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darkfire359 · 6 months

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What could have been: sympathizing with Ed in season 2

I've talked before about how much I love Ed and all his complexity. I've written more fanfic about him and Izzy than any other characters, in my entire history of fandom. And unlike many people, I wasn't unprepared for the dark direction his arc took in season 2; I wanted him to commit MORE atrocities, and I happily made comparisons between him and another one of my favorite characters, Hannibal Lector.

But one of the key things I wanted after he committed atrocities was for him to feel bad about it. And I thought we'd see that! After all, S1 Ed was so tormented about killing his dad (who was abusive and violent towards) him that he never killed (directly) again! He was so broken up about trying to kill Stede in s1e6 that he ended up crying in a bathtub. Just like he cried in the window sill after committing all the kraken horrors in s1e10. It seemed like this was a guy scared of his own inner darkness, convinced he was a monster, who would go around saying things like "I'm not a good person" and "You were always going to realize who I am."

And so even when s2 went darker than anyone expected—when he cut off more of Izzy's toes, and shot him in the leg, and made crewmen fight to the death for experiencing love, and sailed the entire ship into a storm to murder-suicide his crew—I was still ready to accept all that moral ambiguity and give him a hug afterwards. Because of course, I figured that after Ed was brought out of that dark place and those suicidal urges, he would feel horrible remorse. How could he not?

I was looking forward to seeing him break down crying, convinced he was an irredeemable, unforgivable monster. (Which of course, would make it all the more touching when people inevitably did forgive him, and when he did redeem himself). Maybe Ed would even go too far with trying to atone, like in Mercy, one of my favorite post-s1 fics. Probably, I figured, Ed's quest for redemption would be one of the main themes in the second half of season 2.

So it was strange to watch e4, when Ed looked nothing but annoyed at everyone for chaining him up and banishing him, and then he went to hang out with his old friends like he'd done nothing wrong. When after the crew unanimously voted him out, Stede brought him back to the ship literally that same evening, and Ed saw no problem with that. Okay... maybe he's still processing?

Then e5 came, and that episode was about Ed's redemption. Yay! Except... Ed didn't seem to care? Other people made him wear the bag and the bell. He asked how long it'd take people to get over it, guessing "like a day." He gave an influencer-esque non-apology to the crew. He said "I took a man's leg" rather than calling Izzy by name. He literally doesn't remember the circumstances of pushing Lucius off the boat. He does ultimately give a real apology to Fang—for tormenting him years ago, rather than anything from his actual kraken era. I love e5 for the Izzy+Stede dynamic, but watching Ed be an unrepentant asshole here is painful. There is nothing about this that convinces me Ed wouldn't slide right back to being evil if Stede were to leave again.

And the thing is, it didn't have to be like this! We could have gotten Ed breaking down crying with guilt like in s1e6, and it would have made him much more sympathetic—not to mention the fact that Ed really is just an adorable cryer. Alternatively, we could have had some real deep diving about why Ed never apologizes (is he afraid of seeming weak?) or why he's so uncaring about others' pain (has he seen too many friends die over the years, to the point of going numb?)

By episode 6, it seems like most characters have moved on. Stede says something about Ed turning poison into positivity, which feels completely unearned. He pays for the party—but he'd previously tried to make the crew throw their cut of the loot into the ocean. He makes some attempts to best Ned and protect Stede, but Stede ends up saving the crew instead—from a pirate who only showed up in the first place because Ed was intentionally trying to piss him off. Ed is sad that Stede kills someone, and this would be a great time to again make Ed sympathetic! To have him talk about how he doesn't want that for Stede, because his own violence has weighed on him so deeply. But nope.

E6 does see Ed actually apologize to Izzy—and he's terrible at it. He's just like, "Sorry about your leg," makes no eye contact, and flees immediately afterwards. We do see some hints that this shitty apology isn't really indicative of Ed's true feelings, given how he has those flashbacks to the scenes of hurting Izzy seemingly haunting him; but it's very brief. It would be a great time to address Ed's horrific tendency towards conflict-aversion and avoiding awkward conversations in relationships—the same tendency that made s1 Ed never inform Izzy that the plan to kill Stede and the Revenge crew had changed. This would be another great opportunity to help us sympathize with Ed again—to have us see how it's not that he doesn't want to communicate these things, it's that these conversations are terribly stressful and anxiety-inducing for him. But nah, why would OFMD need to include those things for Ed?

