#ofmd ep 4

[random-nerd-posts]

I just watched the new episodes of OFMD

My thoughts:

Izzy deserves more love and I love the crew for talking it through as a crew

Also Edward and Stede are talking again, and they're doing well and I love this for them and that they're getting into the groove again

For episode 5! I have many, many thoughts!

Izzy giving Stede pointers made me happy

The curse part was funny and if Jim fears curses, then I'm going to fuck right off

Fang telling Ed to be quiet while they went fishing

LEARNING THAT FANGS NAME IS KEVIN IS AMAZING!

I also almost squealed at work when Lucius proposed to Black Pete and I just they need to grow old together because those two are great.

Also, Stede and Ed kisses again, but that wasn't as thrilling to me as the proposal, but it was great that they're talking again.

[ambiently-80s-gay]

The Ed/bunny lore drops are hilarious to me bc half of its like in depth character insight but the other half is just-- the reason fearsome Blackbeard, the dreaded pirate of the 7 seas etc etc wears the single leather glove? not fashion, no, he is in fact terrified of the spider he got tattooed in his hand because he thought if he got it tattoed hed be less scared of it

[urproblematicfav-arsonk]

Let's talk about ep 4 and how Edward is kinda a huge dick.

It's entirely possible other people have talked about this but I haven't seen it and I'm an opinionated autistic person so fuck you here we goooo

So something I think is really interesting about this episode how actually very cruel and mean Ed is towards Stede.

The beginning of Ed's fuckary is seen first when he brings up the clouds to Izzy and then later when Lucius confirms the threat of the Spanish closing in on them. After that Ed tells Lucius to start the Dramatic Countdown™ that fucking exactly matches the fog nearly to the second which is completely insane btw. I don't think it was part of Ed's original plan to the identity swap but the intent was always the same

To publicly humiliate and hurt The Gentleman Pirate.

The plan was always to dramatically appear on The Revenge in blood and smoke. The Gentleman Pirate already humiliated and half dead only for the Great Blackbeard to show mercy for a time. Then because The Gentleman Pirate is clearly incompetent, when the Spanish arrive does he have a plan? No of course not, but wait,

I think when the identity swap happens the plan becomes a lot more cruel. Ed clearly likes Stede and is being open with him(largely because he knows he's going to destroy/leave him soon and thus no consequences)and then we get our cute moment of them pretending to be each other. Ed gets to have fun for a moment before shit goes down(like he planned)

Specifically I wanna walk about this scene.

And more specifically lol the noise Taika makes. Ed makes such extremely condescending "hmm :(" at Stede when his attempt at a plan clearly won't work. This whole scene is Ed pressuring and hurting Stede. He knows Stede isn't prepared as a pirate and he's known that before he even met him. He wants Stede to feel the pressure and fear he feels, to emotionally break him in so to say. He's mocking and belittling him and honestly seems to find it funny. And not only that it was all fucking premeditated because Lucius shows up to finish the countdown adding onto the extremely elaborate psychology torture that Ed has devised.

And then Ed's plan comes to fruition. Blackbeard comes in with his genius plan and saves the day. The crew cheer and praise him and The Gentleman Pirate stands a coward and a failure.

Of course that doesn't happen.

And I think its really fucking interesting that in the end it's actually Izzy who does to Ed what he was trying to do to Stede.

He humiliates him in front of the whole crew and proves that The Captain was incompetent with no plan.

Unlike Edward who never seems to show any remorse for how he treats Stede this episode, Izzy seems pretty fucking guilty after embarrassing Ed like that.

And no point during any part of the Fuckary does Stede seem to realize this was all Ed's plan. He's upset and stressed in the moment but seems to forgive and forget pretty quickly. I assume this is mostly because Stede is still starstruck by Ed and isn't going to be confrontational about it even if he knew.

AND NOW PART 2: Izzy Apologisim

I think its really fucked up of Ed to dangle Izzy future in front of him like that.

Izzy is so flustered and happy that Ed would pass down the mantle like that to him. That Edward would see Izzy insubordination and say "No you're right, thank you for calling me out" and then offer him the best possible promotion only to then say "lol nah" and walk away.

