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Izzy, after attempting to purchase Ed from a colonial power: You really want to lick the king's boots?

Stede, whose life literally depends on Ed signing the Act of Grace: You really don't have to do this.

Izzy tries everything he can to literally possess Ed. Stede would rather give up his own life than for Ed to be coerced.

#ofmd

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Once more and again: props to Stede Bonnet. He spent literal months longing for Ed, writing him letters, working through his own fears, trying to figure out where he was. Then he finds out that that his crew killed this man with whom he’s deeply in love, and his response is to think of them first. He takes the blame on himself. He defends them, he tries to talk Zheng out of executing them, and he saves their lives - including the life of a man who tried to kill him many times.

And only after they’re all safe does he take the space to mourn.

What a fucking hero.

#ofmd #he's so fucking strong

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LET US REMEMBER. The dingbats are actually a pretty small slice, and as someone who kinda kicked the door in following Season 2, I've had a really lovely experience within this fandom overall. I'd rather fight with reasonable people who disagree than jackasses who have decided that an excellent antagonist should be a terrible protagonist for some fucking reason.

Also, Ed and Stede are even now calling each other increasingly saccharine pet names that they both adore.

#ofmd #🩷

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Y’know, for all the “the crew love Izzy!” and “Izzy protects the crew!!” stuff, there’s very little of that…on the screen? Like, after the events of the first three episodes, we do not see how Jim totally loves Izzy - we see Jim hanging out with Olu and Archie. Frenchie is not suddenly Izzy’s BFF. Fang doesn’t chill with him. The Revenge group don’t start listening to him.

We do get him making inroads with them, especially via Wee John and drag. He is a PART of the crew because he’s accepted their grace and he’s not hurting them anymore. Which is good! It’s about integrating him into the group that’s part of Stede’s ethos. It’s about offering grace to the least deserving among them. But there’s not this sudden “he’s our best buddy!!” He’s not…special. And I don’t mean that in a bad way - they all like each other and they all hang out together. There are strong communal bonds. Izzy is one of many, not the most special.

There’s been so much emphasis on “Izzy’s redemption arc!” and the crew loving him beyond anyone else, but that’s not really there. He’s just one of them now because he’s stopped being a fucking dick to them. That’s it.

#ofmd

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s1 was stede's journey, s2 was ed's journey. s3 would have been a journey for the both of them together and navigating their lives as a unit. i will forever be angry

#ofmd #exactly

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God, you have no idea how nice it is seeing you drag Izzy's behaviour in late S1-early S2 into the ground. Just- it's like- I feel sane again, reading it.

It's not supposed to be good behavior! There should not be any caveats or arguments about this, and it should inform everything we understand going into the rest of Season 2. Dude fucked around and found out. He bullied and cajoled and when that didn't work he outright threatened a deeply vulnerable man to the point that Ed snapped. It was escalating throughout Season 1! We see it escalate!

No one ever actually uses direct homophobic slurs, but the three characters who come very very close to it are Chauncey, CJ, and Izzy, and Izzy does it right in Ed's face! There is a reason it is IZZY that gets his toes cut off and no one else. There is a reason that Ed shoots him in the leg and no one else. And it's not because Ed is a vicious abusive monster; it is because he has been pushed so far by one single person for so long that when he finally shatters, all the shards fly right into Izzy's face. He warns Izzy time and again "stop doing this" and Izzy keeps going. Ed is not dumb and he's not brutish; his violence is very very directed.

This show has layers, but it is not subtle about what it's saying. That we're all constantly justifying our takes about Izzy against the threat of "but he's not so bad!" or "Ed is the real monster!" responses is ridiculous.

#ofmd #🔥🔥🔥

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I don't think Stede will ever tell Ed this or even be able to fully articulate it to himself, but for the rest of their lives sometimes he's going to lean in and it won't be a proper kiss really, it'll just be a kiss pressed to his bottom lip in particular. Whenever Ed's had a rough day, or he needs a little extra reassurance, he's just going to start to expect the softest kiss on his bottom lip.

Just something about Ed with his poor split lip when they first reunited, remembering the blood in his beard and the pain on his face, knowing that he couldn't kiss it better while it really hurt. And a part of Stede will always remember that and try to make up for it a thousand times over.

