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zo1nkss · 7 months

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I finished the episodes at a snail pace because I can't do anything at normal human speed and here are my brief thoughts post-binge:

ep1 > Honestly terrified me. I love seeing Ed in his evil era but I hated watching all my beloved crew suffer for it.

Will say I'm so fucking excited about Archie. Not sure I feed into the "TealOranges breakup" it honestly feels more like an open type thing. Like there aren't a lot of expectations idk. That's just my interpenetration of what we've got so far tho!

ep2 > Truly so much happened this episode that it's hard to condense my feelings into something digestible. Like I do feel bad for Izzy, but he's right in ep3 when he says he and Stede caused this and I think that's about where I stand on things. I do think he fucked around too close to the sun and now he's finding out how hot it can burn, but it still sucked to see Ed acting that way no matter who was getting the short end of the stick. I don't want to preemptively invent discourse that doesn't exist but I'm nervous about how yt ppl will react. Going to enjoy Ed getting to be a villain for five minutes tho because he rlly got his moment to be an absolute royal fucking bitch about a breakup. He got the rampage montage and that's awesome rock on man.

ep3 > what can I say? HANDS. MERMAID STEDE. Stede literally called Ed back from death. He literally led him back and Ed chose life because Stede was waiting for him. Stede wanted him around. I'm so not okay rn.

#Void Rambles #ofmd s2 spoilers #ofmd s2e1 #ofmd s2e2 #ofmd s2e3 #they're right that WAS the corniest reunion episode I've ever fucking seen #I hope it was scrumptions for that one rando reviewer who has 0 taste #we never get mainstream corny romcoms #also #the slapstick vibes were so intense #the way Stede jumped over board then flapped his arms in the air before falling #Ed's montage of killing Hornigold who turned out to be himself #Stede killing Izzy in his fantasy dream and then getting farted on #everything everything everything #lucius' uber dramatic survival story #becoming a human puppet (ugh poor Luci)#so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so many emotions #Jim x Archie true real #I'm rooting for polyamory my fingers are crossed so hard

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clairegregoryau · 1 year

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New fic now posting from May 11-14!

Come in Spinner

Rated: E 4 chapters (complete, 28K) You can find it here! Mind the tags and notes, friends.

Copenhagen, 2014 Australia is trying to convince the rest of the world to let them enter Europe’s greatest song contest, Eurovision. Australia’s not physically in Europe, but they’re there in spirit. They’re also there in person just this one time, singing as a guest. It’s a momentous occasion, one that’s inspired the country to send two of their most familiar faces for the commentary team: legendary singers Edward Teach and Stede Bonnet, who met through watching Eurovision, but haven’t seen each other since a scandal in the 90s. What could possibly go wrong, other than… everything? Or maybe, in falling apart, it’ll all fall back together…

#ofmd #ofmd fanfic #ofmd fic #ofmd fanfiction #ao3fic #gay pirates #fanfic #our flag means death #fiction #eurovision #angst but an absolutely happy ending #second chances #reunions #inspired by a true story #but very much fictional

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doks-aux · 2 years

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They do this now. Talking. Long nights in the captains’ cabin, hot drinks, old stories, and just. Talking. About work and everything but work, about anything in the world. Izzy has more to say about it all than he would have expected.

Ed dozed off a bit ago and is snoring on Stede’s shoulder, a tiny damp spot starting to grow on his dressing gown. Stede doesn’t wrinkle his nose at that anymore. He’s turning half of a petrified fruit over in his hands, quiet for the last few moments. And then:

“Do you ever regret not having children?”

It’s a big assumption but one he feels confident to make. None of the tales he’s been regaled with during these nights of the dread Blackbeard and his fearsome first mate had any room for rugrats running underfoot, no hints of families waiting on shore. And by now he knows that if Izzy’s ever... Well, he would have had to... Well, obviously he didn’t.

“Sometimes,” is the answer he receives, and by now he knows Izzy well enough to have half-expected it. What he doesn’t expect, when he looks up from his own hands at the man in the chair across from them, from himself and Ed, is that Izzy’s wistful gaze is cast to the side, out the window where the sea and sky blend together into inky black infinity. He looks so far away that Stede... that Stede knows.

It isn’t Ed.

Izzy’s fingers have itched up to play at the ring at his throat. He doesn’t snatch them away. He doesn’t know he’s doing it.

It isn’t Ed that Izzy had wanted to have children with.

Stede knows, and he feels sick with the want to apologize. It isn’t for him to know. Not when even Izzy doesn’t.

Izzy looks away from the window, comes back to the cabin, his hand still at his throat. His eyes land briefly on Stede’s shoulder, on Ed’s sleep-soft, brandy-flushed face resting there, and there’s a flicker of that loneliness that Stede regrets he didn’t see sooner, regrets he wouldn’t have cared about sooner.

“It doesn’t matter now.”

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suffersinfandom · 25 days

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Okay. OFMD discourse.

I see a lot of passive aggressive digs at "media literacy" and claims that we're watching different shows, and... I guess that's true? There's obviously a fundamental disagreement about what story OFMD is telling. Like, I feel like we need to sit down and do some kind of Story Analysis 101 just to make sure we all have the same foundational understanding of the show.

Like. What I was talking about in the first part of this post.

If you and everyone in your server are doing OFMD media analysis and you've all concluded that the show's main plot is the crew's storyline, you're going to come to very different conclusions than me. You're going to wonder why so much time in S2 was given to B plots and scenes that don't move the crew's story forward. You're going to be annoyed that so much of the season is devoted to Gentlebeard and not Izzy and his relationship with the crew. You might even conclude that the whole show is an example of "bury your gays" because the central queer character -- the character whose development is, in your eyes, the heart and soul of the show -- dies at the end.

The thing is? The "big cliffhanger" of S1 was not the crew's separation, and the first episodes of S2 aren't about the crew's reunion and Izzy's arc. Izzy and the crew are not the show's protagonists. Stede and Ed are the protagonists; their relationship is the main plotline. It's very silly to call S2E4 a "mistake" that "[shoves] the show's main plot and most of the characters into 1 minute scenes in between much longer gentlebeard scenes" because the Gentlebeard scenes are the main plot.

Prior to OFMD, my favorite characters were always secondary and a lot of my personal analysis focused on action that fell outside of the main story. Heck, one of my blorbos of choice takes an antagonistic role to the story's protagonists, and yeah, I sure do sympathize with him even though he's not positioned as the guy who's in the right. But I'm always aware of my blorbo's place in the narrative.