E7 happens, and still nothing. If anything, there was a great opportunity for Ed to at least show himself to be a kind person to Stede—maybe nobly stepping in to save the day, even though he's annoyed that Stede's getting all this attention now. You know, like Stede did for him back in s1e5, when the situation was reversed. But nope, Ed runs off to be a fisherman, not having learned any of the earlier season's lessons about whims. He only stops being a fisherman because he's bad at it.

I was still hoping for something big in e8–some huge selfless, gesture that Ed would do to cover for all of his inability to do the little gestures. Ed is good at grand gestures! Swimming back to the ship after he left, then taking the Act of Grace in s1 was HUGE. Very selfless, very sweet! He could have done something like that for Izzy, Lucius, and the traumatized crew. Some kind of heroic gesture to help others more than himself. But nope. In some sense, Izzy dying is one of the greatest indications of Ed's wasted potential, because we narratively had a great opportunity for Ed to be able to save someone... but he didn't.

(Admittedly, Ed is not a complete dick here—he helps Izzy when he's limping, he says some genuinely apologetic stuff when Izzy's dying, and he finally gives Izzy his attention and care. But then after the funeral, he's still like "Well, that's that.")

It's so frustrating. It's not that I don't want to like Ed, or that I don't want to sympathize with him. I really, REALLY do! I don't even need Ed to successfully do anything to earn forgiveness! I'd take Ed trying and failing. I'd take him wanting to try, but being so convinced of his monstrousness that he never makes the attempt. But give me something. Anything other than the unexamined apathy that he has so much of the time.

The thing is, s2 lost the ability for Ed's mistreatment of people to be just another "of course he's violent, he's a pirate" quirk. They were pretty explicit about how abusive Ed was (Jim's comment in e1, the joke in e4 people assumed Ed had hit Stede) and how much he traumatized people (Lucius and the whole crew very clearly have PTSD in episodes 4 and 5). This is serious stuff, which he did to other main characters, which is going to make a lot of viewers look at him pretty harshly.

And that's manageable—Hannibal Lector managed to be most textbook-abusive asshole in the world, committing atrocities and generally being unrepentant left and right, and viewers STILL found him lovable and sympathetic. You can do that! But you need to:

a. make it clear that anyone with the relevant information calls them out for being awful, even multiple episodes later

b. make it clear that they care deeply and genuinely about their wronged loved ones

c. make them willing to actually make REAL sacrifices

I watched so many people start to dislike or outright hate Ed in season 2. It made me really sad. But I couldn't blame them for feeling that way. For all that Ed is supposedly one of the two protagonists in OFMD—a character whose mistakes should be the most understandable, whose mental state should be the most resonant—the show seemed to entirely drop the ball on writing him as such.

#edward teach #ofmd critical #ofmd season 2 #ofmd season 2 spoilers #ofmd #our flag means death #izzy hands #arguably the writers' mistake with Izzy is easier to fix in fanfiction #just undo the last 10 minutes #but now I feel like Ed fics after s2 have to fix huge chunks of his characterization #I also think it'd be more reasonable to make Ed not give a shit about the crew if the show just like... admitted that directly?#but we've got Stede making comments about Ed turning poison into positivity #we've got Izzy saying the crew loves Ed and is his family #and while it's not OOC for either of them to just be delusional and overprojecting their own love for Ed #it's weirdly unexamined #same thing with Ed's “I don't kill people thing” after he murders British officers left and right in s2e8 #was Ed's whole talk with Stede in s1e6 just a lie?#obviously Ed was stretching definitions / using it as a coping mechanism but I thought he was at least telling the truth as he saw it

