him from/lying to Ed about it, and amputating his leg to save him. The crew he saved by crawling up those stairs during the storm, hobbling out into the rain with one leg and shooting Ed before he could shoot a cannon ball through the mast and kill them all. The crew who called him “our dick”. The crew that then banded together with Stede’s half of the crew to him the leg and the new unicorn (aka the figurehead of the ship). That crew didn’t cry a SINGLE tear when he died. What?? Fang sobbed most of episode one and really lost it when Izzy got shot. Where was that when he died?? Izzy’s last speech to Ricky had something along the lines of: piracy is about belonging/family. We are Good. (Forgive me, I’m paraphrasing, but that’s the gist). Izzy truly did find his family in the crew outside of Ed. That was absolutely fantastic, especially in the first four episodes and episode six. It VANISHED when he was dying and dead.

The fix: To make the death impactful, effective, or even to make it make sense on a very basic acting and writing level, the crew should’ve been utterly DEVASTATED. At least heartbreaking music and like 30 seconds of everyone breaking down and holding each other. At least some of them crying and holding each other in the background when he was dying. Come on.

Issue 2. Thematically speaking, is piracy Good or Bad? Again, Izzy tells Ricky that they (the pirates/his crew) are capital G Good. Yet Ed has spent a lot of time maintaining piracy is capital B Bad. He tells the urchins as such. Here’s some money that I never had, now you don’t have to be pirates. Don’t be pirates. He doesn’t want Stede to kill Ned Low in cold blood. Ed just doesn’t want to be a pirate. Even at the end AFTER Izzy dies telling Ed he’s with his family (implied that this is the crew) and they love Ed, Ed LEAVES THAT FAMILY AND LEAVES PIRACY IMMEDIATELY. We’re left with him and Stede watching the family Izzy swore was Good and loved Ed sail away because Ed thinks piracy is Bad. Which is it?? The death served nothing in convincing Ed he could be happy with his found family on the sea as Ed, not Blackbeard, so the dying words were pointless. The thematic elements are all over the place (for the whole season but that’s another post) and that needs changing to make the death scene make sense.

The fix: Izzy should’ve told him he sees he doesn’t want to pirate anymore, he’s glad he’s found love with Stede because Izzy isn’t going to make it, go run your fokkin’ inn, you twat (affectionate).

Issue 3. Izzy died of bad planning and bad luck. Why didn’t they take the gun from Ricky? Between Spanish Jackie, Izzy, and Jim, SOMEONE would’ve thought about it. If not those three, someone else would’ve, but come one. One if not all of those three would’ve known better. Yeah, Izzy happened to be standing in front of Ed and he got shot instead of him, but you’ve gotta be REALLY looking for that to even be aware it’s what happened. It wasn’t even on purpose unless Ed strategically placed himself behind Izzy (which I doubt was the intent). Izzy didn’t position himself protectively/take the bullet for anyone on purpose. It was just happenstance and you only notice it if you’re rewatching and hyper-analyzing everything (which a lot of us, me included, in the fandom do, but casual watchers don’t. It’s totally unclear as far as the surface level narrative goes) Any sort of “heroism” is not acknowledged, it’s barely even noticeable in the shot. If that was the intent, it HAD to be clearer and acknowledged by the characters so the audience would realize the stakes and repercussions of clear choices. As it is, I don’t think it was intentional. If Izzy HAS to die, it should truly have rounded out his arc in a way that CLEARLY changed the course of the scene, leaving him to protect people he’d put in danger at the end of s1. It didn’t. It just read as terrible planning to the point of it being out of character for more than one character, and bad luck.

The fix: Izzy should’ve saved someone. I personally don’t like the idea of it being Ed. I’s have rather he save Stede (Not really, but it’s better than Ed I guess) But really Izzy should’ve died saving the crew. The crew makes the most sense to me, narratively speaking. He’s their figurehead, he’s protected the Kraken Crew for months and they should’ve been fiercely loyal to him, he blames himself for what Ed did to them (more on this later) so it makes sense for him to fiercely protect his crew. His family. Who should’ve been devastated that it happened because Izzy is the one character of the main three who’s managed to earn that status this season.

Issue 4. The death did not serve to move the plot along. There are literally zero things that would’ve been different for the end of the episode, save Izzy being alive and on the Revenge in his rightful role he earned with his crew as the captain, if he’d have lived. Ed and Stede aren’t partnering with Zheng to go after the guy who killed him in the next season. Nope. They got the offer but nah. They’re running an Inn. Which Izzy would’ve supported based on literally everything we’ve seen from him in episodes 5-8. The crew who Izzy protected fiercely and who viewed him as their leader? Not one tear during his death or the the funeral. Happily sailing away to do presumably more Muppet Treasure Island hijinks. No character development happened. No plot development happened. The season could’ve ended literally the EXACT SAME WAY with Izzy alive aboard the Revenge!!! No stakes were changed at all. No one was impacted enough for it to seem like it was even going to be a plot obstacle next season. It just happened, Izzy’s toxic situationship who maimed him multiple times over the course of months to the point of his leg needing to be amputated was sad for one (1) scene, then we moved on and did not seem sad at all at the funeral. What.

The fix: The plot should’ve been driven by the death. Ed and Stede (but especially Ed), and DEFINITELY the crew should’ve been sailing off plotting to avenge the death and defend piracy against Ricky and the British, especially with Zheng who lost her whole fleet. Ricky and the British are clearly (or so I hope, nothing’s clear here anymore tbh) the primary antagonist for the theoretical third season. No one should be running an whim-based inn for fun or sailing off happily into the sunset after the death of the most major character aside from Ed and Stede, who beyond proved himself a major part of something every character (his family) should’ve cared about this season. If he HAD to die, that death should have furthered the plot. But instead, it seems everyone shrugged it off with tears exclusively from Ed.

Issue 5. Izzy got shot in the left side. The side in which canonically NO ONE DOES FROM BEING INJURED ON IN THE OFMD UNIVERSE.

The fix: Yeah I know this is just too nit-picky but it was also just SO sloppy. Like just shoot him on the other side if he has to die, because this was a very memorable plot point more than once in s1. Like, come on y’all.

Disclaimer: Issues/fixes 1-5 would all need to happen together to truly fix it and make the death serve the narrative correctly. Issue/fix 6 is a totally separate route, which I personally hate, but at least the narrative would’ve made sense this way.

Issue 6. The idea that Izzy had to die so that Ed could be free of Blackbeard makes no sense at this point in the story. Ed already threw away his leathers and gave away his treasure to symbolically get rid of Blackbeard, and Izzy very sweetly encouraged him to follow the feeling that throwing out the leathers gave him. Izzy told Stede that he and Ed were good for each other. They balance each other out. Izzy is on good terms with both of them and their relationship, so Izzy “having to die” so Ed could flourish as Ed genuinely makes no sense and came totally out of left field.

The fix for 6: This one stands alone and is my absolute least favorite option, but if it HAD to happen without the 1-5 fixes, here’s how it could’ve made sense. If THIS is truly the way it was going to end, Izzy needed to be continuously antagonistic or avoidant to at least Ed and actually be shown holding Ed back from happiness until that last second. He wasn’t. He was so much better. Izzy clearly does blame himself (that’s for a separate post because I have lots of thoughts there) but to be fair they were both abusive in that relationship, for years it seems. Although I think by the beginning of s2, the power dynamic has clearly flipped and it was Ed who was doing most of it and Izzy was exhausted and knowingly “reaping what he’d sewed” (I don’t Blame Izzy for his abuse but I think this was his mindset) so the crew wouldn’t get the brunt of it.

If he seriously HAD to die because the writers just had to have it that way, those are the changes I think would’ve made the narrative work/make sense, served all the character arcs and dynamics correctly, and actually driven the plot as fictional deaths are supposed to, compelling things into a third season. Seriously, this season finale was a mess of baffling choices the most series finale season finale I’ve ever seen.

Anyway. There’s my unsolicited two-cents. Now back to hoping Izzy’s in the gravy basket waiting to be sea witch necromancied back by seagull Buttons in season 3. I love this show and I hate hating what I hate hating about it because it’s my absolute favorite and I can’t stand it because it’s fantastic and the worst thing I’ve ever seen. (Also, Izzy should’ve lived).

[bloomeng]

In the early onset of their relationship, Stede and Ed had a tendency to lay awake, giggling into the night, still giddy at the notion of their togetherness. Ed lay on his back, with Stede nestled against his side tracing the worn lines of his tattoos, attempting to map out the landscape of a previous lifetime. Quietly he would inquire as to the origin of each; what was their meaning, where was he when he got it, how old was he?

Most of the tattoos, Ed says, he barely remembers getting. If he does remember they rarely have interesting stories.

“Got this one because I thought it would look cool.”

“This one’s from a dare against Jack.”

“This one is a reminder.”

Stede was surprised to find that Izzy had done many of them. Most of the smaller ones at least, Ed had said, the larger ones—they both decided— were best handled by more qualified artists. According to Ed, Izzy was fairly good with a needle, and shockingly good at eyeballing symmetry. Stede could agree, especially next to the shaky linework of Jack’s masterfully illustrated…

“Think it’s supposed to be a dolphin? I don’t know mate, we were fucking wasted.”

They laugh together, and when it settles Stede resumes his journey across Ed’s skin. He gets to a small tattoo located high on his thigh, faded but still clearly visible, two swords crossed.

“And this one?” Stede suspects it to be another of the ornamental ones, but Ed pauses.

“One of the first tattoos I ever got. Might actually be the first.” Ed traces over it idly as he speaks. “I got it for Iz. It’s my matching tattoo to his.” He laughs nervously. “Not a one-for-one match, but he did let me mark him— my north star.” He taps his cheek just below his right eye. “And I got his swords.”

