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butterflysonnets · 3 months

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yes i'm rooting for m*leven breakup because byler is neat but mostly? i'm rooting for m*leven breakup for the sake of el and mike.

to me, their romance was always a puppy love born out of a combination of social pressures, naïve curiosity, and a lack of true understanding regarding intimacy and romantic love and what it really is. it was real in that they do truly, deeply care about each other and they are close friends, maybe even shared an attraction, but a maturing romance is so much more than that. they've grown up and out of being boyfriend/girlfriend, and that's okay! i think television/film needs to show more often that most of us don't have definite "soulmates" or first childhood loves that we spend our whole lives with. it doesn't mean these relationships meant nothing and didn't impact us, it just means they've run their course and that something else is in the cards, and this is part of life!

i've always felt el was at her best and most confident self when broken up with mike, discovering who she was and what she liked alongside another girl her age instead of just relying on mike for mentorship on how to live in the real world. she deserves more of an opportunity to find herself, her autonomy, and her independence, and to love who she is, and she's made it clear she's felt insecure in the relationship with mike because she isn't being loved and understood the way she wants, needs, and deserves from someone who is her partner.

also, it's okay if mike doesn't love her in "the way he should". he is not obligated to love her romantically and stay in a relationship with her just because she's a girl, because she "needed someone", or because he cares about her a lot. he shouldn't be pressured into a romance if it's not truly coming from his heart. he deserves freedom to find out and honour who he is, too, instead of just staying in his non-functional first relationship — one he got into as a child, essentially — and defining himself that way because it's what's expected when a boy and a girl are close. he loves her in some way, yes, but it's okay if he doesn't feel comfortable or secure being her boyfriend anymore, for whatever reason that is. he's felt insecure too, and that's valid and it matters.

they are their own people and are steadily growing and changing every day. they need time to figure out who those people are, and it's become clear (at least in my opinion) that those people aren't meant to be a couple at this stage.

they deserve freedom. they deserve to grow up and be authentic to themselves and not feel like they need to lie for the sake of a relationship. they deserve to move on from this version of their relationship that isn't making them happy and rekindle the best part of their bond: their strong, beautiful friendship. they don't have to be a couple if it doesn't make them stronger and better and happier people.

i think it would be healthy and wonderful for a show, especially one consumed frequently by young adults, to show a relationship starting, progressing, and ending on good terms in this way. sometimes things don't work out, and that is okay.

#eve text #elmike #stranger things #byler #only tagging byler because i feel like yall will like this take lol #tagging tagging tagging WHAT ARE EVERYONE ELSE'S THOUGHTS #god i can't believe i'm making a post about stranger things. this feels like poking a bear #i'm not particularly anti m*leven but like... they'd have to do something pretty special at this point for me to feel like it's viable #i'm seeing the bts of s5 and it's got me Having Thoughts #elmike friendship is something i am so passionate about #even before i ever liked byler (didn't ship at all until s4 even though i knew it was a thing before) i've felt this way about elmike #i always believed they were close friends at heart and needed to break up #the romance part of them felt very distinctly young and very much “he was a boy she was a girl” to me #and it hasn't deepened into anything more mature and i don't see how it could based on the current state of the writing...#the fact that lumax exists — a young relationship that is actively maturing and is healthy — makes that clear to me #and the “love confession” in s4 and how disingenuous and miserable it felt was just the nail in the coffin #also the fact that will (who is IN LOVE with mike) was instrumental in making it happen? ... uh... okay... interesting choice…#fucked up and reductive if they make it another queer unrequited love sacrifice for the sake of pushing the heterosexual agenda YUCK #so i really hope the speculation about a m*leven breakup is real!! i think it just makes sense for their characters but who knows #i don't believe in the notion of love at first sight or one true love and i think the writers don't too???#love to me is an accumulation of experiences and we inevitably choose it at some point rather than fall into it... but idk #tv is so fixated on keeping couples together... sometimes it's just not reality guys especially with young people... LET IT GO...#like i said though i'm not 100% sold that they're going to give up their “golden couple” LMAO #stranger things hasn't historically subverted too many tropes if i'm being honest #anyway i seriously need this season to come out quickly... i'm so bored and getting my master's is crushing my soul #i need frivolity #ALSO btw i won't respond to hateful messages about this so please don't bother. it's not that serious. this is a netflix show

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theofficialpresidentoftheusa · 6 months

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I still continue to see criticism of season 2 of OFMD and I just. Find it so funny honestly. Like I get some of it, maybe, kinda. But for the most part I’m like ????? Nah don’t agree. Skill issue. I find it even funnier when people complain about the pacing being too fast because I honestly always felt the first season was too slow with its pacing. So season 2 was actually kinda perfect to me! I’m not the type to complain about what we were given and wish it was different though. I eat up every morsel they allow us to have, and to have jammed in so much content had me in paradise tbh. It is what it is, you know? I accept it all as just what we’ve got. And maybe that’s me just first and foremost loving the show as what it is- Ed and Stede’s story. Everything else is just a cherry on top for me. I’m here to have fun and if it can do that for me, I’m all good. And going into it with that mindset, guess what? I had a GREAT time. I sat down and rewatched the show in one day in its entirety two days after the finale with a friend who had never seen it. They loved it! I loved it, again! Id watch it again already!!! I parry criticisms of the show with great ease- who cares, it was fun, I loved it. That’s what mattered to me! Must suck to feel otherwise! :3 I’m kicking my feet n giggling over this little found family and my favorite boys in love. Teehee. Best show ever.

