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saturn-valleys · 1 year

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I'd personally find it pretty funny and fitting if they take the OFMD route and completely make TedTrent canon in the very last episode.

One thing Ted Lasso and OFMD have in common is the way they allow each relationship and dynamics its own runtime and moments that really flesh out each character and why this pairing is as important and why they love and care for each other before they are canon.

IE: Jim and Olu, Lucius Black Pete,Frenchie and Wee John, and Stede and Ed for OFMD

And: Keeley and Jamie, Keeley and Roy, Roy and Jamie, Rebecca and Keeley, Nathan and Jodie(I think that's her name), Jamie and Sam, Colin and Isaac, Ted and Rebecca, Ted and Coach Beard, and Ted and Trent in Ted Lasso.

Romantic and Platonic relationships are the backbone of these shows.

Now at this point we some/one ship is canon before the ending.

ie: Lucius and Black Pete and Nathan and Jodie.

And we know(at least we hope we're right for this whole idea to work) that at least a few will be canon at the very end(I say very end cause we literally only have two episodes left and OFMD still only has one season at the time of me writing this.).

That being, Jim and Oluwande.

And the one possible ship that will be canon(cause come on it has to) is Roy and Keeley or Roy, Keeley, and Jamie(polyship please😭)

The only ship we don't know the future of cause one is in the fear of a life threatening break up and the other is literally less than 5 minutes of screen time is Stede and Ed and Ted and Trent.

Stede and Edward were confirmed in the second to last episode for their separation even though the two clearly had a thing for each other. However before that(and this is from an outsiders perspective so bare with me) some scenes were seen as platonic by many, even by fellow lgbtq fans cause we're used to gay coded character unfortunately being not gay canon wise. Even thought the subtext is VERY and CANONICALLY not straight.

Ted and Trent's moments; while subtle, are very very meaningful because despite the very little screen time together, there's a lot THERE. Specifically in this recent episode where Ted and Trent are hanging out with Rebecca during her girl talk. The way the camera stills on Ted making it seem like he's the only one there to the show us that NO Trent Crimm is also there and quite literally the way better candidate for girl talk sessions.

This moment really gave me "I like your wife/partner better, they are my best friend now" vibes and I think that was intentional, ESPECIALLY with the small nod and smile Ted gives Trent afterwards.

They are colleagues, work friends even, so for them to have these subtle moments and seem to be out of a romcom is...👁👁

As i mentioned in my early Tedependant post I wouldn't be surprised if the pulled the subtle canon route and their endgame scene is also very small but hold A TON of meaning.

This is all just a ✨️tin foil hat tomfoolery✨️

#ted lasso #tedependent #trent crimm #tedtrent #saturn rambles #ted x trent #rebecca welton #ted lasso spoilers #i just love them all okay #i need them to be happy and in love #im fully accepting the tin foil hat now guys #ive converted #keeley jones #roy kent #jamie tartt #roy x keeley x jamie

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7aloecat7 · 6 months

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This is my Ted talk on Oluwande X Zheng Yi Sao

Ok if you're a OluZheng truther do NOT read this because I WILL trash on your truth sorry not sorry

Also spoilers for S2 of ofmd!!!

Okay so we all know that TealOranges was THE side ship of the summer last season, and we can see through the dancing scene that they might be moving out into poly with Archie in the mix (which I LOVE). But things are getting a little confusing into episodes 6&7 for me.

We know that Zheng has a crush on Olu, that is glaringly obvious. But why are we moving into Zheng X Olu territory? Where did that come from?

Despite the fact that the only thing that may have warranted a crush on Olu's part is one nice thing that Zheng said, the moves Z are making on him are downright horrendous. The fact that he was forced to negotiate for his friend's lives while she was flirting with him was cruel and I don't see how a relationship blossomed out of that.

Then in episode 6 or 7 Jim says to Zheng to talk to Olu, which I interpreted to mean that he would explain that he did not have feelings for her and we would all move on. But.... He's going on her ship?!?! (Well..... Not anymore 🙊) and even Jim seems confused by this, as seen in their facial expressions. And being the perfect partners they are, Arch and Jim agree to go too, meaning that either TealOranges can no longer be a thing and ArchiexJim and ZhengOlu are the couples, or they're ALL poly together, which I don't see happening because Jim has never expressed liking Zheng and Arch had never met her. (I just don't see why he would go on the ship with her, continuing to stay in the relationship with Jim and Arch. There's a possibility he hinges between the two, but I can't see the likelihood.)

