#and it somehow made him a better person??? (also on a serious note how *punitive*)

[ladyluscinia]

Oh and since I am already rambling about Izzy's leg and "redemption arcs" tonight - I don't think I commented on this before because no one I'd been talking to about the season has this mindset, but I just want to acknowledge for the record that the idea Izzy went through a successful "redemption arc" is lowkey ridiculous?

Like *I* do not have issues with it because I don't think he did anything he really needed to be redeemed from with the crew. He was mostly an antagonist due to situational reasons and the situation changed, ergo now he's their friend. Minimal characterization-based hurdles involved. The only place he needed to actually talk through some healing and accountability was with Edward, and that's complicated by a) how I am actually criticizing that as unsatisfying, and b) the story tipped the balance of "harms that need to be addressed" so heavily toward Edward that it feels mostly pointless to bring up Izzy anyway. Broadly? Izzy's cool, and he bonded with the crew.

But for people who actually still think Izzy left S1 needing to be held accountable for crimes or overcome some internalized biases he had...? Um. That didn't actually happen on-screen. My guy pretty much got tortured a whole bunch and then given some community support. He's expressing pretty much the same values in 2x01 as he is in 2x06, minus maybe some self-worth (provided by the community support). If you think this a departure from his 1x10 characterization, then all the "redemption arc" growth happened between seasons in a timeskip and as a direct result of being tortured?

Which sounds the opposite of satisfying?

I mean, again, I think the only important realization he makes between 1x10 and 2x01 is "Kraken Era = Bad" and maybe reluctantly accepting "shit Bonnet wasn't just a fling", neither of which is groundbreaking enough he needs to have them on screen, and that his S2 arc is about breaking up with Edward / that self-worth which we do see. But if I thought it was a redemption arc about growth from S1 I would have notes.

#our flag means death #ofmd s2 #ofmd critical #this is mostly just funny to me. like people thinking he went through an offscreen la croix version of theon greyjoy's arc??? #and it somehow made him a better person??? (also on a serious note how *punitive*) #like if you entered the season thinking he was an evil little man and left it loving him i don't think it was because of an arc #i think either you don't really question framing - s1 izzy sucked because stede pov said he sucked and s2 izzy is framed better #or you picked up the s1 evil izzy meta position without really integrating it into your read of the show and casually dropped it in s2 #when the show did not linger on his supposed multitude of bigoted crimes like the writers of that meta position said it would #izzy hands ofmd #ofmd meta #ladyluscinia