The immediate heartbreak on Izzy's face when he realizes that Ed was just fucking with him is so sad to me but what's even worse

Is the fucking pride he feels when he realizes that Ed's "needs him". In that moment being Blackbeard's first mate is a life far better then any chance at captaincy ever was. And I think that's honestly awful.

Repeatedly throughout the episode Izzy is shown to be extremely anxious and worried about their plan. Edward has at no point before or after the initial raid on The Revenge has shared his plan with Izzy. Izzy calmy asks over and over for Edward to just talk to him, to work with him and come up with a plan and EVERY time Edward shoots him down and then gaslights him like Izzy was the problem here and not Ed. There's no real reason for Ed to be hiding this. And the second Izzy realizes that Ed does in fact have a plan during the Dramatic Countdown™ he visibly calms down and is even upset with Pete for ruining Ed's moment.

"Once again I'll come up with a plan and when we barely get by" implies this is absolutely not the first time they've gone ass first into a situation that Edward didn't secretly have a plan for and Edward similarly here, didn't wanna come up with one leaving Izzy to panic and be forced to try to save them and their crew. Edward lies, avoids blame by being the hero and kills his crew for the chance to play dress up. I fully don't think Izzy is being irrational here at all. He's working with what he's got and Edward refuses to cooperate like Iz needs him too.

A lot of people seem to think that Ed is a tragic hero trapped by his own reputation and masculinity. But the thing is, Edward himself is always the one enforcing that concept.

He's the one who made a elaborate plan to fuck with one guy.

He's the only reveling in The Revenge's adoration and praise

He's the one who comes up with a completely unnecessary murder plot "for Izzy" when Izzy would've most definitely been ok with just Ed leaves and he becomes Blackbeard.

Edward's toxic masculinity is a idea he perpetuates himself for his own benefit. And in the very end it was Edward's choice to fall back onto that violence instead of what he had been trying to create

[thatfuchsiafloralrobe]

Part 3. Coping in a Married State or Why I Never Thought Mary Would Be Done Dirty

because tumblr hates ramblings with pictures, this is part 3.2

[3.1] <- prev

The camera cuts and we see said same woman, who is the one who tells them about the gift they bought for them for their "big day"

The woman points, the characters slowly turn to follow her hand and, lo and behold! Graves! For him and for her

"Oh!"

We eventually hear Mary's voice off camera. Again, she is the one quick in her step, reacting as expected. Stede is silent.

"Graves!" Mary says again.

Stede.exe takes his time but he eventually works and he says "wow" in a low, low voice.

The camera cuts again and we see the tombstones again, in all their splendour in the middle of the shot.

Before we go forward, and this is something we have already picked up on, the whole shot of the tombstones is playing on the last part of the priest's sermon: being together for eternity. That phrase, like a normal gift, should be something nice, right? something to look forward to; instead, it feels like a sentence. There's also the fact that the tombstones were a gift. it's as if the parents, a.k.a society, was saying: "This is it. Nowhere else to go to from here except the grave and we even bought that for you. You are welcome." Everything's been laid out for them.

Moreover, like I mentioned before, the graves are for both Stede and Mary. We have that shot that lets us read clearly their names. Their marriage is literally this thing that was dead as soon as it began because, in order for it to work, they will have to bury their hopes and dreams, the most precious part of their beings. Mary is dealing better with all of this because she is down-to-earth, quickly adapts, and has sort of accepted this will have to do. Stede, on the other hand, can barely move past his shock and you can see him already away, somewhere else as part of his copying mechanism.

Going back to editing and, to back up what I said before, we don’t have a series of cuts now to create a transition. After the last shot with the close up of the tombstones, the “camera” pans down:

This choice of editing indicates two things: 1) that this is a progression, the last shot led to the next one and 2) we are literally going down, underground. As if looking below their graves where the corpses normally lie. And we do see the corpses of the deceased. In their married state. 

In marrying, parts of both Stede and Mary had to die. The editing is visually showing that with a nice transition. Yet, no one truly died, so they've had to survive, each using very different comping mechanism that, in the end, thwart any chance of being honest and communicating with each other.

