#Zheng Yi Sao ofmd

[queerly-autistic]

One of my favourite things about S2 was that we got to see so much in terms of Ed's relationships with women, and it just made me love him even more (if that's humanly possible). We didn't see him interact with many women at all in S1 (I think it was only the posh ladies at the fancy party which was...yeah, not a good experience), so S2 actually giving us a glimpse into his friendships with all these (very different) kickass women was so, so special.

I love that, as messy and fucked up as they all are, and even with the 'well we're pirates, we're not normal and we will fuck with each other' threat that hangs over everything, Ed's relationship with Mary and Anne is still so affectionate, and they both thrown their arms around him the moment they see him. Even though Ed is incredibly tactile, I don't think we've actually ever seen him be hugged like this, and it's just so lovely to watch him be embraced and clearly feel very safe being embraced by these women (and I can't with the way he clings to them, as well). I also love that this is a wlw/mlm friendship; yeah it falls apart later and turns into delicious gay-on-gay violence (and I wouldn't alter a note of it), but I love seeing this sort of affection between queer women and queer men, there's not nearly enough of it.

Don't even get me started on the BFF handshake he has with Anne - I want all the history there, give me six spin-off films about their adventures please.

And then we finally get a glimpse of his relationship with Jackie, which is similarly just lovely, but in a different way? You get the sense that they could sit there for hours, talking shit about the world, all whilst casually ripping the shit out of each other (but affectionately). You also know full well these two have talked extensively about men and know pretty much everything about each other's sex lives - we didn't see it, but I'm absolutely certain that Ed went into full gushing details about sleeping with Stede, just like Jackie did when she talked about The Swede fucking like a jackhammer (historical accuracy ftw).

And, again, whilst they're still pirates, and it's messy, the entire thing feels incredibly...safe, particularly from Ed's perspective? He feels more comfortable around Jackie than he is around most other characters (apart from Stede), just like he was with Anne and Mary.

And then, just to hammer the point home even further that Ed has, generally, fantastic relationships with women, and connects with them, and feels relaxed and safe with them, you have Ed and Zheng becoming instant BFFs literally minutes after meeting each other. Ed goes 'ooh, very cool woman kicking ass and killing people, she shall be my best friend, immediately', and Zheng is automatically incredibly relaxed and open with him, too (suggesting she feels as safe and comfortable with him as he does with her).

All I want in life is to see Ed and Zheng get silly-drunk with each other (and this is why we urgently need a S3).

And none of Ed's relationships with these women are a fetishistic 'I love women because they're fabulous' thing, or an overly patronising paternalistic 'I love the women and I must protect them' thing - all the relationships he has with women are very equal, very comfortable, fully believable, just fantastic friendships to watch play out. I feel like, given everything we see on screen, Ed generally feels a lot more comfortable and safe and open with the women he knows than the men he knows (Stede is the only other person he is this physically affectionate and comfortable with). Which is probably very understandable? Yes, the women he's friends with are all violent pirates too (that's part of the joy of it - none of them are lovely demure morally pure women, they're all violent pirates), but Ed has a lot of experience with specifically overtly abusive men - right back to watching his dad abuse his mum. And that's a distinction that matters: the show treats the violence of normal piracy and the violence of abuse very, very differently. Ed is not used to being treated softly or affectionately by men, as we saw in his shocked reaction to Stede holding his hand. I don't think it's any wonder that he gravitates more towards friendships with women (or that the men he feels the most open and safe with, such as Stede, Fang, even Frenchie, are very pointedly the opposite of the abusive men he has experience with). I just love love love that being friends with women is such a core part of Ed's character, and that we got to see all of these fantastic relationships in the show.

#ofmd #our flag means death #edward teach #anne bonny ofmd #mary read ofmd #spanish jackie #zheng yi sao ofmd #ofmd s2 ep4 #episode: fun and games #ofmd s2 ep7 #episode: man on fire #ofmd s2 ep8 #episode: mermen #ed x stede #blackbonnet #ofmd meta #erin waffles

[clairebearsparkles]

Did some Our Flag Means Death doodles for season 2! I'm really enjoying it so far!

