#also he isn't SURPRISED to see mermaid stede - it's the look of love and delight and he is relieved

[kingsofgaytham]

What I love most about the final sequence in episode 3 is that it actually isn't Stede simply rescuing Ed. In the purgatory, he doesn't pull him up or unties the rope. In reality, Stede also doesn't touch Ed's body until his hand starts twitching and he starts fighting to stay alive - before that he just sits near and talks, and he manages to reach the last bit of life left in Ed. The vision of Stede in purgatory gives Ed hope, a promise of a future, of a home - warmth, food, intercourse (orgasm). Things he knows he'll miss. Ed chooses to live because now, the one person that understood him to his core, is there - and the scene with Izzy, where despite them not being together for who knows how long, Stede knows Ed would either watch the world burn or die trying, and he still loves Ed and chooses him. Izzy thinks he knows Ed best because they've worked together for so long and he believes (used to believe?) Stede was the worst possible thing for Blackbeard and that's the moment it hits him - he is the one that doesn't know the true Ed, he couldn't even imagine it would be so bad because his idealised version of Blackbeard didn't consider the person under the pirate. Stede met Ed few weeks earlier and already fully understand the way his brain works. He doesn't have to see Ed to know how he'll react.

And then Edward. Poor, broken Edward that believes the worst about himself and materialises it in Hornigold who in this version left the piracy and lives a peaceful, quiet life, something that Ed wishes he could have. He is deeply mentally unwell, the drugs and alcohol sure made it worse but still, Ed wants to live. Just not as Blackbeard/the Kraken. He just doesn't see a reason for it.

Mermaid Stede appears and brings in the light that was so painfully absent from Ed's life. He doesn't choose to live just for Stede, but now he knows there is at least one person that cares for him and that means, maybe - just maybe, he can learn to care for and love himself. The fact Stede stays with him underwater for as long as Ed needs to think it through and figure it out for himself - the rope unties itself, the smile that was gone so long finally appears again. The feeling of being known and the hope that he can become Ed, or Jeff, or whatever version he wants, because despite it being incredibly hard - now he isn't walking that road alone.

#also he isn't SURPRISED to see mermaid stede - it's the look of love and delight and he is relieved #the person he thought he lost in there. for him. and he can hear stede say that now it's for forever - i will never leave you alone #lmao and the fucker means in judging by the way he tails after ed in the anne bonny/mary read scene asdfg #fuck i love this show #and we still have five episodes left #ive seen people call this scene cringe but tbh for me it's like the perfect cheesy romcom moment #and then visually and contextually its incredible #absolutely breathtaking #the crew did phenomenal job #ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd s2 #ofmd s2 spoilers #ofmd season 2 #edward teach #stede bonnet #gentlebeard #blackbeard #the gentleman pirate #my post