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sky-fire-forever · 5 months

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Ya'll need to learn to love more than one character. Like someone loving a certain character does not take away your ability to love a different character or even their ability to love a different character

Izzy's my favorite character, yeah. But why are people assuming I hate Ed?? I fucking love Ed. I adore him so much. He's so baby girl. He tries so hard to be good and a lot of his worse actions are fuelled by his self-hatred and loss. He's fascinating to me and I want to study him like a bug. The way he distances himself from his cruelty ("technically the fire killed those guys") and how he presents himself differently to different people (the party boy to Jack, the sensitive sap with Stede, the ruthless captain to Izzy) are both things that I fucking love analyzing and talk about to my partner constantly. I love how hard he tries to be a good person! I love how he is slowly learning how to care about people on their terms instead of his own. I love his growth and how much he WANTS to grow

You know who else I love? Stede! His compassion and care for the people around him is so touching and I love that he takes so much pleasure in the little things. I love how we've watched his confidence build since the first episode, where he was constantly panicked and nervous, to a capable captain who still loves his crew but will defend himself and won't take as much shit from people like Nigel. He'll defend his crew instead of hiding like a coward. I love how he delights in details like fancy wardrobes and a cursed suit because he takes pleasure in small things like that! In marmalade and puzzle chests. He's a sweetheart and he rejects the idea that he has to be cruel to be capable

Oluwande was my favorite character when I first watched season one (though I dislike a lot of his season two writing because it feels like they dumbed him down) because he's kind and very intelligent. He cares a lot for the crew and he's extremely capable while also being a little goofy and being soooo bad at addressing his feelings. I love that he was so obviously in love with Jim, but had that first instinct of denying it if questioned because that's so often how crushes work! His little "What? No! Shut up!" When the chief pointed out his feelings for Jim still makes me giggle. He's a little awkward, but he's sweet and he's supportive. He also can be a little shit when he wants to be, like when he basically made Jim confront their past because he was petty about them not telling him about it. He's always got people's backs and there's a reason he was chosen to be the captain during the Izzy mutiny.

Jim is a character who means SO much to me as a trans person. Their arc is so special to me and they're also just... so fucking cool. I love their journey of figuring out who they're supposed to be versus who they WANT to be. Their struggle with what's expected of them and them wondering if they even want what they thought they wanted is so touching. Them defending Izzy is actually so great to me because it shows their loyalty and their need to defend their family. It didn't have to be Izzy, it could be any member of the crew and they would have their back. Because that's what family means to them. "Our dick" says a lot about them, as does their little "He was your friend" line. Jim cares about people even when they're quiter and more closed off. Hell, they stabbed a man in the first episode for insulting Frenchie and they didn't even talk yet! Them being the one to tell the Pinocchio story to Fang was so great because it shows just how soft they really are and want to be.

Speaking of, I also adore Fang so so so much. He's such a sweetheart and he's sensitive and he cares so, so much about his friends. He's a big softie and I wanna hug him. I bet he gives such great hugs. As soon as he's given the allowance to be soft, he takes it. He misses his dog that Ed forced him to kill (which I feel like no one talks about?) and gets blushy and giggly about Lucius finding him attractive. He's just!! So fantastic

I wish we knew more about Ivan because I love him and I have so much fun imagining stuff about him. Like how I hc him as a trans woman

Archie as a character is so fun and I wish wish wish we got more of her because I fucking LOVE everything about her. She's so fun to watch and I want to know how she gets along with Oluwande and I want to see her interact with the rest of the crew so badly. The way she fell in love with Jim because of their hope makes me CRY. I love that she kisses Jim while they're covered in blood and there's a rotten leg like a foot away and she doesn't care. I love her energy and her excitement and every scene with her just makes me grin like an idiot. I'm still so mad about the season being cut because I feel like we could have gotten more scenes with her

Roach is fucking great. My partner and I will quote "meat is meat" at each other constantly. He's so ridiculous and I love him. I love how obsessed with Zheng's soup he is. I love his bitchy "how am I supposed to cook here?" when Stede moves them to live under a bridge. I love how chill he is and the faces he makes when he's reacting to things. He's so funny and I love him

