#I know Ed tried in s2

[lumiilys]

Stede /needs/ to allow himself to cry in Ed’s arms in s3!! Not only cause he deserves to feel safe confiding in Ed but also because WE deserve to see that!!!

[blue-b-bro]

How to persuade your crew to abandon their mutiny plans and gain their (&Ed's) respect, according to Stede

- Now, do you want the respect of your crew?

- That would be nice.

- Then this was no accident. Okay? You did this intentionally.

[coreytaylr]

speculations and thoughts but in a wholesome and IM SO EXCITED way (crossposting from twt @/fxnghxol)

you know feel free to disagree but i think it's so important for stede's character to have this unhinged pirate era bc ultimately, this is how hes gonna realize what he truly wants - a life with ed. he never had the opportunity to feel badass, to drink and behave so recklessly. hes kind of having his teenager era where he can finally experiment and experience things he never even thought of.

ed had plenty of time to experience this exact life and he realized it's not for him. now it's time for him to experience domesticity to realize if thats what HE truly wants. and how and with whom he wants it. (and this is where anne and mary come into the picture; retired pirates who found a way OUT - this plotline is going to be so fucking exciting oh my ogd. them showing ed that it IS possible to live a life after being a pirate, that he deserves a life after being a pirate, that it's okay to want this and there is a way to have it.)

they both have to go in different ways and on different journeys to come to terms with themselves and their respective needs and wants. and, at the end, when they both realize that what they truly want is the other in their lives, it's gonna be so fulfilling (not just for them, but for the audience too.)

do i want them to spend the majority of the season together and not separate? YES OBVISOULY I WANT TO SEE THE PIRATES IN LOVVE AND HAPPY

but i honestly think this is the only way for them to have a healthy relationship. they both need to have this freedom, to find out who they are without any masks and pressure from someone. this is how the REAL ed and stede are able to have a happily ever after. and im sooo glad and excited to see their separate journeys and where it leads them and how it changes them and makes them grow. 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

[gaypiratepropaganda]

can't help but think that the crew adopting Izzy so fast may have contributed to Ed wanting to leave

[niniroi]

-Fuck you, Stede Bonnet.

So. The second season.

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

I appreciate that OFMD s2 got ahead of the "Ed is going to be abusive to Stede!!!" allegations by having other characters say things to Stede like "hey, aren't you worried Ed is gonna murder you?"

And Stede, who explicitly knows Ed better than everyone else, is always like "uh. no. why the fuck would he do that. what is wrong with you."

And, of course, Stede is right. Stede knows that the one time Ed tried to lift a finger against him, he wound up crying and hiding under Stede's robe in his bathtub. And Ed is pissed at Stede! But he spends the episode stomping around and huffing, then getting kind of catty with Stede, then hiding underneath a blanket, and then feeling visibly loads better after he and Stede actually talk. Because that's what happens when Ed gets upset, and Stede knew what he could expect.

[clairegregoryau]

Through the Looking Glass

From fairytale in Season 1 to stark reality in Season 2 of Our Flag Means Death- meta ported across from this Twitter thread by popular demand!

This thread contains spoilers for the entirety of OFMD Season 2

First OFMD S1 rewatch since S2, and holy shit, if you haven't done that yet... do that. A thing that it made instantly clear: they told us *all along* where this was going, but there was a reason we didn't see it. Because we were living in Stede's world then. Now it's Ed's.

I know that a lot of us have felt that the tone shift at the end of S2 was... jarring, compared to what's come before. This felt like a show that wouldn't go there. One where being run through was a temporary hiccup. We've travelled all the way from this to this.

But we haven't jumped there without a journey in between. And from the minute we started hearing about Blackbeard, the show never tried to hide what Ed's world and his specific life was like. Not once. In fact they told us over and over and over.

But Season 1 told us a lot of those things through song and story and fuckery. It blended reality with fiction.

Stede met the Blackbeard he knew through books and tall tales, and the real man was even more wonderful than he'd imagined.

We, along with Stede, were comfortable thinking that all those other tales were exaggerations and misrepresentations, and a lot of them very likely were.

The Ed Stede got to know was a person who was capable of whimsy and silliness and loved soft things and doing something weird. Yep, he was also capable of violence and rage, but when he was with Stede, he didn't feel it so much.

This was a vacation from that life.

