#the way they did Izzy

[gaypiratepropaganda]

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

[indigoire]

Okay but on a serious note Con O'Neill ate in these first few episodes and left no fucking crumbs. Last season we ended on deranged Izzy; now we have an Izzy realizing how toxic things can really get and WISHING he could go back to the days when he was the only proper pirate among muppets. And he's TRYING so damn hard and it would be so easy to play that in a cheesy or insincere manner, but we have Con O'Neill swinging for the fences, crying, begging for death, disheveled, trying to undo everything he did to get us all in this mess and failing and looking both miserable and delighted in his misery because he's getting what he thinks he deserves.

And YET we also get the subtle tear in the eye when Stede finds out what they really did to Ed. Like. You can feel how utterly heartbroken the man is just from a glimmer in the corner of his eye.

Love Izzy, hate Izzy, it really doesn't matter, not when he's played so magnificently by Con, and I salute him for everything he's doing in this campy gay pirate show.

[i-hate-everything-except-fandoms]

They released another still of Lucius looking at the shark!!

[psychic-waffles]

i have a lot of feelings about the new flag being frenchie's cat okay!! i just need to know who encouraged him to do this 🥺😭

[urproblematicfav-arsonk]

I have a new essay for everyone its called "OFMD S2 is an insult to Con O'Neill both as a person and his legacy in his acting career as a queer man"

Like, this man did not spend his ENTIRE FUCKING CAREER playing almost exclusively openly queer or heavily, heavily coded queer characters to be treated like this??? In fucking 2023??????? He got better, more queer happy endings in the 80s and 2000s, the fuck?

I think it's incredibly telling that David felt like he had to hide what he was doing with Iz' character arc from Con till it was too late in filming. Hey, hey David? What did you think he was gonna do if he knew beforehand what was happening?? David? David do you think he would've walked? Do you think he would've used his leverage both as the fan favorite and integral part of the story to demand BETTER from you and everyone else writing the show?

Con has been making queer art since the fucking 80s when he was in his 20s. He has openly talked about trans rights and the fight against homophobia that we have been fighting for years and decades. I can't imagine what kind of push back he had to deal with to get all the gay shit he was doing to come to fruition. I can guarantee that at least part of the reason he doesn't have as big of a career as he absolutely deserves is because of how openly queer he has been since the start. I think if Con had been allowed to have some input in the direction of Izzy's character that something like this wouldn't have happened, at least not this messily and uncompassionate.

I legit can't imagine how fucked he must've felt after being given the genuinely very beautiful Unicorn scene and then be casually taken aside and told "lolol anyway Izzy is gonna die now, without love and without the acceptance he had already been given". But at least he was given a cuddle????

Anyway watch Dancin' Thru The Dark. Its on YouTube and it's about an openly genderqueer/bi man who goes on a sad but fun music adventure and it's actually really really good. Con sings and its a fucking bop AND he doesn't die at the end or watch Bedrooms And Hallways, it's a fun romcom about a found family of all queer people doing stupid gay shit. Also you can see Hugo Weaving's entire dick and balls in one scene and if that's not better gay rep then ofmd s2 then idk what is

[arsenicflame]

i Do Not Trust people who make Mary the bad guy in their stories when the show went out of its way to specifically show us how she was suffering just as much as stede was in their marriage and that shes, yknow, a good person

[o-wild-west-wind]

y’all out here saying Izzy’s death made no narrative sense because it’s a comedy show clearly haven’t seen the Shakespeare post…I’m sorry I really am but death immunity only applies to the romantic leads the genre has not changed babes

(I don’t mean this to be patronizing, but genuinely: critically analyzing and engaging with art is a skill, and an important one. it’s a tool that will help you in the real world, for real current events. use this as practice not to take everything at face value. sad art does not equal bad art!)

[izzyshandz]

I swear if i see one more mf say izzy has been 'redeemed' or needed a 'redemption arc' im literally going to scream into my pillow until i lose my voice.

redeem is such a black and white way of looking at his entire character and dismisses everything hes gone through and yall (izzy haters and others) are just so fucking snob nosed and ignorant to sit there and think hes a villain because of how he acted. theyre fucking pirates. theyre not perfect, none of them are. eds a villain, stedes a villain, if youre doing it like that. ed has killed so many people, stede literally left his wife and kids and also had a hand in killing people; it may be easier for them to change because of the perspective the show gives them and they had love but izzy did not. everyone hated him, ed, his own crew, stedes crew.

normalizing peoples reactions to things as something other than villainy and heroism is so god damn important in a show that's trying to accurately involve our perspectives in this day and age. its a tale as old as time, making someone 'completely in the wrong' because their perspective isnt the one you aligned with as much.