#this is cause I saw someone on tiktok saying the season sucked and specifically referencing Izzy stuff and I was like!!!#if you find yourself heavily criticizing it consider: they made it for me specifically and I loved it :)))#I’ve never watched a show that feels so much like a love letter to the fans in all the best ways #truly how many shows are doing it like them????#you’re all far too critical of a show that’s so unique in what it offers #the queer joy and found family and just. everything man. it’s everything you wish for in a show.#ofmd #our flag means death #that reaction image is actually literally me when people criticize s2 and they ref Izzy dying as why they didn’t like it #if u try to come at me for this take I will block u real quick btw I do NOT care about what I have to say!! :3

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seilon · 2 years

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sorry I will not shut up about this show But. I just. wanted to mention how fucking cool it is that ok ko has a major bi character in it (a bi man at that) that has important on-screen romantic relationships portrayed with both a female partner and a male partner and neither is considered less legitimate than the other. his orientation isnt pointlessly called into question or suggested to have been faked or changed for ending up with a man when he was previously with a woman. It’s just natural, and so one doubts that he was once romantically interested in/involved with carol just because he ended up with boxman. and I think that is very cool and something I feel like I super rarely see with bi characters– when bi characters are represented I feel like it’s pretty common to only have them shown romantically involved with one gender or another and it’s more of a side note that they also like people outside that gender, or they’re portrayed as “confused” or god forbid suggesting their feelings for someone weren’t really real because they ended up with someone of another gender (not to be confused with comp het; in that case the individual isn’t bi and that’s different). And so having a children/family show that has two solidly bi characters first of all, and one who’s a grown adult who’s had established relationships with two genders on screen is just honestly really cool and I appreciate that so much

#kibumblabs #ok ko #ok ko spoilers #also I emphasize that he’s a Man in that first part because bi men are doubted so fucking often over their orientation and hardly #openly represented on tv– let alone childrens tv– at all. I’ve been told irl that bi men don’t actually exist and that in the end they #end up gay or straight becuase that’s what they Actually Are.#which is obviously fucked up on many levels and blatantly false #so yeah like!!! seeing a grown man who’s obviously not ‘confused’ and who isn’t questioned over falling for a woman then a man is just!!!!!#it’s very good it’s very good it’s very good #i love the purple bisexual snake man so much <3 #long post #professor venomous #ok ko let's be heroes #there’s also no obvious coding of the queer characters in queer relationships to fit them into a masculine or feminine role if that makes #sense which is also cool.#like you don’t see red or enid and think one is in the Woman’s Role and one is in the Man’s Role– they’re both just. themselves.#same goes for pv and boxman; both are just. dudes. weird mutant dudes but dudes. with some traits more masc some more feminine because #the people making the show understand that how those traits are distributed does not matter #i feel like I was gonna say something else but I’m forgetting what it was so oh well

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offyoupop-easypeasy · 1 year

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when ppl say it's wrong to read cory/shawn as queer bc guys should be able to have close friendships without being gay

which like

why can't it be both?

but also mainly for me i read them as queer partly bc of their obvious love but also bc of how their relationship is kinda dysfunctional. not that they have to be dysfunctional to be gay. but just their characters have so much comphet. and it is often played for laughs but cory and shawn actually do not have the ideal friendship every likes to paint it as. not that their love is less, but if you really watch every ep you see how many episodes they talk about not having other friends and actually not being allowed to have other friends. cory especially seems to be extremely jealous of shawn having other friends. and this would be seen as a normal friendship plot that we see a lot in media. except in this show it's never actually framed as bad or something to mature past but actually excepted as good and just the way cory and shawn are and how close of friends they are.