To Stede he was absolutely lovely... oh, and also a bloodthirsty killer. And Stede loved (and loves) everything about him, and both of those things can be true. This is a perfect example of a spot where (in watching Season 1 without the benefit of hindsight) I assumed that everyone else in that pub was wrong, and Stede was simply trying to protect Ed's fearsome reputation by agreeing on the bloodthirsty bits. And I think from Stede's perspective that was largely true. I think that's how they wanted us to see Ed, through his eyes. Now, after watching both seasons, I think it wasn't the whole picture.

They told us, we heard it, we saw glimpses of it. But we (and Ed) were in Stede's run-away-to-sea fairytale the whole time. It wasn't until Stede left that we saw the reality- the Ed we knew had been, to a degree, a fictional character all along. I always saw this scene as Ed putting a bit of distance between himself and reality; it always felt like the Blackbeard of Stede's storybooks was the fictional one. But now it feels like the softer Ed that Stede knew was much the same- neither of them the whole story of who Ed was and is.

The one person who refused to live in Stede's fairytale was Izzy. I've seen people say it before, but he always gave off that vibe of the only human in the Muppets movie, or the guy who was in Black Sails while everyone else was in Pirates of the Caribbean. He saw the real risks clearly.

And in that light, the end of S1 has shifted an inch to the left for me, and I'm seeing it at a slightly different angle.

Izzy ripped away the healing Ed was doing, but in some respects he did it by tearing away the fairytale we'd all been living in, shoving Ed back into the Blackbeard story.

And that's where we pick up again in Season 2.

The fairytale reference came back in S2 in two notable places, those being Jim carrying that legacy forward in the darkest times, and in Izzy invoking the wooden boy against Ricky's efforts. Stede's made himself into a real boy. Ricky, nope.

Now that I've watched both seasons together, the tone shift doesn't feel so jarring at all, actually.

It feels like sliding through the looking glass, out of Stede's world, and into Ed's- a world that existed all along; we were just seeing it, la vie en rose, through Stede's eyes.

At the beginning of S2, Stede's gone, and we're seeing it unfiltered through Ed's reality.

But Stede wasn't lying when he said he loved everything about Ed. He made a promise to come back and find him- he went down into Ed's darkest place and reminded him that no matter how bad things got, there WAS someone waiting for him, ready to love him.

The contrast between S1's fantasy and S2's reality (excluding mermaids and actual bird guys and cursed coats) is stark, but it really is that.

We have the same settings, the same people, and very different ideas and outcomes at different times.

But it was always there.

Things do come back to a state of (precarious) balance once they're all together. Apologies are made, whether they're spoken out loud or through actions. Things go right, things go wrong. Healing happens. Izzy continues to have the steadiest, most real through-line in the story as he tracks toward redemption, finds acceptance, and to an extent finds himself.

Once again, I hate that they went here with the ending and I wish they hadn't. But it got a fraction easier for me looking at it not as a continuation of Stede's fairytale, but of the grounded-in-pirate-reality arc Izzy was always on, even while we lived in Stede's world.

Where does that leave us? We're not going back to the fairytale, but we're not going to be living in Black Sails for S3, either. We've hit a fusion point where S1 ended with each of them going to separate, miserable homes, but S2 ended with them in the same place, ready and willing to make a go of it.

Season 3 is going to give us their world, together.

I LOVED the moments in this season where the deep emotions were in balance with the silliness I've always adored about this show. Eps4-6 were wonderful like that. Clearly we're not done with drama, either, but like Ed and Stede, I think we'll find a middle ground.

Anyway in conclusion, a rewatch of S1 after S2 somehow made me love the first season even more, which felt impossible? It's now gained /even more/ layers of depth than it had before. No matter how you feel about S2 I think it's worth that rewatch.

Adding one more bit of clarity for myself: I think we got a bit (intentionally) seduced in S1 by the idea that the Ed of the storybooks, the Vampire Viking Clown with the nine guns, was a version of him that others saw, when Stede saw the REAL person who 'worked' for Blackbeard.

In hindsight I think it's clear the Ed Stede go to know was also not the complete version of himself- the reality is, there's a whole spectrum between the two, and they've landed in the middle of it now. Ed intentionally leaned into the unlovable Kraken image to protect himself.