#ofmd #:(

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I think there’s a lot to be said about shame as a driving factor in the representation of toxic masculinity in OFMD, but one thing that struck me hard in this rewatch is how Izzy desperately tries to conceal what is happening with Ed when he returns to the Revenge. He makes up a (bad) lie about Ed being sick but getting better but also can’t be seen. He tells Lucius not to mention anything that he sees on pain of death. When Lucius goes into Ed’s cabin, he’s visibly frightened of what he’ll find—and what he finds is a man hiding in a pillow fort, eating marmalade.

It’s ridiculous to even think this is shameful or frightening. We have an entire scene of Ed writing bad lyrics and trying to control his tears. He’s sad and he’s heartbroken, he has tear tracks on his face, and he keeps trying and failing to stop himself from crying again. But he’s no danger to anyone, not even himself. He’s just deeply sad, for good reason.

We never see why Ed decides to come on deck, but it’s implied that Lucius at least encourages him in it. And that’s the point where Izzy starts really losing it. Because Ed is in public, he’s singing, he’s praising the crew, he’s asking for them to join him, he’s saying he wants to be called Edward. All the mythos of Blackbeard—all the SHAME of Blackbeard—is gone. He’s just a man, and in this case, a man who fell in love and got hurt. He’s not ashamed to be the man he is, in front of everyone.

That shame comes back so powerfully of course, but part of Ed healing is the slow return to a space where he really isn’t ashamed. He’s not ashamed of wearing a cat collar and potato sack, of no longer being the badass pirate captain. He’s not ashamed of kissing Stede in public. He’s not ashamed of vulnerability or the feelings he has being known. He defeats that for the second time, not in quite the same way (because he can never really go back), but defeats it all the same.

(Of course, this is really important in a queer context and why the “namby pamby” comment shouldn’t be taken lightly. Ed is not just gay, he is being openly gay. Izzy really is every parent who ever said “I don’t care if you’re gay, but i draw the line at you being a f**.”)

#ofmd #op your posts are a breath of fresh air

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in one ear and out the other…

@devoursjohnlock

(based on this)

#ofmd #🥺🥺🥺 #my dear baby has no idea wtfs going on

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No, y'know what? I love Season 2. I thought there was nothing wrong with Season 2 until I saw folks on here complaining about Season 2. I don't even care about the changes they might or might not have had to make, or the occasional pacing issues (Season 1 has pacing issues too, in places, but it's still great!).

THIS was the season that changed me. THIS was the one that made me go "huh, I need to think more about who I am."

Really tired of all the various caveats of "if only..." and "well, if Max hadn't..." and "this plot would've worked better..."

No. I love it. If it has to end there, I'm glad that's where it ends. I'd love to have more, but this worked so fucking well.

I love Season 2.

#ofmd #👌👌👌 #s2 was spectacular and it was the most perfect story they could've given us with the resources and runtime they had #idc idc idc nothing but s2 love in my house

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#ofmd #thats my pillow

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I am always just wrecked by the moment in s1e4 when we see Ed rub the cashmere fabric he picks up against his cheek.

At this point, we don't know Ed well yet. We've seen him being his usual goofy self, but he hides so much when he's not just alone with Stede like we see later in this episode. Stede has just woken up. Ed's made his silly little faces in the mirror, and that's adorable, but I think the moment with the cashmere is when I just fell in love with this guy.

It's just such a tender, delicate moment. That's such a sweet, earnest pleasure, feeling something soft against your face. So hesitant in how he lifts it to his cheek, so gentle as he feels it there. "I think maybe I do, yeah," he says when Stede asks if he fancies a fine fabric, hesitant and unsure.

It's hard to describe why it hits so hard. It's such an effective communication of Ed's longing for softness, for gentleness, and it's such an innocent expression of it, taking this little joy in the feeling of something soft against your cheek. It's a precious moment.

#ofmd

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Maybe I'm just being too sensitive with all the terrible takes on Stede that have been circulating the past few months, but every time I see him referred to as "cringefail" it makes me cringe. Even when it's made by fans of his in a loving manner. Why does that always seem to be the trait people cling onto when he has so many other better ones?

