#I hate the Blackbeard crew but I AM fascinated by them

[highly-opinionated-nerd]

Ok, look, I know no one wants to hear me talk about One Piece, but I NEED to talk about Blackbeard for a second. Manga spoilers ahead.

The way I see it, Luffy and Blackbeard have been set up as mirror images of each other since the beginning. They both want to be the Pirate King, although Blackbeard seems to care a bit less about the journey and adventure of it all and is more interested in gaining power and recognition. They both have, or at least started out with, a small crew of handpicked individuals- Blackbeard's been doing his thing, building his fleet and organizing everything based on Whitebeard's example, it seems like, and the Strawhats have been collecting allies and even have the fleet that Cavendish and Bartolomeo and them set up following them. With their powers, Luffy represents light and Blackbeard represents darkness. It's not entirely sound logic, but you could even argue that Blackbeard is the reason Ace died. You cannot tell me there's not going to be a huge fight between them at some point, even if it doesn't happen right away.

Plus, they have Aokiji with them now. You know what that means, right? You KNOW Robin's going to have to square off against him. Like 'ooooooh, he saved her life 22 years ago, and then he ended up leaving the marines, but it's still come to this!' I can see it coming and I just know it's still going to upset me so much when it actually happens. I'm completely convinced of this.

And if it should happen that the rest of the crew gets split up and each has to take on one of Blackbeard's one on one, I bet Zoro's going to have to fight Shiryu, the Impel Down guy. He's a swordsman, I could see it. Maybe Usopp will have to duke it out with the sniper, Van Augur. I'm dying to hear if you guys have any thoughts about the rest of them, so let me know if you do.

(Ask game, if you're bored)

[izzysillyhandsy]

I sometimes wonder if the Izzy hate would have reached those dizzying heights if S1 had ended on episode 9.

Izzy would still have done almost all the bad things: making Ed unhappy, duelling Stede and wanting him gone, the deal with the English, his past with Ed/Blackbeard - except for hurting and threatening Ed after the breakup.

And even though all of this can be seen from different angles, it is possible to interpret it from the most damning perspective - and that should be enough to hate him, right?

But Ed wouldn't have turned into the Kraken, he wouldn't have killed Lucius, marooned half of the crew and cut off Izzy's toe.

And I am almost 100% sure that most of the Izzy hate comes from seeing Ed's drastic change in episode 10. Without it, sure, some people might have found Izzy unsympathetic or just unimportant, or a little shit. But that level of hate?

I guess what I'm saying is that a lot of the Izzy hate comes from "what Izzy made Ed do" and not from "what Izzy did to Ed".

Also, it is a way of dealing with the shock/cognitive dissonance of seeing a very beloved character turn "evil" after 9 episodes of being a gentle and misunderstood guy who is a pirate, yes, but who's fundamentally non-violent and good. How can you reconcile this with Ed suddenly killing a beloved (and completely innocent) character? And the extreme violence of the toe-cutting? (And yes, I know Ed burned people alive before, pirate-typical violence etc. But we didn't know these people and we didn't see them in close-up.)

But to blame Izzy for everything and to make him this evil part of Blackbeard - completely separate of "true Ed" of course - lets Ed still be the same gentle soul that loves a fine fabric, fell in love with Stede in the sweetest way and, although traumatized by his childhood, is at his core an innocent person that can be saved by removing the rotten influence of Izzy Hands - without confronting the self-hatred, self-centeredness, mistrust of others and tendency to violence that might be a part of "true Ed" as well.

And of course, if a group of fans started liking Izzy and maybe even defended/found understanding for his actions to a degree - where would that leave Ed? Is it really justifiable to fly into a murderous rage because your heart was broken (by a man you've known for a few weeks), because you're deeply unhappy and you've outgrown your pirate persona?

If Ed wasn't mentally abused by Izzy for decades, if it wasn't Izzy alone that drove Stede away, if Izzy hadn't duelled Stede out of the evilness of his heart, if Ed didn't desperately want to leave but Izzy forced him to stay in their toxic relationship, if it wasn't just Izzy and his hurtful words that drove Ed to become the Kraken...

...then maybe Ed wouldn't be an innocent babygirl anymore, and it would be much more difficult to see Ed/Stede as this perfect, unproblematic and sunshine-y couple.

It seems to me that seeing Izzy as "The Worst" and casting him in the role of the villain behind every bad thing Ed ever did is a quick and painless way to make Ed loveable without actually putting the work in (and the show actually avoided that up unto the death scene - one example is Izzy leaving in S1E4 and Ed manipulating him to stay; there are countless others).