It's okay if your favorite character(s) aren't the protagonists of a story. It's okay if the plotline you're most interested in isn't the main one. It's okay if you hang out in the corners of fandom that focus on the parts of the story you care the most about. It's even okay if you're mad at OFMD for letting you down by not giving enough time and attention to the bits that are the most important to you.

Just.

Stede and Ed are the protagonists. OFMD is, first and foremost, about their relationship. When I see analysis that denies this, I feel like I'm completely losing my mind.

#ofmd #ofmd fandom #fandom critical?#idk i feel like a crazy person sometimes #and sometimes this fandom is frustrating #ofmd discourse

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gentlebeardsbarngrill · 2 months

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02/21/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; Cast & Crew Sightings; Rhys Darby; Samba BTS; Vico Ortiz; Ruibo Qian; HowToHelp; Petition Embed; Queerties Last Day; IRL Outreach Assets; New Watch Parties; Visual Rep of SaveOFMD Effort; Fan Spotlight; Collages; OurFlagMeansBooze; Articles; Morale; Love Notes; Daily Darby/Tonight's Taika;

Wow everyone, crazy day again. Day 2 of BTS Darbygeddon. I'm actually going to set a google calendar reminder for tomorrow between 1-2 in case Samba decides to drop another doozy on us. Hope you all had a good day. Here's the highlights-- there's more I would have liked to add but I need to get permission first, so I'll hopefully have them up tomorrow. As always, please let me know if I missed anything <3

== Cast & Crew Sightings ==

= Rhys Darby =

Back again with another Cameo is Rhys for our lovely crewmate @Kellykat53 over on twitter! Thank you so much for sharing this with us Kelly, it's a lovely little inspirational video, definitely gives us plenty of Vitamin RD (as @scorpiostarseed would say). Check out the Cameo

= Saint Samba Schutte =

I've seen several people mention that Samba is a Saint (sorry not sure who started it to attribute it) so going forward, that will be his name. SO MANY BTS pictures and videos. My goodness. Has it even been a day since the last Merstede dump? It has, but damn, here we are with the BOYFRIEND video, and the nipple scratching, and oh look it's Buttons from the Cryptid Factor! As always, if you have access to instagram, please check out these posts on Samba and Rhys' posts/stories.

Videos on Tumblr:

Boyfriends - ty @blakbonnet!

Merstede - ty @kiwistede!

English Jacket - ty @kiwistede!

Cursed Jacket - ty @kiwistede!

Steard Nips - ty @kiwistede!

Rhysently Granted Reunion - ty @kiwistede!

= Vico Ortiz =

Vico voiced the new novel "The Diablo's Curse "by New York Times Best Seller Gabe Cole Novoa! I know some of you are huge Vico fans so wanted to mention it, you can purchase the audio book here. Src: Vico's IG

= Ruibo Qian =

Are you in New York? Our Pirate Queen will be at the #TonyKiserTheater NEXT MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26 at 6:30PM for a one night only reading of On The Evolutionary Function of Shame, by D.A. Mindell - For more details visit here.

== How to Help ==

Hey all! We're adding some things to the daily task lists (and taking some off). Here they are!

= Petition Embed Code =

Looking to easily embed the petition link in your AO3 fic, or maybe your email? @sonnetforbonnet was kind enough to provide us with some embeds you can use! Please visit the repo for the codes!

= Last day for Queerties! =

Please remember to vote! Today's the last day!

Best TV Comedy

Best TV Performance

= IRL Outreach Assets =

== New Watch Parties Coming Up! ==

The Pirates! Watch Party! This is a family friendly movie so bring the kids! Or the adults-- or anyone you know, really, as long as it's not against their will! Sunday March 3rd, 3 PM EST, 12 PM PST, 8 PM GMT!

Watch Party Hashtags:

#OurPirateCaptain

#SaveOFMD

#AdoptOurCrew

== Visual Representation of Fandom Efforts to SOFMD ==

Remember our friends that had the in person Matelotage Processional? Well they're back with a funny video illustrating the fandom efforts of Save OFMD!

Fangirlfoto's Instagram Don't have instagram? See the video on the repo here.

＝＝ Fan Spotlight ＝＝

Thank you once again to @wndrngnomad on twitter for all their awesome collages dedicated to the Cast and Crew! Day 21: Calypso's Birthday! Perfectly timed considering the lovely Boyfriend themed BTS we got today! Catch-Up: Day 2: Madeleine Sami!

= Our Flag Means Booze! =

Our absolutely brilliant crew-mate @quiet-compassion over on tumblr has been designing OFMD Themed Drinks since the show was dropped by Max! These not only have super fun and creative names you'll all recognise, but an amazing array of flavours too! If you're 21+ (in the US) or the appropriate age for drinking in your country, feel free to try them out! As always, please drink responsibly! Are you celebrating with Moonglow Manifesting? Why not try the "Moon Glow" cocktail for the end of the event! Want to see ALL their concoctions? Head on over to the repo, they're all there!

== Articles ==

17 Facts and Easter Eggs about OurFlagMeansDeath That will Get you On Board - 17 Fakten und Easter Eggs zu „Our Flag Means Death“, die dich ins Boot holen - ty @AddieH on twitter

Max: The 34 Absolute Best TV Shows to Watch

==Morale ==

Hey crew. I've been hearing some scuttlebutt around the deck that people are starting to worry again about whether or not s3 is going to happen. The love notes section is already pretty long so I'm not gonna go too crazy up here too -- instead I'm going to just point out that David Jenkins, while not active and posting things for us right now, is sneakily poking around in Samba and Rhys' BTS comments. He's still there, he's still watching, and I think he can tell we're all feeling the high from Samba's releases. Don't give up hope, these things take time. They're gonna get there. I'm gonna add the trends to this section today because I think it's important to see what we did today:

== Love Notes ==

Hey Lovelies. I know I've said it before, but it bares repeating since I know a lot of you are struggling right now.

Just a gentle reminder that if your brain is telling you that there's something wrong with you, or that you've done something wrong or embarrassing -- it's lying to you.

There's been so much dopamine from all the excitement lately with the BTS, that it has to come down at some point, and when it does, your brain will sometimes over-compensate and you start feeling maybe worse than you did before.

This is totally normal, it really is. Our brains are glorious complex pathways of unmeasurable brilliance, and yet a simple hormone change can make that same brain tell us that we're not enough, or we're not worthy.

I am here to remind you, you are so very much enough.

