#IF BLACKBEARD WAS DEAD THEN IZZY WANTED TO BE DEAD WITH HIM

[100layersofdaddyissues]

I’m angry about ofmd so spoilers in the tags ignore me

[laceratedlamiaceae]

Izzy looking at a picture of Ed

[shiplessoceans]

I am seeing some garbage takes out there so quick reminder:

Izzy himself doesn't hold a grudge for what happened to his leg because he fuelled the fire that took it.

Izzy knows he suffered the consequences of feeding the darkness and doubt and misery he saw in Ed.

If Stede's leaving led Ed to a cliff, Izzy was the friend who should have helped him and instead he shoved him over the edge and broke him. The man Ed has known longer than anyone in his life, his 'only family', severed the last hope Ed had that he was worth anything without 'Blackbeard'.

Izzy trained a shark to viciously kill... Blackbeard says you taught him everything he knows... tormented him in his weakest moment...This is Blackbeard, Not some namby pamby in a silk gown pining for his boyfriend...and then dangled his legs in the water. Naturally, the shark took his leg.

As Izzy says: 'Served me right, too'.

Which is why people being so furious on his behalf and acting like Ed is an abusive monster is to invalidate Izzy having any agency at all.

Do you also blame Ed for the murder of his father and think he's a bloodthirsty monster?

Or can you recognise that the cycle of abuse and violence corrupted and traumatized him and that his father shares a portion of the blame for his own death?

Perhaps it's more cut and dried in that scenario because people haven't imprinted on Ed's father?

Izzy is not blameless in the loss of his leg and he would be the first to tell you that. He is a complex human who has made mistakes and his whole arc this season was about him reconciling, owning his mistakes and being his true authentic self anyway. And he did it. Fuck yeah.

"BUT ED NEVER APOLOGISED".

Izzy wouldn't have accepted it if he had.

Ed said 'Sorry about your leg', knowing Izzy wouldn't accept a larger apology. His response was to 'fuck off' as it is. Izzy Hands will never accept a full apology or genuine word of kindness and he shut down Ed's attempts because he didn't want or need it.

Izzy's last act on the planet was to let Ed know he's sorry for breaking him. For feeding him to the darkness so he could have 'Blackbeard' to give him his purpose in life when really, Ed had needed a friend. He apologized to remind Ed that he is loveable just as he is. He wants to undo the damage he did.

To love a character is to respect his right to be a fuck-up and own his mistakes. And to let him learn to accept himself despite those mistakes.

This season made me love Izzy. And I am sad he's dead. And I love that he got to redeem himself, find family and a sense of belonging and help Ed heal when he couldn't always help himself to.

You can feel how you want to feel about the ending.

But to sit back and blast creatives for 'Doing it wrong' because you can't process your emotions without projecting it onto others?

Izzy would be disappointed in you, the same way he was disappointed in Stede for picking a fight with Zheng instead of handling his emotions about losing Ed.

"Oh Bonnet, no..."

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

One of the things that always destroys me about Ed is that he never stops hoping that people might treat him just a little better.

He's never surprised when they don't. With Calico Jack and Anne and Mary, he's thrilled to see them but unsurprised when they don't treat him like friends should (because they're not friends!). He tries to set clear boundaries when people start upsetting him and treating him like shit, every single time ("What's that supposed to mean?" to the racist captain; reminding Izzy "I'm still Blackbeard" even after Izzy told him he was better off dead, asking Hornigold why he was being a dick when Hornigold wasn't playing along with their game, etc.).

He just keeps trying, even though the only thing we've ever seen him get from others in response to him setting boundaries is stepping all over his boundaries, screaming at him, and generally treating him like shit. He is so used to even such basic boundaries as "I want to be in charge of telling others what name to call me" and "I want to choose for myself how I'd like to dress" being used to mock him and then turned into ammo to reinforce his fundamental belief he's unlovable when he reacts emotionally.

It's tragic. But there's always a tiny part of him that seems to know he deserves to be treated better, and he's always half-hoping that maybe someone will listen.

And when Stede tries to deepen their kiss in the moonlight? Ed's boundary is so hesitant. It's not a firm one. "Can we take it slow?" Not even something as firm as "I want to take this slow." He is so obviously prepared for Stede to shoot him down. But Stede doesn't! Stede is respectful! And what a wonderful change, for Ed to see that there was never anything wrong with him, that it was never his fault that so many other people in his life have treated him so terribly. If Stede can do it, then they could've, too, and it's not Ed's fault they didn't.

[vlcimor]

I am not over (and probably never will be) these two parallels. And no one talks about it enough, so I had to draw it (forgot to post it, surprise) for my own sanity. Does it help? Absolutely not, not at all.

Let's talk about it for a bit, okay?

The first drawing is the scene from the end of the 4th episode of the 1st season, right after Ed's and Izzy's (first mate at the time) conversation about plans with Stede, the full crew of the Revenge, and the future. We can see Ed's expression and OH BOY. He is hiding under the mask of Blackbeard to survive. He is exhausted, bored, empty and so done being "The dreadful pyrate Blackbeard". He just wants to be Ed, who fancy fine fabrics and sweet and soft things. It's completely opposite to Izzy's expression, who is behind him and smiling, clearly delighted by Blackbeard's persona and his great plans. On top of it all, the song "The empty boat" by Caetano Veloso playing in the background (I love love love this song), and it fits so well with Ed's emotions.

The second drawing is the scene from the 1st episode of the 2nd season, right after Ed and Frenchie (now first mates) spoke about future plans. Ed let himself be soft and got hurt because of it. Now he's trying to be Blackbeard again, trying to fit in some "norms" of "manly man," trying to survive in a world where liking soft and being soft means dead, and he is failing miserably. He is everything he doesn't want to be. Also, even Stede's name is not mentioned, you know it's all about him. Ed is hurt, tired, and heartbroken. Ed is not the only one who see this. Basically, the whole crew can see how unstable he became after coming back to Blackbeard/ The Kraken persona. Frenchie´s expression shows it all. He stands behind him on his right side, the same spot where Izzy stands in S1. But his expression completely different from Izzy's - sad, afraid, unsure. Once again on top of the scene, the song "Pygmy Love Song" by Francis Bebey (one of my favourite songs from S2) perfectly shows all Ed's emotions.

