#the crew of the revenge

[shot-in-the-sky]

I just want to take this moment to fully appreciate first mate Frenchie, who is in fact first mate for 1 whole day against his will. In that time he does nothing Ed asks and helps kill him. Which means in fact he is the most successful first mate ever because he speed ran the first mate arch. He goes from loyal follower to Captain killer a whole 20ish years faster than Izzy. Go Frenchie Go.

[themostdeviousbastardinnyc]

Really really hope buttons the seagull delivers mail between the inn and the revenge <3 ed and stede annoy the hell out of the crew with overly long domestic letters like that one extended family member who will NOT take you off their christmas newsletter list

[megaawkwardhuman]

I'm handling the newest episodes soooo well

[celluloidbroomcloset]

OK. I wrote some of this in a vent to @sparklywaistcoat, but I'm gonna say it here.

I'm less sad about there not being a Season 3 and feel more just tearful anger that once again studios and streamers truly don't give a fuck about art or what it means to people or to culture. It’s corporations who just want to reproduce the same boring shit for the same boring people and even when they have something that’s popular and loved, they just can’t see past their own very narrow worldview. I really did think that the second season was going to get chucked once HBO Max restructured and WB merged with Discovery. I was shocked that it ever got released.

There’s such a wonderful scope of art in this world, but streamers won’t give it the space it needs to breathe. So when you get something like OFMD or Reservation Dogs or Good Omens, it’s so hopeful and yet you just sit there in heartbreak, hoping it doesn’t go away, or that it can at least play out as the people who make it want it to. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't, but we have to remember that even when it doesn't, it still means something.

Now, Hollywood has always been like this, but it’s still very hard to see art being treated so callously. It’s like when the Code came in and you look back and see all these lovely things, truly groundbreaking stuff, that got cut off at the knees because of the fucking mainstream conservatives who thought they knew what was best, and the Hollywood studios that went right along with them to keep selling their product.

But the studio system, and the Code, broke, and it is breaking again. We’re in line for a major bursting of cinematic art as creators escape from franchises and the mainstream, a la American Independent cinema. It is already happening. The new studio system, built on streamers and franchises, of which WB and HBOMax is a part, is collapsing. OFMD is a big sign of that—an openly queer, incredibly diverse TV show that kept pushing and pushing through eighteen episodes, that rejected queerbaiting, that rejected convention, and that built itself on being a gay pirate rom-com and was exactly that.

Queer media has done more than broken through. It has embedded itself in the culture in a way that it never did in the past. It's out from the underground without assimilation. OFMD is not the only part of that, but it is a part of it. And that's something that HBOMax, Zaslav, Hollywood, the studio system, the entire straight, cis, white, conservative, conventional mainstream world can absolutely never take away or push back into the closet. They will try, though, and they will lose. They already lost.

So, yeah, I'm angry and I'm sad, and they fucked Calypso's birthday. But we can chuck a fiddle at their heads to protect the people we love, and it isn't going to destroy our souls.

Our spirit will last throughout their entire fucking empire.

[cataclysmic-cathexis]

Hell-Cat Maggie, the woman on Ned Low's crew, was a real woman who lived in the mid-19th century in New York City. She was a member of the Dead Rabbits, an Irish gang who controlled areas around the Bowery (known as the Five Points). She was known as a complete badass, and did reportedly have her teeth filed into points. She also wore claws on the ends of her fingers, resembling cat claws. She's featured in Scorsese's Gangs of New York (first pic).

Very sexy of David Jenkins to use a notorious woman gangster who wasn't born until 100 years after this show is set, and to put her in a completely different setting. Love it.

Edit: Apparently the woman playing Hellcat Maggie is David Jenkins’ wife!! 10/10 no notes

[vinylattes]

#HAPPY ‘STEDE BECOMES A REAL, PROPER PIRATE’ DAY TO THOSE WHO CELEBRATE

[mopeytwat]

this.

[blackbonnette]

At least we've got a roof? Lots of air?

OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH ✦ 2x01 Impossible Birds

[natowe]

The whole crew is here!

Give It To Me | our flag means death ❤

YouTube

[where-our-stories-start]

[luciusspriggss]

OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH

The crew of the revenge (Happy renewal day everyone)

[queerfandomtrifecta]

So a lot is bothering me about the narrative structure of season two. If I didn’t have my own novel to work on and didn’t have several more edits commissioned, I’d write a fix-it fic for all of season two to fix the narrative stuff and to really delve into character arcs that felt off. Maybe I will anyway. Idk. If someone who actually has time wants to take any or all of this and write a fic, go for it. Can’t wait to read it. Anyway, this is a very rough outline that’s subject to change if I do write the fic, but from a developmental editing perspective, here’s my two cents nobody asked for on season 2:

Thematic elements: Atonement and coping with trauma, the crew leaving (especially in regards to Stede’s emotional wound where he’s worried about people being better off without him) and identity (especially in regards to Ed/Stede/Izzy). These are present in the show as-is, but they don’t play out well just yet. I’m focusing on these to make things cohesive.