No matter what is happening in your life-- in your job, in your personal relationships, in your family, in your school, anywhere--

YOU ARE ENOUGH, EXACTLY HOW YOU ARE.

If you feel like you've failed, or you've let someone down, just know you are STILL enough. We all fail, it's how we learn.

We pick ourselves back up and we try again, and if we fail again--

We're STILL enough, and we are still worthy of love and comfort.

Eventually you will succeed. You will get there, and all the while while you work on it, YOU. ARE. ENOUGH.

I know it's so hard to see when you're feeling small, but I see you all every day, and I am awe-struck at your constant ability to band together and not only find love and support, but give it so freely and lovingly.

A simple @ to someone, alerting them to something they'd like

A love note in dms or on a tumblr post

A gif or picture or video brought to tumblr from some other platform so others can see them.

Writing a fic or drawing a picture.

A reblog with tags, goofy or not

Anon Asks showing people you support how they feel about a given topic

Liking a post.

These are all love notes. No matter how public or private, they're all there and they all add up eventually to form this wonderful community and you've been kicking ass at love.

I know we all look like we're having a good time, but a lot of us are struggling silently, and yet we're finding ways to reach out to one another and spread love to help us all get through. Love isn't always positivity, it can be commiseration, or frustration on behalf of someone. You all are finding the best ways to help your crew, and I'm so very proud of you.

You all are capable, creative, gifted, beautious piles of stardust smooshed together into one wonderfully unique package, and you are so very loved.

You are enough,

You are loved,

and THINGS WILL GET BETTER Lovelies.

Get some rest <3 You got this.

= Daily Darby / Tonight's Taika =

What can I say, I literally can't not include this Rhys gif today. It's physically impossible, please forgive me. Good fucking lord, I'm going to Costa Rica now. Also, sorry I tried to get a matching Taika gif, but I have run out of brain cells. Hopefully this one will suffice.

Rhys - Courtesy of @bizarrelittlemew

Taika - Courtesy of @studiomoon

#ofmd daily recap #ofmd daily recaps #daily ofmd recap #daily ofmd recaps #taika waititi #rhys darby #ofmd #our flag means death #vico ortiz #ruibo qian #save ofmd #saveofmd #save our flag means death #ofmd bts #samba schutte #saint samba schutte

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rhysdarbinizedarby · 7 months

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How Our Flag Means Death transformed Rhys Darby into a merman

Take a deep dive into Stede and Blackbeard’s big underwater reunion, featuring Kate Bush and buckets of glitter.

Warning: This story contains spoilers for Our Flag Means Death season 2, episode 3, "The Innkeeper."

How do you turn a pirate into a mermaid? All you need is a loyal crew, a killer soundtrack, and lots and lots of glitter.

Our Flag Means Death season 2 reunites swashbuckling lovers Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby) and Blackbeard (Taika Waititi) after their tragic parting in season 1. An injured Blackbeard is hovering near death, stranded in a purgatory-like dream world after his crew attempted mutiny. He plunges off a cliff, sinking deep into the sea, and it seems as if his past regrets will drag him into the darkness. Then, a light appears, and Kate Bush starts to play: It's Stede, carrying a trident and sporting a golden fish tail. Merman Stede coaxes Blackbeard back to life, and together, they swim upwards into the light.

It's a moment that's simultaneously silly and heartfelt, a perfect encapsulation of the show's signature tone. Series creator David Jenkins says he and the writers have wanted a merman Stede scene for years, and it comes at the, ahem, tail end of episode 3, written by Alyssa Lane and Alex Sherman and directed by Andrew DeYoung. The sequence itself isn't long, but it proved to be a monumental undertaking, requiring careful collaboration from the visual effects team, stunts, hair, makeup, costumes, music, and more.

"When you're working on smaller shows like this that need big visual effects, you have to be very resourceful about how you do things," visual effects supervisor David Van Dyke tells EW. "I feel like the underwater sequence was a really great culmination of all the departments really working together and maximizing our resources."

With the episode streaming now on Max, EW caught up with a few key members of the OFMD crew, who break down exactly how they transformed Darby into a merman — fish tail and all.

Gypsy Taylor's sketch of merman Stede for 'Our Flag Means Death' | CREDIT: GYPSY TAYLOR

A sailor's tail

Originally, the plan was to use a green screen to give Darby a CGI tail. But it was costume designer Gypsy Taylor who pushed back, arguing that she and her team could build a practical tail that looked gorgeous and functioned underwater.

"I was like, 'Please make my dreams come true!'" she tells EW with a laugh. "'I want to make Rhys Darby a mermaid!'" It helped that Darby himself was game: The actor served in the New Zealand army, so he's a more than capable swimmer. He volunteered to film as much of the scene as he could, even if that meant learning to swim with a monofin.

As she started to sketch, Taylor immersed herself in mermaid imagery, finding inspiration in all sorts of aquatic creatures. Ultimately, she decided on a subtle golden look, one that fit Stede's personality but still brought plenty of drama.

"I delved deep into the mermaid world, and I could have gone all rainbow and big and luscious," she explains.

"But instead I thought, look, if Stede turns into a fish, and it's Blackbeard's dream sequence of what he knows of Stede, then he'd probably just turn into a really sweet goldfish. So, that's where I started. He's just this sweet, loving little goldfish."

Merman tail construction for 'Our Flag Means Death' | CREDIT: GYPSY TAYLOR

For the actual construction, Taylor recruited her longtime collaborator and props maker Hayley Egan. Many fake mermaid tails are sculpted out of a single piece of rubbery silicone, but Taylor wanted to keep Stede's tail as lightweight as possible, so Darby could actually move through the water.

So, she fitted the actor with a stretchy Lycra base, and Egan hand-sculpted and attached about 3,000 individual silicone scales. The final steps were to add the enormous, flipper-like monofin at the bottom, before sewing on thin, gauzy strips of chiffon to give the tail more movement in the water.

A close-up of Rhys Darby's tail in 'Our Flag Means Death' | CREDIT: GYPSY TAYLOR

Taylor worked closely with stunt coordinator Jacob Tomuri to make sure the tail not only looked beautiful but functioned underwater, too. (She also knew that they'd have to film quickly, since the chlorine in the tank could corrode the tail over time.) She carefully monitored the tail's weight — but it still wound up heavier than she anticipated.

"We added a whole lot of weight accidentally by putting five kilograms of glitter in," Taylor admits. "I had to warn the stunt team. I was like, 'I didn't think glitter would be that heavy! But we needed a lot of it. And it's so pretty!'"