like the rest of the crew izzy had his own bad things hes done, he didnt need this 'redemption' everyones blabbering on about. he needed to be fucking heard, to be seen, and acknowledged-- not thrown aside and abandoned because of a whim. you all can ride up blackbeards ass because oh hes so hot, hes so pretty omg wow; but that wont ever change the fact his character is a fucked up person... youre allowed to love him anyways, why not izzy? we didnt see blackbeard before screen but how hes mentioned it shows he was a shit awful person, the only reason no one cares is because on hes fuckin gay for stede or whatever so the main characters get a free ride. ( i agree they all get a free ride, im just tired of this izzy isolation man )

why does he need to be redeemed in your eyes? just because youve seen what hes done? he was literally a product of his environment in season one he was a product of blackbeard's leadership. only with the loyalty and solidarity of the crew did he really begin to find himself, thats fucking hard to do that late in life. instead of calling it some bullshit black and white redemption arc, lets just celebrate izzy being himself and being fucking loved for once in his god damn life.

hes also way more fucking mature and put together than people give him credit for. love you izzy.

edit: thank you all for the reblogs and insights in every single one, i read them i promise i do. im just so mf heartbroken we have to tag things as discourse when its really just about people not being compassionate. (as a couple people have pointed out) i will said id reblog and comment on every single tag but this is my side </3 EVERYONE PLEASE READ THE REBLOGGED TAGS TOO / / theyre so real ! ive also opened up that ask box thingy i havent been on tumblr in yrs and have 0 clue how any of that works if anyone wants my perspective on anything izzy related. *or otherwise ofmd related

[who-the-fuck-knows-blog]

the second con learned the show was gay he put his whole pussy into making izzy visibly besotted with ed and 13 year old girl jealous of stede and im so grateful.

[mermaidlighthouse]

Ok so I’m gonna recenter the “indestructible little fucker” moment around Ed…yes it’s obviously directed at Izzy and in a literal sense about Izzy but it’s also about what Izzy represents in Ed’s life, Blackbeard, it’s just further confirmation that the only escape for Ed from the persona of Blackbeard, the darkness, is his own death

Even when he thinks it’s gone, when he believes it’s dead, it’s comes back and hurts him…

From Ed’s perspective, he’s tried allowing himself to find the fun in pirating again when he’s teaching Stede and found that when he’s exposed to the darker elements (Calico Jack) he’ll fall right back into the old patterns, he tried doing what just makes Ed happy and it left him broken, he’s tried accepting that even if his dream of running away with Stede and leaving the past behind didn’t work he can still be Ed and while still dealing with his heartbreak is told Ed’s not good enough

He’s exhausted and depressed and he just wants to be Ed but past experience says that’s never gonna happen, even when he’s imagining his idealized versions of himself (the rich fancy man, the innkeeper) he uses the cover of Jeff because Ed’s not good enough for those things…

Ed’s also offered the outside iteration of Blackbeard (Izzy) the opportunity to kill him and even that escape from the pain, suffering, and darkness wasn’t given

So when Izzy appears and shoots him, it proves that Blackbeard is a looming spectre he can’t evade or outmaneuver, it’s indestructible. And it’s further justification for his decision to remove himself from the equation.

[sidewalk-scrawls]

Actually Izzy did not "want this," and it's weird that people keep saying that he did!

[celluloidbroomcloset]

Ed: Remember when you told Izzy to tell me that I could go suck eggs in hell?

Stede (no memory of this whatsoever): ....Yes?

Ed: It was really fucking hot.

[wonderonamission]

Ed and Stede opened an inn and Izzy became the new captain of the revenge.

[bougiebutchbitch]

man it'd be real nice if people kept their Shitty Uncharitable Takes and Blatant Character Hate out of the character tags, but this is the fandom where 'Ed physically mutilating Izzy over and over, and torturing the crew, is actually all Izzy's fault because Ed has no agency and Izzy said A Mean Thing to him once' is a genuine popular take. so I don't know what I expected

[glimblshanks]

Everyone is entitled to their own media interpretations of course, but sometimes I see an analysis post from an Izzy hater and I am truly like "did we even watch the same show?"

[arsenicflame]

since we all appear to be talking about izzy 'calling the police' on stede id like to offer my silly little two cents:

its not like the navy wasn't actively looking for him anyway??????

at most, izzys actions sped up badminton catching up with stede, but its made very clear that badminton wanted Stede dead well before this, and was willing to use whatever he could to find him- whos to say jackie wouldnt have cut a deal on her own? that any other pirate thats seen them being unsubtle in a port wouldn't take the opportunity to make a quick buck over a guy who is Nobody and holds no influence that could lead to any consequences for them?

in reality izzy is probably the only person who would receive negative repercussions to selling out stede, given his personal connection with ed- any other pirate would probably have gotten away unscathed, anonymous. they likely wouldnt have even been present like izzy was. izzy had personal stakes, anyone else would have taken the money and ran

the way i see it, with or without izzy the events of episode 10 probably would have happened in some degree, izzy just expedited the timeline