#anyway idk if this makes sense just rambly thoughts #lord i was born a ramblin dan #boy meets world #shory #idk i had more thoughts on this but i lost my train of thought a bit #but you cant just say characters shouldn't be read as gay bc of their friendship like gay people cant be friends #or its lesser to be gay than be hetro friends #also this excuse is used so much bc There Are Actually A Lot of Male Friendships In Media That's All Media IS.#how many Canon gay relationships can you name?#how many started as friends? bc thats a thing that happens?#How many are the Main Realtionship im the show?#but also dont just lump all fictional friendships in together. some have different dynamics than others.#also as an older in the closet person i love them Because of their comphet. i love characters with issues and problems that aren't #'Good Gay Rep'#i grew up with this shit and i relate to cory and shawn as gay and closeted #and like yeah alot of ppl also dont realize a lot of the writers and stuff did some of this on purpose not as queer 'baiting'#but as this show was written in the 90s and it had to be written as subtext #subtext my dearest love that ppl always get confused with baiting #things were a bit different then #a half finished thought i found in my drafts that im publishing bc why not

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magentagalaxies · 2 days

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i really want to start making a table collecting statistics on the audience demographics i'll perform my aubrey material for (like what generation most of the audience is, whether i'm performing in a predominantly queer space, etc.) and how well the jokes land bc like. i need to collect more data points before i can properly present my findings but the results so far have been fascinating

#again i do not have enough performance experiences to make any definitive claims about who ''aubery's audience'' is #but i find it funny that any time i show my aubrey material one-on-one to a queer gen z person #they're always like ''i love it but straight people will definitely hate it or not get it''#and i get the inclination to be like. ''i like this thing so people like me will like this thing''#and cishet society seems so polarized w/r/t queer topics it's like. the assumption makes sense #however. whenever i've done an aubrey performance in front of an audience that's predominantly queer and gen z #i've actually received a primarily negative response!! and somehow straight people have never given me shit for my aubrey material #(''well straight allys don't count'' i told some of my aubrey jokes to a joe rogan dudebro and he enjoyed them)#(which yeah maybe could be a mark against my comedy but i like to think i opened his mind a bit at the very least)#i really want to test my aubrey monologues in front of a primarily gen x/boomer audience #bc so far i only have actual performance experience in front of gen z or millennials #and the older people i've told jokes to individually or shown videos of my stuff have really liked it #luckily paul has said a goal for when i'm in town this summer is to get me to perform my aubrey stuff in as many different places as possib #for both queer audiences and non-queer audiences so i can gauge reactions since i don't want to be confined to one demographic #so i'll get a lot of data points this summer #@ paul get me a performing slot at senior citizen pride lmao these are my people #(shoutout to paul going ''jess stop collecting the old homos!'' last time i was in town)#(and when i imitated him and was like ''old gay men are not your pokemon!'' bellini was like ''ok but they may be your audience'')#also one data point i really want to see the variation on is how my one specific joke plays in these different demographics #bc i have a joke that like. it's literally not even about AIDS and doesn't punch down at all #i literally say ''if you're gay and over the age of 50 you could violate the geneva convention and i'd still be like support our troops''#like obviously being like ''you have been through hell so i will let you get away with literal war crimes you deserve ultimate immunity''#BUT. in the line right before the quote i use the phrase ''AIDS generation'' not as a derogatory term but being like.#this horrible thing impacted the entire generation y'know? and bellini and scott and their friends call themselves that it's just the term #but when i said the phrase ''AIDS generation'' in front of my gen z audience i heard gasps and felt like they all hated me #and when i did the same line in front of millennials it wasn't quite as striking but their eyes did widen #like i was suddenly an ''edgy comedian''. but like this is a part of our history and it does inform the story i'm telling #the story i'm telling is comedic but it's grounded in this real world context #and i'm like. @ the audience who was offended: when was the last time any of y'all spoke to a gay man over the age of 50 #bc bellini loves that section of the monologue and was offended that people would even take offense to that phrase

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lhrry · 2 years

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#I’m so sick of people acting like harry is some kind of a villain or a maliscious person i’ve had enough #him being the villain when he lives in a society in which homophobia is still rampant #and that homophobia keeps pushing him to conform to heteronormative models and when he does that he gets criticised for conformig #when he does not conform and expresses himself in a gnc way and repeatedly indicates he’s not straight in a way that many queer people #should understand #he’s accused of queer baiting bc of not coming out which effectually just enforces the heteronormative norms because it says that you’re #not allowed to be nonconforming unless you kabel yourself #so he’s not straight enough nor is he queer enough he can’t win and it’s infuriating because he’s doing so much to just normalise being #yourself and someone posted a TikTok of a guy talking about it and this normalisation is so important and something i so crave because i #im uncomfortable with the concept of coming out #but anyway personally harry helped me so much in terms of loving myself and who i am and embracing it and being myself #like he saved me in that aspect #and his picking up the flag again and again so clearly means so much to him and to so many fans i still can’t explain how i felt seeing that #live and feeling the love #this is a man who cares deeply about the community #watch his Oslo speech that’s not an ally speech that’s a man who stands as a part of it #in the best way that he can given his situation which people know fuck all about #he’s someone who helps fans come out at shows calling their parents on the phone and talking to them #he’s someone who makes sure to get a flag before a song because the fans have prepared a rainbow flag project and he cares so much #he goes back to pick up the flag before the song even begins #he tells people to hold their flags up #he encourages people to be themselves night after night #he is the source of comfort and inspiration for many queer fans to be themselves and he’s so brave doing it #and he CARES he’s not a maliscious villain profitting from pretending to be gay or whatever the fuck is being said #he’s a human being navigating an unimaginably complex situation #he’s under constant scrutiny and had been since he was 16 #he has a long-term partner who is in even messier closet situation #he has a team making very questionable choices #he is choosing to express himself and show he’s part of the community to the best of his capacity and for the community to punish him for #him for it like they are now doing is cruel and disappointing