The tail required 5 kilograms of glitter | CREDIT: GYPSY TAYLOR

Egan constructed four tails in all: a stunt tail, a tail for Rhys to practice with, and two hero tails for use on camera. Egan assembled them at her workshop in Australia, but she had to stuff them into a suitcase to bring them to the OFMD set in New Zealand. All was well, until she got to New Zealand customs, and the agent asked her: "Are you bringing fish into the country?"

"She was in fits," Taylor recalls, laughing. "She was like, 'Well, actually… I'm bringing four fish into the country.'"

Once the tail was fitted to Darby's body, the makeup and prosthetics team came in to seamlessly blend it to his bare skin, adding even more scales and glitter. But although Darby moved gracefully underwater, navigating dry land proved to be a bigger challenge. Once the actor was encased in his tail, he couldn't move around set, so the crew borrowed a wheelchair from a local New Zealand hospital to transport him to the tank. (See the video below.)

"We'd all go up this ramp together, with him in his little wheelchair, and we'd just sort of dump him in," Taylor explains. "Everyone was trying very hard not to laugh."

Diving deep

Season 1 shot in Los Angeles, but for season 2, Our Flag Means Death relocated to New Zealand. Many scenes were filmed in a studio or on the life-size recreation of the pirate ship Revenge, but Van Dyke, the visual effects supervisor, wanted to take advantage of New Zealand's natural beaches and ocean views — particularly for the scene where Blackbeard plunges off the cliff.

So, the crew scouted a gorgeous spot near Bethells Beach, capturing drone photography and 3-D photogrammetry. "LA's got a ton of great natural resources," Van Dyke explains, "but you might have a guy sitting there on the beach in your shot, drinking a beer out of a cooler that yours truly has to remove."

The actual ocean scenes were shot in an enormous indoor tank. Underwater filming isn't exactly easy, but fortunately, several members of the crew had experience on a certain blockbuster James Cameron production. "Thank God Avatar shot out there because we had a lot of seasoned underwater veterans," Van Dyke says with a laugh. "So, they knew what they were doing."

The tank itself wasn't deep enough to look like a real ocean, so Waititi had to float horizontally underwater, and the image was later flipped to make it seem like he was sinking downward. Then, Van Dyke and his team came in to clean up the shot, adding depth and adjusting the trajectory of bubbles. He also worked closely with Taylor and hair and makeup designer Nancy Hennah, who had to ensure that Waititi's enormous Blackbeard wig didn't float away.

"Look, CG hair is hard enough, and underwater is even harder," Van Dyke says, explaining that Hennah's meticulous wig work saved his team hours of effort. "There were some things that visual effects had to help out with, but we didn't have to stick a CG wig on him. So, thank you, Nancy, for doing that!"

The perfect soundtrack

Music has always been a major part of OFMD's DNA, and season 1 brought memorably anachronistic needle drops like Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain" and Leonard Cohen's "Avalanche." For the Stede/Blackbeard reunion, Jenkins picked an ethereal '80s classic: "This Woman's Work" by Kate Bush.

The song was always Jenkins' first choice for the scene, and it was written in the script, but music supervisor Maggie Phillips admits that she initially argued against it. Not only was the song originally written for John Hughes' She's Having a Baby, but it's been used in multiple TV shows and films, including Extras, Love and Basketball, and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Even Phillips herself had already placed it in another TV show, using it for a terrifying execution scene in The Handmaid's Tale season 2.

Plus, Stranger Things had just propelled Bush's "Running Up That Hill" to become the song of the summer in 2022. "I mean, I was so excited that the kids discovered Kate Bush," Phillips says with a laugh. "Ultimately, my feeling is that whenever Kate Bush gets exposed to new audiences, that's great. But I was fully like, 'Don't use this song. There's too much baggage.'"

Rhys Darby on the set of 'Our Flag Means Death' | CREDIT: GYPSY TAYLOR

Jenkins pushed back, noting that the song suggestion came from Waititi himself, who's wanted to use it in a project for about a decade. Still, Phillips remained hesitant. "I was like, 'Okay, I still think this is a bad idea,'" she says. "And then I saw a cut of [the scene], and I ate my words."

Bush's dreamy vocals give the whole sequence an ethereal feel, and Phillips says she loves how the lyrics — "I know you have a little life in you yet/I know you have a lot of strength left" — take on new meaning as Stede coaxes Blackbeard back to life. "I saw it in a totally new context, and I love it," she says. "They actually recontextualize the song and make it work in a new way. I got chills watching it."

Plus, Phillips adds, the scene got one particularly important stamp of approval: "We heard through Kate Bush's management that she was very pleased with the use and very excited, which made me really happy as a huge fan."

Our Flag Means Death airs Thursdays on Max.

Source: EW

#rhys darby #ofmd #our flag means death #taika waititi #behind the scenes #ofmd s2 spoilers

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saltpepperbeard · 6 months

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It's the entitlement that really frustrates me. David didn't create this show to fix all problems with representation, he didn't even know what queerbaiting was, bless his heart.

People keep saying "we were promised xyz, we were baited, he betrayed us" ( I wish I was joking about the last once.

He literally promised none of that. And he ows us nothing. Whether people want want to admit it or not, OFMD is his story. This happens a lot nowadays, someone makes something, the response is "well its not what I want ,therefore it's trash".

I dunno, I'm just angry at this point

HONESTLY. And I feel like that's becoming such a large issue that spans across numerous forms of media too. Like, from tv shows to youtube to fanfiction, the audience thinks they're "owed" something. "Owed" something simply for being there and consuming the thing. And it's like??? No??? You are just there on your own volition to consume the thing that's being provided to you???

*hands you a cupcake* "i don't like this cupcake >:(" THEN DON'T EAT IT???

And yeah, as you said, this is very much David's story. This has always been his story. He was passionate to tell it even before it got such a large following. He was surprised it got such a large following!

It seems like he's had a lot of things in mind since the very beginning, and a rather clear direction in which he's wanted to steer the story. And, based on his recent interviews and also very interesting meta pieces I've seen, the whole [redacted] was probably a long time coming too.

That's just the thing. I also feel like everyone just gets so caught up in their own interpretations and their own headcanons and their own versions of the story that it leads to almost inevitable disappointment and/or upset. Hell, even I'm a bit guilty of that; I looked too hard into that one article that described Stede's beach reunion dream, and thought we were going to get a makeout in the waves. And then when we didn't, I was like "oh lol 😀." Same with the little brief snippet of Stede pushing Ed against the wall that we got before episodes 6 and 7 dropped; I went in with preconceived notions which didn't end up getting met.