It very much didn't work, just like being just... Edward hadn't worked to protect himself, either. This season has been very much about pulling those two extremes together and finding all the parts that make up Ed overall (another thread on that here on Twitter, which I'll also shift across to Tumblr soon!)

And I think one of my favourite things in S2 has been seeing the way Stede SEES that- he knows what Ed's done, everyone's told him, but he still loves Ed. sees his trauma and how it affects him, and believes he's a good man regardless. He IS lovable; he's not forever broken.

And together, they can heal.

[amuseoffyre]

One thing I've enjoyed throughout both seasons of OFMD is that Stede tends to always maintain manners and politeness with everyone around him except for one Israel Hands.

Yes, at their first encounter, he's polite and civil, but Izzy is blunt and scathing back at him. From that day forward, a glorious bitch-off was born, where Stede realised that is one person he doesn't have to mask up and keep his manners with.

If Izzy is blunt and abrasive with him? Well, then, he'll be blunt and abrasive back and in spades. This is the only character Stede consistently exposes his real feelings with/towards.

And what I love even more is that in S2 is that despite now being on the same side and both working for the good of their crew, they haven't lost the snarky bitchiness that was always there.

The shift in their relationship is so well done as well. The blinkers are taken off and Izzy realises that Stede does actually know Ed in a way he didn't and likewise, Stede realises that Izzy had actually saved the crew and the ship at the cost of Ed's life, the very thing he'd tried to save in the past.

They will still rip it out of each other, but affectionately. They will still scoff in each other's faces. Stede will scream "fuck off!" at him like a highly-strung diva. Izzy will slap his arse and tell him to fuck off. Nothing is below the belt for them with Stede even making pointed jabs at Izzy's wooden leg.

Stede needs that outlet, just like Izzy needs to have someone who actually listens to him and acknowledges what he's recommending. They've reached an amicable agreement that "you're a dick, but you're my dick" and it's lovely.

[canonizzyhours]

I'm a professional screenwriter. I know nobody reading this has any reason to believe that, and I work pretty hard to keep my fandom activity separate from my professional identity, so I'm not going to offer any proof that would doxx me here, believe me or don't. But it's true and I don't just mean I'm trying to get hired as a screenwriter, I mean I am pretty well established in the industry and I've worked on some stuff big enough you've probably heard of it. I've also been active in OFMD fandom for about two years now, since nearly the beginning.

The canyon really freaks me out because seeing it up close makes me worried I've drastically underestimated audiences' empathy gap around characters of color and tendency to sympathize with and excuse the actions of white characters. I've always tried to be conscious about that sort of thing in my work but now that I'm seeing the whole process up close it's so much worse than I always thought.

I think a lot about what I would have done during season 1 of OFMD, if I were in the writers' room and I'd wanted to make sure it would be clear to the audience that Izzy was Ed's abuser and wasn't acting out of secretly sympathetic motives and we're supposed to be genuinely horrified by his actions. I'm in writers' rooms workshopping issues like this all the time. I know the kinds of suggestions I'd make.

Like, if we were worried that the audience would think Izzy's hostility toward Stede was about class instead of homophobia, I might have suggested we make sure Izzy's dialogue never has any reference to Stede's class at all, and that we might do a subplot in one episode where Izzy is equally hostile toward Lucius, since Lucius clearly isn't rich but is extremely gay. But that already happened, and it didn't help.

If I wanted to make sure the audience understood that Izzy is bossing the crew around and screaming at everyone to work harder because he's a petty little bully on a power trip and not because the work actually needs to get done, I might have suggested a scene where Izzy deliberately makes a mess on purpose just so he can order the crew to clean it up. But that already happened, and it didn't help.

If I wanted to make it clear that Izzy has always been awful toward everyone around him -- especially his colleagues of color -- since long before the show started, I might have suggested we repeatedly emphasize throughout the season that while Fang is willing to work with him, he doesn't like or respect Izzy and this is because Izzy has always treated Fang very badly. Have him pull on Fang's beard for no reason and have Fang explicitly say he hates that but knows it wouldn't help to complain. Have Fang tell strangers jokes about times Izzy humiliated himself in public. Have a scene where everybody unanimously VOTES TO MURDER IZZY and someone explicitly stops to ask Fang if he's cool with this and Fang explicitly says yes this is absolutely fine with me and then he actively participates in the murder plan while smiling. But all of that happened and I still see the canyon insisting that Izzy was a much nicer person before the events of s2 when he wasn't under so much stress and has always been liked and respected by the PoC around him, including specifically Fang!

