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spenglernot · 6 months

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STORIES TELLING: NED LOWE AND THE DEATH OF POOR REPRESENTATION IN OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH

In history, Ned Lowe was one of the most sadistic and violent pirates in the early 18th century, so he’s an obvious choice for a villain for season 2, episode 6 – Calypso’s Birthday. What is interesting is what the OFMD writers chose to do with him.

Lowe announces himself to the crew of the Revenge with great fanfare (cannon ball attack) and gets right to the point.

Ed is thoroughly unimpressed.

Cut to Ed and Stede tied up while Ned attempts to set the mood so he can monologue about why he wants to kill Ed.

Ed knows what’s coming. He is going to suffer but he still can’t be arsed to meet Ned with anything but vaguely bored dismissiveness (and Stede is happy to play along).

Up on the deck, Ned prepares the crew for his big, dramatic moment of symphonic torture.

Note that the Revenge crew is tied down, braced by vices and generally unable to protect themselves from imminent torture and possible death, but their spirits are up. They don’t seem terribly fussed.

Then Stede uses his people positive management style to happily orchestrate a worker uprising in Ned’s crew.

Ned’s crew responds instantly; severing their allegiance to Lowe and telling him off.

The crew sails away and talks profit sharing while Ned dully threatens to hunt them down.

Ned is now a prisoner of the Revenge crew and seems entirely disinterested in his own survival.

And Ned sinks to the depths, without struggling at all.

There is a lot going on in this episode: pay and labor equity direct action, gay love engagement bliss, kink humor, Stede being a hero and saving his crew by playing to his strengths, then having to decide whether to kill in cold blood and feel the consequences of that choice. Ed having one more reason to be done with piracy (while being so impressed with and fond of Stede), and then watching his man make a fraught choice and having to deal with the fallout from that. (And, damn, I haven’t even mentioned the passionate sex bit.) Anyway, back to the point.

Now for the the meta part

The Ned Lowe sequences are perfectly in keeping with OFMD’s signature blend of madcap violence, humor, and big emotional gut punches. But something about Ned Lowe just strikes me as off for this show.

Ned is seriously threatening the crews’ lives, so why don’t they take him seriously?

Why does Ned have such a boring, throwaway backstory?

Why is Ned so nonchalant about his own death; like it’s a foregone conclusion?

Why does Ned have a silver violin and silver spurs on his slip-on dress shoes?

Why is Ned sartorially monochromatic?

And then I realized who Ned reminds me of.

This guy,

Earnst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film Diamonds are Forever (1971)

And this guy,

Scar in Disney's The Lion King (1994).

And this guy,

Xerxes, 300 (2006).

And it sure seems like Ned Lowe isn’t just an episodic villain. He is an archetype of the one-dimensional, stereotypical queer-coded villain that has been endemic in film and television throughout history. The OFMD writers have a lot to say about what to do with this kind of character:

Don’t respect him.

Feel free to openly mock him.

Don’t let him take your joy, even though he will hurt you.

He won’t disappear on his own. You have to throw something at him (take action) to make him go away.

Once he’s in the water, he’s content to drown. He’s not into what he’s doing any more than you are.

Oh and, just to be clear,

The LGBTQIA+ community has a very long history of turning shit media into better stories. So, hey, big media, prepare to have your crap characters wrecked (improved).

Now, back to our transformative pirate show with rich, complex queer characters and a multi-layered plot that surprises me every week and makes me feel big feelings - most of all, joy.

Final thought: I do wonder if Ned Lowe is monochromatically silver as a tribute to/poke at, Hollywood and the silver screen.

This meta was written before OFMD season 2 has fully aired. No idea what’s going to happen in the finale (and I’ve generally fled social media to avoid spoilers). I’ll be back, looking at everyone’s fascinating posts after episode 8 airs.

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medievill · 6 months

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okay we all know Ned Lowe was being racist right?

we do know that right?

right? guys?

#ofmd #our flag means death #edward teach #blackbeard #ed teach #ned lowe #ofmd s2 spoilers #ofmd season 2 spoilers #ofmd season 2 #ofmd s2 #calypsos birthday #calypso’s birthday

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confusedraven1 · 6 months

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if ricky is what people expected of stede and who he would’ve been if he cared more about his social standing, then ned lowe is what people expected of ed and who he would’ve been if he cared more about competition

#ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd s2 spoilers #edward teach #stede bonnet #blackbeard #the gentleman pirate #prince ricky #ned lowe #parallels

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sugashook · 1 month

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commission

#the guy #art #illustration #drawing #digital art #ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd fanart #ned low #ned lowe #our flag means death fanart #commission

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luciuscodedswedeboy · 7 months

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for those who’ve missed me banging on about how Bronson Pinchot is likely playing Ned Lowe in OFMD S2 for the past few months…

IRL Ned Lowe was a pirate famous for his torture methods and Francis Spriggs was his quarter master (higher rank than first mate)

So now that Bronson’s been confirmed as Ned Lowe we have a HIGH chance of meeting one of Lucius’s relatives when Ned comes aboard next week

#the way i fucking SCREECHED when the teaser said Ned Lowe #I CANT BELIEVE I FUCKING CALLED ITT #!!!!#ned lowe #lucius spriggs #francis spriggs #our flag means death #ofmd #ofmd 2x6 #ofmd spoilers #ofmd s2 spoilers #ofmd speculation #ofmd s2 speculation #ofmd 2x6 teaser

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darkfire359 · 6 months

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I need someone to start writing fics for evil!Blackbonnet (i.e. Ricky/Ned). The campest, most dramatic villains both obsessed with their respective regular counterparts (Stede and Ed). They’d either love each other or hate each other, but however it would go down, you know they’d end up chewing the scenery so hard that they’d get stomachaches from it.

