#ofmd s2e4

[littlefingies]

Watching 2x4 and Stede just... all day, is having the most bonkers things said to him. By the end of the day it's no wonder that he's totally unfazed by Buttons turning into a seagull 🙃

[begin with a gif of stede asking Izzy a yes or no question and getting back "a rotten leg's got to come off" and responding "right....." 🤠 but I couldn't find a gif]

[insteading]

Inspired by this @celluloidbroomcloset post about Stede yelling GREAT and scaring all the birds:

I was rewatching the scene where Stede realizes that running off again maybe didn't feel good to Ed, and comes back. I was struck by Taika's delivery of "Buttons turned into a seagull!! Yeah! He flew off!!!"

Not sure if it's because Ed is high, or because he's been through rather a lot in the last couple of days, or because believing he's seen someone violate the laws of physics is a Really Big Deal, or because he's been so moved at the thought that he can change that he's a little choked up, or because he's so delighted that Stede did come back, but this line has some of Stede's usual excitement markers: higher pitch in particular, but also, I can hear the smile in it. And it hits really hard because it immediately follows the world-weariness of "People don't change, Buttons, not into birds, or otherwise."

It makes me think of how much effort Ed often puts into obscuring the dorky enthusiasm that he and Stede share, and what a relief it must be to stop masking again.

[unhingedpirates]

(psst. guys i don't think frenchie is left-handed at all)

[googoogojob]

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

this was @asneakyfox's idea (og)

[hamletisabitch]

Fun and Games is a perfect episode to me. Ed and Stede's arguments and reconciliation are so real. Izzy is so pathetic and strange he's able to unite the crew. My best friend Roach gets more than one line. Olu says "yeah babe" to Jim. Buttons is litterally a bird. "Seabird" plays as an antidote to the bird that never lands.

[adickaboutspoons]

I object to the term "whim"

In episodes 4 and 5 of the second season, there's a lot of throwing around of the word "whim." Ed and Stede both argue that they were just a whim to the other, Stede concludes they they are both "whim-prone" and that whim-prone people shouldn't run off to China together, and Ed cites their "whim-prone"ness as a reason to take things slow as they start to rebuild their relationship.

And I know we all like to joke about U-Haul failboats in love, but they aren't whim-prone. That's not what's going on here.

The first time on the show that we hear the word "whim" is in s1e4, when Izzy says "For years, I've followed your every whim, I've managed your increasingly erratic moods, I've massaged this crew when they were worried about your judgment." But from what we see of Izzy's interactions with the crew, he's not a massager, he's a sledgehammer, and the crew respect Blackbeard a hell of a lot more than they respect Izzy. Ed's moods don't read as "erratic" at all if you pay attention to what he's responding to; he's an emotional guy, for sure, but mostly even-keeled until highly provoked. And as for "following [his] every whim," Izzy can barely follow orders as given - committing insubordination at least twice that we see; not telling Stede that it was Blackbeard that wanted to meet him in s1e3, and flat-out ignoring Ed's "we're not doing this" in s1e6 when he challenges Stede to the duel. So I don't see Izzy as a reliable narrator when he suggests Ed is "whim-prone" - it might look like that to him because he doesn't try to understand Ed on his own terms, but it is v. much a construction that Izzy is imposing on Ed; not an objective character trait Ed possesses. After all, you don't get a reputation for being "history's most brilliant tactician" if you're not, at the heart of it all, a planner.

Stede is also a planner. Mary accuses Stede of abandoning his family on a whim, but that's also inaccurate. Thanks to all the hard work @nicnacsnonsense did in her marvelous 1st season timeline video, we know that SIX MONTHS elapsed between Stede proposing with his model boat that they go to sea at the anniversary debacle and the night of Mary's apology when Stede had already committed to actually leaving. That's not a whim - that's plenty of time for serious deliberation. It LOOKED like a whim from the outside because of their disastrous communication failures, but that doesn't make it true. Unabandoning his family was not a whim either - Chauncy was the catalyst, but only because he created a high-pressure situation that validated all of the insecurities we'd seen Stede struggling with all season; guilt over abandoning his family, and his crater-bottom self-esteem that the people he loved were better off without him. Even in season 2, we see more of this long-game behavior, where Stede takes his drudge job in towels and elevates it by applying scent; a move that LOOKS whim-prone from the outside, but primes him for success when it comes time to escape, because it means he knows the guards are used to deeply inhaling the scent of the fresh towels he gives them, and is thus he is able to trick them into chloroforming themselves.

There are times in the 1st season where it might LOOK like they are being whim-prone, but for the most part, those things are mostly time-critical circumstances . The impulsive decision to go to the French Party Boat? The invitation was for that night, so it's not like another opportunity like that was just going to come along. Stede's impromptu Fuckery? He'd JUST been introduced to the concept that morning, and the ships on which he wanted to try it out were three days away. If you'll recall, Ed actually tries to talk him out of going through with it with such a short turn-around time, and likely would have succeeded if Izzy hadn't interveined to further his "Kill Stede Now" agenda. The Treasure hunt? Stede was anxiously scrabbling for ANYTHING to keep Ed's attention (AFTER he confirmed there were no oranges for sale, not even for ready money) because Ed said that his plans for the day included "planning for the next adventure" and leaving. Act of Grace? Signing away ten years of your life for a man you've known for a month IS a lot, but the alternative was letting Stede be executed. Running away together? I'll give you that China was quite the absurd swing, but they WERE in jail for all intents and purposes - no sense staying longer than absolutely necessary, and there theoretically could have been time for re-working the plan once they were just away had circumstances not arisen.

So while I think it's fair to call the boys whimsical with their love of dress-up and lovely perfumed things and theatrics and tasty sugary treats, I wouldn't say whim-prone is an accurate descriptor (and the fact that they are accepting that it is makes my heart crack wide open for them, because it's evidence that they're still both uncritically absorbing the labels applied to them by people who don't really understand them at all), nor the problem they need to address.

Their real problem is actually the exact opposite of flitting from whim to whim; that, once they've committed to something, they are all in, 100% ride-or-die. It's why Ed resigned himself to going down with the ship when it turned out he'd miscalculated the date instead of trying any evasive maneuvers with the fog to give them cover. It's why, when Stede didn't show at the docks, Ed went full pillow fort until Lucius was able to talk him around into life going on without Stede. It's why Stede threw himself into trying to be all the things he thought he'd failed to be as a husband and father when he came back to his family, and was committed to staying, even though it was making him miserable, until Mary tried to murder him.

Ultimately, the solution for both these conditions is the same - slowing down. But it's not a matter of making sure this is serious and not just a whim for either of them; it's a matter of taking the time to understand exactly what it is that you're committing to. So I object to the term "whim."

[ianmalcolmptsd]

“You were the one who kept his body aboard” Oh? Oh? My god?? This raised so many questions I doubt will ever be answered. Who told Stede that it was Izzy who insisted they keep the body? How much did Izzy have to push the others to let him keep Ed’s body? Did the others just understand right away and give in? Did Izzy visit Ed’s body when they were adrift, thinking he was dead? Has anyone told/will anyone tell Ed that it was Izzy who kept him on board, meaning it was actually Izzy who kept him alive?