#our flag means death #ofmd #our flag means death season 2 #ofmd season 2 #ofmd s2 #ofmd fanart #ofmd art #our flag means death fanart #our flag means death spoilers #ofmd season 2 spoilers #ofmd spoilers #blackbeard ofmd #stede bonnet #zheng yi sao #zheng yi sao ofmd #stede bonnet ofmd #edward teach #ed teach #edward teach ofmd #clairebear art

[orangesodaliker]

Zheng Yi Sao showed up, she gaslit, gatekept, and girlbossed, immediately fell in love with the nice guy that visited her soup shop, got her heart broken, and then joined a polycule with said guy, his nonbinary assassin bestie, and their himbo snake-cult gf. All while looking gorgeous and brutally humbling everyone who even tried to pretend theyre on her level. She’s the PIRATE QUEEN OF CHINA. HELLO??? she’s everything.

#zheng yi sao #zheng yi sao ofmd #ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd s2 #ofmd season 2 #whats olu/zheng/jim/archie ship? #oluzheng

[pealeii]

she’s so pretty are you kidding me

#zheng yi sao #zheng yi sao ofmd #omfd #our flag means death #ofmd season 2 #ofmd s2

[crazypenguintacofan]

*Wee John voice* I'd love to be hit with a plank by Zheng Yi Sao

#sorry about stede but that was so hot #ofmd #ofmd s2 #ofmd s2 spoilers #ofmd ramblings #zheng yi sao ofmd

[poisonheartfrog]

If only Zheng and her crew had watched Goncharov, then they would have appreciated the symbolism of the ticking clock

#our flag means death #ofmd #ofmd spoilers #zheng yi sao ofmd #poisonheartposts

[chaotic-neutral-knitter]

last season Zheng Yi Sao (conquered China, massive fleet) heard people say Blackbeard (conquered nothing, no fleet) was the best pirate of all time and got so irritated she decided to drag a fleet of ships across Panama about it.

#like this is not her motivation but could you imagine if it was #the 'Blackbeard is the best pirate of all time' stuff is so funny when you consider she was just an ocean away in the ofmd timeline #my nonsense #our flag means death #ofmd s2 #zheng yi sao ofmd

[bluecurtainsart]

When she’s Zheng Yi Sao

#ofmd fanart #ofmd season 2 #zheng yi sao #zheng yi sao ofmd #fanart #artists on tumblr #digital art #drawing #ofmd #our flag means death #our flag means death fanart #art

[ofmd-renewed-yet]

Who's your favorite of the new characters in season 2?

absolutely IN LOVE with zheng yi sao <3 I really wanted to like archie but she feels very ‘thrown in’ right now, idk I hope they spend more time developing her the rest of the season

#also rip ricky I loved him #ofmd #ofmd s2 spoilers #archie ofmd #zheng yi sao ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd s2 #ofmd s2 characters #our flag means death spoilers #ofmd season 2 #hbo max #hbo #david jenkins #ask

[half-doomed-lover]

I don't know what I would prefer

1-The love square is set to make Olu and Jim realize they are more then friends

2-its not a love square is a polycule set up

3- who cares what it is, I just want to watch them being cute

#ofmd #our flag means death #season 2 spoilers #ofmd season 2 #ofmd s2 #ofmd spoilers #spoilers #tealoranges #jim #olu #archie ofmd #zheng yi sao ofmd

[theenoathee]

love that zheng talks to her crew the same way i talk to my preschool class. gentle parent your crew, ladies!

#ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd season 2 #stede bonnet #ed teach #ofmd s2 #gentlebeard #zheng yi sao #zheng yi sao ofmd #pirate queen #talk it through as a crew

[queerly-autistic]

Rightly so.

#ofmd #our flag means death #zheng yi sao ofmd #zheng yi sao #ruibo qian #give us our zheng heavy S3 #and then give us our zheng spin-off #goddammit #save ofmd #save our flag means death #renew as a crew #renew ofmd #renew our flag means death

[sponge-eating-goblin]

I was genuinely so surprised to see people upset that they “broke up” Jim and Oluwande in s2. Because I immediately took it as them setting up a polycule.