I just don't like the way that Zheng was thrown into the mix randomly and we're expected to root for her relationship despite the fact that she a) tried to kill everyone, b) low-key emotionally manipulated Olu, and c) has an interesting character, but why would we pick her over Jim, whose Nan he met, and whose past he shared?

Ending my Ted talk, I want ArchiexJimxOlu to be canon and Zheng to sail off and conquer some other part of Asia and not bother us again. Thank you for coming to my ted talk, I will take conversations.

#archie ofmd #jim jimenez #oluwande boodhari #ofmd season 2 #ofmd spoilers #ofmd 2 #ofmd #zheng yi sao #olu #jim ofmd #tealoranges #Good god if this becomes a thing I will scream and rip out my haira

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khruschevshoe · 4 months

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OFMD (fic) analysis: The Power of Names, Agency, and Creating Yourself

So, this is going to be Part 1 out of who knows how many analyzing different aspects of @aletterinthenameofsanity 's magnum opus OFMD fic series "made a promise when I left for the coast (made a life out of chasing a ghost)." Now, the series is divided into three sections, "Season 2," "Season 3," and "Extras" (which includes missing scenes, AUs, and post-canon "special episodes"). This first essay will be addressing the symbolic/thematic meaning of characters choosing their own names in this series throughout all parts (some of these metas will only tackle one section/season/ or even fic).

It is clear in this series that names take on a particular meaning, due to the multiple times it is emphasized, such as in part 15 of the series (the "pilot" of "Season 3"), when Captain Olu says, "Everyone's entitled to choose their own name on my ship." Names, when taken on a ship, allow someone to both shed their precious life and claim one for their own. I'm going to go through the various ways this is presented in series and how letting characters choose their names on the Revenge allows them to gain agency within their lives and world.

1): Name as Gender: Jim and Pete

Early on in the series, Jim and Pete's friendship is established from Jim's POV, where we discover that before the Blackbeard-Kraken-era, Jim and Pete bonded when Pete revealed that Pete is also trans, which in the series is often referred to as "the power of creation" (there's an essay analyzing the religious implications in the works, I swear). This is a point of connection and pride between them, and is the foundation to a great and enduring friendship and place of trust that often gets both of them through low points.

This friendship is further emphasized in part 13, Pete's internal monologue echoes previous assertions by Jim's internal monologue that "they have things in common that go beneath everything, a connection that threads itself across the sea, through razors and potential top scars and names left buried on land."

2) Name as Family: The Jimenezes and the Spriggs

A) The Jimenez Matelots

During their wedding reception in part 9 of the series, Olu and Archie both make it clear that they are going to take Jim's last name due to the importance of becoming Jim's family. Olu will trade in his last name, and Archie will take on a last name for the first time, as a sign of loyalty, loved, and comfort, because for Olu and Archie, "What price is a last name when it comes to making Jim feel comfortable and loved?"

B) The Spriggs Siblings

The choice of the last name "Spriggs" by Mel and Lucius has almost the opposite backstory of the Jimenez matelots- rather than keeping a last name to honor a family, the Spriggs siblings keep their last name to spite their abusive father. When Mel is asked by Roach in part 18 of the series as to why she keeps her last name when, as a pirate, she could have easily dropped it entirely when starting a new life, she tells him that she kept it because it connected it to her brother. Her internal monologue explains that "She stayed Mel Spriggs, damn the consequences, not because the last name gave her protection, but because it connected her to the one person who, at any point in her life, had protected her." It has nothing to do with "the lily-livered douche" that was her father; it as to do with her connection to Lucius. And as the series progresses, even after Lucius gets married to Izzy and Pete, we see that he keeps his last name while Pete picks up the last name "Hands-Spriggs." As much as his matelots mean to him, shown by the rings they share (objects as symbolism will be another analysis), his relationship with his sister is just as important to him.