BUT LIKE, THE THING IS, THAT WAS ENTIRELY ON ME LMAO??? NOT THE FAULT OF ANYONE INVOLVED IN THE SHOW???? And it seems like people are disregarding that very fact! Like, oh I'm upset with how this went, so it's YOUR fault. I'm not responsible for how I'm reacting to this; it's YOU. YOU were supposed to bend exactly to MY wants.

And that's just,,,not! the case!

I'm over here piloting my safe spaceship, but what I've been seeing in my peripherals is making me sad too. Like, just the blatant disregard for everything else this show has given us, and the vitriol being slung towards the cast and crew, and all the negativity around what was supposed to be a hopeful sendoff...

People can be upset. People are absolutely allowed to be disappointed, or sad, or even angry. People can definitely dislike a narrative or character choice. Hell, I'd definitely feel some kind of way if Ed or Stede died, and I've gotten angry over narrative directions in other fandoms before. But just...the lines that have been crossed are just so so disheartening to see. You can be angry without being ugly about it, without pulling so many people down with you.

If people are that upset, I really encourage them to just step back, take a breath, and focus on other outlets. Because the entitlement and accusatory bits are certainly not it.

#Answered #Anons #OFMD S2 Spoilers #only tagging the necessary ones PFFFF #because yeah it's just...#whew #AND #I definitely extend open arms to you anon #Because this little circle is definitely trying to turn poison into positivity

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avelera · 2 years

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I’ve read at this point a non-zero number of OFMD reunion fics that are absolutely dripping with angst and drama and recrimination and Ed being half out of his mind with grief and rage over Stede abandoning him and Ed even committing some atrocities in the process of grieving and it’s so funny to me because the tone is so so heavy and then Stede shows up…

… and the tone just shifts. And it feels like it’s not even on purpose on the writer’s part! But Stede shows up and just instantly the mood lightens. The comedy returns often in spite of the tone of the fic. Ed might rage a bit or they’ll have an argument but it’s like the bottom just falls out of the angst because even the most angst-committed writer can’t sustain Ed being a miserable wreck in the face of Stede’s unrelenting Stede-ness.

The guy is an absolute menace to any tragic arc. He just shows up, being ridiculous and fancy and an absolute bulldozer of unconditional love for Ed and it’s like you can feel the writer lose control of the story at the same time Ed does.

Like, how do you stay mad at this guy?? Sure you can add plot twists or action beats or just have Ed be really stubborn or maybe knock Stede unconscious for a bit, but the minute Stede starts talking uninterrupted for 5 minutes you know it’s all over for Ed being able to maintain any kind of outrage. Stede is just too bizarre and crazy and full of love for the most terrifying pirate on the sea and absolutely nothing will dissuade him and it’s like, how do you even deal with that if you’re Ed and still feel something for him and think he abandoned you because he doesn’t care about you when it’s clear he really really does??

Stede as a character just morphs the narrative around him in the most fascinating way, even in fic that’s not trying to be faithful to the tone of the show. It’s absolutely bizarre to watch happen and I keep seeing it happen again and again but it’s also kind of delightful?

I’ve said before that I struggled to keep Stede and Ed mad at each other in any fic of their reunion that I write and then I see writers across the fandom also struggle with the same thing even when the momentum of the story is heading towards drawn out angst or darkness or misunderstanding and you see it all just crumble under the weight of Stede being Stede when he’s around Ed, over and over, and this phenomenon is at once vindicating and absolutely delightful to watch.

#our flag means death #ofmd meta

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melvisik · 7 months

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OFMD S2 SPOILERS

This is complete self indulgence (but then, this is Tumblr, and there is an analysis towards the bottom). Just reiterating how notable the merman scene is, both from the practical way it was done and the metaphorical significance. But first to preface with a confession: I seek out spoilers, so with the prior expectation of seeing a merman!Stede, it was fairly obvious he was going to show up at this particular moment. Honestly not sure how this could be handled without disclosure. That knowledge or lack thereof is absolutely a contributing factor on the 'cringe' element. It can seem a little cringe, mostly from the fact we got something so outlandishly unexpected at a beautifully critical moment. But Stede is a cringe person:

And besides, as far as unusual things happening at emotional scenes, last season we had this:

Here is poor Edward Teach spilling his heart out, and Stede is presenting a much different air than the situation might call for. It didn't feel inauthentic per se (that is legit moment of confusion), but the atmosphere for a scene in an emotionally charged, key-point moment of a character's story arc just felt a little off (in my opinion anyway).

But you know what? This is a comedy. And as far as the performance goes, from what we've seen so far, Rhys Darby charges into any situation with stalwart commitment and full steam ahead, no matter how cringeworthy the risk.

And that includes donning a shimmering fish tail, grabbing a trident, and swimming in a large water tank to smile at the camera.

Major props to him for that, it takes guts.

(Also, it's just frickin cool to try out a gorgeously decked out merperson tail. Lucky sunuvabitch...)

Plus, as so many others have pointed out, the metaphor is just breathtaking. It's not just about the show being a comedy and playing off the strangeness of a merman showing up, but it's about what the scene represents. Hold on now, this is gonna be a long one... During that kiss on the beach, Stede Bonnet was so much of what Edward Teach has been yearning for in his life. Yes Stede is a representation of the 'finer' things (which Ed's own mother told him he could never have), but he's also kindness, understanding, support, love... things that Edward has more than likely been denied over and over again. For instance- in this tiny moment in his dream sequence, when Ed tries out being Jeff the Innkeeper, the figure of his old captain Hornigold is all for taking it way too seriously, bringing Ed down to face the cruelties of reality.

But in these kinds of scenes, Stede plays with Ed. He is all for Blackbeard's Bar and Grill, and if someone is being a dick and not wanting to go visit the gift shop, he'll be there to give Ed encouragement.

And then there's this:

And this:

Ed vaguely reminds me of Aldonza from Man of la Mancha, which is a whole other analysis, but it's basically a character so beaten down by life that the very concepts of feeling worthy and being treated with kindness are devastating: Blows and abuse, I can take and give back again. Tenderness, I cannot bear. -"Aldonza" from Man of la Mancha. But Ed's vision of Stede seems to represent all the gentleness and sweetness Ed so desperately craves, and when Stede shows up here, he is so happy to see him. First mate 'we've-known-each-other-a-long-time' Izzy Hands flat out tells Ed that he loves him, and this is Ed's reaction:

Because, lest we forget, Izzy told him that he wanted Blackbeard, not Edward, and that Edward better watch his fucking step.