I am so sorry for this long, boring post. I simply LOVE these two scenes and everything about them, and I needed to share my thoughts with you. I hope it makes sense and my grammar is not too bad.

[izzyhandswhore]

hear me out : reader giving izzy a massage (non-sexual) because reader sees how tense he is :’)

((I know I said fluff.... But Season 2 has given me brainrot so here we go)) Giving Izzy a (non-sexual) massage

Season 1

Izzy spots the way you've been looking at him all day before the word 'massage' can even leave your mouth. You're looking at him like you're sizing him up and he's looking right back at you with suspicion and confusion until he finally breaks and confronts you with a gruff, "what??"

You point out that he looks tense and he just scoffs at you and shrugs and tells you he's fine, but he can't quite meet your eye and doesn't sound all that convincing. If you press him further he'll say something along the lines of "is it any fucking wonder with this lot? Fucks sake.."

He'll just shrug off your first few attempts to get to his shoulders, bat you away and tell you to fuck off. Even if you do get him to stay still long enough to hold him and massage his shoulders a little, he'll try to keep his grumpy face and just tell you it's pointless, he doesn't feel a difference.. But the way his muscles ease can't lie... Neither can that tiny, embarrassing groan that escapes him before he turns bright red, shrugs you off and stalks away to go bark orders at some poor soul.

For the rest of the day you see him rolling his shoulders and tilting his head like he's trying to crack his neck, all while giving you little sideways glances. Try not to look too smug, you've got him. When you two are back safe and alone in your cabin, he “casually” asks about that thing you did earlier and could you.. do it again maybe?

You’ve got your work cut out for you. The man is basically all knots and stiffness. You start with him perched on the edge of the bed while you kneel behind him and work at his neck and shoulders, all while he’s groaning with relief and leaning gently into your touch. It ends with him lying face down practically naked as you work his whole back.

He is not quiet. He’s constantly giving breathy instructions and moaning and praising you.. It’s no wonder you get funny looks and teasing whispers from the rest of the crew the next day. You don’t care, you’re just happy Izzy is happy and finally got a really good nights sleep. You make him feel so safe and relaxed he’s snoring before you can even finish the massage,.

Season Two

Blackbeard soon puts a stop to you and Izzy sleeping in the same cabin. He claims you’re “a distraction” to Izzy and reminds you constantly how lucky you are to be alive since you’re nothing but Izzy’s little pet. To keep you safe, Izzy starts distancing himself too. You’re forced to watch from the sidelines as Izzy’s health declines.

When Blackbeard cuts the second toe off, you no longer care what’ll happen to you. In the dead of night you creep into Izzy’s cabin. He near jumps out of his skin, scrambling back and drawing weapons from under his pillow as you approach. He doesn’t relax even after he realises it’s just you.

In hushed, desperate whispers he tries to get you to leave. He acts like he’s angry with you for invading his space, for disobeying orders, for assuming he even wants you here. Eventually, with tears in his eyes he hisses, “it’s not safe!”

Silence falls over the room. You know he’s just trying to protect you with the whole “evil first mate” act. He knows you see right through him. Just like before he sits on the edge of the bed, defeated. You quietly crawl behind him and press a kiss to his bare shoulder before starting on the knots there.

He doesn’t lean into your touch this time, he flinches. He doesn’t say a word or make any noise of pleasure. The only sounds in the room are muffled grunts as he presses his lips tight together or tiny gasps when you come across a particularly sore spot. Any other noises outside the cabin also snap him to attention and make him tense all over again.

It’s a long and difficult process but eventually you feel him start to relax and nod off a little. You carefully coax him into bed and hold his hand for a bit as he drifts off. When you think he’s asleep you get up to leave and he squeezes your hand tight and looks up at you with tired, teary eyes. There’s so much he wants to say but he doesn’t have the strength to say it so he settles for,

“Thank you, love.. I..”

You smile, shake your head, squeeze his hand and assure him,

“I know.”

[areyoudoingthis]

the more I think about it the more I love how they resolved the izzy situation after s1. this season has been all about turning poison into positivity, all about the effect stede has on the world through the people whose lives he touches, through his people positive management style and killing them with kindness.

and it has also been about how ed needed to learn to love himself, needed to overcome the trauma born of the violence he always felt doomed to perform so he could come to see his own value and give himself permission to become whoever Ed wants to be. but we saw last season how hard that was for him, because of the baggage he carried and because at every turn someone was trying to pull him back into performing blackbeard and wearing a mask he never wanted in the first place.

izzy was the embodiment of all that, was more there to reflect ed's struggles and his journey than anything else (he was his dad and he was hornigold and he was all of the angry men in ed's life and the angry words they kept repeating in his mind.)

and how do you set ed free? because the show is the relationship, and is deeply a story about love, it becomes possible through the effects of Stede's love and kindness on the world. stede makes the world softer around him and that softness ends up enveloping ed and giving him space to explore himself, to stop listening to his own fears and self hatred and to what everyone wants from him and take the first step into self love.

what do you do with izzy then? just kill him off? but we all wanted to hear an apology from him, we all wanted ed to hear that he wasn't better off dead and that being soft wasn't something he could never have because he wasn't those kind of people. and for that to happen, for the world to reflect some goodness back to ed instead of violence and hurt, izzy had to go through some changes himself. and so he does, because of Stede's crew.

and it's all so ed can hear "maybe you should listen to it" when he expresses hopefulness about leaving blackbeard behind, so he can hear "you're good now, you're ready. Ed, you're surrounded by family. They love you, Ed. Just be Ed."

this isn't about izzy, this is Ed allowing himself to let go, to embrace ed and retirement and love and warmth. izzy dying was symbolic of the end of an era in his life, and I can't wait to see what the rest of it looks like

[celluloidbroomcloset]

Our Flag Means Death is quite deft at not falling into binaries where one "world" represents freedom for all characters, and for showing how things like wealth, class, and piracy itself become prisons depending on who you are.