#like genuinely when Jim and Archie kissed I was like ‘oh cool they’re doing a polycule’ #ofmd #ofmd season 2 #ofmd spoilers #tealoranges #jim jimenez #oluwande boodhari #archie ofmd #zheng yi sao ofmd

[cornycopeia]

Avert your eyes. You are in the presence of Zheng Yi Sao, Pirate Queen!

#zheng yi sao #zheng yi sao ofmd #zheng yi sao fanart #our flag means death #ofmd #ofmd season 2 #our flag means death season 2 #ofmd season 2 spoilers #ofmd spoilers #our flag means death spoilers #ofmd fanart #our flag means death fanart

[pealeii]

zheng yi sao’s face when she sees all her ships burning…crush me into a small can would you…

#zheng yi sao #zheng yi sao ofmd #ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd s2 #ofmd season 2

[ladyluscinia]

I have rewatched the mean lesbians episode in hopes I would like them more the second time, but I'm afraid I'm still not vibing with it. Credit that they tried to undercut the "lesbians who drop in to give our main couple therapy" with the whole reveal it was game and Mary's little rant about their relationship "losing the magic", but like... did they really? Do Anne and Mary not successfully tee up the really touching BlackBonnet airing of grievances and reconciliation? Laughing at them a bit for being dorky doesn't change that they really didn't do much sabotaging, overall, so it's not like they weren't pushing them back together.

I mean, even Mary's whole rant happens after Anne leaves the room. By the time they really start telling us how this couple has their own foundation cracks and issues (vs the veneer of just keeping it interesting) and aren't a longstanding example of a healthy relationship, Anne is literally offscreen making a grand romantic gesture that will solve Mary's discontent. I know they are fitting a miscommunication arc into half an episode instead of 2-3 seasons, but the end result just feels like speedrunning a knock off of BlackBonnet's issues.

And that along with the fact they function as BlackBonnet mirrors first and characters second, it all just feels very... underwhelming (?) to me.

Like why do I care about Anne and Mary? Is the face stealing gimmick supposed to have hooked me? They also, imo, really fucked up by ending on a hug - it just spotlights the fact that, for all the sex jokes, they don't really bother to sell physical intimacy between the two. They maybe bump shoulders at the shop, sit in separate chairs in every scene in the house... honestly the best they do is the offscreen knife flicking. Which funny metaphor but like. Why can't the lesbians be into each other without the metaphor? Or am I supposed to think that Anne "burn the whole house down the second her wife admits she doesn't like swamp life" Bonny didn't pick up that Mary was maybe unhappy when they entirely stopped touching each other and replaced it with murder attempts.

Even a repeat of the offscreen joke but this time imply they are hardcore making out as Stede and Edward slip away would have probably hit better? (I'm assuming for some reason kissing was off the table, otherwise even more wtf why not just kiss?)

(Can you tell I've been thinking about the sorry state of femslash?)

Also I'd be remiss not to tie my dissatisfaction with Anne and Mary to my dissatisfaction with OFMD's prevailing approach to female characters. Spanish Jackie's entire thing is being so awesome and desirable that she has 20 husbands that all work for her, which is super fun. Mary Bonnet became a widowed girlboss with a Doug, which was also fun. Then suddenly we're meeting Zheng Yi Sao who is a girlboss Pirate Queen better than any man, and her right-hand woman that seems like a more stable and competent Edward/Izzy parallel, and her crew of only hyper-competent women... do you see how this is getting a bit repetitive?

Now we add Anne and Mary speedrunning BlackBonnet parallels to teach them a grand gesture romantic lesson? So... doing Stede and Edward but Better™?

Zheng Yi Sao still has time to get more interiority that could offset the whole "girlboss" gimmick which would help, but until that happens the only real female character standout to me is Archie - a woman who has something deeply wrong with her but has so far just kind of slotted in as a equal crewmember instead of the Competent Woman Character.

#our flag means death #ofmd s2 #ofmd season 2 spoilers #ofmd 2x04 #i was really hoping to like these two but they *just* feel like blackbonnet mirror puppets #their narrative purpose has wholly eclipsed their chances of being compelling characters or relationship in their own right #this is the sorry state of femslash 😔 #anne bonny ofmd #mary read ofmd #zheng yi sao ofmd #archie ofmd #ofmd meta #my meta #ladyluscinia #parallels #ofmd critical