Stede hums to himself thoughtfully. Just like all the others he asks, “How old were you?”

“Fuck, had to be only twenty at the time. Remember being sorta nervous about the pain, but Jack already had at least ten, so he kept telling me the thigh wouldn’t hurt much at all. But honestly, the pain wasn’t actually going to stop me, cause I wanted it so badly. I was so set on the swords. I even stole Iz’s sword to show to the artist because I needed it to be accurate.” Ed had a far-off look in his eye. “He was right pissed at me for that, but showing him the tattoo afterward softened the blow.”

“And Izzy?” Stede’s voice is softer than before.

“Izzy? He was closer to thirty, but he didn’t get his at the same time. Wasn’t until we mutinied that I gave him his star. It was my idea. I was still hanging onto the idea of matching. Originally, I was gonna go for something more dangerous looking, put it on his thigh, so we could be a proper pair, but he stopped me. It ended up being his idea to do the star. Was shocked when he told me where he wanted it.”

Ed's hand lingers over the swords, with unspoken words caught in his throat. When he finally opens his mouth to speak again, Stede expects him to elaborate but instead, he simply moves on to the next tattoo without prompting. Stede half listens, pondering privately, trying to picture a world in which Ed was chasing after Izzy.

[batsarebetterthanpeople]

Since I am posting about celebrity drama. Let's do some critical thinking here. I know a lot of people on this website aren't great at it, but let's try.

Guz Khan has been a vocal supporter of Palestine for many many years. He was vocal in his support of Palestine long before he was hired onto Our Flag Means Death. Taika Waititi was brought onboard as an executive producer on Our Flag Means Death before any of the casting had occurred, which means Waititi could have known about Khan's politics and sabotaged his casting, but he did not do that and Khan got the role. Ivan was the character on the crew with the least amount of lines in season 1 and he was on Blackbeard's crew, not Stede's. In season 2 they effectively replaced him with Archie played by Madeleine Sami, who is a New Zealand actor who doesn't have the international TV recognition that Guz Khan has. With all this data, which do we think is more likely:

A) Waititi personally fired Khan because he's a Zionist leveraging his power

B) when OFMD got it's budget cut they had to make some choices about which high payed actors in minor roles they wanted to keep, so they booked Bremner for 4 eps, Faxon for 3 eps, and did not ask Khan back, found ways to write all three of them off, and then brought on Sami for a cheaper contract than they would have gotten from Khan in order to maintain a believably sized pirate crew and keep the ensemble comedy aspects so many people loved from the first season

Like yes Taika Waititi signed a letter to Biden calling for release Israeli hostages from Hamas, the wording of which blamed Hamas for all the violence, and he's liked Gal Gadot's pro Israel insta posts but can we please not make up conspiracies about it. It's starting to sound a hair antisemitic, especially considering that no one is speaking on Con O'Neill (who, unlike Waititi, is not Jewish) also signaling that he's a zionist. he posted pro Israel stuff on his Twitter multiple times just while the Twitter algorithm was showing me his tweets, (from April 2022 until he deactivated for tweeting about a Columbians doing coke later that year).

[saltpepperbeard]

I cant stop thinking about the end of episode 6, specifically the Stede and Ed of it all.

Just the look on Stede's face when he pulls Ed in kills me. I need to know everything in there, in words.

Also, what do you think wouldve happened if instinct hadnt taken over? Would they have actually talked it through (as a crew?) Or would Stede have just brushed over it again and Ed accept it?. This is pretty much the only time he tries to actually help stede like this.

Also, because im rambling, why doesnt Ed defend Stede properly when people insult him? does he think it just doesnt affect him or something?

Pardon the tardy answer on this one, anon! I was in the void, only to get decked upside the head by Leslie Jones once I crawled out of said void lol. BUT OKAY OKAY-

*rubs hands together like a fly*

This face absolutely kills me too. And I feel like it says so much without saying a word at all. I feel like it says, "I'm so happy and relieved to see you right now because the true torture of the night was seeing you get threatened." And, "I love you so much for checking up on me, but I don't have it in me to use words right now, and can't really express what I'm feeling any other way than through actions." And, "I'm so terrified after what just happened, but having you here is such a grounding force."

Like just...the glassy sheen to his eyes but the relief to his overall visage...Mr. Darby I'm billing you for damages <3 sdjksldls. I think he was just so so happy to see Ed in that moment, and so relieved to have him after nearly losing him again.

And as far as talking things through goes...I honestly feel like Stede still would have stayed clammed up. I have a feeling it would have been like how it was when he initially opened the door, ie Ed doing the talking/leading the conversation while Stede stays quiet. Maybe Ed sharing such deep feelings and vulnerability would have eventually pried his shell open and gotten him to express a few fears? But idk, because at the same time, Stede witnessed Ed's bathtub moment, and it didn't really shake any of his own personal walls.

I just think he has such a complicated thing going with his own self-image, masculinity, and trauma, that it would have been very very difficult for him to openly admit to pain/terror/etc etc—especially weakness. Especially the thing that earned him vitriol and stones and death threats. And especially not to the man he respects and looks up to so much.

And SPEAKING of which, in regard to your last question, I think Ed doesn't step in to defend him for two reasons. One, he's the protector against physical abuse, whereas Stede is the protector against verbal abuse. This lovely post here [x] explains it beautifully; "they're both protecting each other from the dangers they know." Ed acts very quickly if some sort of physical harm threatens Stede, whereas Stede acts very quickly if some sort of vitriol threatens Ed. Neither of them want the other to experience the pain they're so acclimated to, and subsequently are each other's defender from such.

And two, sort of along those lines, I don't think he recognizes the hurt that can come from it, just as Stede maybe doesn't recognize the hurt that can come from all the violence. Maybe he doesn't realize how deeply it has cut Stede, just as Stede doesn't really recognize how deeply violence has cut Ed. I don't know how to word this properly lol but like...they view what hurts the other as almost a non-issue.

You can see their varying reactions and differences a few times in episode 6 actually. When Ned is physically torturing them, Stede doesn't really react when Ed is burned, but Ed reacts strongly when Stede is burned. And when Ned is flinging vitriol about prior to the violence, Ed doesn't really react to it, but Stede scowls and fights against his restraints.

And then when they're on deck, Stede doesn't think to take cover when the attack is starting, but Ed immediately flings himself in front of him. And when Ned is trying to goad Ed into getting upset, Ed doesn't take the bait whatsoever, whereas Stede steps up and gets upset on his behalf.

Not to mention also, Stede being like "Haha escaping violence? Not bloody likely" the morning after. I know that's episode 7 lol, but my pOINT STILL STANDS. They both expect those things respectively—Ed expects insulting talk from other pirates, and Stede expects violence in their line of work, but they're actually rife with trauma for the two of them.

TLDR, they balance each other and ground each other so well, but imagine how much more they would if they shared all these deeper thoughts. I'm still holding out hope that Stede will have his bathtub moment in season 3, or even just show a lick of vulnerability around Ed. Maybe the domesticity/concept of marriage will scare him enough into opening up a bit more/talking things through, or even just settling into a more mature relationship with Ed will give him the grounds to do so.

REGARDLESS, they are just a broth that's....*Roach voice* beautiful, complicated, balanced...

[not-she-which-burns-in-it]

OFMD and Breathwork Part 2 - The Kiss Scene

Much later than intended but I’m back, as promised, with the part 2 of my breath and voice work thread, this time looking at the kiss scene in Episode 9.

I really thought this was going to be more fun, but turns out it was mostly sad. Oh no. But before we get sad, let's do a part 2 of the basics. If you’re just joining, please read the other thread (https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/not-she-which-burns-in-it/686892030208638976?source=share) for info on where breath comes from in your body (in an acting sense) and how it affects the tension of the scene. This time we’re gonna focus on the pace of the scene, and when in your breathing cycle you begin speaking, and how that reflects the acting choices you make. 

LET’S DIVE IN!

BREATHING 202 - PACE

Ok, we’re working with my crude drawings this time, I’m so sorry. Here is a line of your breath. Line goes up for breathing in, line goes down for breathing out. Pretty self explanatory.

When you’re awake and talking, the breath cycle isn't really gonna look that smooth. The lower line for instance is more like your deep relaxed breath - breathe in deeply, quick at first and then slowing down as your lungs reach a comfortably full level. Then slowly breathing out in a long tail. As soon as you’re done, you breathe back in, no pause. This really makes more sense when you try it. Try breathing in following the lines, we’re all gonna learn today. 

Now here are some simplified spots where you might start speaking in your breath cycle, meaning how much air is in your lungs when you start making words happen. Let’s take a look at them:

So, we put all this together and we get a map of intentions. Especially when we combine this breathwork with the info from part 1, and all the other pieces of acting - micro expressions, body language, non-fluencies (uhms, ahhs, sighs) - we can glean SO MUCH about the acting choices and storytelling. If I ever get around to a Part 3, I’ll do the intro section on Spicy Breath and Vocal Work, I promise. That’s a whole thing. But for now let’s get to the kiss scene. I looked at the whole scene, not just the kiss itself, because the story demanded it.

THE SCENE BEFORE

Ok, in order to talk about this scene we have to go back to where we last saw Stede. Everything starts going wrong right here in this gif. The music that plays at the top of the kiss scene starts 5 minutes earlier in this moment. The second Stede learns that Mary reported him as dead, the smile falls off his face and this delicate piano music comes in (I quit music school to study theater but I can tell you it’s in a minor key). 