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g3othermal3scapism · 7 months

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MY BEEF WITH STRANGER THINGS

ok i want it to be known that i like stranger things a lot and im pretty deep in the fandom and its been one of. my biggest hyperfixations…. but this does not mean i think the show ia good!!!!! i see sm people acting like the duffers are god of writing and they js… arent. the shows writing is literal ass, the show sucks pretty much alll around other than being fun sometimes and even those moments are poorly done. the partys group dynamic was so poorly done, every character is handled poorly, they don’t know how to write deaths, (maxs was the only good one, and they brought her back anyways?? like i love max and im very much glad shes alive but stop being a pussy!!!! kill someone people care about for the love of god!!!!!!!) and hot take i really dont like the monster designs but i guess that more just my personal preference. the entire thing is just so full of wasted potential to be great. there are a lot of great ideas, a lot of great character ideas, and a lot of great actors. and the comedy writing for some seasons was pretty ok! but overall its just lackinf and even though i love these characters like theyre my own children, do not be fooled!!!! i am aware that the show sucks!!!!!!!

#i have a lot to say about this show #not alot of good things ☠️#maxs arc with depression in s4 was pretty well-done in my opinion even if it definitly had its issues #and bylers been well done but they can still absolutely fuck it up in s4 #i love all these byler theories and proof and all of its amazing and i would love for all of it to be true #but i just think some people r overestimating these writers #like with how many plot holes and bits that make sense #i just find it hard to believe they really created this beautiful meticulous queer love story #the way some of u r saying they did #i am a byler truther #and i think if they do it well in s5 it really will have been an amazing queer story that will chang queer cinema history #but with how awfully they handle some of their characters….#i wouldnt put it past them to completely fuck it up and just make mike seem like an asshole and give will a completely unrelated boyfriend #that no ine cares about or has any reason to like #also the party dynamic. is so wack #the amount of wasted potential…….#i wont get into it #i hate my favorite show!!! who cheered #anyways #stranger things #anti duffers #the duffers are bad writers #the party #mike wheeler #will byers #max mayfield #lucas sinclair #el hopper #dustin henderson #and everyone else i guess

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persephoneflouwers · 2 years

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#people just love the idea the boys are not talking to each other #they love it and that’s why we have this narrative #where the huge suoer talented frontman is no longer in touch with his former bandmates #because this point of view somehow make people interested in thei story #*their #now I’m not usually thinking they (like teams or whatever) adapt their narrative to what the public or even they fans says or want to know #but they do in some ways #i’m not saying that it’s fans/public fault when they go for a choice instead of the other #but they know the trends and they know what the public/fans want like more #that’s why when H says ‘i respect them for what we’ve been through together and we share deep love’#they (public/a specific subsection of this fandom) are gonna read it as ‘we are not friends anymore’#they do what they can to please them #now i can give example for this two situations:#louis team knows for a fact how many larries and queer are in his fanbase they knew before but after the tour they will see it’s a fact #louis is the one singing larry and primcess park every night #things changed a lot with harry in the past 2 years #he has people in his ‘fanbase’ that don’t know anythung about him #they know probably his name and influenced by this huge popular aurea around him they get closer to his person #twitter folks would call this people locals or occasional fans #those people who go ti a show for the vibe and because they like some songs but they probably don’t know his middle name and that he #wrote a song called sweet creature #his public persona and stage persona has changed because the public listening to him has changed #(ATTENTION: the public listening NOT the public he is been talking to since 2011)#let mw talk about US LOT setlist: it was full of stunt songs #all the possible controversial songs about the women he supposedly dated were on the setlist #and you can say ‘yeah because he wanted to have fun you don’t add sweet creature to it’#true but it’s a 3 minutes song in a 90 minutes show #PLUS there was fine line the song on the list so… not really that was the problem #but he public (especially in the US but not only) has changed and his persona has been evolving like that #don’t let me mention the stunt

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s1mpl3sp0ng3 · 6 months

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sometimes i watch golden girls and i just tear up remembering everything each cast member did for the queer community

estelle getty lost her nephew to AIDS and moved in with him during the last months of his life to take care of him. she started a foundation that cares for people affected by AIDS that's still there to this day. she saw one of the writers on her show was queer, walked right up to him and said "you're one of us!" and promised to protect him. she put her career on the line to become an outspoken ally of AIDS patients at a time when it would've been career suicide

bea arthur was a staunch gay and trans ally who donated a lot of her time and money to helping homeless lgbt youth. when she died, she left them thousands of dollars to stay afloat after she was gone. she was incredibly socially active in the queer community!

