#with Ed Stede is allowed to be vulnerable | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

nicnacsnonsense · 1 year

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Something about how with Stede, Ed is allowed to be weak, and with Ed, Stede is capable of being strong.

At the French party, Ed is mocked and laughed at by everyone and immediately runs to Stede. And because Ed is so distressed, Stede finds himself easily able to tear down this roomful of people just like the ones who tormented and beat him down his whole life.

Ed is curled up having a break down in the tub (in Stede’s tub, under Stede’s robe), and Stede sits right there next to him assuring him that “I’m your friend.”

Then there’s the duel and Ed is emotionally right back to being a child watching someone he cares about, has a complicated relationship with, attacking someone he loves. And he’s just standing there, too weak to do anything (remember what happened the last time you were strong, remember how it destroyed you). But then, Stede wins. It’s okay that Ed was weak because Stede was strong enough to win. Of course he was, because Ed taught him how.

And then at the end of the season, we end with Stede, heroic and romantically lit, having finally found the strength to let go of what was holding him back and claim the life he wants, because of his love for Ed. We end on Ed, having put back on his mask of violence and aggression, sitting in Stede’s room, on Stede’s bed, staring at Stede’s painting, the one that had saved them and changed everything, allowing himself to cry.

#ofmd #stede bonnet #edward teach #blackbonnet #for season 2 I hope:#with Ed Stede is allowed to be vulnerable #with Stede Ed is capable of being gentle

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babykittenteach · 3 months

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🌔

#ofmd #our flag means death #suggestive #ed teach #stede bonnet #do i have a predictable type and interest? oh definitely #have I basically drawn this theme before? might as well've #but when my mind is allowed to roam where is will it tends to come back to ed vulnerable in low light #drawn on a voice call after I finished my dtiys submission for the raac fan video #the theme i chose for that piece is also one I have pursued before and will pursue again because it's not my fault they put him in a catbel #anyway you should go submit a coloring for the renew as a crew video if you haven't #art i'm proud of

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opaquebones · 6 months

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stede saying “it was… whatever” when ed brought up the fish that he had caught destroyed me in several different ways actually

#our flag means death #ofmd s2 #stede bonnet #edward teach #stede that was so mean and for what #s2 ep7 #ed was being so vulnerable and allowing himself to be excited and stede threw it back in his face i’ll never recover

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knowlesian · 2 years

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honestly i am in love with how stede and ed are Our Heroes but they’re also middle aged men with unhappy lives behind them, people they have hurt either inadvertently or on purpose, and mistakes so large they can’t just pretend they never happened and move it on along.

stede was an emotionally unavailable husband, and a father who abandoned his children without saying goodbye; ed took the damage the world threw at him and made up things like the no pets rule.

we’re not supposed to write them off for those past sins. we know why and how they were damaged young, and we know trauma ground in early feels like normalcy and makes the coping skills needed to get through it that much harder to move beyond. but we’re not supposed to excuse them and create a narrative where there was never any other choice and they literally had to do harmful things, either; they had other choices, and they made these choices.

instead, it’s a lot more hopeful.

they made these choices and the world damaged them in these ways. they’ve gone where they’ve gone; they are where they are and who they are, and neither one of them are happy because of it.

so: the only thing left to do if they actually want to change it up is make new choices; admit their mistakes and face their flaws and love each other anyway, honestly, without excuses or condemnation.