3) Name as Intimacy: Frenchie and Zheng Yi Sao | Ching Shih

So, this one is not as startling or connected to character agency as the others, but I really like what this relationship does with language. Zheng Yi Sao literally translates as "wife of Zheng Yi" and is used almost as both name and title, the name of the Pirate Queen and Emperor of China, while Ching Shih is her Cantonese name, within the language she grew up speaking. Historically, Zheng Yi Sao had to learn Mandarin to fit in with upper crust society, and it makes sense that the name she rules the seas with (even in OFMD) is within that more "elevated" language.

But here's the kicker: Frenchie doesn't call her Zheng. He calls her Ching Shih, honoring where she came from, acknowledging that he gets a far more intimate side of her than the rest of the world do. In part 40, in the moment of their engagement (which comes after years of a really fun half friends-with-benefits, half-long-distance-relationship that they have going on), Frenchie accepts Zheng's proposal with the line "I’d love to be yours, Ching Shih, as long as you- not your title, or your power, or whatever, just you - would be mine.”

4) Name as Agency: Mel and Roach

When Mel first joins the crew of the Revenge, Olu calls her "Miss Spriggs" and she asks to be called Mel instead. It is made clear that to her, her first name is a gesture of identity and agency as she begins a new life, a fact that is emphasized in part 39, which covers Mel's life leading up to the moment she murders her parents and leaves home. This part refers to Mel exclusively by the name "Melanie" until the moment she leaves Anguilla and takes her agency back into her own hands, paralleling the death of "Blackbeard" and the freedom of the crew with the line "Melanie Spriggs dies along with her parents; Blackbeard dies along with Izzy’s love for Edward Teach."

In part 18 of the series, we see Roach explain that his choice of name was a similar act of agency, a moment when he chose the name thar embodied his own survival instinct with the lines ""Being a pirate is about creating a life for yourself. A name, a family, a home. I picked Roach because I refuse to let anyone kill me.” He gives her a toothy grin that she can’t help but return. “I’m an invincible little fucker.”"

5) Name as Family (Part 2): Femi Boodhari and the Jimenez Matelots

Finally, we return to the theme of names being used for chosen family. When the Jimenez matelots visit Femi, Olu’s mother, in part 41 of the series, at first Jim is worried that Femi will be disappointed that her son traded away his name for theirs, Femi gives Jim and Archie a way to honor and carry both the Jimenez and Boodhari names and legacies: as a blacksmith, she makes Jim a knife and Archie a new axehead with the Boodhari name in the side so that way the family, their culture, and her own legacy of escaping slavery and starting her own business and family can be honored. Though it's not as straightforward an example of "choosing a name" as the others, I think it is a nice endcap in this series for the theme.

(Also, as a note: these metas/analysises take a lot longer to write than it took me to make moodboards. So they'll probably come out a little less frequently, even if they are just as much fun to do!)

@blue-b-bro @possumsmushroom @yuenity @bricksbloggyplace @cosmicquill @a-pessimistic-swiftie @polikate

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ritalacochona · 7 months

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So I am going to try to parce through my Our Flag Means Death Season 2 premier.

Episode 1: Impossible Birds

The dream sequence is amazing. I love that his subconscious will not let him get off light. Izzy saying "I didn't make you leave him" like the most spurned lover. Aaaah. Ed never actually saying they are OK.

So much in this episode. So many moving parts. I like Stede’s working but I am surprised he still appears to be the defacto leader despite Olu being named captain.

Olu and Zheng Yi Sao: I want to like them. I really do but they don't have time to flush out this little flirtation. I think they should pick Olu and Zheng or Jim and Archie to focus on. They have such little air time to have them catch up to the last seasons canon couple chemistry/back stories. I also hope that her motivation saving the crew was more than her crush on Olu. She is such a power house it feel incongruous that she would be so easily swept up with no build up to their thing. I like Auntie though.

Jim is so good this season. They were the least likely too, but they actually bought into what the Revenge did. They care for their crew mates, even Izzy. The little wooden boy voice for Fang! Their fighting, the new look! The only thing I am still not sure of is Archie. So far I haven't gotten much from her personality other than she likes Jim.

Frenchie is amazing. Funny, and yet he has these moments where the cracks bleed through. Especially after he is made first mate. So good.

Fang is breaking my flicking heart. He has been with Ed even longer than Izzy.