If I were worried that the audience might take seriously the idea that Izzy is motivated by "loyalty to your captain" -- well, honestly I don't think it ever would have occurred to me to worry about that, since he says that in a scene where he's in the middle betraying his captain and I'd probably assume people are capable of picking that up and understanding that when someone says they're abusing you for your own good you should not believe them. But if someone else insisted we address the concern, suggestions I'd make would include: make sure some of the first interactions we see between Ed and Izzy involve Izzy complaining about how he doesn't want to do the job Ed just gave him, then half-assing the mission and lying to Ed's face about it. Show Izzy deliberately undermining Ed to the crew by telling them he's half-insane, then insist to Ed that he's the only one keeping the crew loyal when they're worried about his judgment. But they did that stuff and we still have people thinking Izzy's central motivation throughout season 1 is selfless devotion to Ed.

The show did every single thing I would have suggested, and none of it worked. So what does it say about all the stuff I've already worked on, whenever I've written a scene where a white guy was being a dick to characters of color? Have I just been embarrassingly naive this whole time? Have I undermined my own work by not getting this?

You can't control audience reactions, I know that, that's part of what's great about art, you have to let go and accept that people will interpret things in ways you never intended, I get it. But if it's THIS impossible to choose words that will create the kind of feelings you meant to, what's the point? Is it even possible to write about the kind of abusive relationship Ed and Izzy have, where the white guy thinks he's entitled to control a brown man's life "for his own good" and that the brown guy is obligated to be grateful and reciprocate his "love" and not have a huge group of people creating elaborate justifications for the white guy? What else could they have done? What else can I do, when I'm writing about characters of color? I'm seriously asking. If anybody reading this has advice I want to hear it. What could I do?

#408.

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

so part of me wants to blame this entirely on wbd, right? bloys said he was cool with the show getting shopped around, so assuming he was telling the truth (not that im abt to start blindly trusting anything a CEO says lol), that means it’s not an hbo problem. and we already know wbd has an awful track record with refusing to sell their properties—altho unlike coyote v acme, s3 of ofmd isn’t a completed work and therefore there isn’t the same tax writeoff incentive to bury the thing. i just can’t see any reason to hold on to ofmd except for worrying about image, bc it would be embarrassing if they let this show go with such a devoted fanbase and recognizable celebrities and it went somewhere else and did really well (which it would undoubtedly do really well, we’ve long since proven that). it feels kinda tinfoil hat of me to making assumptions abt what’s going on in wbd behind the scenes, but i also feel like there are hints that i’m onto something w my suspicions: suddenly cracking down on fan merch on etsy doesn’t seem like something a studio looking to sell their property would bother with, and we know someone was paying to track the viewing stats on ofmd’s bbc airing, which isn’t finished yet, so i’d expect whoever is monitoring that to not make a decision abt buying ofmd until the s2 finale dropped.

but also i think part of me just wants there to be a clear villain in the situation. it’s kinda comforting to have a face to blame, a clear target to shake my fist at. but the truth is that the entire streaming industry is in the shitter. streaming is not pulling in the kind of profit that investors were promised, and we’re seeing the bubble that was propped up w investor money finally start to pop. studios aren’t leaving much room in their budgets for acquiring new properties, and they’re whittling down what they already have. especially w the strikes last year, they’re all penny pinching like hell. and that’s much a much harder thing to rage against than just one studio or one CEO being shitty. that’s disheartening in a way that’s much bigger and more frightening than if there was just one guy to blame.

my guess is that the truth of the situation is probably somewhere in the middle. wbd is following the same shitty pattern they’ve been following since the merger, and it’s just a hard time for anyone trying to get their story picked up by any studio. ofmd is just one of many shows that are unlucky enough to exist at this very unstable time for the tv/streaming industry.