rue mcclanahan was a staunch advocate of marriage rights for gay couples and openly devoted her time and money for the fight for equality. she also openly participated in queer spaces and loved the community with her entire heart. she was intimately aware of gay mens' particular love for her character blanche and she fully embraced it

everybody knows by now about betty white's activism, but i'll say it anyway. not only did she join the fight for marriage equality, but she was a great mother to her lesbian stepdaughter. she participated in anti-bullying campaigns specifically against lgbt youth. she accompanied liberace to events because it wasn't safe for him to be out. she loved us and she fought for us just like the others

all four of them did SO MANY amazing things for us, and it makes me happy that we had people like them -- that we still do in people like dolly parton! we didn't deserve them. i wish i could've met all of them and told them how grateful i am!

#golden girls #that dolly parton post made me think of this

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moki-dokie · 6 months

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been seeing some stuff on blue eye samurai and big yikes to nearly everyone pushing extremely western ideals onto these characters.

this is early edo period. 1600s. the japan you know now did not exist yet.

yall. please. there was NO concept of sexuality in pre-modern japan. that came with both the influx of christianity and western influence very very late in history. like, mid-1800s. (yes, there was christianity pre-1800s but it was not a widespread idea yet and wouldn't be until about the 1800s since, y'know, missionaries were routinely murdered before then)

"so and so is either bi and hasn't figured it out yet or..." no. that isn't how it worked then. nobody gave a shit what was between your legs. anyone could be attracted to anyone else. it was a little more common for male homosexual relationships to be between an adult and younger male - like many other places around the world - but two adult men could bang and love each other just as easily. relationships between women were quite common - especially since so many men were often away at war. there's tons of pornographic prints from the time depicting all manner of fun queer relationships. sex itself had absolutely no moral assignment to it. good sex was good health. it didn't matter who with. (well, social class/caste mattered more than anything else tbh but that didn't stop upper and lower class from fucking.) that isn't to say people didn't have preferences. of course they did. that is human nature. preferences arose more from physical appearance, caste, and circumstances with gender being about the last thing one would look for in a partner - romantic, casual, or otherwise. the only role in sex where gender actually mattered was for procreation.

there would be no queer awakening moment, no sudden switch flipped, no stigma to have internal conflicts about because it simply did not exist as a concept whatsoever. you were either attracted to a person or you weren't, it was that simple. gender played no role when it came to sex and sexual attraction. the japanese were lightyears ahead of western cultures in this particular area - like most cultures were before christianity came in and ruined everything with its backwards morals and strict good/evil dichotomy.

yall have got to realize queer rep will not and should not always adhere by modern western standards. there was no straight, gay, bi, or anything else of the sort. the closest they ever got was referring to roles during sex - as in who is giving and who is receiving.

i know this is mostly a made up story but it is still set within a very specific time period and culture, which should be honored and respected by not making it fit into our box. tons of research went into making this show historically accurate (albeit with some discrepancies but tbh they aren't really that huge) right down to the calligraphy writing. please please please don't whitewash the culture from these characters.

i say this mainly because without this knowledge, so many of you are going to build these characters up on a foundation they aren't meant to be on and then you'll rage about queerbaiting and bad queer rep if it isn't somehow super explicitly stated, if it doesn't match your very modern, very western ideal of what queer looks like. don't try to force this plot and narrative and characters into something they canonically and historically aren't. headcanons are a thing, AUs are a thing, fanfiction is a thing - leave your western thinking for those and let these characters simply exist as they should otherwise. this is one of those times where the queerness really does not need to be examined at all beyond what we get.

i know it can be hard to wrap your head around - sexuality is such a huge part of our identity in the western world and has slowly started to spread amongst other parts of the world in importance. but just keep in mind with these particular characters, that concept would be so very alien to them.

#blue eye samurai #i'm gonna bite people if i see complaints about queer anything in this show

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sugdenlovesdingle · 9 months

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Casey wrote a queer political romance novel, Matthew made a queer rom com with some politics sprinkled in.

Those are different things.

I wish they could have kept Rafael Luna and made Richards the villain he is in the book... But this is amazon. They invested in this film and they want their money's worth. They want this film to appeal to as many people as possible.

Making the republican candidate a sexual predator who goes around hacking private email servers to out queer kids to win an election isn't going to fly with the conservative/republican audience (though I don't know if they'd watch a queer rom com in the first place but I digress).

They changed the queen to a king and changed the family name as to not piss off the real British royal family. They didn't make the king as blatantly homophobic and racist as the queen is in the book so it wouldn't piss off the royalists.

And I remember seeing a post with tweets from the creator of... I don't remember what show - some cartoon that aired on Disney I think - where they explained all the things Disney wanted them to change in the show and the things they had to fight to keep.