(Note: obviously the show deliberately avoids a good bit of the reality of the 18th century in Barbados, including slavery, and most of the historical elements of the real Stede Bonnet, Blackbeard, etc. But as OFMD proves in all its deliberate anachronisms, none of this is about historical authenticity, but using the broad strokes of history to craft a narrative about authentic human experience.)

Stede's wealth and status (and gender) allow him to become a pirate in the first place and to forge the family that he wants. But it soon becomes imprisonment, because it ties him to a society and a culture that cannot accept him (and that's fundamentally colonialist, racist, homophobic, classist, etc., all things that Stede clearly abhors). It is a world pushing him towards death by trapping him in an arranged marriage and a culture where he cannot be the man he is - he's uncertain, at the start, if he even wants to live. He's able to become a pirate because of his wealth, but he cannot remain one just because of it - and much of the show develops how the more Stede sheds trappings of wealth and status, the more authentic he becomes.

Where piracy initially represents freedom for Stede, it has come to represent imprisonment for Ed. He longs for the fine things that he got to brush up against but never be a part of. He's been trapped in the Blackbeard persona - the persona that undoubtedly once protected him and still enables him to survive. Stede holds out to him the things Ed thought he could not have - and Stede does it freely, right from the start, not as an act of bribery or condescension, but of friendship. Ed doesn't have to kill or steal to have those things; he doesn't have to be Blackbeard, but just Ed.

But the fine things are also hollow; Ed's foray into that world is ultimately degrading. And Stede, once again, reaches out to him with gentleness and the words that he needs to hear, from the man that he needs to hear them - the "fine things" already are his, and he wears them well.

In some ways, Season 1 has Stede as the fine thing that Ed wants and believes he can't have, and Ed as the freedom Stede wants and believes he can't have; the conversation in the moonlight represents the barrier breaking and both of them, simultaneously, starting to realize that they can have each other.

But class and the demands of two different worlds are working against them. Stede is captured and about to be executed and Ed demands an act of grace. At this point, Ed has been sold to Izzy and Stede has been sold to the English - their lives and bodies now belong to the two worlds that entrapped them and from which they were escaping towards one another. Stede accepts his execution as his just punishment, but then breaks down - having experienced freedom (Ed), he no longer wants to die.

But Ed refuses to be sold. Izzy's shock that Ed would rather symbolically kill Blackbeard than live without Stede is mirrored by Chauncey's shock that both Blackbeard and Stede's crew will show loyalty to him. Chauncey initially reclaims Stede from Ed - "he's from my world, not yours" - pulling Stede back into the prison of his class and towards death (both real and symbolic). But both Ed and the crew refuse to let Stede die - Ed won't move from in front of Stede, and the crew speak up for, and prove, Stede to be a "real pirate." They say that Stede belongs to their world, not Chauncey's.

Ed and Stede's first kiss happens when they're on equal footing - Stede Bonnet is "dead" and Blackbeard shaves his beard. But they're still imprisoned, and not just by the English. Ed has moved farther ahead in his search for freedom, having discarded his black beard (his piracy) that was imprisoning him, but Stede is still being pulled back into his prison by his guilt and sense of having failed as a man, and by Chauncey himself.

Of course, Stede's return home reveals that his death has actually freed his family. Where wealth and status represent a prison for Stede, they represent freedom for Mary. As a widow, she has financial independence. She has security for herself and her children. She's able to start doing the things that make her happy, and that take her out of the necessity of being "a wife" to a deeply unhappy husband and allow her to be "a person." She's able to fall in love with someone who understands her, supports her art, and loves her back.

It is by talking with Mary - perhaps the only authentic conversation they've ever had, because it's the first time Stede has given voice to his homosexuality - that Stede is finally set free. He can return to Ed on a more equal footing by turning his wealth over to those for whom it's actually freedom, his wife and family - it is both the fairytale "giving everything up for love" and the divesting of burdens to become more his authentic self. Stede hasn't actually given up anything; he's becoming himself, a man able to love Ed as he should be loved.

[bookshelfdreams]

Izzy just can't stop fucking martyring himself, can he

bleeding on everyone around him like it's his job

A few toes are a small price to pay to have the great and terrible Blackbeard back, eh, Izzy? The fear of the crew is a small price to pay. The dead in raids are a small price to pay. Ed, dead-eyed, hollow-cheeked, drugged up and barely himself - a small price to pay.

Clearly, what Ed, what Blackbeard really needs is someone he can hurt, someone to bleed for him, and Izzy will do that, won't he, oh-so-nobly bear the pain, look how much I'm hurting for you, the least you could do is be grateful!

Mate, you are fucked in the head.

Nobody wants this. Everyone on this ship is miserable, all the damn time, including Izzy himself and still! Still! He doesn't fucking get it! When the crew literally embraces him, despite everything, still all he can do is antagonize everyone around him!

Even after he loses his leg! Even after they're saved by the Red Flag!

Because pain is predictable, isn't it. Pain, as emotions go, is simple. It hurts like a motherfucker, but at least it keeps him from sitting with his thoughts. Izzy's in a slightly better place, sitting in the cell, waiting to be executed, sure, but still all he has for Stede is "Give me your worst".

Izzy wants someone to lash out at him, because he feels terrible inside, and if someone else hurts him, he doesn't have to think about the reason why he feels so bad.

But Stede won't give him that. Finally, the unstoppable force of Izzy's need to push until someone snaps meets the immovable object of Stede being Done With Izzy's Shit. Of Stede having neither the energy nor the mental capacity to be angry at Izzy. The Look he gives Izzy is just a stronger version of what he's been doing the whole episode - refusing to rise to the bait.