when i think abt it that way, tho, i’m struck by how lucky we are that ofmd even got to exist at all. if the wbd merger had happened a year earlier, or if djenks and tw tried to pitch this show a year later, there’s no way this show would’ve been made. s1 was given the runtime and the creative freedom needed to tell the story the way the showrunners wanted to, and the final product benefited from it so much that it became a huge hit from sheer gay word of mouth. and for all the imperfections with s2—the shorter episode order, the hard 30 minute per episode limit, the last-minute script changes, the finale a butchered mess of the intended creative vision—the team behind ofmd managed to tell a beautiful story despite the uphill battle they undoubtedly were up against. they ended the season with the main characters in a happy place. ed and stede are together, and our last shot of ed isn’t of him sobbing uncontrollably (like i rlly can’t stress enough how much i would have never been able to acknowledge the existence of this show again if s1 was all we got)

like. y’all. we were this close to a world where ofmd never got to exist. for me, at least, the pain of an undue cancellation is worth getting to have this story at all. so rather than taking my comfort in the form of righteous anger at david zaslav or at wbd or at the entire streaming industry as a whole, i’m trying to focus on how lucky i am to get to have the show in the first place.

bc really, even as i’m reeling in grief to know this is the end of the road for ofmd, a part of me still can’t quite wrap my head around that this show is real. a queer romcom about middle-aged men, a rejection of washboard abs and facetuned beauty standards, a masterful deconstruction and criticism of toxic masculinity, well-written female characters who get to shine despite being in a show that is primarily about manhood and masculinity, diverse characters whose stories never center around oppression and bigotry, a casually nonbinary character, violent revenge fantasies against oppressors that are cathartic but at the same time are not what brings the characters healing and joy, a queer found family, a strong theme of anti colonialism throughout the entire show. a diverse writers room that got to use their perspectives and experiences to inform the story. the fact that above all else, this show is about the love story between ed and stede, which means the character arcs, the thoughts, the feelings, the motivations, the backstories, and everything else that make up the characters of ed and stede are given the most focus and the most care.

bc there rlly aren’t a lot of shows where a character like stede—a flamboyant and overtly gay middle-aged man who abandoned his family to live his life authentically—gets to be the main character of a romcom, gets to be the hero who the show is rooting for.

and god, there definitely aren’t a lot of shows where a character like ed—a queer indigenous man who is famous, successful, hyper-competent, who feels trapped by rigid standards of toxic hypermasculinity, who yearns for softness and gentleness and genuine interpersonal connection and vulnerability, whose mental health struggles and suicidal intentions are given such a huge degree of attention and delicate care in their depiction, who messes up and hurts people when he’s in pain but who the show is still endlessly sympathetic towards—gets to exist at all, much less as the romantic lead and the second protagonist of the show.

so fuck the studios, fuck capitalism, fuck everything that brought the show to an end before the story was told all the way through. because the forces that are keeping s3 from being made are the same forces that would’ve seen the entire show canceled before it even began. s3 is canceled, and s2 suffered from studio meddling, but we still won. we got to have this show. we got to have these characters. there’s been so much working against this show from the very beginning but here we are, two years later, lives changed bc despite all odds, ofmd exists. they can’t take that away from us. they can’t make us stop talking abt or stop caring abt this show. i’m gonna be a fan of this show til the day i die, and the studios hate that. they hate that we care about things that don’t fit into their business strategy, they hate that not everyone will blindly consume endless IP reboots and spin-offs and cheap reality tv.

anyway i dont rlly have a neat way to end this post. sorta just rambling abt my feelings. idk, i know this sucks but im not rlly feeling like wallowing in it. i think my gratitude for the show is outweighing my grief and anger, at least for right now. most important thing tho is im not going anywhere. and my love for this show is certainly not fucking going anywhere.

[tizzyizzy]

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

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

Default Pirate Culture → Gentleman Pirate Culture

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

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

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

Taking Care of Ed → No More Ed

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

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

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

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

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

No Trust → Trust

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[forpiratereasons]

okayyy things i loved about ofmd s2 today's edition is!! FRENCHIE. what a guy. first off, joel fry, i'm free on thursdays. second, love that he gets promoted to first mate, tries to decline, & IMMEDIATELY disobeys his mad new boss to try and help izzy. he reaches out to izzy a lot tbh and of course frenchie and jim together are the litmus test for how we're meant to feel about izzy.

but frenchie is affectionate with izzy! holds izzy's hand in e1 while fang hugs him, leans against his leg in e3 while they're in zheng's jail, goes back for him in e8 when ed is carrying him forward. i think he grows up a bit esp in the first few episodes & helps his crew at the end (go frenchie!), setting him up to the captaincy at the end.