I sometimes have the feeling that the hate for Izzy grows exponentially with more and more of Ed's darker side coming through in the show. And I don't get it - maybe because I am drawn to darker, fucked up characters and relationships. Give Ed his agency back and let him be cruel! Let Ed and Izzy have their mutually destructive, weird but intense dynamic!

Let Ed be a fascinating, loveable character with a (very) dark side - exactly like his partner for decades, Izzy - and you'll actually get a better character, and an additional fascinating relationship - as well as a more interesting story.

[blue-b-bro]

Izzy and the candles

(kinda about Izzy's arc)

So I’ve finally sat down and looked closely into the candle scenes and after analyzing them, I’ve came to the conclusion, that they’re about the state of Izzy’s feeling towards Ed, how he deals with them. (if you have other ideas please share)

Let’s look at the scenes, shall we? (it's Izzy's POV, not what I think about his actions)

S1e3:

- He's not interested in meeting. - What? - 🕯️I explicitly told him… Blackbeard desired his company.

- But does he know who I am?

- Seemed to, yeah.🕯️ - And still, he said no. - You can "go suck eggs in hell" was his response, I believe. - Fascinating.

Why at that moment? Well, I think he didn’t lie, or at least he didn’t think he did. So he’s not punishing himself or anything. It’s about the whole conflict in s1: Izzy desires Ed’s company, wants Ed to desire his company. Izzy thinks, he knows Ed, but it turns out, he doesn’t know him so well.

He’s burning his hand by getting too close, just like his possessiveness ultimately only hurts him and Ed in the process. His feelings are so intense it’s actually destructive.

S1e7:

“🕯️Bonnet comes along, and he's like, "Oh, Oh, Blackbeard, I really love... I love the way you dress. I love the way your hair, your beard, and all that." I tell ya, I would've ripped his fuckin' head off. And I would have had him, too, I would have had him…🕯️”

And what is he doing just after that? Making a deal with the English. Proving that his selfish desire only makes it worse for both of them: Ed leaves him, Izzy made him work for the king.

S2e5:

Now, we need context. After Ed’s visit in s2e2 Izzy realized, that his selfish actions harmed not only him, but actually Ed too. That he was actively helping Ed kill himself, that Ed expected him, to just go with the plan, because he was his boss. That he was a bad first mate, because he almost killed his captain instead of protecting him, and that his way of love was bad, because it made Ed so miserable. So he metaphorically killed his old self (by trying to actually do it), stopped Ed, freed from his orders, and saved the crew.

He kept it mostly together until the crew was saved by Stede and then, there was nothing for him to do, no use for him. He may have did that big gesture to become his new self, but that didn’t erase his regrets. He felt responsible for Ed’s state, felt it was his fault for not doing his job, for making Ed hate him, for being useless, everything mixed in one miserable mess. He expected the crew to just let him die from overdrinking, because why would they care? They’re safe now, they have Stede. When the crew made him the new leg, he decided to give himself a second chance, stops drinking and tries to find a way to be of use (see? He didn’t get over it at all)

In e5, right after Ed’s apology (“And whatever that nasty, dark stuff was that brought us here, it's in the past. Which is all I want to say, at the end of the day, is we're trying to move the culture forward.”) he starts whittling the shark. The whole episode is about moving on, but Izzy doesn’t do that. He just buries his feelings deeper.

“Well, this is a pirate ship and I'm a pirate, so, yeah. I'm good with it.” He tells himself that that’s how it is, just like Archie said: “They get away with it and we move on”. Izzy doesn’t expect any apology, doesn’t think he deserves any, but he’s still hurt, he’s still unmoored, without any clear direction in life.

- So this is where all my candles went. And you've used the good ones. - Yep. I'm having to relearn the basics with one leg. [🕯️] - The basics? I think my basics might be a bit more basic than your basics. Actually, it recently occurred to me that... - That you know nothing? That you're a shitty Captain, yeah? - I don't know about that. But Blackbeard did say he credited you with a lot of his skills. - Yeah, well, Blackbeard says a lot of things. But what did he say about me specifically? - Well, specifically, he said you taught him everything he knows. Made him the Captain he is today. Perhaps I could learn at the feet of one of the greats. - Foot. - Oh, yes, foot. Sorry. - Ya know, maybe I could teach even you a thing or two.

“I'm having to relearn the basics with one leg.” He’s basically saying he’s starting anew. He decided to forget the past, to kill his feelings for Ed, all that hurt and sorrow and guilt, just move on.