#truly this fuckin show #this is why i’m like: why pretend any of them HAD to make shitty choices #thats the beauty of this show! it wasn’t that they never made any mistakes #its that now they are brave enough to admit their mistakes and begin to do the work of fixing them #stede was not a good dad! ed made people kill their pets! and neither one of them allowed anyone to truly know them #it’s so understandable and heartbreaking and part of the magic #it’s never too late to look around and go oh word i can just… not? i can allow myself vulnerability????#the idea that they are better than they are is like… but they deserve love despite being these men that’s the POINT #ugh i just love this show like yes. give me complex characters and empathy AND accountability

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knifeturtlelives · 1 year

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ok but hear me out...Ed/Stede Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries AU when

#stede and phryne and their shared love of a slutty lil silk robe moment #see also pretending to have emotional intelligence while never allowing yourself to be vulnerable a single day in your life #ed & jack and treading water/waiting to drown until a semi-oblivious fully-deranged manic pixie dream girl enters your life #plus like...so much you could do with the whole gang at phyrne's house + the crew of revenge #someone save me from myself i beg #ofmd #our flag means death

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arcalian · 2 years

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Thinking abt ed asking stede to stab him being foreshadowing for the end of the season in some ways

#theres also somethingb2 be said abt how unwilling stede is about physically wounding him #about how ed is standing there exposing weakness to stede and telling him: hurt me #i know how to survive this #but the same is not true emotionally #stede is quick to damage than vulnerability even if its accidentally and ed does not know how to take that blow #something something hes learned how to protect himself physically but not emotionally when in danger #because hes never been allowed/allowed himself to be emotionally in danger #the latter since the kraken the former always #anyways #ofmd

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head1nthestars · 1 year

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fanfic is fucking wild. one moment you’re just looking for something fun to read, and the next you’re bawling your eyes out bc of a hockey au written about your favorite semi fictional pirates

#I’m usually more stede coded than ed coded #but sometimes that characterization really hits home 😭#he’s finally getting the love he deserves after being alone for so long #and keeping it together despite everything #and allowing himself to be vulnerable again #ugh #god I’m way too comfortable on tumblr

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jaskierx · 6 months

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one of the main criticisms i've seen is from people saying that they shouldn't have killed izzy off at the end of his big s2 arc because this show is about how people can change and people can do better and he'd been fully redeemed

and yes it is about change - and they did show that. they spent a significant portion of s2 showing him changing and accepting himself and becoming closer to the crew. they showed him allowing himself to be vulnerable and allowing himself to accept kindness

but the show is also about other things

it's about acknowledging that the people you hurt don't magically become unhurt just because you changed. stede choosing to go and find ed didn't undo the hurt he caused him by leaving him at the dock. ed apologising to the crew didn't undo the hurt he caused lucius by throwing him overboard. and izzy being comfortable enough to wear drag and sing in front of the crew did not undo the hurt he caused ed by imprisoning him in the blackbeard persona

it's about how you're only able to move forward when you've been able to put things to bed with the ghosts of your past. stede was haunted by the badmintons. jim was haunted by the siete gallos. ed was haunted by izzy

it's about making something good out of something bad. turning poison into positivity. izzy's leg loss became the catalyst for him bonding with the crew, which then became the catalyst for him feeling able to express himself and his queerness in front of others. izzy's death was the catalyst for him apologising to ed and getting that closure for both of them. his grave is part of the land that is ed and stede's fresh start

narratively, it served a very very important purpose as one of the transitioning points between s2 and s3, and dismissing it as relying on 'tired tropes' or 'being unkind' is doing the show a disservice

#this is messy but my brain is tired and also too full of thoughts #ofmd #ofmd s2 spoilers #izzy hands #ofmd meta #lyse.jpg

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transjudas · 6 months

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Izzy knew how important his last moments were with Edward. They say your life flashes before your eyes just before your death. Well, Izzy saw a life full of love stunted by fear and trauma and repression. And he needed Ed to know that he had seen that he was growing and changing before Stede even came into the picture, but he was afraid. So he kept pushing the darkest parts of Ed.

Izzy needed Blackbeard to be who he was, because as much as Blackbeard was a creation to protect a traumatized and vulnerable Ed in a vicious world, it also became something Izzy needed to protect himself. Hiding behind his ruthless and bold captain, because he too couldn't handle the idea of being vulnerable. Of showing his feelings.