Click here for the final part of the final part because the post editor is homophobic and won't let me put anything in one post -> [3.3]

[korixae]

HELP WTF NO WHAT STOPP

BLACKBEARD PLS YOU LOVE HIM YOU CANT BE DOING THAT

[mobiusmobiles]

ok so a few minutes ago, i thought ofmd was okay but just ok

however, i have now seen ep 4

this is the best show i have ever seen in my life

[themistymountainscold]

ed: i learned some very valuable lessons from this.

izzy: i’m guessing they are all horrible distortions on the lessons you actually should’ve taken away.

ed: death isn’t real, and i’m basically God.

[our-flag-means-love]

stede and ed: customer service edition (insp)

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

saw someone be like “why does nobody ever talk abt black pete when discussing toxic masculinity in ofmd?” and like. it’s bc there’s nothing interesting to say abt it. he was sexist abt doing feminine things. then he had gay sex and it fixed him. the end.

[sarucane]

Stede Bonnet's Stories (S1)

My favorite theme (right now) in OFMD is storytelling, and how the characters' stories shape the narrative and one another. In OFMD, stories are how people connect to one another. How they figure out their place in the world around them, how they form communities, how they grow and change. Because stories are also how the characters come to understand themselves.

In the first season, Stede is the loudest and most determined storyteller of them all. He's literally paying someone to follow him around and write his story; he's built the entire ship and outfitted it to create a certain story; he's wearing mad, impractical clothes in a harsh climate to express his personality.

On the one hand, this is a dumb thing to do. The crew can't read the library he's provided for them; his clothes (and incompetence) make his first "raid" a disaster; the pirates are plotting mutiny very quickly indeed. And his attempts to "toughen up" wind up nearly burying the crew in a larger, imperial story of race and class.

On the other hand, it's an immensely brave thing to do. Stede doesn't really try to be "like Blackbeard." He doesn't disguise his accent, wear ugly clothes, or make an example of someone on the crew to show his "iron fist." He is trying to do something genuinely different. To be a gentleman and a pirate. To tell a story that hasn't been told before. And to create space for others to tell a story: when Wee John voices criticism, Stede hands over his own fabrics to the crew and encourages them to "express yourselves." Between the bedtime stories and Stede's lie about Nigel (which is revealed very quickly afterwards), the crew decide they'll try telling his "new" story with him.

At first, the weakness in Stede's story seems to be that he's telling it in the wrong place. That his fiction is too far from reality, which is going to crush his story (as so many stories have been crushed throughout history).

And that is a problem, and his misjudgments wind up with him being betrayed by pirates and almost executed by Spanish naval officers. But it's a solvable problem, with help.

From the moment they meet, Ed and Stede are at their best when they tell stories together. When they work together, they figure stuff out about themselves, they connect with one another and with the crew, and they find a way to write the third story in a world that tells them they have only two options (gentleman or pirate). They make ship into a lighthouse; they bring a kraken to life and finally beginning to understand it; Stede uses his ship's mast and Ed's trick to outwit Izzy; a treasure map yields actual 'treasure'; the ship is invaded by the English, but everyone emerges safe and alive.

But it doesn't last. Because the real weakness of Stede's storytelling isn't the context. It's that Stede doesn't believe it himself.

Stede is doing all this to try to be both a boy worthy of respect from his father, and a boy who picks flowers. He's still defining himself by the terms of the world he came from. By running away, not running towards something.

So, when Chauncey confronts him with his own "monstrousness," Stede believes him. It's all his insecurities come to life. And he believes Chauncey when he says Stede's "brought history's greatest pirate to ruin."

If all Stede will ever be is a "little rich boy," then he needs to stop trying to be something else. Because telling that story means hurting others.

Stede's wrong. Telling a story, even when you don't fully believe it, changes you and the people who listened to your story. And when Stede gives up on his storytelling, the causes and effects circle round: Stede told stories. As a result, other people told stories. And even if Stede stops telling stories, or tries to tell different stories, other people won't.

Stede lied when he confessed to Nigel's murder. Said he deserved to die for leaving his wife and family. But he doesn't die there, because Ed tells his own story about grace, and the crew takes Stede's mad stories as their own.

And because of what Stede did, Mary Bonnet was able to tell her own story, fully and on her own terms. And to believe in it completely. Ed and the crew were able to tell their stories, too--which comes near to an actual transformation.

