Repurposed Pirate Ships

Repurposing this old Doctor Who blog for my current obession with Our Flag Means Death

[sherlockig]

this is the true bury your gays

[baggnshield]

now I'm even more glad they wrote that ending, god if s2 had ended on a cliffhanger like s1 idk how I'd have coped, idk how- jesusfuck but yeah, I'm glad we ended on a happy note

[euroblog]

[lightbluetown]

i can make up a million scenarios about their s3 wedding but it simply won't be the same 💔

[fuckyeahisawthat]

I love how much of OFMD s2 is about do-overs and second chances. Like obviously the message of the whole show is "you're not too old and it's not too late" and "everyone is capable of positive change." But I love how many specific moments the characters get to do over from their missed chances and fuckups in s1.

Stede tells Ed to wait for him in the woods while he goes back to the ship to convince them that Ed can stay another night, and it's so obvious that Ed is scared af that Stede is not coming back, that he'll be left waiting for Stede alone in the dark again. But Stede does come back! And invites Ed to come with him this time. "You wear fine things well" but this time they both know that's an overtly romantic line, they get a do-over of their almost-kiss missed connection and this time they do kiss and they both know how much it means. The lyrics of "This Woman's Work" that they use ("Give me these moments / Give them back to me" and "All the things we should've said that we never said / All the things we should've done that we never did") in the context of the scene get transformed into hoping against hope for another chance, just come back to me and I'll say and do all the things I was afraid of before, please give me another chance to make it right. And they get it.

Even Izzy fucking Hands gets a do-over of his worst moment from s1, acknowledging the harm he caused and getting to touch Ed's face and say "there he is" in the context of telling Ed to go live his authentic life.

And of course Ed and Stede at the end, Stede saying without hesitation that he has no second thoughts, that he's sure this time, and we know it's not about running an inn or any other scheme they might cook up together but about building a life together.

When we talk about OFMD as a kind show or a hopeful show this is the kind of stuff I think about. It's not that no one ever suffers or dies or gets hurt or fucks up; it's that the characters can fuck up massively but they get another chance to keep trying, together, keep swimming toward the light even when things look real dark. I know you've got a little life in you left.

[57flagsofdeath]

The duality of Ed and Stede's whole vibe. They're toothachingly earnest like lovesick teenagers. They're deeply emotionally stunted and traumatized middle aged pirates. They do cute little soft things like thumb wars and breakfasts in bed. They literally kill for each other. They hold and kiss each other so softly and tentatively. Stede also erotically stabs ed at gunpoint and slams him up against the wall. They have a slyly complicated butch/femme dynamic. Stede is a soft man full of pent up rage and Ed is a tough man full of tenderheartedness and sorrow. Truly ship of all time.

[jaypentaghast]

i'm so sorry

[rylandsgrace]

#The reviews are in (source)

[blueboxdreams]

This season had some delightful moments but overall it didn't hit the same. I wonder if it was cutting two episodes and the budget or what. Or maybe just where we are in Ed and Stede's story arc. Really only e6 and e7 felt like season one vibes.

I love it, I'm glad we have it, I got very vocally emotional over man different emotions over the season but I think it kind of struggled overall.

[blueboxdreams]

Not me thinking to myself "Man, I didn't understand Izzy fans in season one but I really get it now, I think he's the best character this season" not FIVE MINUTES before he's killed off! WTF!

*sadly hums La Vie En Rose*

[milkovichy]

this is what happens when you let a white man get a confidence boost btw

[cobbbvanth]

someone: *insults ed*

stede: so you have chosen death

[ofmdsource]

#they are all so cute your honor

[nicostiel]

They finally made love I’m deceased 😭

[izzy-hands]

Ed + Protecting Stede

[blueboxdreams]

I'm not sure if this is an unpopular opinion but this week's episodes were the first ones that have felt like season one again.

The season has been good so far but doesn't have the same feel. However I spent these two episodes just constantly shrieking in delight

[elapsed-spiral]

I keep coming back to you're not very good with people, are you Jeff?

Because it feels true and false. It's clearly Ed piling on the self hatred, but there's something in that thought that rings true for me.

It depends on what you mean by bad with people. He's great at working a room, he's charismatic to a fault, he's captained for decades and seemingly never been mutinied against. But that's a very specific kind of being good with people: it's being good at reading a room, anticipating what people will do, managing situations. That's absolutely a thing you learn when you've lived in abusive environments, such as his childhood home and Hornigold's ship. He's learned to predict when things are gonna take a turn and how best to avoid that.

So he's good with people, but what he's not good at is follow through. He says so himself: he doesn't have any friends. There's a bunch of reasons for that: he's captain and the boss needs to keep some distance in order to keep people's respect(?). But more so, he's got that trauma again. It leaves you lonely, makes you want to bring people closer, but closeness is associated with danger in your head, with vulnerability and not getting your needs met, so you're seeking people out and pushing them away at the same time. He reaches out to Stede in the bathtub and an episode later, he's saying he needs to leave the ship to have another adventure. Forming connections is hard when historically letting your guard down has only caused you pain.

If nothing else, that comment feels like yet more evidence that, on one level, Ed really gets himself and the problems he has. The issue he has is moving past his self hatred enough to allow himself to try and do something about them.