But then, increasingly over the time on the Revenge and desperately so in his dying moments, he realized that Ed needs to let that go to survive. And in those moments telling him to let that be. Izzy went from being so repulsed and afraid of Ed’s vulnerability because it threatened his own walls, to recognizing that it is the thing that will allow Ed to live without him and not end up dead within the fucking week.

And most importantly to their relationship, Izzy knew that Ed has spent decades hiding away in locked rooms while sobbing alone because he couldn't stomach the vulnerability and the open hurt. And then we, Ed, and the crew see Izzy watch Ed sob in broad daylight on deck, and he smiles and essentially tells Ed, “I see you. This is you. Thank god you’re here. Thank god I get to see the man I was so afraid of all my life in my last moments. Thank god I don’t have to die in Blackbeard's arms. Cold and angry and yelling for revenge. I get to go out with family.”

"There he is" goes from being taunting and cruel to being so warm and earnest and full of genuine vulnerable love.

If Izzy Hands taught Ed everything he knew about how to be a pirate, Ed (and Stede and the crew of the Revenge) taught Izzy everything he knew about love. And he got to show him that.

#ofmd #ofmdedit #ofmdblog #ofmdaily #ofmdsource #ed x izzy #blackhands #izzy hands #ed teach #edward teach #our flag means death #ofmd spoilers #userkristi #usereena #userklou #userlauren #alivedean #ofmd meta

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saltpepperbeard · 6 months

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so, hastiness of the sex and the literal and figurative distance that follows aside, something was really bugging me about the morning after. i couldn’t put my finger on it for a while, but now that i’ve sat with things, i think it’s finally clicked in my head:

stede’s reactions to ed’s sweetness. or lack thereof, really.

because goodness, they just slept together. they just bared body and soul to each other. they just survived a dangerous situation and made it to see the sun rise once again. they’ve been through so much, and faced so much adversity.

and despite all they’ve been through, ed is kind. ed is thoughtful, and soft, and sweet. he brings stede breakfast in bed. he tries to make it as pretty as he can. and then weaves beautiful gratitude and admiration in the form of his goldfish tale.

something that should make anyone sigh with fondness, really. something that make eyes flutter with hearts to match.

…and yet.

and yet stede reacts almost…casually to it all. not glittery how he was at the end of episode 5, for example—so warm and so bright and so very clearly in love. it all felt a bit more…stunted? reserved? unnecessarily curt?

and upon sitting with it as i said, i have two lines of thought, two theories.

one, it’s a sort of look into the heightening poison in his system, the good ol’ villain that is toxic masculinity. he feels the need to perform around ed, to be a man worthy of his love. he feels the need to be more than just “adequate,” more than just an “amateur.” and so he feels the need to be more masculine as a result. he’s not quite at his peak of course, not quite in the absolute thick of it—he still has moments closer to himself throughout the day. but the more poisonous seeds have been planted.

and what does that sort of masculinity often lead to? reserved emotions. stunted reactions. you’re not allowed to show vulnerability, or softness, or anything of the sort; you’re expected to be just a wall of strength and flat composure.

which, also, would align with the show: ed actively tries to combat that mentality in the morning. he straight up tells stede that the man who saved him was a fantastic, orange, sparkly mermaid. not some swashbuckling hero. not some colder, mysterious, more reserved man. but a beautiful, soft, dazzling goldfish.

and stede sort of just shrugs it off—turns it into a “well i hope we’ll both get through the violence” as opposed to realizing that ed is complimenting his true character.

but that brings me to my second theory: maybe stede reacts the way he does simply because…he’s never been loved like that before. he doesn’t know what to do with it. he’s never been brought breakfast in bed before, and now there ed goes doing so for him.

he seems to be fine when he's the one in the driver's seat. like, he's very romantic when he's dealing out the romance. but the second it's turned back on him, he can't seem to conceptualize it, even when it's coming from a man he knows he's in love with. like, ed complimenting his shirt led to a more incredulous reaction. ed saying that stede wears fine things well also led to a more incredulous reaction. and like...