“Don't know what you're talkin' about. A shark did this. Dangling my legs over the side of the ship. Served me right, too.” It was all his own fault, so he doesn’t need any apology. It was to be expected, so there’s no need to feel hurt or betrayed.

S2e8:

Izzy was telling himself it was his fault he got treated like that by Ed, it was just how pirate’s life worked, everything's fine, but at the same time Stede was happy, grateful and nice to him all episode, showing him, that no, it doesn’t have to work like that, it didn’t have to work like that. His relationship with Ed didn’t have to look like it looked, he could have had better relationship with Ed, if only he let him.

In e6 he’s drinking again.

they both know it’s not about the weather. it’s about Ed’s feelings, Ed feeling it was all too nice and something has to go bad eventually. And Izzy’s on his new track, trying to keep Ed in this better place, the one he so desperately tried to get him out of in s1. He now knows his relationship with Ed and Ed’s life was so miserable because of him, and he tries to fix it, to help Ed get rid of bad habits.

Izzy probably didn’t know how to respond, having mixed feelings about it since he was all about how it was his own fault and Ed apologizing actually contradicts it, forcing Izzy to acknowledge his suffering that he so strongly tried to repress.

“Turn the poison into positivity” it’s kinda like a response to s1e5 where Izzy was opposed/shocked by open culture on the Revenge and now, knowing his old ways were wrong he actually stops, asks what’s that about and tries himself. Izzy sings about looking at the world through rose-tinted glasses, and I think it’s about him wishing Ed and Stede well.

Izzy decided to focus on helping Ed and Stede in their relationship. He realized he was the reason for Ed’s unhappiness, it was him, who made him worse by trying to keep him to himself, and so his own feelings don't matter. His feelings for Ed don't matter, his love doesn't matter, and that’s why he’s all helpful, but at the same time looks tired. After Ed leaves Stede, Izzy finds him at the bar, (always with Stede when Ed isn’t around). He tells him he thinks they’re good for each other, comforts Stede, is ok with talking about their feelings for Ed. He tries to protect Stede from his auto destructive behavior post breakup (not just going along, like with Ed).

Now we’re at e8 finally:

- 🕯️Can't believe I have an audience with the great Israel Hands. That's absolutely astounding. I've always thought you were underrated. I mean, it's absurd, isn't it? Isn't it? That Blackbeard, he gets all this praise, when you are quite clearly the brains of this operation?🕯️ (playing with fire in a safe way, calm) - Ya don't know the first thing about piracy, do ya? - Don't I? - It's not about glory. It's not about gettin' what you want. It's about belonging to something when the world has told you you're nothin'. It's about finding the family to kill for when yours are long dead. It's about letting go of ego for something larger. The crew.

“when you are quite clearly the brains of this operation” Izzy feels responsible for all the bad things that happened to Ed, for his unhappiness. He wanted to follow and serve Blackbeard, not to replace him. He and Ed created Blackbeard, why would he want to have something that was already his? When Blackbeard got all the praise, Izzy was proud. The only praises he needed was those from Ed. (I don't mean he didn't care about being respected by others but appreciated)

“It's not about glory. It's not about gettin' what you want. It's about belonging to something when the world has told you you're nothin'. It's about finding the family to kill for when yours are long dead. It's about letting go of ego for something larger. The crew.”

It’s about Izzy abandoning his selfish desire to be with Ed, to have Ed’s full attention, to have his love, and focusing about caring for others, for his family (Ed and the crew), about their happiness.

And you know what? I think it could’ve been Izzy’s idea to go with Ricky, to be on the front line. That’s very like him and I don’t see other reason for it. The crew is protective of Izzy, it wouldn’t be their idea.

- Ed, I'm sorry. I've been terrible to you. - No, I'm sorry. - No. - What are you apologizing for? I should be the one who's apologizing. - I fed your darkness… Blackbeard. For years, I egged him on, even though I knew you'd outgrown him, but the truth is… I needed him. Blackbeard... it was us. You, me.

I’m happy he said that, I’m happy they finally talked. I’m happy Izzy finally said out laud how unwell he is inside.

bonus:

(⚠️ here comes finale criticism, you’ve been warned ⚠️)

But him dying there was as if Ed died in e5! Oh, he realized his mistakes and started to fix them, but still is very messed up inside. That’s Ed in e5-6. And somehow he got to live after apologizing to Fang, hmm? Yeah, it was very in character for Izzy to get himself killed for Ed, to apologize for his great crimes of *checks hand* misunderstanding, being confused and selfish and being in love with Ed. Understandable. Ed can realize he’s actually worthy of love and forgiveness, but Izzy isn’t? Izzy would agree, but that’s not the point. He wasn’t on the arc towards healing. He was on the arc of realizing how bad of an influence he was and then dying . He was marinating that thought since s2e2. How fun.