now that i look back over the series with an eye on frenchie i think they do lay a groundwork for his captaincy - not only does he become ed's first mate but he also has a functioning coping mechanism (a lot has been made of the compartmentalization as frenchie not handling shit but compartmentalization is a legit mechanism and i think once the crew is all back together frenchie gets his shit together pretty fast so u know just bc we don't see frenchie having appropriate outlets doesn't mean he doesn't have any) that would allow frenchie to take a step back and make decisions without necessarily reacting from fear. this is what enables him to fend for izzy!! he can put aside the fear of ed and ask himself, what is the right thing to do? take care of the crew.

other things that slid past me in the first few watches but which i think were more significant than i realized:

in ep 3, when the revenge and the red flag meet, the crew looks to frenchie to answer stede's questions about ed.

auntie talks frenchie (authority) and fang (soft, cultural connection - this is a deft bit of manipulation that totally works btw) aboard the revenge.

frenchie delivers the verdict against ed exiling him from the ship in ep 4 - it can't come from stede, because stede is compromised where ed is concerned, and so instead frenchie is their spokesperson.

we get one final clue as to frenchie's authority and respect among the crew in the post-ep scene of ep 8, where frenchie slips out of the jail - yeah, it's partially because he's thin enough to fit through the bars, but other folks who could fit refuse. he gets the courage up and does it, and it works! he frees the crew!

so you know, i guess i didn't instantly clock frenchie as captain in the final shots of the revenge, but it also didn't ping me as weird that he was giving orders. he's grown a lot over this series. notably, oluwande doesn't take on this sort of active role this series - his arc is a little different with zheng and jim now, his priorities are changing, and he doesn't want to captain the revenge, he wants to follow zheng. just because olu would have been the obvious choice in s1e10 doesn't mean things can't change! olu didn't want to be captain then, he doesn't want to be captain now. that's okay!! the crew have found another leader amongst themselves!!

i'm really excited to see what kind of funky cool badass jacket-wearing captain he'll make in s3!!!

go frenchie!!

[oswildin]

He Needs You (Loki x GN!Reader) - SHORT

Summary: Loki knows what he must do. But before he does… He has to make sure you aren’t alone. The person who changed everything.

A/N: Set during ‘Loki’ S2 EP6, inspired by ‘Journey’s End’ from Doctor Who.

Loki took a breath, stepping through the time door with you beside him. He’d lied. Of course, he did. But at least this time, it was for a good reason. Something other than self-preservation. No, this was for you. For the person who had changed… Well…

Everything.

Your brows furrowed as you stepped out onto the other side of the time door, no longer in the TVA, and not where you expected to be either. Loki had told you that you both needed to go somewhere, somewhere that could help you all prevent the meltdown of the Loom. But where you stood… Didn’t seem likely for such help. It was a gilded hallway, somewhere that looked rich, royal even.

“Where are we?” You asked, turning to glance up at him, noticing his almost solemn expression. His own blue eyes were taking everything in, a place he knew he would never see again. With a slight wave his of hand, both of you became invisible to the naked eye, shrouded in shadow, hidden away from any passers by. Loki didn’t say anything, gaze drifting to you for a moment before he finally spoke.

“This way.” He said lowly, taking a few steps forwards, leading the way through the grandiose hallway. You blink, glancing around before following after him, your footsteps echoing off the walls quietly as you did so. What was going on? Where were you?

“Loki, where are we?” You repeated your question, the sound of his name almost intimate on your tongue. Loki let out a quiet breath, hands clasped at his sides as the fabric of his peacoat faintly made sound as he walked. Still, he was silent. That worried you. Loki was never quiet. “You’re starting to worry me.” You murmured, seeing the look of resolution, regret and sadness on his face.

“Don’t be.” Loki murmured in return, sparing you a glance, his voice soft as he tried to reassure you. Or himself, he wasn’t entirely sure. You reserved the urge to quip something sarcastic in response, the God slowing his steps as you reached a slightly ajar large golden door. It was then that you began to put the pieces together of where you were.

“Asgard.” You breathed out, brows creasing in confusion. Loki stilled, his eyes flicking to the floor. “We’re on Asgard, aren’t we?” Silence. “Why?” Loki didn’t say anything, simply lifting a hand, gesturing towards the ajar door, silently telling you to take a look. Raising a brow, you stepped forwards, peaking through the crack. What you saw, made your heart race, confusion wash over you…

There stood Loki.