Because despite how much Izzy wants someone to hurt him, this isn't about him. If he wants to grow and heal, he has to learn that his pain isn't the only thing that exists in the world.

Whether he will do that remains to be seen.

[amuseoffyre]

I was reading the interview with Jes Tom about the trans allegory of Ed dropping his leathers overboard and my brain latched onto it and started gnawing :D

It got me thinking that this definitely vibes with feelings I had back in 1x10 with Izzy keeping this emotionally vulnerable version of Blackbeard safely hidden from public view ("you will not speak of what you see on pain of death"), Lucius encouraging Ed to express himself and the whole "this… whatever it is that you have become" scene.

Ed says it there himself "I am still Blackbeard" and Izzy flat-out tells him he's not unless he presents himself a specific way, dresses and acts a specific way ('this is Blackbeard'.) Simply being "Edward" and expressing himself and his emotions means that Ed faces hostility, derision, implicit threat and "I should have let the English kill you".

Ed pulls on his leathers again again because he's been threatened by someone close to him, but this time it's different - the intent is different. No more "I am still Blackbeard" because apparently his version of Blackbeard isn't enough (and this is already on the back of Stede saying "you can't be Blackbeard without your black beard"). Now it's "the kraken" or "the fucking devil".

More importantly, when he puts the clothes back on, he does it based on one of the propaganda pictures distributed by the English. This isn't his choice of presentation anymore. I find it fascinating that his look at the beginning of S2 is some kind of hybrid of the Mad Devile Pyrate Blackbeard and the image that Izzy shoved in his face in 1x10. (Also love the detail that Izzy's image has elements that appear in Black Pete's fantasy of Blackbeard, to confirm that this image isn't accurate either)

It's a defensive pushback, escalating to the 'viking vampire clown' aesthetic, because if he's being threatened by someone he trusted and he's had past experience of people being nice to him then turning on him ('it's a fickle crowd'), he'll have to go to another extreme to make sure no one will get close enough to hurt him or threaten him again.

The clothing is only a surface element. It's part of an armour to protect himself with his presentation. Stede's line in 1x03 explains it in a nutshell - "It's a power move - make people feel underdressed and suddenly, you're the one in charge". People don't know him/aren't afraid of him when they see him without it (the party ship - "do you know who I am?") and this carries over into S2 as well (the people at the fish shack).

It only hit me now that every scene where he expresses his emotions when he's in his leathers includes some kind of hiding - his hair loose around his face, hiding under a robe in Stede's bath tub, standing at the back of the ship where no one can see his face, closing himself away to cry in an empty room, hiding under a blanket at Mary and Anne's. He's been forced to hide his vulnerabilities when he's in his armour for decades.

Even when he's talking to Stede (and others), he doesn't express his real intentions. It's all skirting around what he actual wants and feels. The "run me through", the "next adventure" - Ed doesn't feel he can express what he wants directly, because he always has to keep his guard up.

The beginning of 2x07 is Ed wanting to shed the need for that surface armour, that visible shield for Edward. He drops them overboard and immediately goes and talks to Stede about his emotions and his feelings for the first time.

The fact that Izzy saw the leather-drop and this time says "maybe you should listen to it" instead of tearing him down shows how far they've come. Ed feels safe with Stede and wants to just be himself, but when faced with the idea of staying in the world where that armour - that presentation and the expectations that come with it - is necessary again, he panics and runs.

Then their entire world is burning and as far as he knows, Stede is injured or dead.

Once again, the leathers come back, but this time, Ed is the one who chooses to put them on. He's taking this piece of himself that he has hated for years and turns it back into the armour that has protected him for this long to get back to Stede. Him having that choice, making that choice, is key.

I think the biggest thing is him realising he can be Blackbeard and Ed and whoever he wants to be without cutting off pieces of himself. So much of the Blackbeard presentation has been code-switching and hiding his real self. This time, he doesn't hide. He finds a letter and has a cry over it and the instant he's back at Stede's side, he drops his weapon and, for the first time, kisses Stede out in the open in front of people and tells him he loves him.

Ed is no longer afraid to be seen and expressing himself. He's letting himself - all aspects of himself - be seen. The clothes aren't him. They just happen to be there while he is himself.

My expectation is that S3 will see him finally being able to leave that armour behind for good and I can't wait for it.

[jennaimmortal]

I absolutely love seeing Ed being super protective of Stede! I think one of the fears that assaulted Ed about Stede’s newfound fame is a fear that Stede won’t need him anymore if he’s not “Blackbeard.” Ed & Stede both struggle with trying to be who others want them to be, even with each other.

WE know that they love each other just as they are, warts and all, but neither of them can accept that possibility. Ed is very likely afraid that of the main reasons Stede left him was because he had changed too much and wasn’t being “Blackbeard,” considering how Stede reacted to Ed shaving his beard off.

Ed doesn’t understand that Stede was actually blaming himself, feeling as though it was his fault that Ed was turning away from his Blackbeard persona. Stede doesn’t understand that Ed genuinely WANTS to get away from that side of himself. That’s the most important conversation that they needed to have, but in the week or two (maybe not even that long) since their reunion, they have both been focusing on everything EXCEPT for the important conversations they need to be having.

Ed also has a bad habit of trying to completely run away from the parts of him that frighten him. When Izzy confronted him about becoming “Edward” in 1x10, it made Ed feel like his softer side was wrong & problematic.

So what did he do? He ran so far in the opposition direction that he became The Kraken. Now, being faced with all the guilt & trauma of his time as The Kraken, he feels like he has to once again to a total 180 and leave behind all of his darkness. He doesn’t understand that he can accommodate the darker and lighter sides of his personality without going to extremes.

