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Thinking about the episode The Best Revenge is Dressing Well.

So, it’s the start of the trading places Deal between Ed and Stede, and we see them sharing their skills with each other. It’s also a great way to illustrate for the audience that Stede is not just a fancy boy, but he’s a fancy boy who knows his stuff. He is able to convey information about the pageantry of dining and etiquette among the “upper crust” to Ed.

At the same time, we as an audience know that Stede didn’t fit in with the upper crust around him, not while growing up nor as an adult. His memories and conversations with Nigel Badminton are good evidence of that, as well as his father, and his own stab/fear induced hallucinations he has in the previous episode (the hallucinations putting him down for being a pirate because they don’t think he has it in him).

When the invitation to the fancy party is introduced, Stede immediately dismisses it as stuffy and not worth their time. He of course acquiesces when Ed flat out states that they’re going, but he never really gets in the spirit of it like Ed does. Sure he dresses up, but he’s wary and cautious the whole time. He looks quite nervous and/or uncomfortable as Ed works the crowd. Once he has an engaged audience, Ed is fully in it, performing the bit, playing the role of Jeff. When Gabriel (Nick Kroll’s character) tells Stede as Thornrose to essentially shut up after Stede tries to reign the situation back to safer waters (Ed is boasting about eating human flesh at the moment), Ed follows up with a line that is both deepening the lore about Jeff’s relationship to Thornrose, while putting him down (stop talking palming my cranium and let’s get back to accounting).

On first watch, I thought the discomfort on Stede’s face was because he thought maybe Ed really meant it when he said Thornrose wouldn’t stop talking. I thought Stede thought Ed was using it as a coded way of talking about him, and airing a grievance or annoyance. But I don’t think Ed was doing that, because the details he includes being focused on their roles (dents and maths) read to me as him just leaning into the bit, not putting Stede down under the guise of a bit.

So then why would Stede look so uncomfortable? Is he afraid they’re going to get caught? It could be that Ed didn’t mean to but Stede picked it up that way, but honestly the biggest thing that seems to be happening is Stede is not in control of the situation, and Ed is drawing a lot of attention to them and being a loose canon. He’s an absolute wildcard, and for Stede, at least if you’re boring, no one pays attention to you. You can hang out in a corner until the party’s over. But Ed is being interesting and chaotic, talking about cannibalism and murder.

Another option is that Stede’s a bit put out by Ed apparently succeeding so easily (Ed even says as much at the piano), but more so I think he’s waiting for the other shoe to drop. At this point he gives his more pointed warning: “This is a fickle crowd, trust me.” I mean, when Ed says he can play a shanty, Stede’s “Oh come on” reads to me like “Is there anything you can’t do? I’m impressed despite myself.” He doesn’t seem especially sore that the crowd likes Ed more.

And we even get the “I was never any good at these things” conversation with Frenchie, so obviously the show is telling us Stede was not good at social situations, but to me it reads as something going on in addition to him not performing masculinity to the satisfaction of those around him. He may have been good at memorizing the details, like cutlery and how to dress, but the social aspect is what caught him. His warning to Ed that the crowd could turn on him at any moment sounds like it comes from experience. It reads to me very much like someone who struggles to read social cues aka is neurodivergent. Yes, Ed is throwing around some wild stories so it makes sense Stede would be on edge, but it’s not like he was gung-ho from the start and got gradually more nervous. He even expects Ed to not have a good time and want to go home back to the ship early on. From the moment they step inside, actually. That is not the face of a happy or excited man.

Stede might know the rules of etiquette, but not the rules of social interaction with “society’s finest.” He mostly hangs around in the background of the party, with Ed in the spotlight. But I can easily imagine parties and social events before he became a pirate in which things were going well until he said or did the wrong thing. And I very much relate to that, to being in a social situation and holding yourself so tight so you don’t misstep, but knowing you’ll do things wrong anyway because you don’t have the radar of Correct Behavior to measure yourself against.

All this to say, It Slaps when Stede is able to gather information and purposely destroy a social situation, rather than accidentally find one falling apart around him because he said or did the wrong thing. And that he gets to use his social fuck up energy as revenge for them hurting Ed? Incredible. No wonder he was so delighted as the ship went up in flames.

#stede #stede bonnet #our flag means death #ofmd meta #stede meta #the best revenge is dressing well #ofmd spoilers #stoat edits #because these are my gifs lol #this isn't the deepest meta but i just had some thoughts about stede's faces and experiences #ofmd neurodivergence

Our Flag Means Death

1.05 The Best Revenge is Dressing Well // 1.08 We Gull Way Back

One of my favorite jokes from the show and a great example of “we only care about historical accuracy if it’s funny”

Bonus: Jackie has more than one knife

#our flag means death #ofmd #single shot pistols #ofmd gifs #ofmd spoilers #spanish jackie #jim jimenez #ed teach #blackbeard #stede #stoat edits #stoat arts #leslie jones makes such a face in the last one #terrifying doll face #she looks like she had a lot of fun with this #the best revenge is dressing well #we gull way back

learning how to mask with spock

#spock #star trek #i want to make fanvids!#edits!#and i will!#operation annhilate #amok time #stoat edits #i guess that's my video tag

Broken over Stede having dinner alone and asking an empty table “How was your day, Edward?”

The one time we see he actively pursues his own happiness, by becoming a pirate, and he leaves it because he thinks he’s ruined the person he loves, and he is once again so, so, so lonely.

He can’t even have love now that he’s found it. So he leaves behind everything, including freedom from the expectations that have weighed on him his whole life.

#ofmd gifs #our flag means death #gentlebeard #stede #blackbeard #ofmd spoilers #please #my feelings #give them back #stoat edits

Stede’s Speech from 1.01 as it applies throughout the show.

What we're about to do will be perilous. Some of us won't be coming back. Others may be wounded. Still others may come back looking totally fine, But in reality be mentally devastated by what they've witnessed.

Fulfilling the request put into the ether by @dollarstoreditz