From Ed's point of view, who the hell is the harsh pirate Izzy to tell Edward that he loves him, when all he really seems to love is the persona of Blackbeard? But this is his reaction to the warm, gentle Stede Bonnet, who is supportive of the man Edward Teach and all his vulnerabilities:

Also, within the scene itself, it is so important that Stede doesn't untie the rope from around Ed's waist. Here, this lays it out beautifully:

Edited based on a post I cannot find: This is also a rebirth for Ed - surrounded by wet and darkness, going towards the light, and taking his first new breath (while This Woman's Work plays in the background, a song literally about a problematic birth as the partner feels practically helpless to do anything)...

So it's something Stede can't physically assist with. He can only give Ed support and a little guidance. In summation, as Edward plunges into the depths of despair, literally weighted down by his trauma, here comes this sweet, loving sea creature that is so different from anything he has ever known but has always wanted. Now, this could be problematic, as this season is probably going to delve more into how Ed and Stede see their roles fairly differently, with one ready to move on from the pirate life and the other ready to jump right in. Stede certainly doesn't seem to view himself as a sweet, goldfish merman, as currently he is all about being a swashbuckler.

But for now, Ed's vision met with Stede's heart-wrenching desperation...

...brilliantly highlights how much Ed and Stede mean to each other. And for this sequence, Rhys Darby learned a new skill and was fully present with Taika Waititi (MAJOR props to him also for shooting this underwater moment so frickin beautifully) in one of the most memorable scenes thus far.

Maybe his motivation for doing it was just because merpersoning is a neat thing to do, but the result really meant a lot. To see him there with Taika's Edward in an actual tail, and not just Taika reacting to a body double with a masked over face or a CGI tail that will always be fake no matter how real it looks... Mad respect, man. And thank you. P.S. Also this:

Absolutely. Personally could not be more thrilled that they used practical effects rather than CGI. It shows, OFMD team. It really shows ❤️

#merman stede #mermaid stede #steard #ofmd s2 spoilers #our flag means death season 2 spoilers #our flag means death #ofmd s2 #ofmd season 2 #blackbonnet #gentlebeard #edward x stede #edward teach #stede bonnet #izzy hands

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elapsed-spiral · 7 months

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Pre-season 2 OFMD fic list

It's less than two weeks till we get our ships wrecked, so here's my (presumably) final pre-season 2 fic list. Have a read if you wanna pass the improbably long days before the season premieres!

This list got out of control so I added some handy symbols: 🎧 = podfic available 💜 = personal favourite ⭐ = fics you may have heard about? I don’t know, I don’t have a sense for this stuff.

Cool collaboration(s) you should read immediately:

🎧💜Work Experience: what if Ed went to meet Stede when the Revenge ran aground? And what if Ed became a member of Stede’s crew? And what if things kept escalating and… Canon AU. Mature. Co-written with Shearwater.

Really no excuse for how stupid these ones are:

Watch Out, Here I Come: what if Stede had been intentionally seducing Ed? Teen

Once More, With Feeling: what if Frenchie just fixed the season 1 finale fiasco because he’s the most capable guy on the ship? Teen

Talent Show: what if Ed was crass about his sexual preferences? Explicit

Capsize on Your Thighs: what if Ed rebounded onto Calico Jack at the end of season 1? Ed/CJ and Ed/Stede (but Ed/Stede is endgame, natch). Explicit

🎧💜Your Feedback is Important to Us: what if Stede started holding open cabin hours to allow the crew to air their grievances (but was also very repressed and horny over Ed)? Explicit

Oh no Ed’s working through gender/class stuff (but make it funny):

Finery: Ed gets to wear a dress, Stede spontaneously combusts. Explicit

Tell More Tales: Stede isn’t the only writer aboard the Revenge. Explicit

🎧💜Lovers and Madmen: Ed is hellbent on marrying Stede. Explici

🎧 Save the Date: Ed 'attends' a wedding. Unfortunately, so does Stede. Short S2 alternative reunion fic. Teen

AUs no-one asked for:

Novel/novella length

🎧💜Restructuring: modern AU where Stede loses his fortune before meeting Ed, but Ed’s still got more money than you can shake a fucking stick at. Only problem is, Stede lies and says he’s wealthy and Ed lies and says he isn’t. Like the show, it’s a romcom about trauma. Explicit

🎧💜⭐Baddy Zaddy: Bridget Jones’s Diary style, former porn star turned sex shop owner!Ed/still unfortunately landed gentry!Stede. Novel length modern AU. Explicit

💜⭐Prize Every Time: You’ve Got Mail-y secret pen pals but also business rivals. Novel length modern AU. Explicit

Conflict of Interest: lawyer!Stede/businessman!Ed (read: gangster). Modern AU. Explicit

Shorter uns

Intergalactic Tango: Space Waltz AU. Mature

🎧💜Trade Descriptions Act: bailiff!Ed/estate agent!Stede. Identity theft but make it meet cute. Modern AU. Teen

Your Favourite Song: locksmith!Ed/museum curator!Stede. Kinktober fill that somehow isn’t E rated. Modern AU. Teen

⭐Draft Letter to Restaurant Downstairs: Google Docs AU with a (slightly) interactive element. Modern SMAU. Teen

Blind Date: Stede and Jeffrey Fettering go on a blind date at Ed’s restaurant. I think you know where this is going. Modern AU. Explicit

Different Dimension: ficlet that crams four and a bit AUs into 850 words. Modern AU. Teen

Stuck Still: British holiday resort AU feat. events manager!Stede and bartender turned fairy!Ed (it makes sense in the story I swear). Modern AU. Explicit

💜On the Job: “kidnapping” meet cute (but not actually. Again, I swear it makes sense in the story I swear). Modern AU. Explicit

Starring Jason Statham: another weird meet cute, courtesy of Jack and the Fast and Furious franchise. Stede/Jack, Ed/Jack and Ed/Stede (Ed/Stede is once again end game). Modern AU. Teen

West Ham Is for Lovers: Lucius has a new job. It’s going fine. Completely, totally fine. A meet cute fic about meet cutes. Ed/Stede but also Lucius/Pete, Lucius/Fang, Lucius/Izzy and Lucius/Olu/Jim. Modern AU. Teen