After seeing Stede leaning into his newfound popularity, Ed’s fear of Stede leaving him again flared into a full blown panic attack. He likely believes that Stede won’t be able to fully accept him if he leaves “Blackbeard” behind and embracing being “Edward.”

The last time he told Stede that he wanted to do just that, Stede left him. Ed’s trauma from those months without him is SO fresh! That terror of once again letting himself go all-in is all too relatable. It’s easier to run away than to once again be left behind, especially now that they have taken their relationship so much further.

My greatest hope is that Ed realized ON HIS OWN that he had panicked, and that he doesn’t actually want to be a fisherman. I really want this scene to be Ed returning to Stede & the Crew on his own, without knowledge of the attack.

Realizing that Stede is in danger, or possibly even dead, would certainly be more than enough of a catalyst to make him go dive for his leathers, preparing to go to his beloved’s rescue. I hope that will be the moment that he also finds Stede’s letter(s), which will make it very clear that Stede loves Edward, not Blackbeard.

It’s going to be such a long week waiting for them to be back on my screen!

[laceratedlamiaceae]

"It wasn't actually you who stabbed the painting, was it?" Stede asks suddenly in the middle of their training.

"No," Izzy answers after a moment of careful consideration.

"Then why'd you tell me you did?"

"I thought Edward was dead. And I want"--Izzy heaves a shaky sigh--"I wanted someone to remember him fondly."

"You mean me?" Stede asks, pointing at himself dumbfounded.

"Fuck if anyone else is going to, after all the shit he did."

Stede takes a moment to consider this. Even after everything his crew has told him about Ed, he finds it hard to believe that it isn't all just one big misunderstanding. But if Izzy, Blackbeard's most loyal servant, was saying it as well…

"Not even you?"

Izzy shakes his head, holding back the tears threatening to well up. "Not anymore."

[jaskierx]

so there's been a lot of posting about things like ofmd not being a 'kind show' and no longer being 'the queer joy show' etc etc and. i just want to remind us of where everybody is in s1's finale vs s2's

let us begin

stede: stede ends s1 on a hopeful note (setting off to go get his man) but shortly prior to that he's kind of been through it (he nearly got executed and then two different people tried to murder him). stede ends s2 on an even more hopeful note, having got his man, ready to open an inn with him. verdict: slightly better off at the end of s2

ed: ed ends s1 in absolute despair. izzy has been a real dick to ed (depending on your interpretation, he's done something ranging from being a little tiny bit mean to ed to calling him a slur and threatening to kill him, but we're not having this discourse again) so now he's back in his blackbeard persona mere days after feeling some hope that he was finally free from piracy and ready to run away with someone who loves him for who he is. the last shot we see of s1 ed is him absolutely crying his eyes out in the bed nook. it inflicts d4 psychic damage on me whenever i look at it. anyway at the end of s2 he's been on an absolute journey, he's learned that he's loved, he's free from being blackbeard, he's stood beside the man that loves him and they're going to give everything a go. verdict: significantly better off at the end of s2

stede's crew: i mean. what is there to say. at the end of s1 they've just been marooned and social order on their little island is rapidly breaking down due to buttons and roach teaming up to try and eat the swede. at the end of s2 they're happily back at sea and the swede has spanish jackie to fight off anyone who would even consider having a nibble. verdict: significantly better off at the end of s2

honourable mention - buttons: ends s1 unsuccessfully trying to eat the swede. ends s2 having fulfilled his life's dream of becoming a bird. good job buttons. verdict: slightly better off at the end of s2

ed's crew: as above, the crew end s2 happily sailing away into the literal sunset. we finish s1 with jim presumably unconscious and izzy pointing a gun at frenchie. so not an ideal situation really. fang seems to be having a good time though and ivan gets killed off between seasons (rip king) so it averages out at a slightly better rather than a significantly better. verdict: slightly better off at the end of s2

honourable mention - frenchie: ends s1 hoisting his flag at gunpoint. ends s2 captaining the bloody ship. go frenchie. we love to see it. verdict: significantly better off at the end of s2

lucius: ends s1 soggy. ends s2 not only dry, but married. verdict: significantly better off at the end of s2

izzy: ah yes this old chestnut. so. two perspectives here. one is simply that he ends s1 alive and ends s2 dead. so. possible verdict: significantly worse off at the end of s2. alternatively, he ends s1 as his classic repressed self, smiling from ear to ear because ed cut his toe off and it sparked joy, disliked by the crew, resented by ed. he ends s2 having accepted himself and having experienced all the queer joy he would never have permitted himself in s1, having experienced more screentime and growth than any other secondary character in s2 (yes he's a secondary character no i won't argue with you about this), and dies exactly as he lived - being a pirate who can pull off a plan. he gets to have his deathbed deep and meaningful conversation with ed, which brings closure to them both. he gets buried beside ed and stede's new inn, on land where his grave will be tended, having been given a nice funeral by people who once despised him. so. possible verdict: slightly better off at the end of s2. he definitely seemed happier in s2, and died at peace rather than as a frothing little ball of anger, which is more than i could've foreseen in s1.

anyway. the eagle eyed mathematicians among you will notice that even if we take it as read that izzy is significantly worse off at the end of s2...

every single other character ends s2 in a better place than where they ended s1.

ofmd is a kind show that's full to the brim of queer joy. you guys are just sad that your fave died. and that's fine. the writers did a great job creating a story with characters that were so well written that people are genuinely grieving izzy's death.

but his death does not erase the inherent kindness and joy of the rest of the show.

anyway thanks for reading. i had fun playing with the tumblr post editor settings. by which i mean changing the text colour was unreasonably difficult and now i am stressed

[dillyslinger]