Like, yeah, he realized he was selfish and fixed his wrongdoings. But he also thought he was worthless and, ekhem, defiled his captain with his love, wait where did I hear that...

[hang-on-lil-tomato]

well…fascinating! There are some hits and misses, but hey, that’s part of the fun. It may even surprise you.

we never had a stowaway in the show…not exactly…so welcome aboard! Grab some cards and a few scraps of fabric! And if we come back from a raid with emotional damage, we talk it through…as a crew!

I am a GO season 1 fan, and I found OFMD really satisfying!

since I speak Good Omens, and OFMD, let me chime in without too many spoilers…

It is gay. Of this at least, I am very sure. Free Space! Gayest of the gayest gay!

There are pirates. The pirates are the above gays. (Not exactly.)

There is a guy named Ed who is Blackbeard, and he is very soft and shares trauma and has grey hair. (He’s like a Crowley, a demon with a heart of gold. He can be much worst than the reluctant bad boy Crowley, but sweet)

He is in love with Stede, who writes him bottle letters and throws them away. Bingo

Ed is not happy about the throwing away part. I think he wanted to read the letters. (Not exactly.)

They read the letters together. (Nope…I love the way Ed sees the letter)

There is a guy named Lucius and someone kisses him and they do a victory punch. They break up because of fish. (This is hilarious and mixed up, and wonderfully inaccurate)

Someone named Izzy has a redemption arc. (Yep i Love Izzy. He starts out like Hastur)

There are colonisers. They are British. This makes sense, at least. Bingo

The colonisers are not homophobic, they merely find love pathetic. (They’re not even looking at the lgbtq thing. But they are racists, and they hate pirates in general.)

In the 1600s male pirates married each other and that's where the term 'matey' originated. I do not know. This is what Pinterest yelled at me. (Mateologe…yep!)

Uh Ed pulled a Crowley on Stede and instead of Alpha Centauri asked him to run away to China with him. (Yep, only Stede wanted to go, but it scared him. Then something else scuttled that plan. Nothing coy about these two)

Stede ran away from him instead. Yep

Izzy was not a father figure to Ed. Discuss. It is something involving horniness and unrequited love. (It’s a point of contention. It was written in canon but imo it makes no sense. Ed is clearly the alpha. Aside: daddy issues all over this show!)

Izzy died. 😓

Ed was upset under a blanket. Stede respected this.

Ed built a blanket fort. Is this a running theme? (Not exactly. Although he sort of did blanket things a couple times)

I understood nothing more because I can't make out whether 'ship' refers to relationship or the actual fucking ship. What does 'Steve does fixing in the ship' MEAN IS THIS MARRIAGE COUNSELLING OR NAVAL ENGINEERING? (David Jenkins —our Neil—tweeted he would wreck our ship, and he kinda did, but he kinda didn’t)

EVEN THOUGH I UNDERSTOOD NOTHING, THIS SEEMS LIKE A GAY FUCKING DISASTER. RENEW IT. GO SLAY OFMD THE GOOD OMENS FANDOM IS BEHIND YOU.

it’s WONDERFUL! And lots of gay everything! “Woke and ghey” is how Jenkins described it.

Looking forward to you getting to watch it! You’re gonna love it!

our flag means death but i've never watched it

Hey OFMD fandom, the Ineffable fandom sends their Mascot. I was supposed to do this many days ago, but the OFMD tag on tumblr was filled with... things. This time, I gained my knowledge from Pinterest instead, and I, Asmi, of the Good Omens Fandom, am rooting for you all!

THAT BEING SAID. WHAT THE DEVIL IS THIS SHOW MEANT TO BE? AS USUAL, I UNDERSTAND ABSOLUTELY NOTHING DESPITE MY BEST EFFORTS, BUT TAKE A SUMMARY ANYWAY:

It is gay. Of this at least, I am very sure.

There are pirates. The pirates are the above gays.

There is a guy named Ed who is Blackbeard, and he is very soft and shares trauma and has grey hair.

He is in love with Stede, who writes him bottle letters and throws them away.

Ed is not happy about the throwing away part. I think he wanted to read the letters.