We know the MAAP told Matthew to take out the Paris love scene or they'd give it an R rating. We know he said fuck you to that and kept it in. We don't know how much amazon's execs gave him shit for before officially signing off on the version we can watch now.

They cut an hours worth of stuff, and it probably wasn't all *just* for time.

We got the most sensual and intimate sex scene I have ever seen in any piece of media, we had a conversation between a mother and son where she basically named the entire acronym before Alex told her he's bi. And then she just accepts it and reminds him about safe *anal* sex.

They had Uma Thurman say bottoming!

We don't know how much Matthew López has had to fight amazon for any of those things. And how much he's had to compromise.

Just something to keep in mind.

Having said that - release the deleted scenes amazon!!

#red white and royal blue

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dragonmuse · 6 months

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Keep It In The Box : An Essay on OFMD Season 2 and the Failure to Heal

(here in is my season two reaction. It contains many many spoilers. It's also about 3k words long so you know what you're getting into.)

“See, I have a system for dealing with all the terrible things I've seen. There's a box in my mind, and I put the things in the box..” -Frenchie, Season 2 of Our Flag Means Death

…..and then he never opens it. Chekov’s locked box has no key in season two.

On first watch, it seemed clear to me that Frenchie’s declaration was a narrative plant. Clearly the whole season would be about that box of pain and trauma being opened, sorted through and at least the beginning of healing. The show had developed a reputation after season one of being kind and focused on queer narratives of healing from childhood. Ed and Stede’s parallels in their childhood traumas were frequently on display through season one and were repeated in flashback throughout season two. Jim’s season one arc about becoming someone who doesn’t think just of revenge and can now forge meaningful connections was profound, beautiful and often funny. Izzy is an antagonist because he doesn’t want Ed to move on or stop acting like the trauma-response version of himself. The antagonist wants to stop healing. The point is to grow, to change, to learn how to love. It’s one of the things that made season one work for me at the time, despite reservations about pacing and tone.

So naturally season two should follow suit. It’s a kind show! About healing and falling in love!

For the first several episodes, the remaining crew on the Revenge go through a gauntlet of trauma, forced to do and receive violence at Ed’s whims as he careens from self-destructive behavior to self-destructive behavior. This is the wounding setup. It was dark, but it seemed like it would have a payoff and at first it did.

Perhaps one of the most beautiful moments of the season comes in one of the small respites in those early episodes as Jim recounts Pinnochio to Fang to soothe him through his grief. That was the show that I expected. The kindness of that moment struck me very deeply. It gave me some understanding of Archie too, who seems to fall for Jim right at that moment.

That scene is the show season one promised. Season two led with packing Frenchie’s box full to bursting. Here is the fight to the death between lovers, there is a first mate who is mutilated and rotting in the very walls (the rot of the Revenge itself), and there is the storm of Ed’s rage and pain that threatens to consume all of them.

So surely these remaining episodes would concentrate on finding the humor in healing from those moments. That is the setup. Frenchie has a box. The box must eventually open.

Except time and again, all the characters who suffered are told that the only way to deal with what they’ve been through is to stick it in the box and never open it again.

Pete tells Lucius that he’s unable to move on and needs to let it go. Izzy has a story about a shark. Ed’s apology to the crew which doesn’t even contain the words ‘I’m sorry’ is just…accepted. I kept waiting and waiting for a meaningful apology to the people Ed had hurt the worst with his actions, but it seems all we get is Fang saying ‘eh, no problem, I got to hit you back so I feel better’.

The playful theme of ‘pirates are just violent sometimes’ from season one becomes a grinding horror machine in season two when every atrocity visited on someone is forgiven because the narrative needs it to be. Ed and Stede spend more time making amends with each other over the bloodless night on the beach than either of them spend trying to repent for their actions towards anyone else.

And let’s talk about Ed. Arguably this season pivots on his narrative, on his path to healing and growth. A path that starts at a very low point. His moment in the gravy basket, deciding he wants to live because there are still things to live for is so great! So one might assume that what would follow would be him pursuing those things, making amends, making connections. He and Stede have a wonderful moment, talking about being whim prone and how they’ll work to avoid that, build a relationship by going slower.

Yet, at no point do either of them stop following whims. They never heal or learn from what’s happened to them. They both keep running from thing to thing, particularly Ed. It’s a whim to sleep with Stede, it’s a whim to run off to fish, and the finale gives us just more of their whims. Ed drops fishing as fast as he picked it up. He finds those leathers in the ocean, murdering the symbolism of leaving them behind. Even the inn is a whim, one of those things Ed decided he’d be good at without evidence. And Stede joins him in that without a single on screen conversation about it ahead of the moment.

Ed needs to heal himself and to do that he needs to confront what he’s done and do the work to heal the wound. Instead, he doesn’t meaningfully apologize to anyone, besides Stede and Fang. Despite Izzy’s dying words (we’ll get to that), not only do we never see the crew caring about Ed, working to make him family in the same way they do with Fang and even Izzy, he also doesn’t choose to stay with them. So what is the point? Where is the healing? Or does even Ed, beloved main character, have to live with it all stuffed in a box?