MY CRITICISM ISN’T JUST THAT IZZY DIED. This isn’t because he’s my favorite character. And nobody is wishing they were being handled with kid gloves. Every time I see that take, I want to scream. I can think of LOTS of ways that his death could’ve been handled better. I actually LOVE when my shows and books hurt me. I SEEK OUT media that kills characters I love. Honestly, this show was my break from that. But it’s only good when it makes sense. I’m sorry, but that was weird. Like, really weird. Nobody eulogized him? They didn’t bury him with his leg? He couldn’t think of any reason to go on living because he was just a part of Blackbeard? When Ed called for help, the crew had already written him off as dead despite the fact that this show exists in the universe it exists in and characters have literally been skewered in the same spot and been totally fine? Sacrifice Auntie and Zheng’s weird “soft”thing/reconciliation that felt unearned for the TWO MINUTES that could’ve been better spent paying respect to a major character. I would love more of Auntie and Zheng, but like… let’s be real. The opening with Ed and the fisherman? Cut that down just a smidge. I mean, it wouldn’t have been any more choppy than the rest of the episode turned out. It’s not like we’re just bitching to bitch. I can actively SEE some small ways that it could have been helped. Still wouldn’t have been enough given the constraints but it would’ve been a start.

I don’t know what’s going on on Twitter. I don’t doubt that there are bad actors that are harassing DJ and crew. But those of us screaming in our small corners of the internet are ALLOWED TO HAVE CRITICISMS. It’s almost like some of y’all need to be handled with kid gloves. So scared of hearing anything negative about your precious show. Well, it’s MY precious show, too. It’s okay to admit when things don’t live up to your expectations. It’s okay to move the goalpost, even, and try to be positive when that happens. But it almost feels deceptive to try to convince other people that their criticisms are without merit (especially when some of them are just objective. That shit was RUSHED. The pacing was BAD.)

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

Thinking about Ed has never had anyone who he can trust to react normally and appropriately when he sets a boundary.

Izzy in s1 constantly pushes Ed to behave in the ways Izzy wants him to and refuses Ed's right to determine how he wants to present himself to others, and he screams at him and tells him he's better off dead when Ed tries to state very clearly how he would like to behave. Entitled White people on the party boat reach into his personal space and try to touch his hair, and laugh at him when his reaction makes it clear he doesn't like that. Calico Jack breezes right past Ed's every attempt to set boundaries with him, ignoring Ed when he says he doesn't want to talk about certain things and when he suggests calling the party to a stop, and pushing when he says he doesn't want to drink. In the gravy basket, Ed's memory of Hornigold acts like Ed's in the wrong for being confused and upset when Hornigold refuses to play along with Ed's hotel game without being hostile to him.

Every time Ed sets a very normal and reasonable boundary - I don't want to kill this guy I have a crush on, I want other people to call me by my name, I want to dress and act in a way I find more comfortable, I don't want you to touch my hair, I don't want to discuss this heavy, traumatic topic over breakfast, I don't want you to be a dick to me - then other people act like he's unreasable, like he's in the wrong, like he's a terrible monster of a person for communicating very basic boundaries. When Ed is annoyed with others for trying to push past his boundaries and control his behavior, they use his anger as a reason to claim Ed is irrational, insane, or violent, and that he's defined by those things.

And that's why it's such a big deal that not only does Ed feel safe asking Stede to take it slow, he knows Stede will listen and behave appropriately. It's very tentative, really - "can we take it slow?" instead of a more definitive option such as "I want to take this slow," but the important thing is he knows he can ask and that Stede is not going to yell at him or pressure him.

It says so much that Stede is so respectful of the boundaries Ed sets. When Ed says he maybe doesn't like being Blackbeard anymore when they first meet, Stede is immediately respectful and offers alternative solutions instead of telling him what he should feel. He allows Ed to define his own feelings and desires. He gives Ed time to consent before touching his hair or deepening kisses. He gives Ed space to just be Ed, making him feel comfortable and safe by just being his sweet self.

Stede is one of the very few people in Ed's life who have ever treated him like an actual person with his own feelings, thoughts, and desires.

[ladyluscinia]

Izzy Hands Is Manipulative, But Not That Way

...or I finally finish that long ass meta post about why I love the fucking Navy Plot lol

The Izzy manipulation debate has been really interesting to me pretty much since it started, because I'd see a post arguing he's manipulating Edward and go "No, and he couldn't if he tried" and then the next post would say he sucks at manipulation because he's a blunt fucking instrument and I'd go "Yea- wait. Hmm. No, he can be targeted and tricky as fuck." Which does, on its surface, seem like a contradictory stance, but I swear it works.

Because the thing with Izzy - and this is such a fun thing imo - is there are two core types of manipulation that characters engage in, and Izzy fucking sucks at the one you expect his style of antagonist to focus on. But he's scarily good at the other.

Long meta under the cut, so get comfy.

...

From his role under Edward to the protagonist vs antagonist dynamic setup to his introduction scenes, Izzy is very much invoking the conniving second in command. We know this character from other media. He doesn't have the full power he wants so he's constantly scheming to get it. He can't or won't challenge his boss for some reason, so he settles for being the devil on their shoulder or working behind their back. He's the voice constantly ready to inflame insecurities and turn relationship cracks into chasms, and usually he's lying constantly to do so. His fingerprints are all over his boss's problems up to the moment they show some weakness, and then their loyal second goes right for the backstab. He is THE ambitious manipulator. The shady advisor. The snake.

And then you actually look at Izzy and he is not that guy. In fact, it's a testament to the strength of Edward's character arc how much his evil little henchman is not causing his problems.

So - Izzy and manipulation:

Izzy Can't Convince People To Do Things

Like. He really can't.

This interpersonal struggle is fairly fundamental to his character. And moreover, it's a skill that Izzy is intensely aware that he lacks, so usually he doesn't even try.

In his first episode he walks right up to Buttons and just straight up asks him for the information on his party. He doesn't even resolve to steal the hostages until he realizes that Stede has lost them in the bush already, and Izzy obtains them by buying them. When Stede confronts him they end up splitting the pair in a very above-board negotiation and he pretty much just goes with what Stede suggests.