Frenchie is my fucking beloved. His mind box is something I think about so often. How he doesn't want to think about all that has happened to him, but doesn't. How hurt he is. How he fucking deserves every bit of becoming captain of his own ship. The fact that he sings and plays an instrument (I do not know what specific instrument he plays. Is it a ukulele?) and sings about how they're all gonna die with a grin on his face. He's a dork and I love how he hides Izzy at great risk to himself because he cares about his family as much as Jim does. The way he expdcts Ed to kill him and basically offers to do it for him just to get it over with (if I'm remembering correctly). I love his superstition and how he believes it's supported by fact! I think his superstitious beliefs are so, so interesting and I want to know where he learned them.

Wee John is so fucking great. How long has he been doing drag? What happened to his mother with whom he used to make dresses? I need to know! I love that he just wants to set things on fire all the time. I love his line about "I'd love to be stabbed by Jim". I love all of him! He's such a fun character

I love Lucius and how trauma genuinely changes him. He's a bitch and he's petty and he loves gossip. He's the first person to insert himself into a shitty breakup, helping both Stede and Ed at different points. Him keeping Jim's sex a secret and him helping both Stede and Ed is so interesting to me! He's a supportive friend and he's a slut (affectionate) and he's a bitch (affectionate) and everything about him makes me obsessed. I like that Stede has to talk to him about opening up about his trauma! I like that Lucius genuinely loves Pete and how his trauma has made him more bitter. I love how he's still the first person to call bullshit on Ed.

Black Pete actually used to annoy me, but he's grown on me. I love that he's such a dork who struggles with insecurity to the point of making shit up about himself. I love how much he loves Lucius! I fucking adore his one-liners and his delivery of them. He's so fucking funny

I could spend fucking hours talking about Mary Bonnet. I love her so much. Everything about her makes me feral. How she refuses to take Stede's bullshit. Her paintings! Her relationship with Doug that seems so fucking sweet. I love this woman. Please bring Mary back. Please. I'm begging

Buttons is Buttons. Everything about him is fucking fantastic and I want to chew on him like a chew toy

Me enjoying a certain character does not take away from my absolute love of other characters. I tend to talk about Izzy most because I find active displays of tragedy more interesting and Izzy and Ed are the most outwardly angsty characters (which is also why I'm usually talking about Kraken Era Ed when I discuss him). They outwardly express more dramatic feelings rather than characters like Stede or Frenchie who bury a lot of those feelings or express them in different ways. Izzy is from the dramatic genre and I love dramas. Comedy writing is not my specialty

But I can recognize that while I think about other characters a lot, I don't talk about them as often. So expect more metas and discussion of more characters in the future (hopefully. I just write things as I think of them and them to my queue tbh)

#ofmd #our flag means death #izzy hands #edward teach #stede bonnet #wee john feeney #frenchie #frenchie ofmd #roach ofmd #nathanial buttons #jim jimenez #oluwande boodhari #archie ofmd #lucius spriggs #black pete #fang ofmd #ivan ofmd

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sunshineonashelf · 6 months

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"oh but it was satisfying! izzy went on a healing journey and got to die happy!"

again i'm very sorry for being feral about an old man named izzy hands. but i am NOT SATISFIED

(1) the whole point of izzy's healing journey is that he learns to be okay with being himself and being queer and being a part of a community that genuinely loves him. and learning who he is outside of who he has to be in a toxic relationship. he doesn't have to bear ed's burdens anymore and he SLOWLY learns that's okay and that he doesn't have to stay that same person.

only to die when he FINALLY internalizes all of it!! the whole point of his healing was that he learned to change and be loved for who he is!! and then he died after only getting to experience it for maybe 20 minutes!! i don't care that him sailing off into the sunset with the rest of them wouldn't have been closure, because it would have been a much better ending to his story.