He ends the season in the leathers he threw away, in a relationship that’s barely stabilized, going to live in a house which we are told by the narrative (in that they are very very clearly paralleling Anne and Mary with Ed and Stede or why do we even get that whole Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? episode) will only end in them setting fire to each other to stay warm.

But Vee, I hear you cry, it’s a ROM-COM. This is all meant to be ha-ha funny and you are taking it so seriously!

Cool beans. Then why the hell isn’t it funny? Healing is often filled with comedy because people deal with pain with humor. You can heal and laugh at the same time. The finale especially is almost entirely devoid of laughs, almost entirely devoid of joy until the last minute for that matter. The episode that should show off with a flourish how far everyone’s come, mostly serves to show that no one has grown.

Okay that’s Ed. I want to talk about Lucius next. Our former audience surrogate (that’s taken away in season two when he doesn’t get enough screen time to perform that role and no one takes his place) really goes through the wringer. He experiences many many terrible things, including sexual assault (which is made into a grimace-laugh line that doesn’t take away from it’s seriousness because oh hey, that can be done as it turns out). He’s nervous, he’s smoking, it’s clear he’s suffering.

There’s a beautiful moment where Pete tells him ‘hey, I was also in pain. I grieved’ and that’s great. It’s good that Pete sets a boundary about Lucius not obsessing over the past to the point of occluding their future.

We even get our comedic moment where Lucius pushes Ed off the boat (still not apology, but I’d lost hope for that by then) and that doesn’t help enough. So Izzy comes in with a shark and the advice that you just have to move on.

Just…you know. Play pretend. Forget.

Shove it in a box. Ed didn’t take my leg, a shark did. Ed didn’t kill you, a shark did. Live with the person that tried to murder you because it’s your fault you dangled your leg over the side of a boat. That is the show’s message. I thought on first watch, that surely this would also come back up and be explained that you can’t live that way, that that is no way to heal. That it would become clear that this was no way through. You cannot make everything into sharks.

Lucius can move forward and still carry pain. He can still want a meaningful apology and still want to talk to his lover about what he’s dealing with while moving forward toward a brighter future.

And what of the flirtatious promise of relationships and connections being the way to heal? Look to Oluwande and Jim, whose heartfelt romance from season one was relegated to the bins of history in favor of a narrative that made him a brother Jim once had sex with. They could have had Archie AND Oluwande, who in turn could also have Zheng, but that never seems to be an option. With a single short conversation, they are broken up with, despite a brief tease at the birthday that they still ‘dance’ together, it never actually manifests. Jim and Archie never talk about what they went through. It’s swept under the rug as fast as knives are lowered.

Lucius also no longer flirts with other people, the solution to his pain is to propose and get married (but not too married, lest we forget that they’re two men, they don’t even get to be husbands or even the more respectful mates, no. They’re mateys.) This season proposes that the only happy endings are monogamous ones, where no one talks about anything painful that went before.

To ensure that message, beyond assuring the success of Oluwande and Zheng’s relationship, Jim and Archie almost entirely disappear from the narrative. Sorry you guys were given layers of trauma and no growth and not even much to do this season, we need to make sure that everyone remembers Oluwande is the break in Zheng’s day so when he says that to her five minutes later we know exactly what he’s referencing. No time for Archie to learn what an apology is or for Jim to get one line in with Oluwande that isn’t affirming their newfound broship. Must do more flashbacks to things we just did two episodes ago!

The show even dangles the conversation of the Revenge being a safe space. Why would any of them ever feel safe when the man who tortured them is allowed to walk among them and they are expected to forgive and forget? What’s safe about that? The ship is never made safe for any of them, but that’s never addressed.

And Zheng! Amazing, hysterically funny Zheng! She loses her ships, her entire way of life, the kingdom she built for herself and then…she doesn’t even get to captain the Revenge. We don’t know what becomes of her fleet, of her plans, her ambitions. Don’t worry about it, she has a romantic partner and isn’t that what every lady wants in the end?

(But Vee, I hear you cry again, there will be a season three! Maybe it will be All About Zheng! To which I say: then why did they present us with the most series finale feeling episode ever? If there’s more, I have no idea where it’s going. BUT VEE: BUTTONS AS SEAGULL ON THE GR- Fine. It’s time.)

Let’s talk about Izzy Hands.

Izzy manages more healing than anyone else this season. He reaches his lowest point, suicidal in the bowels of a ship that’s become a prison (very much in contrast to Ed’s suicidal low). The person he loves most in the world has shredded him physically and emotionally (and if you’re in the camp that thinks Izzy deserves the abuse that Ed gave to him, I would really like you to sit quietly with yourself and ask why you think there is ever anything anyone can do to deserve that treatment). He’s low, he shoots Ed to protect everyone, and then seems to plan to drink himself to death, mourning his losses.