Then in 1x03, people make a big deal of Izzy "manipulating" Edward by not clarifying that Stede didn't know who he was when he turned down the invite, but kind of importantly he repeats the damning line of the conversation faithfully. If he was going to lie, then why not lie? Why even go see Stede at all? And, if he didn't want Stede dead until after the conversation (understandable, tbh, since "Iggy" was stab-worthy), surely he could invent a better insult to rile Edward up. It makes his omission hit more like being bitchy about Stede not recognizing the obvious - namely that Izzy Hands works for Blackbeard and literally everyone knows this - than a slander campaign to get him killed. And once we properly meet Izzy and Edward in 1x04, Izzy's inability to manipulate becomes his main struggle.

Izzy's a blunt and direct person. He leans on authority bestowed by Blackbeard to take control of situations, playing the role he's supposed to play, and without it he lacks a Plan B. In 1x04 he doesn't have any authority over Edward, so his efforts to get him to take the danger of the Spanish seriously amount to "Well as bored as you might be, if you don't make a decision soon we're gonna fucking die." And this is true! There might be a very subconscious attempt at manipulation in his resignation speech before the "That's Blackbeard. I'm Stede, remember?" line - of the piss him off to get him to get his shit together variety - but Edward literally makes a joke out of it so not exactly effective.

And once Edward stops giving Izzy authority in general, his plan to make Lucius do stuff is still just... brute force. Which works at first when Lucius doesn't realize that Izzy's on his own now, and stops working as soon as Fang breaks ranks. His last ditch blackmail attempt isn't manipulative either - he just plans to tell the truth to Pete and assumes he'll be pissed about it. My guy loses a fight over the pirate equivalent of making an uppity employee clean the coffee maker while the boss is out. Not only does he fail to manipulate the crew in a conniving antagonist way... he doesn't even try.

I mean, the only time he (somewhat) succeeds in talking someone into things is 1x06. Getting Edward to agree to killing Stede isn't really manipulation - Izzy gets Fang and Ivan to back him in a very straightforward way because they all actually do have a stake in this - but he's passably able to push Stede to go through with the fuckery via fake compliments. It's not exactly high level work, though. Stede being vulnerable to ego-stroking / dares is pretty obvious.

So what is Izzy good at?

Well, if you can't make people do anything other than what they were going to do in the first place, you might as well lean into that.

...

Izzy Manipulates Situations, Not People

Situational manipulation is one of those fictional tropes that rarely can happen in real life, but there's not much resemblance because real life rarely gives you all the building blocks for a proper gambit and lets you loose. Too many factors. In narratives, though? It becomes one of my favorite ways of having a character be clever.

And before I get into this too much, a really fun sidenote - I think Izzy does situational manipulation more like the way protagonists do it. See, antagonists are usually emotionally and situationally manipulative (ex: provoking the hero to lash out and using it to frame them for a bigger crime), but it's not a good look when your hero drives the target to do something bad and then punishes them for it. So heroes lean on stuff like Batman Gambits - where the lynchpin of the scheme is the target fucking themselves over by behaving completely in character. They've written Izzy so ineffective at emotional manipulation that he pretty much has to rely on other characters' flaws or histories to cause problems, which has a very similar result. And it's wild.

...

Going back to the 1x03 confrontation in Jackie's bar, Izzy doesn't really do anything abnormal in how he conducts himself, but people are picking up on an agenda for a reason. Namely, the whole damn conversation quickly turns into a trap, and Izzy fully sits back and watches Stede spring it from sheer idiocy.

There's no indication that when Izzy walked up he wasn't going to carry out his task with all the bitchy professionalism expected of him, while probably hoping that Stede would eventually stick his foot in his mouth without Izzy's help (assuming he's the kind of idiot Izzy thinks he is). His first section of this conversation is nearly polite:

Izzy (about the Nose Jar): "I have a few colleagues in there." Stede: "Ugh. You again." Geraldo: "Mr. Hands, welcome. It's been a while." Izzy: "(To Geraldo) Yeah, because I hate this fucking place. (To Stede) But for some inexplicable reason, my boss would like a word with you. Bonnet."

It's not until Stede starts talking that I think Izzy clues in that Stede doesn't actually know who his boss is. He didn't introduce himself until the literal last second of their 1x02 interaction, so it wasn't obvious Stede wasn't literally bolting into the forest in horrified realization.

And Stede? He goes hard on being a bitch right out the gate. Brushes Izzy off, tells him to "get in line", calls him the wrong name, says he doesn't care who Izzy is...

Izzy so far has met Stede in a public place, in front of people who clearly treat Izzy with respect and fear. He doesn't bring up their previous interaction, Stede does. He doesn't even goad Stede beyond existing. He corrects him on his name, and watches it not register in the slightest. The next line is the clincher:

Izzy (slightly incredulous): "So I'll tell my Captain that you're declining then, yeah?"

As Izzy is speaking the conversation becomes a trap - he chooses a reasonable way to refer to Edward that isn't "Blackbeard" and waits to see if Stede will make this worse. The jump from "no I'm busy" to "tell him he has terrible taste in flunkies and he can go suck eggs in Hell" is all Stede, completely ignoring context clues as Geraldo stares on in horror. Hell, Jackie only refrains from later de-nosing Stede on the spot because Geraldo knows what's up, and Stede still doesn't pick up on the fact he should maybe be asking some questions (though I'll give him the knife was distracting).

Izzy returns to the ship, quotes Stede directly for his damning line, and waits to see what Edward will do with it. It's not good behavior on his part (and if he could have seen the future he might have tried worse), but switching mid-conversation to offering Stede an opportunity to fuck himself over is a very different mindset than simply lying to / provoking Stede or Edward to get what he wants. He's mostly being petty.

Stede did insult Edward of his own volition, after all, and just because Izzy fudges the truth to hide he didn't know he was insulting Blackbeard instead of just Izzy and a random stranger doesn't change that. All Izzy did to "escalate" that conversation was give Stede a second opening to do so himself.

