#if you think I'm wrong about them being autistic/adhd rep please kindly take your opinion to someone who cares

[ghostonly]

One of my favorite scenes in the entirety of Our Flag Means Death is when Ed is in the dining room with the fancy assholes because, let me back up

ADHD/autism pairings are literally my lifeblood and whether it was intended in writing or not, these two are a very very good example of that. Stede is written very much autistic and Ed is a perfect and shining example of ADHD and I love it

And the thing about this episode is it's a terrible but accurate trope where one character is completely overshadowed by the other, and the way Ed suddenly lit up and became the life of the party, he made Stede feel invisible and pathetic because Stede has been trying so desperately his entire life to follow all of the rules that his allistic peers have laid out for him, and then Ed shows up to a fancy event for the first time in his life and everybody loves him, and Ed gets fucking drunk on the social approval.

It's such an accurate portrayal of when people like you and you have ADHD that it hurts. The dopamine from social acceptance made him completely blind to Stede's feelings the entire night, but that's not why it's painfully accurate. That's not why I love this scene.

I love this scene because, just like is the reality for so many people with ADHD, the social approval only lasts as long as Ed is being funny and making a show for people. And the second he sits down and tries to actually do something in earnest, to use all this fancy silverware and eat this fancy food, the show is over, but they're still laughing, and he realizes that his value to them is as entertainment only. And he looks to his side and suddenly the dopamine high is gone and Stede is not there.

His anchor is gone.

And he completely unravels.

He was never better at fitting in than Stede. He was just better at laughing with them and playing along like the things that they found funny were meant to be. But the thing about ADHD is that, in that moment, the high of the social approval is so strong that it convinces you, too, that you're really doing something spectacular.

And when he suddenly realizes that he's out of his depth - when the high has worn off - he realizes that he's the joke. And the RSD hits him.

You can see it in his face - the devastation and the panic. And he loses his composure and he yells.

And I was fully prepared for him to make good on his threats and kill every last one of them. Because that's what most TV writers would have done.

This is my favorite scene because I finally saw a writer accurately portray someone having an RSD breakdown without using humiliation as an excuse for sensationalism.

He didn't kill them, he fled. Because he wasn't murderous or enraged,

his heart was fucking broken.

The look on his face when he finds Stede. This man is on the verge of fucking tears and only then does he finally pull out his gun and start fiddling around with it, because it's the only way he can distract himself from the onslaught of emotions he's trying to swallow

And then Stede goes and does his thing, because nobody hurts his boyfriend like that

So anyway I'm not crying or anything

#if you think I'm wrong about them being autistic/adhd rep please kindly take your opinion to someone who cares #adhd #actually adhd #ofmd #our flag means death #stedeward #black bonnet #blankbonnet #Blackbeard #stede bonnet #rsd #taika waititi