#ofmd #our flag means death #Prince Ricky #Ned Lowe #our flag means death season 2 #our flag means death s2 spoilers

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naranjapetrificada · 6 months

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I know this is the show where you just go along for the ride but would it be inconvenient to ask what options there were for dealing with Ned Lowe besides killing him?

I'm not trying to be a killjoy and this isn't one of those questions that I'm letting bother me too much because fiction needs catalysts, but it did occur to me. I'm not looking at it terribly closely but let's just say I found it a lot easier to ignore inconvenient questions last season, before corporate greed hadn't yet forced the writers to try to fit 10 lbs of season into an 8 lb bag.

#fucking Max #this show deserves so much better #ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd s2 spoilers #ofmd s2 #ned lowe #calypso's birthday

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libraryoffangirl · 3 months

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Do you think Ned stands for Not Ed

#ofmd #i can’t remember if anyone said this #already #our flag means death #ofmd 2 #our flag means death 2 #ned lowe #ofmd ned

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holographic-abstract · 6 months

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Izzy singing in the same episode where Ned Lowe makes his symphony of torture.....

#ofmd #izzy hands #ned lowe #i think they would get along is all im saying

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dizzy-izzy-in-a-tizzy · 2 months

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Ned: Watch it. Lucius: or you'll what? carve me up? wait, already going to do that Ned: Go on. I'm listening. What else do you want me to do?

I've been working on this chapter for over a month, and it's time to release it into the wind.

Thank you so much for reading.

Ned: I heard a rumor about you. Izzy: Yeah? And what's that? Ned: I heard you could sing. Ned: I'll be honest. As a musician myself, I'm painfully curious.

#ofmd #ofmd fic #ofmd fanfic #fiddlehands #nedizzy #ned lowe #izzy hands #lucius spriggs

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kilucore · 6 months

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all the awfulness and torture aside ned lowe was a cool ass villain

#honestly its a shame he died so soon #like that opening scene of him was actually so tense and scary #he felt like he had so much weight yk #the tone was perfect (because it was so different from the muppets)#like adding actual stakes to violence too #really cool he was really cool #exactly how i feel about tywin in got #ned lowe #ofmd s2 #ofmd s2 spoilers #ofmd

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why-do-i-like-the-bad-guys · 5 months

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I need to know what Flint would think of that one Captain with the blond hair and Blind eye. Like; what would happen? What would he do? Personally. I think he’d just slit his throat and be done with it, like, you’re welcome guys!

#toby stephens #captain james flint #black sails #ned lowe

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confusedraven1 · 6 months

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i had been wondering why ed said “i wasn’t even trying to break your record, i was just bored,” cause that’s quite an understatement and that’s NOT helping you, my guy!

but that’s the point wasn’t it? if ned was pissed and keeping his attention on him, he wasn’t harming stede.

the whole episode was ed just trying to protect stede, but then stede had to say “maybe don’t encourage him?” and ned immediately found a weak point. it doesn’t sound like much, but that was a comment made from fear, and, like edward teach, ned lowe is a fucking master of his trade.

#ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd s2 spoilers #edward teach #blackbeard #stede bonnet #the gentleman pirate #gentlebeard #ned lowe

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cottoncandiescupcakes · 6 months

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More thoughts

I am scared for next season bc I saw them digging a grave in a spoiler :( also, as a Dutch person, a DELFT PORCELAIN NOSE, PRINCE RICKY?

I can never look at my grandma's plates again

Was kind of attracted to Ned Lowe I think it's the eyes lmao

I AM SO GLAD ED AND STEDE FINALLY DID THE DO

'He's jealous' lol

I love Pete and Lucius lmao 'we just tell their stories' Lucius you complete icon

#ofmd season 2 #ofmd s2 #prince ricky #ned lowe #stede bonnet #edward teach #blackbonnet #izzy #lucius #pete

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whatkeepsmeafloat · 7 months

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Ned Low.

Ned. Low.

NED LOW?

Anyone else hearing those Kill Bill sirens? Just me? Because I am not okay.

#Black Sails #Our Flag Means Death #FUCKING #NED LOWE #trauma #the absolute trauma #actual Vietnam flashbacks #I wish I knew how to make gifs so I could put the Our Flag character next to his Black Sails counterpart #I can't wait

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maremote · 1 year

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Black Sails Monologuolympics BR1.1: Minor Characters

3/8: Berringer vs. Ned Lowe

Berringer, to Rogers, 403: "There isn't a good man among them. Not anymore. Some of them may have been, before all this. Some of them may be again on the other side of it. But right now, good men are not what the moment requires. Right now, the time calls for dark men… to do dark things. Do not be afraid to lead them to it.”

Ned Lowe, to Eleanor, 201: "This is going to sound absurd, but... I make the men feel better about themselves. See, every man here has served under a captain who uses violence to achieve an end... to terrorize, to advertise. When the men see that, they can spot the lie. They know that that captain is, in some part of his soul, sickened by his own actions. And the lie infects everyone who sees it. But with me, when the men see me slaughter the crew of the Good Fortune, when they see me cut out a man's tongue from his mouth for lying, when they see me burn a boy alive in front of his father's eyes, they know, they can see it in my eyes... there's no lie there. There's no secret remorse there. I simply don't have it in me."

Other Polls in Bracket One Round One

#og #bsm11 #black sails #ned lowe #berringer #bsm #bsm1

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