"then you shaved your beard off...for me?"

he just can't grasp it. he can't grasp something so new and foreign to him quite yet. and it's of course also wrapped up in a lot of self-worth issues, because how can anyone love him when he really doesn't love himself (which i think is also the same for ed. help them. HELP THEM)

you just...can't catch a fish unless the fish wants to be caught.

#OFMD #OFMD Season 2 #OFMD S2 Spoilers #Stede Bonnet #Gentlebeard #Blackbonnet #Edward Teach #Revenge Rambles #morning lol MORNING #THIS IS A LOOOONG ONE #and maybe a little disjointed please excuse #but like lol man #MAN #I AM //LOOKING//#these two really have so SO much to work through huh #continuing to light the candles for a season 3 manifestation as we speak because goodness gracious

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celluloidbroomcloset · 5 months

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To talk a bit more about submission and especially Ed's trust in Stede and the erosion of that trust...

There's a fairly clear implication that Ed has never felt safe in his life - not as a child with an abusive father, not as a boy or young man on Hornigold's ship, and not as Blackbeard. He's very much the impossible bird, increasingly exhausted and sick of flying until eventually he'll just drop out of the sky. But when he meets Stede, he thinks he's found a safe place to land.

His desire to relinquish control is right there from the very beginning, though he may not even know it. He's tired, he's bored, he's not having fun being a pirate or even being a person.

He tries to show some vulnerability with Izzy, only to be first misunderstood, then bullied back into Blackbeard. But it’s revealing so much of himself to Stede, and then being hurt, that drives his heartbreak and eventually his depression. Ed trusted Stede with his darkest secrets, but also with his softest feelings - the murder of his father and his mother's silk.

What’s harsh in Stede not showing up on the dock is that he said he was Ed’s friend, and then Ed kisses him and their relationship shifts. The kiss is a declaration of desire; it's moving from the relationship they can still treat as friendship and into the space of romance and sexuality. Stede not showing up on the dock seems to say, “I was your friend but I can’t be your lover.”

Ed starts seeing those moments of tenderness and kindness throughout the first season in a different light. He felt how tenderly his vulnerability and his fears were treated, and now he wonders if he never understood the meaning behind that tenderness - that Stede really did fear him, or was just being kind, because Stede is kind.

That rejection isn't what makes Ed spiral, but it is what he dwells on throughout those first three episode of Season 2. Stede broke something open inside him, and he thinks that what he felt was never really reciprocated, that Stede was frightened of him and that Stede saw him fully and what he saw was a monster. So when Stede comes back and offers that gentleness again, Ed's naturally wary of it. He wants, badly, to give in and let himself be vulnerable again, but he's scared that he will be hurt if he does.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - the fact that Stede stops saying "I love you" when Ed asks him to, and that he slows down when Ed asks him to, and that he asks to hold Ed's hand is important. Stede is nothing if not emotionally attuned to Ed. He's saying "you're safe with me." He's not going to do or try to do anything that Ed doesn't want, and he's not going to get pissy about it.

A lot has been said about Calypso's birthday, because it is certainly the most vulnerable Ed has ever been, likely with anyone. When he's sitting on the bed and looking at Stede, you can see that in him - it's a moment where he's finally willing to trust Stede again, and let him take control, and trust that Stede won't hurt him.

That look is of such exceptional vulnerability, not just because they’re going to have sex but because of what that means as an expression of the love and trust that Ed is willing to give. He’s really letting Stede see all the softest parts of him, even allowing Stede to have control over them, and he’s got to be certain that this very gentle man isn’t going to use that to break him.

