Ed: Izzy, Izzy, Izzy… Look out there. Those clouds. Do they look like Frankfurters to you?
Izzy: They look like clouds, Boss? Can we just focus on…?
Ed: Yes, yes, they look like clouds because they are indeed clouds, but if you just put some fucking imagination into it, man!
Izzy: [long pause] I suppose they look like sausages…
Ed: Frankfurters, yes! Exactly. It’s like pulling teeth with you sometimes, man.
Izzy has worked with Ed for years and still doesn’t understand his mind works best in simile or metaphor; that he needs a certain level of creative social interaction to keep him sane, that the bouncing of an idea helps consolidate things in Ed’s mind.
Yet we see Ed give Izzy every opportunity to interact. Ed already knows the answer really, and the significance. He’s trying to build rapport, include Izzy; but also feel this is a team effort, that Ed’s not carrying the safety of everyone alone. He’s trying quite naturally to share the load with his First Mate.
Unfortunately, Ed’s met with barely-veiled disdain - ‘They look like clouds, Boss.’ Even if Izzy can’t understand what’s being asked of him, he could ask questions for clarification, or even, I dunno, just agree and trust Ed’s judgement. But he’s not bothered because he wants to focus on his plan, the one that’s better than his boss’s who he says rather contrarily, is ‘the most brilliant sailor [he’s] ever met.’
We hear Ed’s frustration, and the key word ‘imagination’ clarifies much of the issue. Izzy has none, or doesn’t care to cultivate any. Imagination isn’t for real men. Having a plan involving firing canons at a superior vessel is the done thing, apparently.
When Izzy does finally give in to his boss’s Very Silly Game™, I find the answer irritating. He uses ‘sausages’ instead of ‘Frankfurters’. It’s a way of agreeing whilst not agreeing. He’s diminishing Ed’s observation. He won’t use Ed’s word, his more imaginative and precise word, a very particular type of sausage. Izzy’s being blasé, truculent, even. Imagine an AU: ‘Does that look like a car to you?’ / ‘I suppose… it looks… like a vehicle.’ It’s the response of an adolescent. The use of ‘suppose’ has tone as well. Ed’s response reveals years of frustration. ‘Pulling teeth’ is being kind. Feeling you want to bang your (or Izzy’s) head against a wall is a more appropriate response.
— -
Ed: What’s that painting? What is it? A grain tower?
Stede: Oh, it’s a lighthouse. I should’ve been one for my family. And guided them.
Ed: Hmmm… well, technically, you’re supposed to avoid lighthouses, so you don’t crack up on the rocks.
Stede: I never really thought about it that way.
Ed: Hmm… no one does.
Together: We need to be a lighthouse!
I still don’t know what to make of Ed who sees lighthouses possibly daily, and thinks he’s viewing a picture of a grain tower. But it reinforces abstract thought and lateral thinking. Ed often doesn’t see what is there; he sees beyond, creative alternatives, the non-obvious answer.
Stede could’ve given a taciturn response, ‘Oh, it’s a lighthouse.’ If he’d stopped there, they would’ve all died, probably. But because Stede is open and conversational, he goes on to explain why he has that picture, and the symbolic importance of it.
This then allows Ed again, to offer an alternative interpretation - you’re technically supposed to avoid lighthouses. But Ed only gets there through the openness of the interaction, the to-ing and fro-ing.
And Stede’s reaction is important also. He doesn’t dig his heels into a rigid interpretation of what a lighthouse represents. He doesn’t say, ‘I suppose’ or ‘Why are we talking about this when we’re all about to die.’ He says, with genuine surprise and curiosity ‘I never really thought about it that way.’ Stede has an adaptable mind. One willing to learn and see things from a different perspective even in the worst moments. Which is why what happens next happens.
The joint ‘We need to be lighthouse!’ reveals a lot about where these two are already heading. The camerawork is phenomenal, moving between the pair, but also blurring background and foreground, bringing Ed, then Stede into focus. They have an already-developing symbiotic relationship. Furthermore, Stede, the new kid on the block, the one who’s apparently a bit of an imbecile, comes up with the plan the same moment as master-strategist Blackbeard. And that means something. That means a lot actually.
It’s very clear what we are meant to understand about the characters. The juxtaposition of Ed and Izzy’s relationship to that of Ed and Stede’s shows how starved of an intellectual and creative equal Ed has been for years… possibly since forever. They come up with a plan that’s equal parts ridiculous and sublime - a little bit like them, really. And it works! - because of respectful reciprocal conversation. The outcome will always be one of my favourite scenes.