Episodes 1-3: mostly perfect. Loved these and the pacing felt correct for the most part. I would keep the tone from these episodes through the season. Ricky would be introduced here. Zheng is fantastic and all of her stuff stays here.

What I’d change: Ned Low would be the primary antagonist for this season. Ricky would be set up through this season to be the primary antagonist next season. Ned Low’s record is Ed’s original suicide by proxy plan, and that needs to be introduced here. There needs to be a scene showing how Ned tortures people in these episodes. Izzy needs to bring it up as a concern to Ed. Ed doesn’t care about the crew’s safety, obviously, someone (Izzy) needs to mention Ned’s record and possible repercussions here. I’d also NOT play Lucius’s trauma reveal with Stede like a comedy beat. (Like seriously, I HATE that the show played SA as a comedy beat.) Black Pete would be shown crying of Lucius so it’s not just told randomly after the fact. Olu would be shown missing Jim.

Episode 4: The unicorn thing with Izzy was beautiful and I’d keep that. Stede and Ed going to Mary and Anne’s is fine. Buttons can APPEAR to turn into a seagull.

What I’d change: The Kraken Crew and Lucius need to stay paranoid longer. They need to tally things up and realize that Low’s record has been broken (I think Ed was too checked out from reality/high on rhino horn to even realize he’d broken it; Izzy has bigger things going on and likely also lost track) but that record being broken was NEVER shown in the original, just told after the fact. In order to NOT switch to a speculative genre randomly for a convenient metaphor, Buttons appears to turn into a seagull but he doesn’t literally. Revealed to the audience but not to Ed/Stede (more on this later). Stede doesn’t put it to a vote that Ed can come back. He’s the captain and decides that that’s how it’s gonna be. The crew is also gonna look to former first-mate Frenchie (whose trauma is in a box) for direction when Izzy is struggling. It’s Frenchie’s idea about the leg. Izzy is still struggling a little more after his new leg, and I think he should be shown happy at the end but with a bottle of something not far from him (but more in that later).

Episode 5: Ed’s influencer non-apology clearly written by Stede works. Ed and Stede need time apart. The cursed suit can stay for the levity of it. Ed and Fang can go fishing. The moonlight kiss scene works for the most part.

What I’d change: Izzy can be sassy with Lucius, and a bit of a mentor to Stede, but he’s going to be drinking in this episode. Not plastered drunk like ep 4, but it’s gonna clearly be a struggle and everyone is just Not Talking About It. Lucius might start to parallel that a bit and I’d like to see more interaction with them there. I’d also like to see the Kraken Crew (all the crew really) treating Izzy as their captain. Stede says he doesn’t feel like the captain and there should be a reason for that. If he forced them to let Ed back on the boat in ep 4, that can be addressed here. Izzy is following Stede so he can eventually persuade everyone they have to as well, though Izzy’s earned more trust than anyone at this point. I’d delve into him doing for Stede what he did for Ed pre-season one (“massaged the crew” when Ed’s moods seemed off to keep things running (I can’t remember the exact quote past that, but that’s essentially the idea). The Kraken Crew needs to be wary of Ed longer. They do not believe Buttons is a seagull. They all think Ed killed him and Stede says he didn’t see Buttons turn into a seagull, but he takes Ed’s side and doesn’t think Ed killed him. That starts a rift and an “us or Ed” thing that’ll play out later. Ed can try to interact with the crew and get the cold shoulder. He’s done nothing to restore his reputation. As far as the cursed suit goes, I would have them receive some sort of warning from Ned Low when they go to pawn the suit off on the other ship. Stede or/or Izzy would keep it quiet from the crew, who are only just now starting to follow Stede as the captain. Ricky needs to be shown here wanting to end piracy, and interacting with Zheng. After the moonlight kiss, I’d have them holding hands as they walk off. I think maybe Lucius would want to leave the ship here. The Swede and Buttons are gone already, and it makes sense for Lucius to want to leave but Black Pete to want to stay. They’ll both still be on board here though.

Episode 6: Calypso’s Birthday will be the plot for 7/8.