In the end, it doesn't matter that Stede didn't believe his story. He changed anyway. He created space for other people to change, to tell stories that unraveled his own lies, that saved him from himself. And he awkwardly, finally, figured out what story he wanted to tell. His own truest story.

And to escape the truth he's accidentally been trapped in, Stede tells a story that inverts what he did before. At the beginning of the season, Stede was telling a story that no one believed. That only he even really tried to believe. But in the finale, he stages an elaborate fuckery to tell a story that everyone believes--except him, and the people who matter. Truth materializes from the fiction.

Stede's stories set so many people free. And in the end, when he's brave enough to lie his way to the truth, Stede's stories set him free, too.

[apostatehamster]

idk if this is anything, but here you are anyway

[thatfuchsiafloralrobe]

why I love ofmd's editing so much (episode 4) part 2

Hello everyone! First of all, I want to thank everyone who liked the first part of this little meta and to those who decided to follow me after that. I was pleasantly surprised by it and I truly appreciate it. It's nice feeling you are not just screaming into the void.

Like I said before, my intention is to analyse the way the frankly brilliant editing of this show helps convey and explore the different themes presented by it. You can check the first part here where I analyse the first part of the opening sequence of episode 4 and the way the editing conveys in minutes the societal pressure around the arranged marriage of Mary and Stede. Now, I will try to show how the editing helps convey the state of discomfort both Mary and Stede feel after they have been forced to go on with the marriage. Buckle up. It gets wild.

Part 2. Discomfort

When I read the title of episode 4, the word “discomfort” stuck out to me for some reason. It’s a very peculiar word that I don’t see being used regularly. I'm probably biased since I'm not a native speaker of English but, still, there’s something with that word that just nagged me.

Like the nerd that I am, I went to look for its meaning in a dictionary and this is what I found:

a feeling of being uncomfortable physically or mentally, or something that causes this

Discomfort is also pain, usually not severe

The thesaurus bit had me cracking up. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions:

Back to editing, how do you show discomfort? More so when we can all agree that the discomfort we are dealing with here is more on the "mental" side of the spectrum. Well, you do so showing distance. Remember I mentioned in the previous post that the last time we saw two people siting together and, therefore, agreeing with something, establishing connections, was the last shot of mum and dad, a.k.a the heteronormies? Keep that in mind.

Once the marriage situation has been settled, we have the first cut to a different setting and the first shot we have is a close-up of Stede’s face, who is standing rigidly still as he speaks:

“I’m Stede, by the way”

We have another cut and now we have a close-up of Mary, who doesn’t look as stiff as Stede but is still very much not happy:

“I know. Mary.”

We have a beat with no dialogue until we hear Stede’s voice coming out of frame.

"Oh,"

Then we see his hand appear and, in a way, invade the space that had been Mary’s up to this point.

The tips of his stiff fingers barely touch her, the first point of contact in what had been separate and broken cuts.

“Yes”

Then we have another cut and, this time, the shot opens up and we can see the whole picture. Literally. 

"I know." Stede says.

In contrast to the previous sequence were one could argue Stede and Mary were almost the same person, here the editing uses cuts, close-ups, and wide shots to bring our attention to the degree of discomfort Stede and Mary feel from the get go in the situation they are in, having to marry a complete stranger and, worse, having to pretend there’s a connection when there is absolutely nothing. 

The first close-ups isolate both Stede and Mary, both refusing to reach out even when they are talking. Obviously this is to be expected; this the first time they are actually meeting in person and, if we look at their clothes, it’s happening right after their respective parents broke the news to them that they would have to marry. Remember both Stede and Mary had the expectation of marrying out of love and after forming a deep connection with the other person. This obviously is not what they wanted and both close up (pun intended), refusing to make any effort of connection beyond the bare minimum. 

The bare minimum here is represented by Stede reaching out until he touches Mary’s shoulder with the tips of his fingers; however, instead of portraying this action as a friendly “we might as well make this bearable for each other” sort of situation, the editing chooses to have Stede’s voice come off screen and, worse yet, his hand begins invading what had been Mary’s space so slowly and tentatively that is painful to watch. Mary doesn’t even turn to look at it, she even looks like she gets more tense as the hand approaches menacingly until it makes contact. And don’t get me started on the contact. Look at this. I’m not exaggerating when I say I cringe every time I see it.