They read the letters together.

There is a guy named Lucius and someone kisses him and they do a victory punch. They break up because of fish.

Someone named Izzy has a redemption arc.

There are colonisers. They are British. This makes sense, at least.

The colonisers are not homophobic, they merely find love pathetic.

In the 1600s male pirates married each other and that's where the term 'matey' originated. I do not know. This is what Pinterest yelled at me.

Uh Ed pulled a Crowley on Stede and instead of Alpha Centauri asked him to run away to China with him.

Stede ran away from him instead.

Izzy was not a father figure to Ed. Discuss. It is something involving horniness and unrequited love.

Izzy died.

Ed was upset under a blanket. Stede respected this.

Ed built a blanket fort. Is this a running theme?

I understood nothing more because I can't make out whether 'ship' refers to relationship or the actual fucking ship. What does 'Steve does fixing in the ship' MEAN IS THIS MARRIAGE COUNSELLING OR NAVAL ENGINEERING?

EVEN THOUGH I UNDERSTOOD NOTHING, THIS SEEMS LIKE A GAY FUCKING DISASTER. RENEW IT. GO SLAY OFMD THE GOOD OMENS FANDOM IS BEHIND YOU.

[spanishgalleons]

Season 1 recap

-Its so funny to see what we think is Flint’s descent into madness/vision that is too large to sustain when really, in comparison to the next seasons, he’s dipped a toe into insanity. Stealing treasure from the world’s biggest colonial power seems like a drop in the ocean compared to war against the civilised world.

- what Flint says about his relationship with Miranda Barlow is nicely done. How they view each other is fascinating. I think I want to track how people describe Flint because it is seems to always fall within the semantics of the Bible. Miranda names him her deliverer, Silver loves a good Old Testament metaphor, I am sure Gates mentioned something to Hornigold but I forget.

Watching Louise Barnes and Toby Stephens argue is captivating. I love that you get Thomas as this ghost and gaping hole in their relationship before we ever meet him. It’s really an aspect of grief we rarely see on TV. Usually grief is life affirming and brings people together after some dark spells but through Flint in the seasons and especially  their relationship you get to see just how sour grief can be. They are broken and they can’t connect because the point at which they connected is missing

- I have never paid attention to Jack and Anne that much because they are attached to a plot line I despise but I never realised how much they were destined not to work as lovers. Obviously, this is picked up and examined in season 2 but it’s just so interesting that Jack does not understand what he did for Anne or how awful it would be for her to live right next to Max being brutalised in the same manner she was when they met. They are plainly not sentimental people at this point and there are hints that they never talk about things that truly matter but Jack is quite a good reader of people when it comes to schemes, it is hard to watch him fail someone he loves in a way that is awful

-  Silver is constantly trying to use words to persuade and manipulate and fails more than he succeeds. It’s interesting that when he succeeds it’s always when it’s coming from a place of understanding. Also it’s striking to see just how integral lies are to Silver and how he wields them with the truth, and what that inadvertently says about him.

- I do not understand how some people hated him at the start. He’s so delightful. I feel like we haven’t got to laugh at/with Silver in ages. It’s a nice balm

- Watching The Guthries back with knowledge of the cycle of generational abuse going on in that family is quite hard. It definitely makes me feel sympathy for Eleanor, who had no chance once her mother died. Also, there is a clarity with everything she is doing that I don’t think clicks exactly until season 4. The way Eleanor relates to men is so utterly sad. Her relationship with Vane is toxic. Even with the depth of feeling he has for her, perhaps because of it. It reminds me of how Blackbeard spoke about Vane, that fundamental lack of understanding imposed on him over and over, and that he probably wasn’t taught how to love in a healthy way. The fact that that ends up dooming him when he is used as such a symbol for freedom is poignant and something I hadn’t thought of before.

- With Richard, remembering how truly awful he is in the first season, thoughts about his family make him more horrifying to behold. He’s so sick and pathetic and starved of love.

- There’s a kind of Neville Longbottom/Harry Potter thing going on with Dufresne and Silver. They are both people who were starkly different from the rest of the Walrus crew, given their “powers” by Billy, I’m sure there’s more comparison but I am a lazy thinker. Point is, if there was a slight change in circumstances, if Dufresne joined later, if Billy hadn’t been presumed dead and so on and so forth, I think Dufresne could have worked as Flint’s right hand man.

- No matter how many times l watch it I get so annoyed when Dufresne incites a mutiny. Not being able to pick an appropriate moment is a trait he must have learned from Billy