The Kraken. When I first saw the spoilers especially Izzy scene that was sent out I was worried they would not be able to balance how bad he was with his emotional core, but boy was I wrong. Taika Waititi paints this hopeless sorrow that you can feel. He is so funny when it's called for but he is truly beautiful just him, the camera, and his expressions.

ED AND IZZY. WHAT! YOU HAVE LOVE FOR HIM! WHAT! In my wildest dreams I never thought they would go in so hard with these two so fast. I remember reading angsty fic about their dynamic and thinking " they would never make it this dark." Actually the " take off your boot" scene is so traumatic/sad/slight sexy 🫠 😳 😔 . I am screaming. I knew Con and Taika had chemistry but they are so good together, their scenes are electric.

Stede Bonnet you beautiful bastard. I love that everyone keeps thinking he is stalling for fear of being killed but the truth is he doesn't want his hope for reconciliation dashed. What everyone warning him away doesn't understand is that he is a man who is experiencing breath-stealing, soul binding love for the first time in middle age. His devotion to Ed is unmarred by what he has done.

Spanish Jackie as always is amazing. Her use of "husband" is similar to Nandor (WWDITS). Her getting Swede is great too. I love Leslie Jones. Only issue is because the episode is so full you could almost take the Olu and Zheng storyline and put that over the Jackie bits or vis versa.

Prince Ricky...I am not convinced. So far he just seems like he has all of Stede worst traits. If he is going to be the big bad this season it's going to have to be some big twist.

Overall I loved the episode. I am so looking forward to more time with my pirates and I NEED more Izzy.

#ofmd s2 spoilers #ofmd #ofmd s2 #our flag means death season 2 spoilers #izzy our flag means death #our flag means death s2 #edward teach ofmd #ed teach x stede bonnet #ofmd stede bonnet

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jennaflare · 2 years

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tagged by @maderilien :D

rules: tag a few people you want to know better; make a new post, don’t reblog!

favorite color: Mustardy yellow or the green of leaves lit from behind

currently reading: The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery

last song: Genghis Khan by Miike Snow... I may be working on an izzy/ed playlist

last movie: What We Do in the Shadows

last series: Okay I mean technically? Black Sails because I was watching it during work today but in SPIRIT it's Our Flag Means Death because I was thinking about it the whole time I was watching bs and I have also watched it like. maybe seven or eight times now. oops.

sweet, spicy, or savory: Hard to choose... I love them all in turn. But in order of preference it'd probably go savory, spicy, sweet.

coffee or tea: Coffee! My sister and I probably spend too much money on good coffee and we grind it ourselves

three ships: Currently all that is rattling around in my head is ed/stede, ed/izzy, and olu/jim. I just keep rotating them in my brain like rotisserie chickens

first ever ship: Buffy/Spike and they STILL give me all the feelings, even though I hate Joss Whedon. Spike's love speech in season 7 is still one of my all time favorite TV love declarations. Star Wars is what got me into fic, but Spuffy is what got me into shipping.

currently working on: An Ed/Stede video set to His Status is... Preferred from crazy ex girlfriend. I also have too many ideas for izzy/ed videos and i just need to friggin PICK ONE

favorite piece of clothing: MY KIM KITSURAGI JACKET. It is so warm, flattering, and well made. Literally the nicest piece of clothing I own and pretty much the only jacket I wear now. I dread summer when I cannot wear it anymore.

comfort food: arroz con gandules, pasteles, tostones, korma, tom kha soup, nachos, ice cream, maduros. I'm already looking forward to Christmas so I can make arroz con gandules and drink coquito. and WHEN will the grocery store stock plantains again. i need them.

favorite time of year: Spring! When I lived farther south, I was big into fall and winter because the rest of the year was too hot. I still like fall, but i have a new appreciation for spring since it actually gets cold around here. Summer can fuck off <3

fav fanfiction: The Collision in Cardiozone HQ by glittermilk. The way they write Harry's skills, in particular the introduction of Esprit de Corps, is absolutely fantastic. I love the way young Harry and Kim interact and meet, and it's SO COOL how it's still set in canon so Harry just... forgets about him, like he does everything else. My friends had to demand I stop texting them lines from the fic because every single line is fucking hilarious. So so so good.