That leads us into the bunk bed scene - that music is still playing - where he’s wondering aloud whether Mary really thinks he’s dead or just reported him dead out of spite. He’s flashing back to his family, the worry for his children starts creeping in. Mary is still coded like an antagonist at this point, but the phrasing “do they really think I’m dead”, tells us he’s worried about his children mourning his death while he’s off being happy and falling in love. The music cuts out the second Ed appears. Ed clears away Stede’s troubled thoughts. Awww. But oh no, it’s doesn’t last. This conversation with Ed doesn’t make him feel any better, it makes him feel worse. Look at his face when Ed says “It’s time to accept our fate”

Stede is so upset he literally runs away. He darts out of the dormitory out toward the water leaving Ed sitting on his bed. And Ed is not oblivious to this, he’s worried. His mouth is tight, his brow is furrowed, and his eyes are casting down and around as if looking for an explanation. He’s upset, why?

Now, Ed isn’t stupid, he can think of a bunch of reasons why Stede might be upset, they’ve been captured and are losing their freedom. Of course, Ed has missed the key element here, which is Stede’s bottomless pit of worthless self-image. So what does Ed gather from this - Ed is ok with his adventurous life being over, but Stede is not. This is a good theory from Ed’s perspective, he is ready to stop being Blackbeard but Stede just got started as the Gentleman Pirate, it makes sense for him to be not find joy in moving on from that life. 

SO. The beach. We start with the same melancholy piano music picking back up. More flashbacks to playing with his children. Look at his body language, he’s curled up staring out at the sea. His knees are pulled up like they were when Ed left him for Calico Jack. His hands are on his knees holding himself together, and his thumbs are gently sweeping back and forth across his kneecaps - trying to sooth himself. Honestly he looks like he’s about to cry, his lips press together and he breathes in deep. There’s no one for him to speak to, he’s alone, the breath is to either tamp down the wave of emotion or let it out. But whatever he’s about to do, Ed immediately derails that plan.

And this takes us into the kiss scene. Stede is wallowing in guilt over his family, and guilt over dragging Edward into all this with him. Ed is looking to convince him to look on the bright side. Now you can “look on the bright side” of loss especially if you’re gaining something else. “Hey you can’t be a fancy pirate, but maybe you can have me” Excellent proposition Ed, well done. Tragically, that’s not the problem. You can’t cheer someone up from guilt and feelings of worthlessness, it will in fact make them feel worse. “Hey you feel bad for being happy while your family is in trouble, what if, we had even more happiness together?”

THE SCENE

“There you are” implying he’s been looking all over for him. And look how close he sits. They don’t appear to be touching, but it’s a couple inches at best between them. Now it’s Ed’s turn to let out a breath. He settles himself with it. It’s not clear whether it’s relaxing, now that he knows Stede is ok, or if it’s a determined breath because he has an idea of how to fix Stede’s sadness and he’s come looking for him to do just that.

He starts with a joke, but this isn’t his boisterous joking voice, it’s not even his normal speaking voice, it’s soft, gentle, and from the throat (check part 1 for what that means) it’s very similar to the way Stede speaks to Ed in the moonlight, or in the bathtub scene. It’s soothing and intimate. Given the sudden breath in and out before he starts, I’m guessing the intention was to start with a “tell me what’s wrong” sort of approach and he chickened out and went for a joke. But his voice is still in the soft “tell me what’s wrong” tone and volume. Adorable. But Stede brushes it off, “Oh come on, stupid idea”. It’s even softer in vocal quality than Ed. But somehow it’s not increasing the intimacy, it’s creating distance. How? Because the lack of volume and vocal support isn’t to draw Ed closer, it’s because Stede isn’t really talking to him, he’s talking to himself. As soon as he says it, Ed looks down and stops smiling. It’s hard to catch because he’s blurry in the foreground, but you can see the concern immediately rush back in oh this isn’t something easily fixed. Here’s where I get sad already. Stede looks at Ed to gauge his reaction before doubling down on the negative self-talk. By the time Stede looks at Ed, Ed is no longer smiling gently at Stede. All Stede sees is a concerned frown. He’s concerned for Stede, but Stede’s never gonna see it that way. The “Oh shut up” response is so quick, it’s reflexive. I’d bet anything it’s a #1 (Speaking before you breathe in) but I can’t tell where he is in his natural breath cycle to say for sure. But instead of engaging with his own emotions, Stede pivots to Ed’s emotional state instead. This is a recurrence in their relationship where Ed is emotionally vulnerable and Stede provides comfort and support. Stede is much less willing to share his own feelings - so much for his “talk it through as a crew” motto. Ed unfortunately (fortunately?) takes the bait.

Stede’s at a normal breath placement (either a #2 or #4), but listen to his emphasis “how are you handling this so well” - compared to Stede handling it very poorly. But again, we’re not saying that outloud.

Listen to Edward’s speech here, this is a great example of using breath to pace a speech where your character is discovering each piece of what he’s saying as he’s saying it. He’s taking small breaths in between each new idea. I’ve added tally marks here to visualize it. “I don’t know [///] It’s kinda nice just to take a load off [//] Just to [/] Just to be [/] Edward [//] I don’t know if I wanna go back to the old days [/] just drinking all day and [/] biting the heads off turtles or [/] making some poor bloke eat his own toes as a laugh [//]” 

Notice how the word “Edward” is completely isolated by breath. It’s HUGE for him to acknowledge Edward’s desires are different from Blackbeard’s. It’s something Izzy seems to have been aware of from the beginning, but Edward really only realized once Stede came into his life. Stede, bless his refined little heart. Takes a full breath in to not respond to the “eat his own toes” comment. Because he’s polite, and loves Ed, and doesn’t want to derail the emotional sharing by over-reacting. But you can see it in the immediate and deep furrow of his brow.

When Ed starts speaking again, he’s a little more hurried to get the thought out. The biggest note is the separation of the word “Ed” again, it’s revelatory to not just recognize the parts of him have different desires but that he should prioritize Edward’s desires and needs over Blackbeard’s. And BOY OH BOY does he act on that realization immediately. Because what Ed wants is 1,000% clear to this man. 

BUT STEDE MISSES THIS DISTINCTION. 

Listen to his emphasis. He matches the structure but he puts the emphasis on happy not on Ed. 

“What makes Ed happy” vs “What makes Ed happy?” It’s a subtle difference but extremely important. Because Stede thinks he’s saying 

“Pirating has made me happy until now, but I guess, since there is no escape, no way back to that life, I want to be as happy as I can…” But in reality he’s saying “Pirating made Blackbeard happy, but for the first time, I want to focus on what makes Ed happy, because I enjoy being Edward…” But let’s finish that thought and really cry. More breath tally marks, because they’re important.

“[//] These past [/] few weeks [//] have been [//] the most fun I’ve had in ages [/] years [/] maybe ever. [///] so [//] so uh [/] I reckon [/] what makes Ed happy [//] is [///] you.” Again, we’re getting breath in between each new thought, or each moment where he needs to gather strength to get these words out. This time instead of “Ed” being isolated by breath, the word is “you”. Stab me in the heart. Confessing your love for someone is hard, oh wow it’s scary, and Ed needs all the breath support he can get. He’s also not speaking very loud. They’re so close to each other, these breaths are tiny little snatches of air. That last phrase though. “What makes Ed happy is you” Why does it sound so breathless if he’s taking so much time to breathe? Let’s Map It Out! (THIS IS THE GOOD SHIT)

Ed getting that last word out with the last bit of air in his body is EVERYTHING. It’s desperate. It’s vulnerable. It’s so unsure of what happens next or if he should be saying it at all. It’s taking a huge chance because this is the moment things between them go from subtext to text. This isn’t just saying “Hey, let’s bang” it’s saying “I have soft squishy feelings for you, and maybe that makes me weak but I don’t care because you make me happy”. And Stede is FLOORED. The Gnossienne No 5 comes in, and everything is good. His whole face lifts up like the simple act of making another person happy is the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to him. Especially since he started out this scene dwelling on how much he’d disappointed his family, his parents, how he’d made this difficult for his crew and Ed, and everyone in his life. For Ed - glorious, wonderful, legendary Ed - to say that Stede is what makes him happy. Holy Shit. That’s groundbreaking for Stede. This is the first and only real smile we get from him in the whole scene. You can see the worries lift off him for a second. And before he can say something stupid: the kiss. 

THE KISS

Ed reaches around to anchor Stede’s opposite shoulder as he presses in - both to angle him properly and to stop him from startling away. Not in a forced manner, his touch is gentle, moreso he’s aware that Stede’s not experienced at this and he’s guiding the moment. So thoughtful. Also, so soft, my god.

Stede responds to the kiss immediately, he’s not just passively being kissed. Eyes closed and lips pressed forward, he’s about it. And he moves his lips on Ed’s to find a better position. As Ed shifts forward more and brings his left hand up to Stede’s shoulder he’s turning his whole body into the kiss, gently stroking his right hand down Stede’s back. The rustle sound you hear is Ed pulling his leg up in the sand to get better leverage turning to Stede. Stede meanwhile sweeps his arm forward toward Ed. I can’t see where his hand lands, but it looks like it’s going for Ed’s knee. 

Ed breathes in before he kisses Stede, (part one call back) but it’s hard to catch because he doesn’t do it until he starts moving. I LOVE this because it implies he didn’t decide to kiss Stede until he was already doing it. It’s a small catch breath, not much air, and certainly not enough for a big romantic kiss. So we hear Ed breath in bigger through his nose as they kiss - breathing is not important enough to stop kissing Stede - right before he starts shifting his body. After he shifts you hear him breathe out, again through his nose because he’s not stopping this kiss for any single reason. But it comes out slow like he’s sighing into the kiss. 

They are both pressing forward, despite the shifting bodies and sweeping hands, their lips don’t part. After they reposition their bodies, Ed turns his head to deepen the kiss just a little and we get that tiny tiny whimper noise from Stede and all my braincells explode into gay glitter. 