(2) it is NOT SATISFYING that his LAST WORDS were basically to further ED'S story arc. he literally dies reassuring ed that his found family loves him when the whole point of the story was that the found family loves IZZY. it was a very sweet moment and yes ed deserved to hear it and yes i did cry over him calling them ed's family but damn. he STILL HAD TO CARRY ED'S BURDENS. his death scene was not about him at all.

it's very sweet that ed and stede stayed with him but the whole point of izzy's journey was that he doesn't have to be a piece in ed's story and now he has to be just a piece in ed's story forever??

(and yes i'm a slut for edizzy so i did appreciate what they were doing. yes it was very special. yes i sobbed. but JESUS was it upsetting now that i'm actually thinking about it.)

(3) he could have lived and it would NOT have undermined anything else. he could have been dying and telling ed the same things and it would have been just as meaningful if he had lived. imagine an ending scene where he's almost dying, says all that stuff, then is brought to a bed to recover. it cuts to the exact same wedding scene and stede/ed scene with the house and the crew being happy. then it cuts back to izzy waking up and smiling or something and that's the last shot.

stede and ed would still have their happy ending and it would have been JUST AS meaningful if izzy had lived and gone off on the revenge. if not MORE so because then there's the aspect of izzy finally being happy with himself and being okay with stede and ed's relationship and being okay with distancing himself from them!! when he says dying is what he wants it's literally that same sentiment, just cheap and rushed and UNSATISFYING.

(4) the entire beautiful fucking unicorn metaphor they spent the whole first part of the season developing is totally tossed out the window!! izzy becomes the literal figurehead and protector and guiding light of the revenge in a metaphor that could not have been more obvious. and he is HAPPY ABOUT IT. he GENUINELY SMILES and CRIES about it. it is what he WANTS TO DO and it made NO SENSE that he said he was ready to go. what was the point of all of that if they were just going to kill him and not let him actually do that duty in the way he wanted. he only got to be the figurehead when it meant protecting everyone from ed.

(5) this is maybe a silly argument but it literally would not have been unrealistic if he survived. like a week prior he got shot then got his leg cut off then shot himself in the head, then walked upstairs in the middle of a hurricane hours later. and was fine. by the show's logic he could have been fine from ONE bullet wound to the side. what the hell happened to "indestructible little fucker"!

tl;dr izzy was very special to me for reasons that would constitute another 700 word post and he was done so FUCKING dirty by that literal TEN MINUTE scene that went against everything we've been doing the entire season (AND SHOW AS A WHOLE) so far

#izzy hands defender until the day i die #ofmd s2 #ofmd s2 spoilers #izzy hands #ofmd critical

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sagethefool · 6 months

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When Mr. Minor Fucking Prince fires while running away, there's a flash, a bang, a crack, and Izzy goes down.

(And the last time he saw Izzy drop like that, it had been Ed's fault, he had shot him.

"I have...love for you,"

And he returned that love with a bullet. He never even really apologized, just a shitty 'sorry about your leg' as he was walking away. And he'd never get to now and--)

There's no room to panic, to worry about his oldest friend, his only family. Rage courses through him, and he fires as they are swarmed. There's too much to follow as the rest of the crew, Zheng, and Jackie spring out from where they'd been. A whirl of smoke and swords and too much fucking shouting and Izzy is deaddeaddead.

"Ed, come on, we've got to go." There's Stede, warm hands pulling and tugging him away from the madness.

"Izzy--"

"We've got him, Ed, but it does him no good if we stay. Let's go"

And he does, he follows, feeling a mix of anger and grief and guilt the whole time. Izzy is dead and he can't cry yet, he has to make sure Stede and the crew get back safe. He looks around, and Wee John has Izzy slung over his shoulder, which, Izzy may have been a dick, but let's have some fucking respect and not treat his body like a sack of potatoes, for fuck sake.

He isn't able to really sit in that thought, though, because they are still actively fleeing back to The Revenge, Auntie turning to shoot at the gits still hot on their tails, the two dinghies being pushed and loaded and rowed into open water. They all flinch down as a few shots are fired towards them, but make it back to the ship unharmed.

Mostly.

Fuck. Izzy.