💜Conventional: back in the 00s, Ed was in a very famous movie franchise. Nowadays, he does the convention circuit. Modern AU. Explicit

🎧💜Proud: Ed attends Pride to get free mum hugs, Stede attends Pride to give free dad hugs. Modern AU. Teen

KrakenAir: Stede and the crew are heading to Benidorm to celebrate Stede coming out. That is, if Stede’s all expenses spared KrakenAir flight ever departs. Modern SMAU. Teen

Very Poor, Becoming Good: aspiring Gentleman Backpacker Stede Bonnet is adventure bound when he meets fellow traveller Ed Teach at an empty hostel. Now if they could just find the owner… Modern AU. Explicit

💜Stolen by the Gentleman Thief: Ed is a lonely gay guy in his late forties whose favourite book is historical softcore porn. Luckily, there’s a weird meet cute about to happen. Modern AU. Explicit

Live Sex Show: Columnist Ed Teach recommends that Stede Bonnet shake up his monotonous life by doing something weird. Modern AU. Teen

💜Continue Making Progress: Kraken Driving School has a terrible new student. Luckily, Ed and Stede both have a lot to offer one another. Modern AU. Explicit

Oh no there’s been a containment breach (aka non-Blackbonnet fics):

💜We Do What We Like (and We Like What We Do): a brief history of Ed and Jack. Explicit (Ed/CJ)

Fealty: Stede and Izzy make one another even more miserable. Mature (Stede/Izzy)

💜Contra Proferentem: Ed is a high powered lawyer and Professor of Law at the University of Cambridge. Lucius is not a high powered lawyer but he is a lecturer of English Lit at the University of Cambridge. Stede own a very nice cafe. Explicit (platonic Ed/Lucius, Ed/Stede, no cheating involved)

#ofmd #ofmd fanfic #gentlebeard #gentlebeard fanfic #ed/stede #ed/stede fanfic #blackbonnet #blackbonnet fanfic #I just guess these tags genuinely no idea which people use

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yaynotgaybutbi · 6 months

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OFMD SEASON 2 REWRITE??? (not really)

I am not mad at the ending. Through the years, I've learned that it's not me writing the shows and I just have to trust the creators to respect their story.

But I am mad at the pacing. The episode felt like a scene pack on youtube. Important bits and nothing else.

Now imagine:

2x08 - The crew trying to get out and talking their emotions through in the cell (mirroring the earlier episode where they tried and failed). Stede motivating (succesfully this time) Zheng. And Ed looking for Stede. All this ending with the Stede and Ed reunion.

2x09 - Finfing the crew, Zheng and auntie reunion, the planing, the battle, ending with Izzy dying (with the whole crew having more screentime to actually express ANY feelings at all).

2x10 - The funeral , grieving and the silent decision to stay while the crew sails on, Lucius and Pete wedding. We see longer shot of the crew being great at running that ship and then the suprise cut to Stede and Ed staying.

This way we would have gotten time to process, to grieve, to move on. The episode wouldn't be so jarring and uncomfy and divisive.

Idk, I've just been thinking the last few days WHY the ending didn't hit and I really think that the pacing and lack of space fucked it.

And I don't know if this was a financial issue or time issue or pressure-from-the-above issue or just simply a decision, but fuck, tv shows are being so fucked over now by not having enough space and time for their own story.

Anyway, have a nice day, stranger <3

#ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd s2 #ofmd season 2 #our flag means death season 2 #ofmd spoilers #Our flag means death spoilers

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doks-aux · 1 year

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Fic: In the Wee Small Hours

Fandom: Our Flag Means Death

Characters: Izzy Hands, Sam Bellamy, original cat character

Relationships: Sam Bellamy/Izzy Hands

Rating: PG-13/Teen

Contents/Warnings: Domestic fluff (with a brief and vague allusion to the Toe Incident)

Summary: Izzy woke up alone.

Notes: Originally intended for No Angst November (prompt: warm drink), this ended up as the January entry for my self-imposed Flotilla Challenge. Set in a post-canon, everyone-went-to-pirate-school-together-style AU; all you really need to know is Sam is Izzy's childhood friend, now-lover and Izzy has a cat.

Word Count: 1210

Read on AO3

Read on Pillowfort

Izzy woke up alone.

This wasn’t exactly unusual. He’d slept and woken alone most nights and their subsequent mornings since being appointed Blackbeard’s first mate and gaining the associated perks--namely, his own cabin and a berth he didn’t have to share with two other crewmates at minimum. Even accounting for the night’s when he’d opted for company, squeezing in next to Fang and Ivan belowdecks on the Queen Anne or more recently above deck on the Revenge, and for the bed-hogging mouser that had claimed a portion of his space for herself the past year, that was still the majority of the last decade at least that he’d spent waking alone. So, no, it wasn’t out of the ordinary at all.

It just wasn’t expected. He’d woken the past three mornings to Sam wrapped around him like a boa constrictor and drooling in his hair, and he’d had every presumption of doing so again today and each following day for the foreseeable future. The Revenge was currently sailing with the Whydah Gally en route to another of Edward and Bonnet’s harebrained “adventures,” giving Sam the excuse to hop over to the formers’ ship and stitch himself to Izzy’s side twenty-four hours a day (probably half the reason he’d been so encouraging of this little detour in the first place). It had become routine already: Izzy rising early and sliding himself out from under Sam’s comforting weight, leaving his lover to sleep another hour or so while he began the day, brewing himself coffee in the galley, and then stepping out on deck to relieve the night watch and enjoy the quiet break of dawn with only the cat at his heels for company.

It was downright domestic, and he’d quite gotten to like it. But today he was alone. No Sam at his side, no cat across his ankles, and only the blue-grey twilight outside his tiny window to let him know he hadn’t overslept.

He didn’t have time to be more than curious about it before the door to his cabin creaked open, years of conditioning (and more recent happenings) having him fully alert and clutching the knife under his pillow within the instant. A figure loomed tall in the doorway, staggering to a stop and clutching something close to its chest. It lifted its head to peer at Izzy through a tangle of long, black hair.

“...Sam.” Izzy sagged in relief, relaxing his grip on his knife and dropping his cheek against his pillow. “Fuck are you doing up?”

Sam, swaying listlessly, gave a full-body grunt at being addressed and shuffled stiff-legged into the room, escorted by Izzy’s errant feline. The Bell Witch chirruped merrily as she darted between Sam’s unsteady feet a few times just for the sport of it before leaping onto the bed and bumping her face insistently against Izzy’s.