Yeah, it bugs me a bit too. There's a bit too much indulgence in the "he's such a loser dork!" stuff—up to and including saying that Ed loves him despite that, as though all the things that make him a dork aren't things that Ed values and adores.

I think this might be why both the discourse around CJ and the discourse around that training montage right now has bothered me so much—there's still this undercurrent of Stede needing to be "taught a lesson" by other men in a traditional masculine setting (how to be a real pirate, just male bonding, etc.), when there is...nothing wrong with Stede. Stede not wanting to participate in toxic male bonding rituals, after being violently bullied as a child, is not only fine, but good. Stede being gentle and kind to people is good. Stede loving flowers and fine fabrics, but also wanting to be respected and loved is good. Stede being emotional and loving deeply is good. It's all presented by the show as good. Stede is good. Ed knows that there's nothing wrong with Stede, so one would think that fans of Stede would know that too.

He's flawed but his flaws are not in his gentleness and his effeminacy and they never ever were.

#ofmd #THANK YOU #my dearest boy is bullied wherever he goes i can't stand it #why focus on him being 'weird!!1!1!!1!' 'cringe11!1!1!1!1!!' when you can focus on his sweetness and devotion. come on

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Guys if I get hunted down and my legs broken broken for sharing these photos just know I did it for the gays but here are photos I took of the ‘you wear nice things well’ scene and the deleted Lucius opium scene (although even this is different than what Nathan Foad described in terms of what they filmed for this scene so-)

And then the opium scene:

Those are the only photos I snapped of the scripts themselves (they were on an iPad) but i may go back this summer and if I do (hopefully they have the season two scripts) I’ll take more photos if these ones don’t get my kneecaps stolen :)

EDIT: thank you all for the well wishes but I will be fine (hopefully) worst case scenario the copyright holders get mad and ask me to take it down/I get a legal threat or somethin like that. Either way I’ll probably be fine I’m just being dramatic for laughs (although everyone’s concern really does touch my heart so thank you all 💗)

#ofmd #A Vibe

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I am honestly not being mature about other shows getting renewals. At first it started with looking at the HBO properties that did get renewals with open hostility, but now it's kinda everything.

Found myself trying to smile and nod through my parents and sister talking about how this milquetoast straight people show they watch started getting boring after the fifth season and I'm internally just seething. Like come on. We couldn't get three??? And you think these shows are better??? I have to laugh.

Fuck, we deserved one more season. Every time I try to watch anything else I get kinda annoyed because most shows just do not even come anywhere near the same ballpark.

#ofmd #exactly :( #im so bitter always and forever

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Rewatching the show and I couldn't stop thinking about this line.

Text: he's referring to Nigel.

Subtext: he's referring to the trauma he's going through, including the hallucination of Nigel, from Nigel dying in front of him.

#ofmd #damn that's a good one

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It feels like a fresh wave of grief over the final cancellation has been going around lately. It just feels so unfair - this show outperformed by every metric, even when season 2's budget was cut. We shouldn't have had to fight for it in the first place, and it only hurts even more that we didn't get a renewal in the end.

In every way that matters, I keep telling myself, we won. We got two fantastic seasons of television with excellent writing, incredible acting, and a damn good story. We got the start of a happy ending, and we got so many things I'd never even known to hope for. Even though the renewal campaign didn't work, I hope it at least softened the blow for the cast and crew who loved this show along with us. The love in this community has also been something so special - I know this isn't something that's going to go away in an instant.

But it just really hurts, lately. We should've had more to look forward to. The creators should have been able to end their show on their terms. And it just adds insult to injury when the same tired shows get renewed for their 21st season and we couldn't even get three. And we all know why - maybe someday, we won't have to fight tooth and nail for a queer show with central characters of color to get made, but it hurts so much that this exceptional show didn't get the renewal it deserved.

It hurts that there was nothing we could've done better. The numbers were there. They turned out an excellent second season even when the odds were against it. It's just rough.

I'll be in the blanket fort if anyone needs me. Door's the blue cushion.

#ofmd #my feelings exactly #i've just been thinking that... yknow... it was a miracle that s2 happened at all honestly #so there's a lot to be happy about. there's a reality where we only got one season and it ended like That #but boy does it hurt #it's just unfair unfair unfair #and i hate hollywood and the entire tv/movie industry even more than i did before