But there is a far better example of Izzy masterfully manipulating a situation than this in-the-moment bit of pettiness, so let's move onto my favorite bit... explaining in extensive and slightly awestruck detail why the Navy plot. Fucking. Rules. Because it does. Ready?

...

How to Mastermind the Decisive Removal of One Stupid Fucking Stede Bonnet Over Drinks

Ahem. The Navy plot. Masterclass in intimate betrayal. Izzy's biggest escalation in the total collapse of Edward and Izzy's relationship, but also a completely fucking fascinating glimpse into whatever tangled web of codependency they've got going on, because Edward isn't even mad after 1x09. This wordcount is going to be insane enough without me getting into the Blackhands relationship connotations, so I will... attempt... to stick to breaking down the actual scheme.

And what a scheme it was.

Let's start at the beginning. Jack showing up to lure them into the trap at the start of 1x08? Nope, earlier. Izzy getting kicked off the ship and going to Jackie at the end of 1x06? Further back. Edward proposing the "kill Stede" plan at the end of 1x04, which is the domino that starts all this, right? Closer, but still no.

Izzy's first appearance on screen is in episode 1x02, and that episode is where the seeds of the Navy plot are first planted. See, during Stede's confrontation with Izzy, both of the hostages chime in:

Hostage 1 (Wellington): "Believe him, he's quite insane." Hostage 2 (Hornberry): "He does have the eyes of a madman. Sorry, you do."

Wellington says his line in a tone of voice that clearly indicates a story to tell, and it should also be noted that he is the same one who earlier jumped at the chance to tell the tribe chief about Stede murdering their captain - Nigel. And he's the one that Izzy leaves with, in a sour mood and wanting information about this "Stede Bonnet" character.

When Izzy later reaches out to the Navy, it's no coincidence that he finds Chauncey. He's known since right after their first meeting that Stede was directly responsible for the murder of an Admiral's brother and that the English Navy would know soon enough, since he was literally about to ransom a hostage back to them who would tell the story. And he filed that information away until it was useful or relevant like a clever pirate should.

Moving on to Jackie's bar in 1x03, Izzy gets more potentially useful observations / inspiration. Jackie is actually the first person in the series to make a deal with a naval power. Izzy and crew track the Revenge to the Spanish warship, which means they must see Geraldo sold out Stede to them. Izzy isn't stupid. He knows Geraldo and Spanish Jackie, knows that she's the brains and brawn behind this deal, and has seen enough of Stede that he'd absolutely believe that he did something to get Jackie pissed enough to plot his murder. File away Jackie wants Stede dead and details of how she nearly succeeded in offing him for later.

Izzy spends 1x05 up to the fuckery demonstration observing Stede's crew while waiting for Edward to pull the trigger. I definitely want to note the scene where they interrogate the Frenchman at the beginning of 1x05, because Izzy is staring directly at Stede as he leans away from Edward threatening violence (we know this will later be in his love montage so not actually a turn off, lol, but like... it looked like one). His opinion of the crew is that they like to fuck around without structure (1x05 during the party), probably that they enjoy more standard pirate levels of violence (not shown directly since they are kept out of the 1x05 raid, but fairly obvious), and that they are really easily awestruck by the chance to hear "real pirates" tell charismatic stories (1x06 ghost story).

Any of that sounding like someone we know?

And now to go back to Izzy in 1x06, when he gets sick of Edward being cagey about the plan to kill Stede and decides to "make" him stop stalling, he's straightforward again. Getting Ivan and Fang to back him isn't emotionally manipulative, but it does give him weight in the conversation. They are the ones who bring up the whole "love of a pet makes a man weak" thing, and they do it in the context of calling out hypocrisy. Izzy knows the standards Edward holds his crew to. He lets them convince Edward it's time.

Taking the chance to suggest Stede try a fuckery is a strong blend of situational and emotional manipulation, and later challenging him to a formal duel knowing he'd be overconfident enough to accept is more situational again. Even the terms of the duel are designed to take advantage of the situation. And then Izzy loses in the most comedy way possible, Edward lets him get banished, and Izzy decides that if he was ok with just sending Stede Bonnet on his way to fuck-off before... he's fucking gonna kill him now.

My guy is not a creative thinker, but he's definitely a logistical one. And as he rows away from that ship, all the pieces fall into place.

First, Spanish Jackie. Who listens to him bemoan his relationship woes because she likes him (Izzy gets Jackie in the divorce). Who wants Stede dead and has the clout to summon and deal with a distasteful ally - Chauncey. Together, they concoct an arrangement where a trap will be set and Chauncey gets Stede and only Stede. This isn't a tip-off or a free-for-all. Stede comes from Chauncey's world and they are sending him back. Permanently.

Then it's time for the trap itself, which needs to do two things: get the Revenge somewhere that Chauncey can corner it, and get Edward out of there. And Izzy? Izzy knows Edward. Knows there's one particular person in his past that will have no trouble integrating with the crew, getting Edward to act more like a pirate than a gentleman, and who happens to have a great ambush location on hand.

I've said this before but I'm gonna say it again - I don't think outside characters realize how hard and fast Edward is falling for Stede. The BlackBonnet bonding moments happen almost exclusively when they are alone. The place Izzy dramatically fails to manipulate the situation is not having the evidence he would need to predict Edward going back for Stede. He (and Jack) both think that a precise wedge between BlackBonnet - one that Jack delivers near flawlessly by playing into real issues - will be enough to remind Edward that Stede isn't his people. This isn't a plan to murder the love of Edward's life while his back is turned. It's a plan to get rid of Stede, and remind Edward why he was on board with doing that in the first place. "That's fair," Izzy says about a punch to the face.

Instead, Izzy's plot accidentally backs Edward into a corner and forces him to publicly pull a grand-gesture relationship level-up that he was not emotionally ready for, and the fallout from that explosion is way worse than any of our conspirators were counting on.

Still... you gotta admit. It was a really good plan.