I’m not sure Stede is breathing at all here. He might breathe in a bit when they shift, but I’m not sure. I think it’s just internet start-up noises in there. Which might add to his dazed expression and whispered response post-kiss. When Stede opens his eyes he’s looking at Ed’s lips, briefly, before his glance goes back to Ed’s eyes. This moment is pure joy. Even if the guilt comes rushing back in, this moment is golden.

POST KISS 

Stede’s line “You make Stede happy” is in the softest whisper. And they stay at this intimate whispered level until Ed’s plan starts to form. We really hear Ed’s voice come back on “There’s always an escape” while Stede responds in a whisper, not yet bought into this plan.

It’s not until “China” that things start to go wrong. As soon as Stede says China, his glance skitters away and down. He hedges, “That’s quite far away.” Ed interprets this as “Can we get that far” when really Stede means “Maybe we shouldn’t go that far.” But alas, Ed doubles down on the thing Stede is most worried about “Our old lives will be gone, never were.”

Stede looks down again, to the same spot, and the cut away tells us he’s thinking of Mary. And the clip is significant here. It’s both a refutation of Ed’s point “We can start a new life” vs “We only have one life.” And the bits about “We never would have chosen each other.” relay strongly to themes of found family. Because Stede wouldn’t just be abandoning his family in Barbados by running away to China, he’d also be abandoning his Found Family on the Revenge. I genuinely wonder if we would have gotten this anxious guilt reaction if Ed had simply proposed going back to The Revenge. It would have felt less like an abandonment to Stede, and “now or never” in getting closure with Mary and the kids. But. We’ll never know. SO. We’d looked at Ed’s breath in his decision moment, now let’s look at Stede’s. Right before this cut away to Mary, Ed asks “What do you say?” Stede breathes deeply in and out. We come back from the cut away to see him finishing that exhale as he looks out to the ocean. He doesn’t breathe in. He presses his lips into a thin line. He doesn’t breathe in. He swallows nervously and looks back at Ed. He STILL doesn’t breathe in. “Yeah.”

https://youtu.be/cQC_7HAMza4

He’s 100% speaking with no air. He desperately needs to breathe in and feel steady, get support for his words, and think clearly, but no. The word just escapes him in this desperate whisper. It sounds like somebody punched it out of him. I think Ed misses it because he assumes Stede is nervous for the dangerous escape, or just flustered from the kiss. But folks, if you’re asking someone something really important and they say Yes in that tone, and then make THIS face.

Stop and clarify that they’re ok, and that they actually want whatever it is. Because wow, this is a cry for help. Also, listen to the music at this exact moment, it does this discordant little minor trip that just SOUNDS uneasy. Brilliant music design here folks. It trills up when Ed realizes Stede is saying yes, and then comes jarring back down when Stede makes this face. OUCH.

I love the mirroring of breath between Ed’s “...you” and Stede’s “...yeah” - one is so full of hope while the other is so full of despair and yet they are physically executed in the same way. Brilliant, so painful, thank you David Jenkins. It’s also further proof that Stede’s breakdown was not just from Chauncy, but a crash and burn that he was headed to from the moment they got to the island. Ed’s phrasing here also mirror’s the bathtub scene “I was suppose to kill…. you” as many people have pointed out. But here’s the thing, that scene brings them closer together because Ed is being vulnerable and Stede is providing support. Stede is comfortable with that role, because he doesn’t have to examine any of his own feelings and desires. This scene is the opposite. Despite Ed making the love confession, this scene is about providing Stede emotional support. Stede is ZERO percent ok with openly acknowledging what he wants or needs, which again leads to this face. 

I don’t think he was planning on ditching Edward the way he did though. Not based on this physicality. This SCREAMS “maybe if I just keep pushing these bad feelings down they’ll go away.” Thank you Mary Bonnet for shaking that out of him with a well-placed skewer to the ear hole. Therapy for everyone in Season 2!

Part 3??

Someday I’ll make a part 3, I’m not making any promises of when this time - I’ve learned! But I really want to look at Ed’s physicality around Calico Jack vs his physicality around Stede because it’s fucking fascinating. As I said at the top the intro lesson will be on intimacy work because SPICY.

Anyway I’ve written like 3,000 words at this point and I have to stop. Likes and comments really make my day - thank you all for the interaction from part one (which is here if you need it:

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/not-she-which-burns-in-it/686892030208638976?source=share

)  And come follow me on Twitter @/shewhich that’s where most of my brainrot content lives these days.

[fluidfox123]

Izzy Hands is a complex, dynamic, and well-rounded character. The fandom's depiction of making him a flat, simple, all-villain and all-hero character–when it isn't silly-haha and having fun (obviously because me too, girlie, me too)–but as a genuine, serious perspective of his character and his place in the show is something that I would like to point out. 

So, obviously, some of this fandom has strong ass opinions about Izzy Hands, and I have seen so many takes on him, especially with the release of the first season 2 episodes. Now, for those of you who don't know (for any new fans), Izzy Hands is the first mate to Blackbeard's crew and frequently, in season 1, was uptight, persuading Edward Teach to do things he didn't really want to do (Kill Stede Bonnet, act a certain way around the crew, not show weakness, act on another side to him that was present on the Revenge, etc.) 

This has caused a lot of fandom splitting on opinions about him, especially his toxicity to vulnerability when Ed was heartbroken over Stede leaving, Ed and Izzy having more than a captain and first mate relationship, his actions towards the crew, and so on other unpleasant things he's done. This has caused fandom to view him as homophobic (at times internalized), masochistic, an abuser, and villainized. Other parts of the fandom see him as a victim of societal symbolism, a scorned lover (going through a divorce), a one-sided lover, and an actual hero for not only the progression of the story but Ed and Stede's relationship.

A lot of the fandom is insanely split on this, so split I've seen entire arguments about it and people pulling some unbelievable shit over some lil guy in a comedy-emotionally-symbolic pirate show, so I am here to say, very loudly and clearly: Izzy Hands ain't no villain or hero, no abuser or victim. I am here to say he is fucking BOTH simultaneously and that he isn't more of one or the fucking other. He has two hands, and both hold the complex nature of humanity as the beautifully well-rounded character he is. 

To get the ugliest explanation out of the way, the idea of an abuser being a victim and a victim being an abuser is something that, I believe, is something that has to be considered when speaking of Izzy Hands, especially concerning Edward Teach. Like, practically ESSENTIAL, if you want to dive into the meat of their relationship. And I don't just mean that as in, like, "Izzy Hands fucked over Edward emotionally to the point of mentally breaking him and then got physically abused in return by the man he mentally broke with his idiocy," BUT ALSO through the lens of "Edward AND Izzy have spent long years in a hell they can't escape in the line of work they have been forced to stay in, even by those who are supposed to be by their side/society, and in turn twisted the dagger into the stomach of those who placed it on them." 

Now, to clarify, in similar terms, Izzy Hands–someone who is affected by the view of what piracy is supposed to be by literally everyone outside of the Revenge and Blackbeard's ship, as shown in season 1–has abused Edward emotionally, brought upon him ideas that harm him and tear that man apart to the point of feeding into his suicide ideations that have been present from the very beginning. At the same time, Edward has internalized those views and reflected them upon the one who hurt him and others. Izzy Hands and Edward Teach are victims of an idea of what is "right" for them to do, be, and believe, and CONTINUE that cycle by feeding it into the other.

Now, this show isn't the real world, no matter how much you want it to be, so pointing out who is more or not problematic is like looking at a lineup of Hannibal Lecter from multiple types of media and trying to decide who did cannibalism and murder the nicest. They're PIRATES; they KILL people. The fact is that this show uses death and fighting as something that is not serious, goofy even, and injury to the main characters as EMOTIONAL, SYMBOLIC storytelling. Edward getting verbally abused by Izzy Hands daily and Edward choking the man out and taking away his toes and then his fucking leg is on the same level as the storytelling and NOT about one being evil and one being a poor baby. It is simple: they are fucked up guys who hurt one another despite caring for one another. You can find REFLECTIONS of real life in OFMD, but that does not make it real life and should not be treated as such. 

To the "But people don't deserve abuse! You're being an abuser apologist by saying Izzy deserved it!" "Izzy hands brought this on himself and deserves all the physical, emotional, and mental pain, and I hope he dies." I bring you: Izzy is an abuser; the consequences of that abuse broke a man who, in turn, broke him with abuse. It is a cycle, an unhealthy relationship on both sides. No one deserved it, but it happened (is happening even), and what matters is how the show decides to address it. And liking and supporting the prevalence of it on screen to dive into this kind of relationship is not fucking evil. It does not make someone good or bad to explore harsh topics, see them on screen, and enjoy and want MORE of them. 

They are pirates who have been around captains who force-fed crew mates live crabs that ripped through a stomach, watched people burn alive without a second glance, killed their fathers, and threatened each other with guns and weapons on a daily fuckin' basis. This isn't that far-fetched that this would have happened. It doesn't matter who is redeemable; it's about criminals who are fucked up in falling in love and working through issues. And the mere fucked up but REALISTIC SYMBOLISM AND STORYTELLING of Ed and Izzy's relationship brings so much to not only season 1 but their characters and what this means for them in the past and future. In my opinion, it is masterful to see such characters like this on-screen who DO care for each other but can never love each other like they want. Because that's another thing: they truly love each other, and if you want to get deeper into that part of it, I recommend this post I made. 

In summary, this man is the abuser and the abused, and those who refuse to see this are missing the entire part of his character and Ed and Izzy's relationship.

To get to the other point, Izzy is, yes, an abuser and a victim, but at the same time is a fictional being deserving and capable of change, just like every character in the show who is part of the main cast (he is not Big Jack Horner from Puss in Boots, now THAT is an irredeemable character in media done RIGHT). 