The editing gods decide then that we’ve had enough of cold close-ups and icy cuts, and give us a wide shot that finally has both Stede and Mary together inside the frame…but, nope, this is still discomfort. 

There’s a disconnect as Stede is standing, somewhat far away, from Mary, who is sitting down. They are not at the same level. The only point of contact is Stede’s hand but we already established that it doesn’t count because it’s not conveying any sort real connection. 

Nevertheless, what truly made me want to crawl out of my skin was the point of perspective we get as audience inside the shot, created through the placement of the camera and the compositional layers or levels in the shot. To explain this a little bit more, I will take a small detour. Stay with me, I’m actually getting somewhere with this.

This is Velázquez’s Las meninas:

One of the great things about this painting is that it creates, through its composition, several different points of view or perspectives for the various characters that are there, at the moment in which a painting is being made.

There’s the first level where the little girls, the dog, and the cheeky little self-insert of Velázquez are situated. You then have a second level behind the first one where you can see the mirror with the reflection of the king and queen of Spain. Then there’s a third level at the background where a man has stopped in his tracks to look through the door frame to whatever is happening in front of him. Last but not least, we have a fourth level that is not apparent but is created by the people in the three previous levels who are looking at the front. Who is at the front? Us. The spectator. We are witnessing this slice of life, intruding even by the way everything seems to have stopped because we decided to quickly peek inside to see what was going on. And, since we are both witness and spectator, Velázquez uses this to draw attention to the fact that everything is arranged with the idea that it has and will be seen by others. This is a social act.

Now let's look back at our shot:

We have three levels, or layers, here: the first one is Stede and Mary, who, as it turns out, are posing for a painting. In the second layer we have our friend the painter who I will call Leonardo because David Jenkins loves anachronistic jokes and I stan. Finally, the third layer is us, conveyed through the placement of the camera which puts us in the perspective of a nameless onlooker and, by witnessing this painting, we are playing the role of that entity who is looking at this arranged scene and, even, for whom this whole thing has been arranged. 

This is not a shot that is used to convey what could have been a terribly awkward, yes, but an attempt to create a true connection between Stede and Mary. No. They are posing to keep appearances. Feigning cordiality by “remembering” their names. They might be sharing space in the same shot, even sharing the space of the same layer of the shot’s composition, but they are not together, not really. They are as apart as they were with the close-ups, pushing down their identities and personalities, their true desires, to be able to stand and perform for what society requires of them. 

This is a picture of discomfort.

I told you it was wild.

Anyway, for the next, and final, instalment in this trilogy of this heteronormative clusterfuck of repressed identities for societal expectations, get ready for the representation of awful copying mechanisms in a married state through the magic of editing. Spoiler: it doesn’t get better -> [part 3]

[arsenicflame]

izzy's little grey hairs at his temples......

[cahootings]

ep5 had the comedic pacing and delivery of an episode of spongebob. and then they bring it home with the most heart rending laser focused perfectly paralleled romantic shit I’ve ever seen. that’s good TV

[mysteriouslybluepirate]

OFMD S2 EP 4-5: Izzy Hands (from a S1 Izzy fan)

I'll admit. I teared up at the Izzy shit in ep 1-3. Not a full-blown cry. But close. I was stressed, and tired, and hurt more than anything. I only cried in my car driving home. It hit, but it was more prolonged.

Do you know what got me crying? Izzy opened that letter, revealing 'For The New Unicorn'. He looks up and smiles. I went from 0-100 dry eyes to crying in seconds. I had to rewatch it because HELL.

The entire episode, hell, debatably from (S1ep4) we see Izzy go through it. Socially isolated and losing his identity. Leading up to S2ep4. Drunk and sad and heartbroken. He tries his best to stay afloat without a lifejacket as his self crumbles around him. He doesn't care anymore. He thinks his life is over. He lashes out because there's no one there to help him.

BUT THEN THE LEG. He cried and I cried during both scenes.

BECAUSE HE IS CARED ABOUT AND HE CAN HEAL!