His profile facing you as he stood with his hands clasped behind his back, an almost… troubled look on his face. His hair was longer, brushing just past his shoulders, features sharper than the Loki beside you. He looked… weary.

“I don’t- I don’t understand.” You whispered, shaking your head, turning to look up at your Loki. He met your gaze, lips slightly downturned, eyes glassy. Your lips parted as you tried to search for an answer in the silence. “What is this?”

“That’s me.” Loki confirmed with a small nod, his voice low. “What would’ve been me…” He began to explain softly. “The life I would’ve lived on what was the Sacred Timeline.” He paused, eyes searching yours. He took a slow breath, hands moving in front of him slowly. “He… is lost.” His words were barely above a whisper. “Realising that… Power, control… a throne…” He sighed. “Are not enough to fill the hollowness in his heart.” He looked towards the gap in the door, seeing his would’ve been future-self pacing.

“But… why… why are we here? I don’t understand.” You stuttered out, feeling your heartbeat quicken as if you knew. You didn’t, but your heart reacted as if you did. Loki closed his eyes, hands falling back to his sides lamely, jaw tensing briefly as he tried to keep his composure.

“I know… what I have to do.” Loki said lowly, determined. “And that means…” He met your gaze again, his brows furrowing in sorrow. “That I won’t be around anymore.” His words hit you like a blow to the chest, panic setting in. He could see it in your face, the fear, his hands moving to your shoulders to ground you. “I have to… make something better.” His voice stayed soft, even as his eyes glistened.

“Please.” You whispered, emotion clear as day. It broke Loki’s heart, something that had happened only a handful of times in his long life. One of Loki’s hands moved from your shoulder to the side of your face, cupping your cheek as you leaned into his touch, closing your eyes, savouring the sensation.

“I’m giving you a chance.” Loki spoke, fighting to stop his voice from failing him. He took a sharp breath, or a sniffle, he wasn’t quite sure. Your eyes opened, brows furrowing. “A chance of a life… that we… We aren’t so lucky to have.” He gave a tearful, solemn smile, it was tiny, not quite reaching his eyes. “With him.”

Your mind raced at his words, lips parting, the furrow in your brow increasing. Your gaze flickered around, a physical show of your mind as Loki’s thumb brushed your cheekbone lightly.

“He’s… known war, loss, betrayal…” Loki continued, ducking his head slightly to meet your eyes. “He’s further along in his timeline, he’s still searching for his ‘glorious’ purpose-“

“He doesn’t know me.” You interrupted, blinking, the words hurting to say. Loki gave an understanding look, nodding faintly.

“Not yet.” He told you softly. “But he should.”

“But he’s not you.” A tear finally escaped your eye, you hadn’t even realised they had been forming, too wrapped up in what was happening. Loki let out a shaky breath, his own heart aching alongside yours. He took a step closer, holding your gaze. He leaned closer, his lips pressing against your forehead tenderly, his own eyes closing, savouring the feeling. He lingered, feeling a trickle of wet escape his own eye, slowly descending his cheek.

“He needs you.” Loki whispered against your skin, before pulling back slightly to meet your eyes again. “And that’s very me.” He gave the faintest of smiles, melancholy… bittersweet.

[our-flag-means-love]

i haven't seen anyone talk about this since the new season so i guess it'll have to be me.

in the wake of s1 there was meta going around about the symbolism of ed's gloves.

for most of s1, he has the fingerless ones. this is when he's closed off, bottled up. even while getting to know stede, he's not allowing himself to be fully vulnerable.

the closest we see him get in this span of episodes are when he switches outfits with stede, and the fancy french party. at both of these times, he doesn't wear his gloves, and, surely enough, in one case he's exploring a side of himself he'd previously never let see the light of day, and in the other he has a very vulnerable moment with stede after the party.

but during these instances, he also doesn't have his leathers. the gloves and the rest of his getup seem to operate independently. the gloves are his repression, his vulnerability or lack thereof, while his leathers represent blackbeard, whom ed repeatedly tries to distance himself from.