People look at Izzy Hands being an asshole and make him a flat-ass villain who is homophobic JUST because he treats the queers on The Revenge like shit and is not deserving of getting the arc he is getting because he wasn't the most pleasant guy in the room is the equivalent of people who took one look at all Izzy's done and thinks Izzy has never done anything wrong in his entire life, everything Izzy has done is justified because he's changed in season 2. And just like I said before, this doesn't apply to the fandom inside jokes. No, when I state these things, it's about people who take it SERIOUSLY. Look at Izzy and GENUINELY THINK IN A VERY REAL, VERY "I WILL FIGHT YOU TO THE DEATH" OPINION ABOUT HIM BEING A VILLIAN OR HERO. Which isn't at all right. He is not at all one or the other; he is just a little guy who plays both roles in-story and out-of-story ways.

He is more than capable of changing, and this is shown in season 1 when he apologized for snapping at Blackbeard over his stress of trying to make sure they survive day to day; he knew he was hurting Edward but was, in fact, doing it to ensure Edward's safety despite how misconstrued it was and still is in season 2 (based on his conversation with Stede in the Captain's Quarters). He is not only protected by the trauma crew on the Revenge but protects them IN RETURN from things that happened off-screen, and those who do not think the end of season 1 Izzy and the beginning of season 2 Izzy match up or are not the same character have missed much context from his past appearances before season 2. And that applies to people who ignore either part of his character, the good or bad.

People who are not redeemable do not apologize for their actions. They do not verbalize and tell people they know they're doing things wrong. These are all signs of a character capable of being self-aware if they choose to. We have seen Izzy Hands choose it between seasons. Just because it wasn't on screen with a neon sign pointing to it doesn't mean it isn't happening and DIDN'T happen. Izzy's reaction to Fang asking what happened to his toe in the library scene isn't how we first interpreted it; it matches the beginning of an abusive cycle we see later. It is a nervous laugh, the settling of something, joy, delight, and fear. Because Izzy was PUT in his place from an idea that Izzy placed in Ed's head. But we know Edward has never been this far gone, so when he continued to be punished, it was no longer a sign of his Blackbeard; that delight vanished and turned to horror and regret and him owning up to his actions. 

Izzy states he and the rest of the crew are WORRIED about him. He cares, and because he doesn't care healthily and cutely doesn't mean he doesn't care because care isn't always pretty and good; it doesn't have to be righteous and morally right. (This applies to Edward and people hating him for his treatment of the crew and Izzy. Everything I have said applies to him as well, just as much. Despite everything, the crew cares about him, but that doesn't mean everything is good and dandy either; it is COMPLEX.) 

Izzy Hands quite LITERALLY has only followed Pirate Protocol this entire time that Edward has followed for years alongside him, and to call him evil and irredeemable is to call Edward the same thing, and to call them both monsters is to miss the entire fuckin point of this show and it's story-telling. 

This is not about what is right and wrong in the lens of real life for every little detail; it is about the right and wrong of love, relationships, and societal expectations upon outsiders and people who don't follow what is expected of them. It is about how each person interprets it and has fun with it, and to make it a battleground is so fuckin sad. I am so sorry you think you must do that and make everything censored and pure when we finally get a show that doesn't queerbait, demonize individuals who usually are, is anti-racist/colonist and doesn't shit on neurodivergent folks.

And last but not least, allow Izzy to be interpreted by fandom as fandom wishes. It's about having fun, so have fun with him while RESPECTING his character and your fellow fans! See him as a masochist? Don't equalize his abuse and victim moments as masochism because abuse does not equal masochism in any form. See him as an antagonist? Hell, yeah, give the bad sides of him some love! See him as a protagonist? Awesome, feed into those positive points! But in no fuckin world is there a reason to attack one another over this little fictional man who is literally nothing like his real counterpart. In summary, everyone's opinion is valid, and if you don't like something, don't interact, and not everything that makes you uncomfortable is evil. 

[asoulwithadream]

ANALysis and THEORIES- OFMD EDITION #1

Objective: PROMO GIFS

Time to analyse these bad boys, because I think I may have figured out what they are. They're lines from the show. Each individual little subtext to the official gifs are something which someone will say in the new season, and I'm determined to find out what, when, where and who (I determine that 3/4 would equal success).

I) "I've never seen Blackbeard like this."

This is the same shot from the trailer, possibly either before or after the infamous "Fuck you, Stede Bonnet." However, there may be a Clue in the second shot which may be able to somehow place this on a timeline (not by myself—this has drained my powers). I can't really tell, because of the low quality and high contrasting shadows, whether or not the side of the Stede topper has been smudged with Ed's make-up yet.

It was clear in the teaser when Ed played with the toppers that he'd caressed fake-Stede against his cheek as if he were some rather exquisite cashmere because of the smudges, but we couldn't tell during the teaser if this has already happened by this point because of the angle of the toy. But if anyone manages to get a better picture or spots something I missed that may contradict or strengthen this little thought, do let me know.

I'm pretty sure though that the person who says "I've never seen Blackbeard like this," is someone who has seen Blackbeard enough to know how he was. Someone that perhaps served by his side? So I think that the speaker in this context may be Izzy. There are two options of who he's saying this too: either Stede, once they team up, or to the crew of the Queen Anne's Revenge, this being the old Revenge crew (Frenchie, Jim, and we count Fang). Maybe even Lucius in the walls.

II) "I should have just told him how I feel."

I just want to take a moment just to appreciate the fact how much this gif resonated with me personally. This was the entire basis of all stages of grief I went through after the season finale, the bottomline of all my thoughts: "why couldn't he have just told him how he felt?". Brilliant delivery and shot planning from the designers of OFMD.

Anyways, let's get on with it. This gif is similar to the first one, in it having the potential of being also shot before or after the Vanity Fair picture with the crew (minus Swede) standing under the bridge(?) in the rain. I do think it's before the scene where Stede takes Blackbeard's poster and very confidently elaborates on Ed's goodness. He has his red cravat on, and is looking so pathetic in the rain looking at a wanted poster of his ex-boyfriend, that the scene is loveably laughable in it's entirety.

It's a bit obvious as to who is the speaker for this line: our very own Stede Bonnet. He's regretting on his actions back at the sailor academy, where he chose to keep quiet about his own opinions on Ed's willingness to leave to China, fast, because of his own deep-rooted issues with speaking up about what he thinks about serious, possibly life-chaning topics. Or maybe he's thinking of why he didn't tell anyone, especially not Ed, about the happiness he felt around him, how great he felt in his company, and how much love he felt for the man.

I can imagine this pretty early on in the season (as we know they reconcile or at least get a long decently early, from the leaked promo), and for some reason I have a picture of Stede laying slumped down on some form of furniture, ragdoll-style, whining about this to someone he knows: either Oluwande (probably the most probably option) or, hear me out, Spanish Jackie. I think she's going to become better friends with the Genital Pirate this season, and be a prevelant character to the narrative.

III) "Feel's like a storm's coming."

This happens during the rapid, quick scenes which we were just able to catch from the teaser. Where Jim is half submerged in water trying their best to reach for someone which I may think might be Ed, and Frenchie working the capstan for whatever purposes needed to hoist something heavy in a storm (don't look at me, I don't sail 18th-century ships). But look, Edward has his cravat on, the cravat given to him by Stede. Why he's kept this eludes me, since this should in theory be before their reconciliation, but we all know that Ed still loves Stede, and perhaps this is his way to hang onto him close to his heart while still matching his new aesthetic.

I would like to think that Ed is the one saying this. After all, he is an expert navigator and weatherman, proving his skills during his first appearances in the previous season. (However, I don't particularly trust his date-keeping skills. He messed up the first one, and then let his other date be held at gunpoint and scared into leaving. Tut tut tut) Another reason as to why I think this is because there is no pronoun indicating that he actively feels the storm, but more passed as a backhanded quip just thrown onto the crew and/or Izzy to alert them.

This could also be interpreted as a metaphor: symbolism for something, foreshadowing to the main plot or villain of the series, which will most likely result in some form of cliffhanger at the end, I tell you that.

I wonder if they're going to have another cloud scene though, talking about how they might show signs of storm. However, instead of shape I'd assume that they'd be commenting on a rather large-scale, dark rain-cloud, and connecting it to perhaps winds stronger than usual.

I also saw someone saying that it was possible that Edward, when he falls off the ship, looses the cravat amongst the waves, and that is why he doesn't have it to what I'd assume is after this scene.

IV) I love a good pirate's tale We can see from this scene that Stede is currently fighting on the beach in the same outfit which he had during the teaser, and if one looks closely you can see that he's excellently accessorised with a beautiful looped earring. However, what we've also learn is that the shot where Ed washes up on the beach is probably in the same scene as this, and by the look on Stede's face (probably augmented by the surrounding chaos) this may be the first time that he's seen Ed in a long time.

I think, as I've said before in previous posts, that Ed has been thrown off the ship in the storm mentioned above. He's been thrown off, and has happened to wash up on this same beach where Stede is fighting, which we know to be possible because of the automatic gaydar in OFMD. (What would be funny though is that he spotted Stede off the shore and decided to make his entrance super dramatic and kraken-like, but ends up just swallowing a shit ton of sea-water and gets his leather ruined, which is why he gets new clothes.)

Why he's fighting? I don't know. But I'm still sure that it's Ocracoke that they're on, because I'm convinced that it'll make an appearance this season—it has too, or else I will send in a formal complaint with our dearest Mr Jenkins.