#ofmd #ofmd season 2 #ofmd season 1 #stede bonnet #edward teach #ed teach #blackbonnet #gentlebeard #gif #ofmd meta #my wee thoughts

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breathing-the-same-air · 6 months

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You know what really warms my heart about the innkeepers idea - the softness, the talking, I mean imagine these men finally getting to talk for hours about themselves and their pasts and figure things out together and just lay under the stars next to each other speaking earnestly because they can finally be vulnerable knowing they'll be loved just as they are, and making love softly and without all the despair of the first time, and Ed gets to be all domestic as he always wanted to, and Stede gets to see a face of married life he hasn't seen before, and yes I know if we get a S3 they won't stay innkeepers forever and it's surely gonna be really fun and they'll probably mess up at some point but just for a moment they get to slow down and allow themselves to be soft without having to fight for their lives every other day and I just find this so heartwarming :') they deserve it so much

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our-flag-means-love · 5 months

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i haven't seen anyone talk about this since the new season so i guess it'll have to be me.

in the wake of s1 there was meta going around about the symbolism of ed's gloves.

for most of s1, he has the fingerless ones. this is when he's closed off, bottled up. even while getting to know stede, he's not allowing himself to be fully vulnerable.

the closest we see him get in this span of episodes are when he switches outfits with stede, and the fancy french party. at both of these times, he doesn't wear his gloves, and, surely enough, in one case he's exploring a side of himself he'd previously never let see the light of day, and in the other he has a very vulnerable moment with stede after the party.

but during these instances, he also doesn't have his leathers. the gloves and the rest of his getup seem to operate independently. the gloves are his repression, his vulnerability or lack thereof, while his leathers represent blackbeard, whom ed repeatedly tries to distance himself from.

(continued under the cut bc this got kind of long)

and when he finally does away with the gloves again in s1e9, it's when he's exploring a new, gentler side of himself that never had room to breathe before. he's shed the blackbeard leathers entirely, attempting to leave that part of himself behind.

for the majority of s1e10, he also doesn't have his leathers or gloves, as he's wearing the breakup robe, still exploring his more sensitive side, and being open with the crew.

the contrast, as well as how the gloves fit into this whole thing, is never more evident than at the very end of s1. when he descends back into blackbeard, using it as a shield, letting it consume him entirely, this is the only time in the show that we see him with the full fingered gloves. he's repressing himself harder than ever, and trying to force his sensitive side as far down as he can.

in the first three episodes of s2, right up until his reunion with stede, he's back to the fingerless gloves, still in blackbeard garb, and still repressing his deepest needs and desires. the only exception in this stretch of time is the gravy basket, where he's extremely open and vulnerable about his biggest worries.

for two of the later episodes of s2, he also doesn't have his leathers, and those are the two episodes in which he's again really trying to distance himself from blackbeard, whether it be by shirking blame for his actions or by reinventing himself entirely.

so, given all of that, i just have to ask: how are we feeling about him spending much of s2—and especially finishing out the season—still in his leathers but without the gloves?

these are the times when he's being vulnerable and open without trying to escape from blackbeard. by the end of the season, he's accepted it as part of who he is. not something to base himself on entirely, nor to fear or run from, just a real part of him that's there for better or for worse.

#ofmd #our flag means death #edward teach #ed teach #stede bonnet #blackbonnet #gentlebeard #ofmd meta

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wolfpoets · 7 months

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just. the vulnerability of it all. izzy post-amputation is vulnerable: he's so weak he can barely stand, even with someone else holding him up. it would be impossible for him to care for himself in this state, let alone pull his weight on a working ship, and you know the enormity of the situation is not lost on izzy. i'm sure he strongly believes the crew should have killed him.

but they don't. they keep him alive. they find him a crutch (as undignified as a mop for a crutch may be). they make him a wooden leg. i'm sure they insist on cleaning his wound, changing his bandages. fang or frenchie or both are glued to his side constantly, supporting him, allowing him to walk. he is so utterly dependent on them now.

which is why it makes sense for him to be so fiercely protective of them when stede shows up. he snarls and growls and provokes, desperately hoping stede will take whatever anger he may have out on izzy, and not on the crew. he pleads for them, defends them. nothing was their fault. we did this to ed, not them. leave them be.

because izzy owes the crew a life debt, now, and he intends to pay it in full.