GOD, and the way that leads into EPISODE 5. Izzy slicked his hair back and regaining some of his own personal identity. Izzy genuinely bantering with Stede, and gently helping him to be a better Captain. The way he desperately asks Stede if Ed said anything else nice about him? Showing that. Yeah, he's not all the way there yet, but he's working on it. The training scene where Izzy just looks on in fascinated horror at Stede's skills? THE LITTE OKAY HANDSIGNAL AT THE END WHEN STEDE USED HIS GRUFF VOICE? He smiles, and jokes, and TRIES. Izzy is pissed, obviously, but he's getting there.

He is kind and caring, all WHILE STILL BEING A PRICK? Him being a total nerd during the curse monologue? Izzy mutters 'rude' and pointedly crosses his legs as Stede ruins the vibe. I laughed harder at Izzy sitting at that desk than I did at most of the jokes in the show. THAT'S MY FUCKING BASTARD!! I'm so happy I saw a character and have been rewarded by showing, yes. He is kind, and trying, but he needs to learn to let himself become new.

I fucking love him. I can tell from the teaser that Izzy is just going to grow closer with the crew (and with himself) and I can't wait. (Even if it means his imminent capture, whoops).

I do think they'll do something with Izzy/Lucius, at least a single happy (Izzy no longer holding himself back from wanting) consensual kiss or genuine discussion about life(post-wedding) to show their growth as characters because I had to pause with the cig and shark interaction. Jesus Christ. I didn't really ship it before, but they are so snarky and it's great.

I'm a bit sad as Izzy's current arc likely means he might not get the big 'fuck you' moment of anger to Ed that Lucius got. Mainly because Con would make me cry, but If Izzy is genuinely just shoving this shit down, ignoring the years that Ed ignored his existence, then...idk.

They purposefully gave Izzy and Ed no scenes and thank god we get a TINY break. Because Ed will try to patch things up, and I don't think it works like that with Izzy. He needs proof that Ed is trying. Add to that Ed ACTUALLY saying sorry to him, and not expecting Izzy to immediately accept it(my theory as to why Lucius pointed it out: Ed will ACTUALLY say sorry to Izzy and mean it. This will heal something for Izzy, and hell). I can't wait for Ed to come back and see him. See him for who he is, a silly prick who is loyal to a fault, who is loved.

This is likely the happiest two episodes we'll get, and fuck, I loved them both SO MUCH. After a rewatch I'll write about the crew. Ed/Stede is actually working for me as we watch them both learn, and Fuck, Lucius/Pete...my darlings.

NOW FOR THE TEASER:

THE IDEA OF SEEING CON IN DRAG AGAIN MAKES ME SO HAPPY! Especially what it means for Izzy. Izzy lets his hair down and has fun with Wee John as he explores what actually makes him happy. Hell, him opening up to being a bit of a masochist as a joke while tied up is...actually my favorite thing (while obvious, given his propensity to put Ed before him in all matters, Izzy casually mentioning 'I like to be roughed a bit up' in front of the crew is the type of openness about himself that I crave). Izzy "cocksuckers" Hands letting himself joke about SEX-GAY SEX(probably)- Kill me now.

(To clarify: I don't think he or Ed ever got off to the abuse, hell, we see Ed flinch away when Anne/Mary do it. That's not the face of someone who knows what that's like as the Sadist).

I just love the way Izzy has so obviously relaxed into a person that he'd never let exist. Hell. I hope Izzy gets to rub this happier version of himself RIGHT in Edward's sad face. I need a 'he was never like this with me' moment of Ed watching Izzy SMILE to parallel Izzy's jealousy in S1.

Con obviously loves this character, you can see it in the performance. He fills the role perfectly, from his ups to his downs. Con smiles and hell, that's not Con, that's Izzy fucking Hands. Striding along proudly pretending his world isn't changing, because it is, and he is healing and I LOVE IT.

I am so proud of our growing Izzy loving community. For some, we've been through a lot of shit. Probably in life, and hell, maybe even in this fandom. Even if you haven't been harassed, you loved Izzy, you saw yourself in him, and I hope you felt the show giving us a big fucking hug.

We grow, we recover, and hell. We get a happy fucking ending (with a few yet-to-be-seen bumps in the road).

[johnsspacesuittight]

why am I crying over an absolutely fucking insane man wearing a golden unicorn leg?