Now, back to the main bit. The text. Who is it that says "I love a good pirate's tale?" I think that it's either said genuinely, but by someone like Stede, eager to hear about the adventures of experienced and famous seafaring pirates, OR flirtatiously, to insinuate something directed as a romantic quip to get Stede or someone else (a pirate) to talk more about himself. By who, I can't be sure, but I have a list of possible speakers:

Edward Teach

Spanish Jackie

Anne Bonny

Anne Bonny's campy friend

Lucius Spriggs

Stede Bonnet

If there's anything I've missed that you want me to add/change, which I find suitable, do tell.

I'm not sick at all. I'm a normal functioning member of society. I have a life.

[nicnacsnonsense]

Food insecure Stede Bonnet?

Yeah, sure!

I know this sounds like a weird theory; Stede is rich, how could he possibly be food insecure? But an important thing to keep in mind here is technically wasn't rich growing up; he was the child of rich parents. And those can be two very different things.

We know Stede's father was abusive and was very disappointed in Stede, and it's pretty reasonable to assume that he punished Stede frequently. And while we don't have much explicit information as to what the instructors & other authority figures at Stede's boarding school were like, I'd be shocked if they weren't similar. And if one or both of them favored meal deprivation as a form of punishment -- your classic sent to bed without supper kind of thing -- then it's very possible that little Stede could end up food insecure.

But that's just theoretically how it could have happened, on to the actual evidence. It's clear that part of what Stede is doing as a pirate captain, especially in his behavior in the first episode, is trying to re-parent himself through the crew and generally make sure they have all the support and care and all the things he wished he had. And Stede explains that the reason he pays his crew a salary is if the average pirate doesn't steal, he doesn't eat. Stede is very concerned about the mental pressure of food being contingent on performing certain behaviors. Furthermore, based on Olu's line at the end where he says working for Stede means they are going to be paid AND fed implies that Stede is both paying them and providing for all the food on board.

We also have Nigel's taunts about Stede being fat as a young boy, despite that being objectively untrue (and fatphobic, but I hardly think Nigel's concerned about that). If Stede were frequently being forced to skip meals at school, that would likely lead to him eating a lot when he was allowed at meal time, and possibly also lead to food hoarding behavior. Nigel, being a fatphobic bully, wouldn't care about the context of Stede being forced to skip meals could very well have just started calling Stede fat because he "eats a lot." (This also makes Mary passive aggressively implying Stede is a pig hit way worse in way I hope she wasn't doing on purpose.)

A minor point, as I'm not sure how much really is the normal amount of food to keep on the ship in this context, but the fact that when they ran aground multiple members of the crew were immediately jumping to the possibility of cannibalism, does make it seem like Stede packing enough food for weeks is excessive.

But wait there's more! Stede is also very autistic-coded, and autistic people can often be very particular about what kind of food they like or even can mange to eat. I highly doubt Bonnet Sr or Stede's school would be accommodating of any food issues that Stede had, which would have forced him into a situation where he was either once again unable to eat or where he had to choke down what was in front of him to avoid starving (or whatever worse punishment he would get for refusing to eat) (and I mean literally choke down, my issues are pretty mild/manageable and I still have a handful that literally trigger my gag reflex). And none of that would have helped his issues with food any.

Stede mentions having loaded the ship's stores with marmalade. That does speak to the food hoarding I already mentioned, but the fact that he got so much of this specific marmalade suggest it might be a safe food for him. In fact, the 40 orange cake suggests that maybe oranges/orange flavor might just be a safe food for him in general.

And let's talk about the forty orange cake. Because Stede is not only defensive of the idea that he could have wasted food, he's practically aggressive in the way he tries to put the blame on Roach instead. And I think this could reflect a trauma response where Stede is trying to avoid getting into trouble. Between eating a lot of the foods that are safe for him, refusing to eat foods that he is averse to, and food hoarding, there are any number of different ways that child Stede might have gotten in trouble for taking too much/wasting food. Hence his reaction here.

And then finally, despite Stede's seeming preference for fine foods, he also seems perfectly willing to just eat whatever. He eats unseasoned field-dressed snake with no apparent issues whatsoever. But the trick here is if you have just mild issues with food and people who are not willing to accommodate that but will force you to eat the Bad food anyway, you get really good at forcing yourself to eat it without any sign you are dying a little on the inside because oh my god, lima beans make the inside of my mouth feel like its being coated in mushy ashes.

And there you have it, my theory on Stede being food insecure.

[adickaboutspoons]

What are your thoughts on season 2 up to this point? I was so excited for this season, but there were some moments I literally said “WHAT?” because they just made no sense to me.

Hi Nonnie! Let me start by reassuring you that you are not the only one. Sorry to leave you on read so long. The short answer to "what are my thoughts on S2 so far" is "it's complicated." The (ramblier and much) longer answer is going under a cut.

Let's start out on a high note - the things that I loved! I know a lot of people for whom it was offputtingly or anxiety-inducingly hard to watch, but I thought Ed's Kraken-era and especially his suicidiality was extremely well done.* I've known more than a few people in my life who have struggled with depression and suicidal ideation, and even some who have lost that battle, and I felt like the writers handled it accurately and sensitively without romanticizing it or bowlderizing it. It IS hard to watch, and it SHOULD be, but it also walks a very fine line between never letting us forget that we should be sympathizing with Ed but not to the point of forgetting or excusing the damage that his path of self-destruction is inflicting on both himself and those around him. And that is a HARD balance to strike, so I really think it deserves special acknowledgement. (real bummer of a high note to start on, huh? Also, that asterisk is there on purpose. I'll get there, I promise.) I loved the mini-arc of the first 3 episodes with the Revenge Crew. Lots of genuinely funny moments (especially from Matt Maher who has just been DEVISTATINGLY funny this season), but still allowing plenty of room for emotional moments to breathe and land. I LOVE Zheng Yi Sao. Ruibo is just FANTASTIC and her line delivery is my everything, and Yi Sao is just delicious as a counterpoint to Calico Jack - a master manipulator whose guile is calculated to be particularly appealing to Stede. Stede's brilliant escape plan is everything that I ever wanted to see and felt like him really coming into his own as a strategist (triumph over a more powerful/more skilled opponent based on his wits, flare for drama, and unconventional way of thinking, using his environment to his advantage, and letting himself be underestimated) and a captain (prioritizing the safety of his crew over personal considerations, even to the point of rescuing the crewmembers he thought responsible for murdering the love of his life).

Speaking of putting aside personal considerations, WHOLLY FUCK did Rhys knock it out of the park with the end of episode 3. I mean, I think that his acting as a whole has just been phenomenal this season - possibly even better than last, but episode 3 especially, and this scene in particular. Like, it is SO HARD to do a "come back to me" scene that isn't trite and a little cheesy, and he just nailed it. (And also the scene itself and how what brought Stede out of his grief and alerted him that Ed was still there was the sound of Ed's ring ON HIS WEDDING FING FINGER knocking on wood as Ed's fingers began to twitch. I mean, whoever is responsble for that detail, KISS ME).

I love everything about the Gravy Basket (except maybe the pigs? I'm still not sure I get that. Except for Hornighost calling Ed thick as pig shit, I don't really see what they could possibly represent in a place where EVERYTHING is symbolic). How subtly they played the whole limbo thing with the blue wash over everything and the costuming and the Bergman-esque camera work. Everything about Hornighost as an externaliztion of Ed self-regard (how Ed panics at and implicitly mistrusts receiving care and nourishment from himself, how receiving negative self-talk makes him mad but isn't contradicted, the way he keeps on attacking and trying to kill himself, even what I can now see as foreshadowing that, while sex is something Ed wants and even considers worth living for, he's profoundly uncomfortable about talking about it). Just all of the delicious metaphorical cronch of the rock of Ed's self-loathing dragging him down into the depths of dispair (where he feels like he's drowning, because love is easy - like breathing - and there is no love to be found here) and juxtaposing that with Stede simultaneously making his own descent into the depths of his grief (and the slow deep exhale he makes on the stairs), and how Ed's self-loathing falls away when he realizes that there's someone out there waiting for him (the whole of "cons" list for not choosing life being his fear that that wasn't true) but how that alone isn't enough to make him resurface.

And now a special paragraph break to talk about merStede because I love it so much and I have so much to say and if I just lumped my merboy in with the rest of the Gravy Basket stuff, it would be an unreadable mountian of textblock. So first, I will never not be blown away by the fact that it was all practical effects. Rhys did an amazing job swimming with a monofin and the tail was beautiful and moved beautifully in the water (and I am also endlessly making out with Taika's wig makers because my REAL hair doesn't look that beautiful underwater). But also the metaphor! About how what Ed wanted more than anything was Stede. But not to save him - or at least not to drag him out of his dispair - but to meet him on his own level

And I love how that becomes a through-line on their relationship through the rest of the show so far - that Ed was right that he could trust Stede to meet him where he is. We see it when Stede starts to reach out to him at Anne & Mary's, but when Ed says "You don't get to say that to me" when it's obvious Stede wants to say "I love you," Stede backs down and says things Ed IS ready to hear. We see it when Stede goes to ramp up the pash in their moonlight kiss, and when Ed says he wants to take things slow, reaching out to hold Ed's hand instead (bonus verifying that it's ok!). We see it when Stede slams Ed into the wall and waits for a nod before going in for a kiss. We see it when Ed says that sleeping together was a mistake and Stede's response is to say "Well, you know, this can be whatever we want it to be" - presumably even if that means backing off from sex without any indication of when it might be on offer again.

Loved the murderwives. They were so fun and zany and batshit and oh look - a perfect example of how poor communication is the relationship killer even for two people perfectly suited to one another.

Loved the return of the David Jenkins school of historical accuracy with the Louis XV table being in an antique shop when it would have been, at best, contemporaneous (and, later, Jackie describing the Swede as a "jackhammer" and talking about Ed wearing "natural fibers" as though anything else would have even been available).