What I’d change: let me preface this by saying I haven’t worked Zheng’s plot fixes out fully. But. If we’re moving this to the next two episodes, something has to happen here. I’d keep the bit with the guilt room and with Ed giving away treasure to the urchins saying don’t be pirates, but have him say more in front of Stede about how piracy is bad for specific reasons that Stede just doesn’t clock as Ed wanting to stop. I think the plot will be along the lines of Stede engaging in more piracy. Ed will quietly be struggling with the fact that Stede is becoming a more and more proficient pirate in his own way, Ed himself not wanting to pirate anymore, and his tentative new relationship with the captain of a ship he is definitely not wanted on by anyone other than Stede. Zheng needs to interact with Ricky here about him wanting to end piracy. Izzy is a good first mate here but he’s still drinking. Lucius may start to parallel that here. Former first mate Frenchie picks up the slack and falls into a leadership role when Izzy is struggling too much, and this is eventually gonna cause him to have to deal with his trauma that’s bottled up, when he has to talk to Izzy about clearly not handling his own. Eventually, things will come to a head with the crew not wanting Ed on board. It becomes an “us vs him” thing with the crew threatening to leave if Es doesn’t. Stede will try to smooth things over but Ed will interrupt and say don’t bother, he’s leaving. He doesn’t know who he is but at least fisherman would be better than pirate. Episode ends with Stede heartbroken and Ed going off to fish in something that isn’t his leathers, so he wouldn’t be recognizable from a distance. Low pinpoints Stede’s ship but doesn’t see Ed on it, and plans to bait him out by boarding and torturing the crew.

Episodes 7-8: Nope. I’d keep almost none of this.

What I’d change: This part is also still rough and I need to flesh it out a bit more, BUT: Calypso’s birthday would be episode 7. The crew would wanna party but also wanna cheer up their sulking captain. They’re glad Ed is gone. Izzy is a good first mate here but still drinking. He encourages the party to Stede who agrees. They’re spending Ed’s treasure that he’s left, turning the poison into positivity by getting rid of the bad memories the Kraken Crew has of obtaining it. Stede and Izzy bond a lot here. Ned Low does interrupt the party (I think maybe he’s also “working” with Ricky but not really, he has his own agenda) planning to bait Ed back. The scene in Stede’s quarters would be Izzy and Stede, not Ed and Stede. Once again the crew are suffering for Ed’s actions, and THAT is how Ed can atone for it. He can save them, probably with the help of Zheng who he’ll have met when he goes off to be a fisherman. So there’s some camaraderie going there. Also, with help from Lucius and Black Pete, who will have to trust him in order to save the crew/themselves. Stede will be the one to kill Ned Low, and he and Ed will still impulsively sleep together as a coping mechanism at the end of episode 8. Izzy is still alive and well (though still drinking a lot; and I think this could be a key to Frenchie having to confront trauma instead of locking it in the box), and things aren’t smoothed out with Ed and Izzy yet, that’s for next season, Ed has ACTUALLY done something to earn the crew’s trust back, and it appears to be a happy enough ending for Ed and Stede. Also, IF Ed says “I love you”, Stede is GONNA say “I love you too” because WTAF was that in the show?! But I’d end the season with La Vie en Rose and fireworks, Izzy happy and celebrating with the crew, a happy moment for Ed/Stede, the antagonist defeated, and Ed actually having atoned for his previous actions.

All of this is rough, but it’s my original thoughts. If anyone wants to use the base of this to write a fix-it fic, go for it. I may do it myself if I can find the time between work writing responsibilities.

[mermaidlighthouse]

Thinking about when Stede says “I know he wouldn’t have left by choice. He was either gonna watch the world burn or die trying. So which was it?” Obviously there’s been many people pointing out that he’s showing he really does GET Ed but the thing that stood out to me is that Stede is setting up the fact that the only way this would have stopped, the only way Ed wouldn’t have continued his list of crimes and dramatic upsets was if he was dead. If the first is true, he really does understand Ed then, the second is also true, he already subconsciously knows Ed is dead.

Which makes Stede’s decision to confront/negotiate with Zheng before the confirmation of mutiny even more impactful. He knows, he’s not stupid but he allows himself to believe Izzy because it’s easier. Then after being told “they killed him” and knowing he’s been lied to about it he still saves them and he does it with a smile on his face, being playful and never once actually confronting the crew for retaliating against Ed.

Yeah he knows Ed was troubled, he recognizes he hurt Ed pretty bad but the fact is he’s extremely capable and emotionally intelligent while still having genuine flaws and humanity.

[kingsofgaytham]

love lucius and archie serving cunt like a pair of traumatised gay bookends

[celluloidbroomcloset]

“He’s from my world, not yours.”

The resonance of this in a queer context. Chauncey tries to reclaim Stede from Ed and gives himself the right to execute a gay man for daring to depart from the straight world—which he also tries again later on, explicitly telling Stede that he’s going to die for being an inhuman plague and defiler. And Ed hangs onto Stede and says that no, he’s mine, a part of my world now, you can’t take him back. Then it’s Lucius, the most explicit representation of queerness without shame, who stands up and starts declaring Stede a “real pirate.”

It’s this remarkable and defiant reclamation of Stede for the community that has embraced him and that he has defended and loved, telling the straight world that they can’t take him back and destroy him: “He’s ours.”

[prettybard]

part 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7