I always feel awkward about tagging people so??? do this??? if you want???? and let me see it :>

#text #about me

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khruschevshoe · 5 months

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OFMD Critique: the Handling of Female Characters, "Girlbosses," and Dropped Polyamory in Season 2 (aka Why the HELL did you give Zheng Yi Sao that ending?)

For this one, I kind of just want to gesture at the ending of 2x7 and the entirety of 2x8 and scream at the top of my lungs, "What the FUCK was that SHIT?"

But I already did that when the finale itself came out, so instead I'm going to stay calm and give a genuine critique (though still as rambly as always).

The handling of this show's women is...questionable. I think the only woman that was handled 100% well is Mary in Season 1. No real notes there. I love her and how her storyline is written to bits.

But in season 2, all 3 major women characters (Archie, Zheng Yi Sao, and Spanish Jackie) have their storylines hamstrung by romantic plot lines.

In Archie's case, the romance plot works. Not every character needs to have a subplot. The bits that flesh out her character are well integrated into the story, whether that be her first kiss with Jim directly leading into the fighting to the death plotline/Jim finally standing up to Blackbeard or the lines "you have hope, it's cute," "this is just kinda how things work," and "they just kind of get away with it, you know" (though it still pisses me off that that last one goes unchallenged in the narrative) being used for plot progression, or are fun character details, such as all of the snake cult hints. (Do I wish that the poly aspect of her, Jim, and Olu's dynamic was better executed so that I didn't feel like the tealoranges plot was yanked out from under my feet? Yes. Of course.)

But as for Zheng Yi Sao?

The treatment of this character makes my blood boil.

See, I'm not opposed to her having a romantic plotline. In fact, I think it could have been fun. A woman can have romance and power. 2x7 even looked like it was building to that sort of conclusion, with Jim, Olu, and Archie joining her crew in one of the very few actual canon implications of poly (though no confirmation, sadly- have y'all seen the info about the deleted scenes that could have confirmed it? I can't believe so much ended up on the cutting room floor.) But then the end of 2x7 strips all power from Zheng Yi Sao.

The show pulled one of the most powerful pirates and most accomplished women in history (also a woman of color, btw, a fact which only doubles the weird fucking undertones of her treatment as a character) into the show only to strip her of her power, shove her into a romantic plot line on a ship where she isn't even a captain, and expected me not to pick up on ANY of the fucked up optics of the writing? The fact that we end the season with Zheng and Spanish Jackie both losing their power as pirate queens in exchange for setting them on a ship with only one singular boyfriend grinds my fucking gears, man.

There are ways to give Zheng a romantic plotline without it making her an idiot (ala what happens with Olu in 2x3) or making her lose all of her power (ala the finale). Jackie's case is less infuriating, but it does remind me of the fact that a lot of the casual poly/open relationship rep from the first season got stripped from the second season (and before you come at me with the Zheng/Olu/Archie/Jim storyline, look me in the eye and cite to me any concrete canon evidence we have of it. I ADORE the fanfic as much as the next person, but I mourn the lost potential every day. Check my previous tealoranges meta for that- I might write a long version of it sometime). Lucius and Pete lost all their open relationship implications and Jackie's husbands are dropped from the finale in favor of her running off with the only one who gets a name.

I understand that they probably wrote Zheng Yi Sao this way to show Stede's growth as a Captain by showing that he brings more flexible ideas to the table (which, by the way, is completely undermined by the fact that his plan actively kills Izzy in the process), but they really should have thought through the...everything in regards to the implications of writing Zheng Yi Sao this way. Because if you bring in one of the only female characters with speaking lines onto this show, a Chinese woman at that, make romance actively make her stupid, have her be fooled by a white man (who, by the way, kills THOUSANDS of unnamed women off-page in explosions and it's just kind of treated as a plot point for the whole Zheng/Auntie/Stede/Izzy/Ed comparison which gives me the ick), strip her of her fleet and her power, and then have the GALL to not even make her the Captain of the Revenge at the end of it all? I'm not sure I trust you to handle her legacy, much less write women in general.

TLDR; Writing a very queer show does not resolve you of sexism.

#zheng yi sao #ofmd critical #ofmd meta #archie ofmd #spanish jackie #sexism #analysis #ofmd season 2 #ofmd 2x08 #ofmd 2x07 #ofmd #rant #rambling #jim x archie x oluwande x zheng #zheng x oluwande

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