(continued under the cut bc this got kind of long)

and when he finally does away with the gloves again in s1e9, it's when he's exploring a new, gentler side of himself that never had room to breathe before. he's shed the blackbeard leathers entirely, attempting to leave that part of himself behind.

for the majority of s1e10, he also doesn't have his leathers or gloves, as he's wearing the breakup robe, still exploring his more sensitive side, and being open with the crew.

the contrast, as well as how the gloves fit into this whole thing, is never more evident than at the very end of s1. when he descends back into blackbeard, using it as a shield, letting it consume him entirely, this is the only time in the show that we see him with the full fingered gloves. he's repressing himself harder than ever, and trying to force his sensitive side as far down as he can.

in the first three episodes of s2, right up until his reunion with stede, he's back to the fingerless gloves, still in blackbeard garb, and still repressing his deepest needs and desires. the only exception in this stretch of time is the gravy basket, where he's extremely open and vulnerable about his biggest worries.

for two of the later episodes of s2, he also doesn't have his leathers, and those are the two episodes in which he's again really trying to distance himself from blackbeard, whether it be by shirking blame for his actions or by reinventing himself entirely.

so, given all of that, i just have to ask: how are we feeling about him spending much of s2—and especially finishing out the season—still in his leathers but without the gloves?

these are the times when he's being vulnerable and open without trying to escape from blackbeard. by the end of the season, he's accepted it as part of who he is. not something to base himself on entirely, nor to fear or run from, just a real part of him that's there for better or for worse.

[edwardteachswombtattoo]

I love this moment in Episode 4 because it really is The Moment, you know? "Can Ed and Stede communicate like adults? Can they talk about their feelings?" the show asks. And then answers itself "Yes! They can!"

A fundamental lesson in OFMD, I think, is about how you can't have a healthy relationship with someone if you don't know them. For all their dysfunction, Anne and Mary know each other and they do end up coming to some kind of hopeful resolution near the end.

Stede and Mary (S1 Mary) struggle with communication and connection because they don't fundamentally Know each other. Stede withdraws into himself when Mary tries to connect. Izzy demonstrates over and over again through S1 he doesn't really know Ed and S2 just hammers in the point.

Ultimately, it's the moment we see the walls come down and they start to Talk. When they hear each other. Stede's coming out to Mary, Anne burning down the house, Izzy's deathbed confession, Ed and Stede's conversation in "Fun and Games". Offering a chance to be seen and known and heard.

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

One of the things I most mourn about not getting a s3 is a conclusion to Lucius and Ed's relationship. There is such an interesting and profound disconnect with Lucius' anger towards Ed and I wish so badly to see where they would've taken it.

Pushing Lucius overboard was, by far, the worst thing Ed ever did during his Kraken era. No contest. Lucius was the crew member who had gotten to know him best, and reached out to him with nothing other than support and sympathy. Ed pushing him was the cruellest thing he ever did, and while we can assume that Ed did that because Lucius was the only person who might see through his Blackbeard act, that's a pretty shitty excuse for hurting someone so badly.

And Lucius doesn't know what the fuck he did to make Ed do that to him, of course. All he can assume is that "Stede broke him" (which isn't even close to true). I'm so struck by his drawings of Ed in s2e5, because saying there's a disconnect between the anger and Ed is honestly an understatement. He draws Ed as he knew him best, with the beard, and the drawings are beautiful and soft and flattering. Even though the Ed that pushed him overboard was beardless, I think remembering that Ed is still too hard to hold true anger towards because Lucius remembers him vulnerable and hurting and crying and human. Lucius called him "Ed" before he was pushed overboard; in s2 he only calls him "Blackbeard," in a tone that makes it very clear he means it as an insult. He is clearly struggling to reconcile the man who hurt him so badly and needlessly with the friend he had.

Both Ed and Lucius are left unsatisfied with their attempts to get closure. Pushing Ed overboard gives Lucius momentary satisfaction but not much else, and later he tries to get Izzy on his side to chop Ed's leg off - he doesn't just want Ed to make amends, a part of him wants him to suffer, and that's so incredibly striking coming from this character. His closure comes from turning to love instead and focusing towards the future he can have with Pete. Ed is happy to let Lucius push him, but he's clearly unsure what else he can do. It feels like they're left on an unfinished note because it is unfinished.

Ed and Stede being so joyful at Lucius and Pete's wedding was a healing moment, but I wanted to see them talk it through.