“Right, alright, you little monster. Good morning.” Gently shoving the cat back, Izzy squirmed upright, kicking his legs free of the blanket and swinging them to the floor to meet Sam as he reached the bedside. “And you. Did the Witch get you up? Never seen you conscious at this hour.” His gaze fell to the thing Sam held, unable to make it out by the still dim light. “What you got there?”

A softer grunt answered him this time, and Sam pressed forward, passing his prize into Izzy’s hands.

“C’rf’l,” he slurred, patting Izzy’s fingers as he wrapped them around the tin cup. “S’hot.”

The smell of fresh, strong coffee wafted up from their hands, and Izzy’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. Getting a better look at Sam’s face, it seemed “conscious” had been a generous assumption. His lover’s eyes were bleary and barely open, and he still wavered dangerously on his feet, half-awake at best. How he’d managed to make his way to the galley and back in this state, much less successfully make coffee, Izzy hadn’t the foggiest. Sam had never been an early bird. He’d acclimated to a sailor’s schedule by necessity and with no shortage of mulishness. Izzy recalled at least three separate mornings in their shared youth when the bosun had stormed in to personally flip Sam out of his hammock. Briefly reprieved of captainly duties while aboard the Revenge, he’d been reveling in sleeping in just that little bit more than he’d been able to in years.

But not today. Today he had woken up before even Izzy and dragged himself barely coherent down to the galley to make coffee. For Izzy. So that he wouldn’t have to.

Izzy looked down at the cup wrapped in his hands, at Sam’s hands wrapped around those, and swallowed against the sudden tightness of his throat.

“...Thanks.”

It was all he could think to say in the moment, but it seemed enough for Sam.

“Mmm...” He bumped his face against Izzy’s much like the cat had and gave him a pleased smile. “...G’night.”

And then he turned and collapsed face-first into bed, asleep before he hit the pillow. The Bell Witch leapt out of the way with a yowl, turning in an indignant circle before hopping onto his bare back to begin pointedly kneading.

Izzy remained sitting at the edge of the bed, the heat from the coffee seeping steadily into his hands and up his arms, warming him to his chest. Or maybe it was staring at Sam that was doing it: dead to the world, hair caught in his half-open mouth, and the most beautiful man Izzy had ever seen.

The Izzy of a year ago would have been embarrassed (and the Izzy of later today might be as well) by how badly he was tempted to crawl back into bed with Sam, to tuck himself securely into the cradle of his body and sleep just a little more, indulge in his presence as long as he could. There was only so often they could be together, only so many excuses they could reasonably find for their ships to meet, so many detours they could make. And Izzy would need every moment he could steal with Sam to tide him over until the next one.

But work was work, and Buttons was expecting to be relieved. He’d be needing some sleep himself after a full night of whatever the fuck it was he and the moon got up to. Izzy was needed.

Maybe next time.

Taking a gulp of the still quite hot coffee, Izzy let it scald his mouth just enough to rouse him from his woolgathering and to his feet. He dressed in the dark so as not to disturb Sam and lingered once more by the bed before leaving. The cat had made herself comfortable on Sam’s back, curled up and purring loudly as she blinked her one green eye at Izzy.

“Keep him warm for me, Bell,” Izzy said, smiling as she stretched up to meet the knuckles he gently ground against her scalp. He used the same hand to tug the hair from Sam’s mouth and bent to brush a kiss to his temple.

“See you after sunrise, Sammy.”

Closing the cabin door quietly behind him, Izzy took a slow, savoring drink of his coffee and headed above deck to watch the morning come in.

#Izzy Hands #Israel Hands #Sam Bellamy #BellHands #ofmd fanfiction #Our Flag Means Death #pirates #Reunion AU #doc's fanfiction #doc pretends to be a writer #doc's stories #doc's AUs #doc's OCs #The Bell Witch #flotilla challenge #flotilla 2023 #doc posts pirates

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iblameowls · 6 months

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Ofmd 2 finale reactions need more positivity and less poison, so here's my "why I loved it" post.

I agree the pacing was off, but we know HBO cut the episodes, so there's no point in dwelling on that. Otherwise, I loved how they wrapped every storyline.

"I know that"

The reunion was so much more than a Han/Leia cliche. Ed's "I love you" was not a confession but an apology and a promise. Stede's "I know" wasn't a cocky retort or the inability to say it back. He reassured Ed that he trusts their relationship and that he knows Ed's panic was his self-doubt and not about their love. Stede lived that; he gets it. I would have taken an " I love you too," but Ed needed to know he was safe and understood, and Rhys's heartfelt delivery of "I know that" was spot on.

Izzy was ready to die

I admittedly didn't cry and was expecting his death. I'm ambivalent to whether his death was needed narratively, but I appreciate the fact that they didn't use his death as a catalyst to push another character forward. Izzy was already accepting of Stede and Ed's relationship and that Blackbeard was over. Ed and Stede would have stayed behind had he lived. Izzy's death was about him in the end and his growth. He got to redeem himself, experience happiness, and stood up for his family. That's more than most get in his life and line of work. They didn't pair him off or make him fight with someone to make a melodramtic end for one of the characters. He got to tell Ed to follow his heart and gave Stede his blessing. He got to give the "fuck off bad guy" speech. His death doesn't diminish the message that's it's never too late to change or to better yourself. He won in the end and was content with his fate.

I would have liked it better if he stepped in front of a bullet for Stede or one of the crew. It would have been more of an emotional payoff for me. However, I appreciate that his death was reality seeping into what is otherwise a romantic fantasy show. He died because of the cruel reality of being pirate in a fight with the British navy. I'm glad they've taken liberties with history and realism (if they didn't, half the crew would have been killed), but I like that we felt the true threat of the villain. The odds of everyone escaping alive was small, and we needed a death. Out of all the characters, Izzy made the most sense to die.

So many others lived.

To paraphrase Pete, people keep talking about how Izzy died, but I never hear about how everyone else lived. The queer women lived. The two gays set to get married lived. Our main couple was happy, alive, and together at the end. Maybe I'm jaded by white, het male showrunners, but so many other shows would have queerbaited, buried the gays or gone overboard with star-crossed queer couples, especially the queer women. I get being unhappy about Izzy dying because you loved the character, but it didn't do a disservice to the queer story they were telling.

#ofmd s2 #ofmd s2 spoilers #ofmd spoilers #gentlebeard

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