And then another beautiful moment! The crew move past their own pain to help him. They work together for the first time and it’s to give Izzy mobility back. He treasures it. He cries over it. He uses that kindness extended to him to reach a new understanding of Stede and help him succeed, doing the work to make real amends. He sings in drag, he’s vulnerable and beautiful, celebrating the side of himself that he must’ve loathed in the first season. He’s an elder queer man, coming into himself.

He never gets an apology though. (‘Sorry about your leg’ without eye contact is not an apology. There is no responsibility taking, no acknowledgement of the weeks of torture that came with it.) Izzy also never really has an honest conversation with anyone about what it means that the man he loves punished him so severely for the crime of trying to protect the crew (yes, lest we forget, Izzy lost his leg because he was trying to keep Ed from re-traumatizing the crew and himself).

Izzy does all this work, but even he’s not allowed to take it out of the box. It’s a shark, not Ed. Ed is just ‘complicated’ (the language of abuse here is so upsetting and I think not even intentional).

And then he dies. His last act? To apologize to the man who tortured him and shot at him. To have done all this work, to take on all the blame. And then die.

In a rom com.

This show ends in a profoundly unfunny moment of telling the audience: this is the one character that did the work, that made amends, that tried his hardest to accept the parts of himself that he had a hard time embracing and formerly embittered him. He’s fully accepted his queerness and turned it into beautiful music. He’s disabled, and he worked hard to accept that. The man he loves will never love him back, so he worked hard to make Stede able to meet Ed on an even playing field. The Giving Tree gave up its limbs and its trunk, and it’s not even allowed to be a stump to sit on.

Kill the queer elder, who has managed to figure out how to live and in his own way how to heal. Kill him before he manages to teach anyone else how to meaningfully move forward (he almost gets it with Lucius, almost, but it’s meant to be rule of three, you know. Cigarette..shark…and then…and then fuck it, Lucius doesn’t even get to say a word at his funeral).

The message of this season again and again is that there is no healing, just moving forward. Like a shark. Like a bird that never lands.

That is not a kind show.

Season two is not a kind season.

It splinters people up and jams them back together without purpose or reason. It tells everyone who experiences pain that they should shove it in a box and not deal with it. No one who really needs one gets an apology of any sincerity. No one puts in the work to gain forgiveness. (Ed wearing a onesie is not The Work. Ed fixing a door is not The Work. Ed broke people that the show wants us to care about. Ed never does the work of making those amends. He fires off a Notes app apology at best. After all, it’s what he told himself via Hornigold in the gravy basket: you move on or you blow your brains out! Good thing he took his own advice and therefore had to change nothing to get his just rewards.

I would’ve taken just fifteen minutes of Ed trying to actually make amends. It could’ve been hilarious! Imagine awkward Ed trying to dance around what he’s doing with Jim and the two of them having a knife throwing competition about it. Or him and Frenchie attempting to make music together, writing a song about the raids they went on! It’s not just the crew robbed of their healing because of this, it’s Ed himself. He never meaningfully changes or makes amends. How is he any different at the end of the finale then he is standing on the edge of that cliff with Hornigold? He hasn’t moved on, he hasn’t healed. He tried one thing (fishing) that doesn’t fucking work and then he runs right back.

No one leaves this season better than they went into it. They’ve lost an elder queer, they’ve lost their joyous and queer polyamory, they’ve lost a chance for meaningful reconciliation with Ed and Ed lost any chance of looking like he gave shit if they did. Stede grows enough to accept the crew’s beliefs as important and then leaves them behind without a care.

Izzy gets a beautiful speech about piracy being larger than yourself. Ed and Stede, within twenty minutes of that speech, leave piracy. They are incapable of giving themselves to something bigger, apparently. They haven’t learned to be a part of a community. They haven’t healed from their childhood trauma or their fresher wounds. They are still just following their own whims.

Zheng’s life work is in tatters, but it’s fine, she has love. Oluwande and Jim aren’t together, but it's fine because they both have dedicated monogamous partners. Lucius was deeply scarred by what happened, never recovers much of his first season personality, but hey he got-well it’s not married exactly- but you know good enough!

Frenchie, who has a box forever locked in his head, is captain. Because the key to success is to lock it all in a box and never open it. What a message. What a show. Conceal, don’t feel. Smile because it’s a happy ending. Don’t mourn the dead, don’t try to tell people what happened to you (they will literally run away or cry too hard to listen and really you’re just bumming them out), and any meaningful change you make is only rewarded with death.

Frenchie is now a pirate captain with a box in his head full of trauma that’s never been opened, leading a crew with more wounds than scars. Wonder how that could turn out? Wonder how many years before he might want to retire and then happen to run across a gentleman pirate. As if no one learned anything at all.

#our flag means death #ofmd #ofmd spoilers #the strangest message sent #and no idea if it was on purpose #I kind of think it wasn't somehow #but boy howedy did it come across

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