Loved the set-up and payoff of the transmogrification spell. Because of course Buttons can change himself into a bird. Love that for him.

Loved the end of episode 5 - the callback to "you wear fine things well" (and how much it must have meant to Stede that Ed remembered what he said and that he thought of that moment too), Ed's little "here I come" shoulder shimmy to make his bell ring, the way that the moon was a waxing gibbous to signify that their relationship is on the mend but not QUIIIIIIIIIIITE there yet, Stede's hand in Ed's hair, Ed feeling comfortable enough to express his boundaries and Stede respecting them immediately, the handholding and how play has always been a love language for these two. And even finding out Fang's name is Kevin (confirmation that the writers have read Prisons Of Our Own Perceptions? y/y)

Loved the first 3/4 of episode 6. Cousin Balky (hush - I'm old) being a super dramatic bitch? Faboo. Ed feeling a storm coming? I'm getting chills. Fang with a teacup? Adorable. Crew hijinks and being lovely and comfortable together? Magnificent. Ed and Stede being adorable together in a non-romantic context? Yes please! Stede having fun at a party for the first time ever? Magical. Wee John serving the fuck out of his Calypso drag? Awesome. Ed being all tied up? <reaction redacted> And a badass under torture? And so protective of his man? SO fucking baller. Stede winning the day with his people-positive brand of piracy influencing Ned's crew to turn on him? My everything. I even rather liked Con's singing voice.

As for episode 7? Well... The parallel about Ed weighing down his leathers and throwing them overboard as contrasted, say, with him pushing the bride dolly out the window and Hornighost sending him plummeting over the cliff is pretty juicy, and there might be a meta in there later when I can stop being mad about episode 7 long enough to write it. And I literally laughed out loud at Stede's bitchy comment to Izzy about taking a victory lap. Uh... end of list.

As for what I don't love... I'm gonna be real, I've tried to write this section three times now over the course of two days, and it just ends up being novel-length because I keep over-explaining myself. So I'm gonna bullet-point it. If anyone is still reading and wants a more in-depth explanation of any of the below, shoot me an ask.

I think the writers thought they could tell their 10-episode story in 8 episodes if they were just with judicious enough with their editing, and failed. They should have killed their darlings and started from scratch with a story that actually fit the structure rather than forcing all the pacing problems of the season.

Getting back to that *. One of the big pacing problems is that they set up serious shit to deal with, and then didn't have the time to actually give it the proper care it deserved. I'm deeply troubled by how trauma was handled this season - or rather how it was NOT handled. Ed getting abandoned by any support structure the literal day he recovered from a suicide attempt? And then the very next day "that nasty, dark stuff that brought us here is all in the past"? Lucius' trauma being minimalized on three separate occations until it disappears altogether once he rushes his relationship with Pete? All of the Blackbeard's crew stuff just kind of never actually dealt with? I get that it's a comedy show, but the writers not bothering to actually deal with the problems that they set up is lazy and more than a little callous.

I hate the Manly Stede arc. It's antithetical to his established character, to several of the show's main theses, and disconfirmed multiple times within the course of the season to the point of incoherence about why it keeps persisting. And if it's going the way I think it is, where Stede learns that he didn't need to change to be worthy of Ed's love and his crew's respect after all, totally pointless.

Sub-set of Manly Stede arc, but deserving its own special mention, I hate the death of Ned Low. It is a STRUGGLE not to over-explain myself about this one.

Sub-sub-set of the above point - I HATE the sex scene.

Yet another sub-sub-set - I hate the "Stede is embraced by the pirate community for... murdering one of their own?" plot. (Ostensibly) being responsible for the death of two high-ranking British naval officers? Nah. Killing one of his own kind? Toast of the town. Sure.

Just pretty much all of episode 7, really. The conceit of it aside, it put me in a position where I'm far less invested in Gentlebeard than I previously was. Like, I get that the writers want me to be upset that they're miscommunicating and split up (again), but I genuinely don't care. It's the 5th time in 10 episodes that they've pulled this. Sorry not sorry, but there's a law of diminishing returns when you keep pulling the same stunt and the miscommunication upon which it's predicated is contrived. I didn't have patience for this kind of bullshit drama-for-drama's sake when I was a teenager, and I sure as shit don't have it as a grown ass woman.

I hate the Izzy arc. It's poorly set up, poorly developed, and poorly executed. It's riddled with contrivace. I expect that the entire point of it is to make us care about what I suspect is going to happen to him in episode 8, which is so lazy and cheap. I was Izzy-neutral with a "he serves as a great antagonist and I think Con does a smashing job" leaning before this season. I'm so staunchly "reject the premise" about this arc and annoyed by how much limited screentime it's gobbled up that could have been otherwise distributed that I would prolly now consider myself an Izzy-anti. And I know I'm not the only one who feels that way.

Beyond the particulars, I feel like there are underlying issues that make the show unrecognizable as what I fell in love with in season 1. After episode 3, the show seemed to develop an allergy to sincerity, never giving Moments a chance to land and breathe without undercutting them. There no longer seem to be themes providing a frame upon which to hang the narrative structure, or at least, they are quite a lot more muddled and at times contradictory.

Oh - and there's some really racist shit in episode 5 that never gets unpacked or addressed.

[sky-fire-forever]

For the ao3 ask game..

🏜️🧩🥤

🏜️ ⇢ what's your favourite type of comment to receive on your work?

Kinda stealing this answer from @scarlettrust who said something similar, but when people point out individual lines that they like? I eat that shit up. I also just love genuine breakdowns and analysis of my work. People notice themes or parallels that I don't even intend sometimes and I LOVE that stuff. I just love when people tell me how my stuff impacts them

Or comments that tell me something I've written is something they reread. Something about that is incredibly touching to me.

But like. Any comment makes my heart happy as long as it's not nitpicking my work tbh

🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately?

This one is hard because it depends on what mood I'm in. Generally speaking, I'm pretty picky, but I can't describe like. In What Way. Vibes, really. If I feel like the characterization is off in a specific way that I don't like, I'll probably click off. Usually if the characters are Too Emotionally Intelligent tbh. I dunno how to describe what I mean, but if I think they're too transparently author inserts, I'll click off. Which is something I always worry about when I'm writing.

But just because I don't like something doesn't mean others won't! Write whatever you like and don't give a shit about other people.

🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love

For OFMD:

@izzyspussy hands down. His fics are great and make me feral and I love his characterization just... so much. Especially the way he writes the Ed/Izzy dynamic. Also just has... incredible ideas that I want to tear my teeth into

lovedhands on ao3 is another good one. I eat their shit up and I'm kinda obsessed with how they're able to write so much and how it's all so good.

@carrymelikeimcute writes some really, really good stuff too. Obsessed with the way they write Stede and Izzy tbh

For the Penumbra Podcast I've always gotta shout out @prydon who has written probably my favorite fics in the fandom. Her way of writing is incredible and she captures emotions so well. I also just think she's so creative and her ideas and the way she weaves things together in her fics are amazing

Also @blue-mood-blue who knows how to write angst in a way that scratches my brain

And like so many others, but my brain is too exhausted right now to name more, especially since I haven't actually read fic for tpp in ages.

If you like Avatar the Last Airbender, I gotta recommend @lovelyelbowleech whose fic War Games I've been reading for months

And of course there are so many other fics and authors that I adore, but can't name all of them. Every single fic writer in the universe is doing an amazing service and I appreciate them

[three--rings]

Yeah I'm not getting through these without pausing to yell at a textbox. The previously on nearly ended me and I've seen all that shit before.

Spoilers below

Well, @amuseoffyre was bang on about the Steard and Izzy dueling scene. It makes total sense that they took a fanon version of Stead and made it real, opened the season with it, and then it was a dream.

Granted I literally have seen three seconds of it, but I'm assuming this is Izzy dream. Since Fyre said that I've been sure that was the case.

OMG OMG are they running to each other on a beach. Is this Stede's dream? This isn't the fighting the english on a beach scene, though, right? OMG I can't get through five seconds without my brain exploding.

I'm fucking DYING with laughter over this whole thing. ESPECIALLY since I wrote a fic that basically referenced this running to each other and forgetting everything like a couple weeks ago. They really are like, hey, write the fanfic version and then ruin it, okay guys?

Roach: "He's single" omg I love you Samba, that delivery.

The fucking MUSIC kicking in over the shot of Ed behind the cake OMG I love this show so much.

Adore the Olu/Stede scene very much. Olu's line is a little different than the trailer, he's asking if STEDE is scared of Blackbeard. Interesting.

Rhino Horn...which is fabled as an aphrodisiac...okay ed, I'm sure that will help.

Also I adore Con so much, he's so fantastic.

"I'm afraid your life is better without me" OH BABY, of COURSE that's what you're afraid of. Of course. But it really, really isn't sweetheart.

Okay obviously got sucked into the rest of it.

Like I don't have anything to say about the rest, other than WOW Ed, okay, he's in a PLACE. I expect the shooting of Izzy will be the big topic for discourse for the next week, because I've been here the whole time.

Ed is 100% on a self-destruction flameout and he is way past caring about anything around him. He really doesn't seem to flinch at killing Izzy. Though I need to watch it again, obviously. But Izzy dared speak truth to him so he had to go.

And literally the worst truth it could be: "everyone on this ship KNOWS you're acting like this because you got your heart broken." Because Stede didn't want you. Of course Ed shoots him to shut him up.

Obviously Izzy isn't dead. I wonder if he's hiding in the walls now with Lucius. Wouldn't THAT be an interesting time. Someone write the fic.

