#so if stede had been honest about the blowing shit up maybe ED is the one who says to jack hey asshole

[knowlesian]

stede and ed and communication and e8 breaks my fucking heart, the short version.

so: from stede’s end, he’s in an ever-more wildly spinning nightmare. he woke up to chaos and his shit getting blown up, jack is an ASSHOLE, he’s monopolizing all ed’s attention and ed is going along with it as well as not picking up on the array of hint flares stede throws at him and then understanding what they mean and reacting accordingly, the crew keeps siding with the frat pirate from hell, the pained smiles he starts throwing out this episode pain me— this sucks for him. this suuuuucks.

but from ed’s end, his bro from back in the day just rolled up and he’s excited to try and merge his old life and his new one. shades of jim and nana, but calico jack is no nana. he’s not factoring izzy’s fucking insane embrace of a bootlicking plan into things, so he thinks stede and jack are giving each other a shot, not that stede is trying his damnedest despite poor communication to give jack a chance and jack is just here to fuck shit up for eeeeeveryone. 

(because if nothing was Afoot, ed would probably be right! i get the sense jack would just say ‘fuck your nerd fetish, no chances shall i give ed this guy is weeeeeeeiiiiiird and super gay as in uncool, now let’s stab shit or fuck, unlike izzy i am a gross toxic pirate who actually fucks’ if he wasn’t here to be the world’s most arrested development flavored honeytrap. jack using tactics from stede’s world while wearing the aesthetic of ed’s world: veeeeery narratively cool.)

anyway. stede and ed both have no idea what’s actually going on there, re: The Plan, but here’s where things get really interesting— i think if two very small moments of communication go better, jack can’t work his grody magic and the episode unfolds very much another way.

moment one: when ed comes to check in with the... admittedly seemingly somewhat obvious if you think about stede for point five seconds ‘hey, should we like... not blow up your stuff???’ question. ed’s ready to hear he fucked up, he’s not going to take it hard or be mad at stede. he introduces the idea and assumes yeah: shit. look at him. i fucked up.

and then stede, having been trained in the ways of Never Being A Bother (OR FUCKIN ELSE) is like no! i love it when people blow up my things! this was something i would have done anyway.

he is obviously not telling the truth, ed is like ...well. that seems untrue but you said it, so... okay? either i believe this or you’re lying to me in a way i need to be wary of, because three episodes ago you explained passive-aggression to me and i don’t see it as a social nicety as well as a weapon, i’m only seeing it as a mode of attack.

which: in a way, this helps shove ed harder at jack. stede thinks he’s making this easier on them both by not acknowledging that YEAH, ed, that’s not cool? i AM annoyed? because honestly, if you’d been thinking about my feelings at all when you did it, this conversation would not even be happening. what actually happens is that now ed is aware stede’s unhappy but cannot be entirely sure why. that sets him off-balance again in a way they had been working past since e7′s breakthrough, fuuuuck i love this team.

so. if stede says there, because ed clearly is ready to hear it: yeah, you fucked up, that changes how ed approaches the situation going forward in terms of not just diving headlong into the thrill of seeing an old buddy and falling back into your old patterns together.

second moment: the breakfast table. if stede says in that moment something along the lines of ‘sure, jack can eat with us! why don’t we grab another plate. i don’t mind waiting to start until he has some food, too’, the gameboard switches up again. 

one moment of setting a gentle boundary and reminding ed that understandable nostalgic impulses aside, stede does not like being left out and is having a particularly rough time with this version of it, and jack’s shit loses power.

because ed doesn’t want to hurt stede. not even a little. he wants to have fun with jack, and i imagine is telling himself that if stede and jack can get along, this means stede can accept him but maybe even more: that ed can accept these changes in himself. (since izzy, the other avatar of ed’s past, was like literally the fuck i hate this man more than i’ve ever hated anyone and edward. edward. i RUN ON THAT SHIT.)

ed’s pushing on this so hard and needs it to work for reasons that are all about his own internal process, stede’s holding back for the exact same internal reasons, it’s all understandable.

and if two itttttty bitty moments go slightly different: nigh on entirely avoidable.

#truly i get mad at how good these writers are #because ed tries and stede is like no no no it's fine #and so ed goes... okay then. in an inverse of stede's whole thing where after being shut down once he shuts up forever #so if stede had been honest about the blowing shit up maybe ED is the one who says to jack hey asshole #that's his chair you can have my plate #i will wait stede you go ahead #because it's not all on stede OR ed #we can't always be great at saying what we mean and we can't always be great at remembering to ask #so the actual answer is a blend #somebody who never asks: are you cool with this? is not holding up their end #somebody who never says: i am not cool with this is also not holding up theirs #UGH SO HUMAN SO GOOD