#they're HIS. and he's THEIRS.#god i'm going so insane over it. all i wanted was for someone to take ed's dog away from him & treat it gently #& you know. you KNOW. that izzy is going to commit to stede as his captain now.#because stede didn't have to bring him along. he could've blamed the whole thing on izzy and left him to rot. but he didn't.#izzy is his too now. as horrifying as that may be for both of them.#izzy hands #our flag means death #s2 spoilers

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thegoldenhoof · 6 months

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I am trying to process the usage of this shot in Izzy's speech to Banes which at first glance I found absolutely baffling. From a Doyalist perspective, I understand that this is probably the only shot they had with the whole crew in it. But from a Whatsonian in-universe implications of this, of the idea that Izzy was thinking specifically of this moment while telling Banes that piracy was about family and belonging are just so astoundingly heartbreaking.

The season 1 reading of this scene was just Izzy being angry at Ed for not killing Stede yet and being annoyed by the whole thing. However, now all I can think of was that even then he had longed to be a part of it. He just didn't know how. How to ask for something like this. How to allow himself the vulnerability to allow himself this. He can not reach out for it and no one bothers to reach out for him. Not one person in the crew.

We initially interpret this glance as jealousy of Stede for having all of Ed's attention. But now, I am wondering, if he was also jealous of Ed for how easily he slipped into this community. How easy it was to allow himself this warmth and how easily they had accepted him. And in part, this is because Ed for all his disarming bashful charm is still Blackbeard. He carries that authority around him, always.

Izzy can not afford to be that. That is not the role he plays and never learned to endear himself to people like Ed does.

So he sits outside the circle of warmth and companionship and watches, alone, hardly admitting even to himself that this was something he wanted.

And yet months later when he is talking about belonging this is the moment he remembers, not because this is a moment he belonged to but this was perhaps the moment he first understood that this may be something he wanted even if it was something he could never have.

At least not then. Not yet.

#ofmd #izzy hands #ofmd spoilers #ofmd meta #it is about belonging to someting when the world has told you your are nothing #it is about finding the a family to kill for when yours are long dead #it is about letting go of ego for something larger...the crew

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follows-the-bees · 10 days

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The blocking of the show is very deliberate with Stede and Ed. They are always next to each other, level, because they are equals.

One thing I noticed is that who is on the right side of the screen is important. The person standing/sitting on the right is the one who is showing emotional vulnerability.

While I'm not staying both of them aren't showing or are the focus of the shot, (as stated earlier, they are equals) generally the person on the right is the focus in the emotional weight of the scene.

For instance, here's Ed on the right side of the frame.

Ed is the one side eyeing Stede, showing the audience his inner thoughts of marriage with Stede. Or at the very least, thinking about Stede while watching the LuPete wedding.

Ed is opening up in this scene, telling Stede about his past, killing his father.

While I will say this is more equal, the focus of the shot is definitely Ed realizing his emotions for Stede.

In the first kiss here, Ed is the one first confessing his emotions to and about Stede, taking the first step forward.

In their last kiss on screen, once again Ed is expressing his emotions. He tells Stede he loves him.

During this scene, Ed is opening up and vulnerable. He tells Stede about seeing him as a mermaid, merman, merperson.

And now Stede on the right!

In this scene, Stede is telling Ed he loves him. This is his love confession. Just like the first and last kiss are Ed's.

In a parallel to the morning after breakfast scene, Stede is the one opening up here. He tells Ed about the letters that he's written over the past few months.

In the real world scene, Stede is talking to Ed and trying to bring him back to life. His focus in the real world is important, and balances the focus of Ed's expressions and emotions in the accompanying purgatory shots.

And I'll end with this shot, cause it's just beautiful.

There are many others, but Tumblr only allows ten photos a post.

#ofmd #our flag means death #stede bonnet #gentlebeard #ofmd edward teach #ofmd meta #meta analysis #blocking #our flag means death filmmaking analysis

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