He looks across to the other dinghy, but of course he can't see Iz. They must have laid him down, and he's suddenly grateful he can't see him. He doesn't have the room to breakdown, and seeing his face, cold and grey and--

Not yet. Gotta get to the ship. Get to the ship, then they can decide what to do with his--

As the crew starts climbing aboard, Ed watches, waiting for them to bring up Izzy's body. He sees Stede leaning hauling him up from where they someone must be carrying him. He expects to see him still and unfamiliar, instead--

"--fucking set me down, I'm fine, Bonnet. It doesn't even hurt."

And the relief that he feels is enough to bowl him over, have him moving towards Izzy, taking him from Stede's arms and helping him down. And he's there, he can feel him warm and whole and none the worse for wear, but what, how?

"Izzy, mate, I saw you--I thought--but you--"

"The idiot missed and shot my leg." Izzy gripes, and sure enough, the weird horse leg Izzy had been using is broken off at the knee, splinters angrily clawing into his pant leg. "It was a damn good leg, too, the crew made it for me."

"I'm sorry. Izzy, fuck, man, I thought you were dead, thought that bastard had killed you." He stops, can't think about that, he's fine, Izzy is fine, "You're okay, right? I thought you were dead, and I can't lose you, Iz, you're the only family I have left."

He snorts. The bastards actually snorts amd says, "Oh, fuck off, you twat Ed, look around you," and he does, sees Olu, Jim, and Archie, Lucius and Pete, Wee John, Frenchie, Roach, Swede, Fang, Stede, even Jackie and Zheng and Auntie, "We've got more family now than we know what to do with. Even if I had been shot, even if I had died, you would be fine.

"They love you, Ed. So just be Ed."

#ofmd #ofmd season 2 #fix it fic #because you don't make me start liking a character just to kill him off #we don't do lazy redemption stories in this house #but even i like a little knife twisting #ofc in my mind ed and stede stay with the crew #izzy gets a new leg #everybody talks it through as a crew #i might expand on this later

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cascadianights · 6 months

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I understand being upset that the character you saw yourself most in died, that he didn't get to sail off with everyone else. We've been force-fed tragedy and buried gays for years, happiness finally finally dangled in front of them just to lose it all before they could taste it.

But that's not what happened here. Izzy didn't just get to glance at what that life could be, he lived it. He got to experience family, and acceptance. He got to make choices to step forward, to be himself to be HAPPY. The way people are implying that because he died, it was all pointless?! That his healing and growth and huge steps forward all became null and void because he died??? Life and growth and love and choosing family choosing to fight for and protect them even knowing what it might cost is EVERYTHING! It's the WHOLE POINT!!!

This was not a condemnation of Izzy it was a celebration of him. This was a reminder that even though we're all going to die, no matter how much pain you've been through, you can still choose to heal and move forward and live for yourself and the ones you love.

Nevermind the entire rest of the crew?! Nevermind the gay marriage, the chill polyamory, the in depth dive into suicide (via Ed) and how none of us is unlovable. Nevermind that he died surrounded by family and love, something he never thought possible. You CANNOT just discard it all and harass the creators & take this as a message of despair when it is a blazing neon sign to KEEP LIVING KEEP FIGHTING KEEP SINGING!!!!! To do so is to get lost in the pain and the internalized voices that say we Will be miserable forever, when so so many people are working to make this art begging you to be able to feel and move forward and heal from that place.

#ofmd #ofmd spoilers #ofmd s2 #izzy hands #ofmd izzy #please i know what its like to feel betrayed and in pain #that is what this show is ABOUT #but if it all means nothing just bc we're gonna die someday #if a whole enormous act of love and connection shouting out to you that we will make it we do deserve happiness we will find family #if that isnt enough i dont know what to say!! the cops and demons in your mind can only be banished by you #but this work is here to help and to beg you to keep living long enough to try and PLEASE see that #also I know my dash is extreme vibe dysphoria bw genocide and gay pirates rn but this is my current hyperfixation coping mechanism #i also copied this from a note w a totally unrelated sentence at the top and def posted it that way so if u see that version #ancestor forests is unrelated lmao

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