[knowlesian]

quick thought because rewatching the finale for ed means rewatching for stede: god, the ‘is there anything you want to tell me about doug’ / ‘on a whim’ scene with mary and stede kills me every single time and is just... such a perfect and human example of bad communication.

stede enters that exchange wanting mary to confess she’s sleeping with doug, and given his followup doozy of ‘i forgive you’ later in the episode he wants an apology for it.

he does not say: i know you’re sleeping with doug, and knowing that bothers me.

which would be a good thing to say! mary could reply (as i would reply) something along the lines of ‘you thinking you have the right to be bothered by this in a way that ends in you trying to tell me what to do with my body is the kind of shit i am not gonna put up with, so you should quit while you’re behind’.

he does not do that.

instead he goes on a fishing expedition. he doesn’t even just start a conversation: he starts with purposefully clearing his throat, doing it again when the first time fails, loud enough mary has to answer. 

then he comments that she came in late last night (subtext: i know why you came in late) and mary confirms it then tries once again to go back to her newspaper and head off this on-coming train.

then stede does the thing that makes me want to claw my face off, and says "is there anything you want to tell me". (with the follow-up that makes it clear what he means, without him having to say what he means: “say... about doug?”)

for personal reasons i have a lot of trouble dealing with people who do this; outside a few exceptions, that sentence usually translates to ‘i have a problem i want to air, but i’m certainly not going to approach this like a healthy adult in a no-bullshit manner’. and without exception, it always makes me want to snap back ‘NOPE but it sure seems like you fucking do, so why don’t you quit trying to force me to start this conversation for you and say what you gotta say’.

mary apparently feels the same way, and she reads him to hell and back: then she ends on ascribing his actions to whims and it veers left into noooo, don’t do that-ville. her saying that instead of what she actually means (which is: i don’t know why the hell you did this, and i do not know because you never told me why) is understandable, but not the road to take if having a productive discussion is the goal. assigning motive instead of assessing behavior in these situations is a bad call, if only because it allows people to jump on that moment of editorialization and evade your actual point.

(this is also one of those things where how much weight a person puts on the generally accepted implications of the word whim— aka: that there was no reason behind it at all— is gonna change the use of the word, but for now i’ll take whim = he did it for no reason and/or no good reason.)

stede does not factually object to anything mary said. he acknowledges: yeah i did all that, i just object to the word whim re: why i did everything i absolutely did.

and that’s just... oof. now: this is a super human dynamic. when people say to us ‘but i didn’t mean to’ it feels like an excuse; when we say it to others, it feels like context.

mary’s point is not the whim part; assigning motivation is her frustration speaking. (alongside her simple lack of anything else to think, given stede left and then showed back up in fairly short succession, and he did not give her a reason why he did it either time.)

her point is: you left. you came back. you have no right to blow up my life once again, especially not this second time.

stede doesn’t actually engage with that part of what she says. he only quibbles over her use of the word whim.

that’s the point where he reeeally goes wrong. if he had said ‘i swear that it wasn’t on a whim, mary, but you’re right and i’m sorry’ and then explained his reasoning during the resulting conversation that could open up, that engages with the actual point and allows him to explain himself and admit his own pain while also owning that pain we cause is not mitigated by the motivations behind it, only contextualized.

it’s just such a believably bad conversation, where stede sets the tone and mary ends up falling back on bad argument habits herself instead of just focusing on addressing the issues at hand. 

love it, ngl. so good.

[rachelillustrates]

On the ending of episode 6 into the beginning of episode 7

And intimacy, self-love and self-consent.

Spoilers for OFMD s2 follow.

(Written after my initial watch of the episodes, will likely be added onto when I watch again and process more.)

So. Stede and Edward did it. Fully docked.

And I found it awkward and uncomfortable.

In comparison to the closeness and the softness we get from them in their best moments, the tone of this scene - even with the loveliness of what was being sung over it - was really jarring, with how UNromantic it obviously was. Very matter of fact. Business-like, and not emotional, at least in the actual event of them having their first time together (before we got to breakfast the next day).

In talking to a friend of mine, we discussed it as a trauma response - for them both. Even with having been nearly executed by firing squad, even with more than half the crew being marooned before, Stede had never experienced anything quite that violent happening to him or the people he cares about until now. So he answers violence with violence, because it seems like the right thing to do. He has seen and experienced that aspect of the pirate life, now, and he steps into it - though, obviously, with repercussions. As much as he revels in his infamy in the next episode, in the immediate moment he is not entirely okay (in the face of how he usually reacts to violence around him. Thus the quick flashbacks). Meanwhile, Ed steps up to try to offer him some softness - the sweetest part of their relationship to each other - knowing how the choice to kill can impact you. He's been running from the impact of the choice to kill someone ever since he was a kid, after all. I don't know what he expects to happen, when he goes to Stede, but obviously in his own trauma Stede reaches for him, aggressively and intimately.

And this is where self-consent comes in, cause that was - intentionally - awkward. Not the romantic first time experience I hoped for them, but I understand why they (the writers) did it.

As we have seen over and over and over again, when Stede is in His Shit, he can't see past that to what's going on around him, happening to - within - the people who are also impacted by what's impacting him. So he doesn't think about the fact that Ed might not be ready, and he just seizes him.

Now, communication is important. It is equally on Ed to speak up if its too much - and he does, later, but in this moment I think what HE sees is that he can offer Stede some comfort in this very traumatic, fucked up circumstance. We already know that Ed himself highly prizes physical intimacy, and has used it casually in the past, very very likely from a comfort-perspective in the face of the abusive nature of pirate life.

So he knows that. And he sees that happening to Stede. And so he chooses to meet him there.

However, this is not in line with what he seems to have agreed upon with himself, about what he wants. So as much as there's not a consent issue between the two of them, there IS a consent issue within Edward Teach. He wanted different for himself. He wanted better for himself. But its hard not to fall into old behaviors, especially when we and the ones we love are hurting in such an intense way.

That WAS comfort, for both of them, on some level. But its still not where they NEED to be, which is why we didn't get the romance of it, this time.

[sidewalk-scrawls]

I can see a misunderstanding between Ed and Izzy if Ed thinks he's done what's required to keep his First Mate's respect, but actually this isn't what Izzy wanted. I read the toe scene as trauma that emphasised Izzy's powerlessness and probably broke that trust which allowed him to speak to Ed as he did. I think he's supporting Ed because he sees it as the best way to stay alive, but that doesn't mean he won't be doing things behind Ed's back. Meanwhile Ed thinks all is good because he's used to Izzy being very obvious about his thoughts, and if there are no more complaints, well...I don't know if that was coherent, but what do you think?

I definitely agree that there’ll be poor communication between Ed and Izzy in season 2, but I personally see it playing out a little differently. We’re fully in speculation territory now, though, so it could absolutely go the route you’re describing. (Also, god this got long – I didn’t mean it to, I just have too many thoughts, so thank you for the interesting question!!)

I fully agree that Ed and Izzy are going to have terrible communication next season, but I'm also envisioning that they’ll both be extremely conflicted about their relationship. Specifically, I think the toe incident might actually *worsen* their codependency rather than driving them apart.

To start with Izzy – The toe incident was absolutely a violation of his trust, and I do think it’s going to more or less eliminate his willingness to communicate openly with Ed. However, I also think the toe incident might actually deepen his loyalty to Ed. When you combine Izzy’s whole “loyalty to your captain above all else” deal with his very particular code of honor, I think he’s going to have a difficult time processing the reality of the toe scene. Because yes, assaulting your first mate in their sleep *absolutely* violates his personal code of honor. But also it’s BLACKBEARD – and loyalty to his captain seems to be the main context where Izzy is comfortable operating outside that code.

To be honest, I think Izzy's going to convince himself that he deserved it (he didn’t obviously). So if Izzy does process Ed’s actions in the way, I think the only thing he can do is dig his heels in deeper and cling to his loyalty. While I can see Izzy going behind Ed’s back to help him (or what he thinks is helping – see Izzy’s Navy deal in season 1), I don’t think he’ll actively work to betray him. An important caveat to that, though – I think Izzy *would* do something that Ed sees as a betrayal (I actually think it's likely). And that will cause major problems.

As for Ed… I think he knows this isn’t what Izzy wanted, and I think he knew that even when he decided to act. The violence in that scene is just *so* far beyond what their interactions have been like so far – Even when Izzy betrayed Stede to the Navy, all Ed did was throw a punch, and it was done! Whereas in this scene, not only does Ed maim Izzy, he sees that fear in his eyes (and god, I find this scene worse to rewatch every time), and then threatens him with *additional* violence.

Edward's goal was to scare Izzy back into line, to prove that he was still the formidable Blackbeard. He wanted to convince Izzy to stay, but that’s not the same thing as wanting to make him happy, and I think he knew that -- I just can’t imagine that he’d see that look in Izzy’s eyes and think that he “wanted” this. Maybe Ed thought this was an acceptable course of action at the time, maybe he thought it was the best way to get Izzy to stay, but he knew what he was doing. And I think he’s going to be conflicted about this in season 2 – *especially* if the toe has narrative consequences. I’m not sure if it will, considering how fast this show tends to resolve violence, but also this act was framed far differently from the other instances of violence in the show.

As for how their dynamic plays out in season 2… A lot depends on how hard Izzy continues to lean into the denial angle and also, how convincing that behavior is to Edward. Like you mentioned, I can absolutely imagine Ed believing that Izzy had *accepted* the toe incident and that he was generally happy with the current state of things. On the other hand, I can also imagine a situation where Izzy is not particularly convincing, where Ed can see that Izzy isn't actually happy, and *that*, I think, could turn into a cycle of violence. This second option appeals to be a bit more from a narrative perspective, but a lot depends on how dark the writers are willing to go.