#Ofmd finale

[ridleymocki]

Ed tearing up over a love letter while distractedly strangling a guy to death is peak dark comedy to me guys, like this is the show, it was so funny and neither Ed nor I are perfect people in that moment but here we are

[sunnibits]

rip to izzy hands, so wife coded he even got killed off for a man’s development <3

[izzyhandslightofmylife]

Things Izzy Hands can canonically survive:

Being held at knifepoint

Talking to Stede Bonnet

Raiding a Spanish warship

Calling Lucius daddy

Being in a duel

Rowing miles on his own to the nearest shore

Watching the love of his life fall in love with someone else in the span of like two weeks

Interacting with the British as a wanted pirate

An attempted mutiny 

Choking/suffocation

Getting his toe cut off without anesthesia

Being forced to eat said toe

Walking, raiding and fighting effectively without said toe

Losing two more toes

Getting knives thrown at his head

Being extremely overworked while missing said toes

Being shot in the leg

Getting said leg amputated without anesthesia

A WHOLE ASS SUICIDE ATTEMPT

A storm on an unmanned ship

Walking hours/days after being shot/amputated to shoot the love his life and save the crew

Several days on the open sea with no fresh food/water

Eating raw seagull

Being sentenced to execution

Alcoholism 

Being (presumably) tortured by Ned Lowe

Being captured by the British 

Having a conversation with no nose Ricky 

Running from/killing British soldiers with one leg

Things he can't survive, apparently:

Getting shot on the left by Some Guy

[subway-tolkien]

Okay, this is 1600 words of (positive!) meta regarding the OFMD finale. Included is character analysis and a treatise on why a certain trope people keep throwing around does not apply here.

This is of course just my take, and I'm sure people will disagree, but I needed to get this out. Apologies if it comes off disjointed, I've had like no sleep.

Spoilers within, obviously. You have been warned. Heed the tags. I didn't tag any characters because I consider it a spoiler, but you know who this is about.

Listen. Listen.

Let me start off by saying I have been where you are. I’ve had beloved characters die, either because it was important to the narrative or for shock value. I’ve been there, so I’m not coming at this without empathy. I’m not an Izzy hater. I loved him as a character. I’m truly sad to see him go.

But from what I’m seeing around Twitter and tumblr, some of you do not understand the role of an antagonist in a story.

Izzy was always meant to die. The moment he said, in the first season, “the only retirement we get is death,” I knew he was meant to die in the end. The foreshadowing ran through both seasons. Izzy was the true antagonist of S1. He was there to keep Blackbeard tethered when he started pulling away, and yet he also set the plot in motion. He inadvertently introduced Blackbeard to the person who let him be just Ed. He put Ed on his own path to redemption without even knowing it.

S1 ended with Izzy getting what he wanted as Ed lost everything he had. S2 was about Izzy coming to terms with the fact that he’d gone too far, he’d turned Ed into a monster. It wasn’t what he wanted. He wanted Blackbeard back, just like old times. Instead, he got the Kraken, and it was more than he bargained for.

Especially after it cost him his leg and he realized how far gone Ed really was. The conversation that ended with Izzy’s half-assed suicide attempt was the final blow to Izzy—Ed really didn’t seem to care anymore. Where Izzy wanted him to stop giving a shit about his silly boyfriend, he instead got a Blackbeard who didn’t care about anything, and he was apparently now included in that category.

(I said half-assed suicide attempt because Izzy wasn’t meant to die then, THAT would have been an empty, pointless death. It wouldn’t have taught Ed anything—in fact, all it did was make him more self-destructive, which was Izzy’s purpose to the narrative, but not his endgame. That Ed thought Izzy killed himself pushed Ed to the brink. Ed wanted to die and take every scrap of Blackbeard with him. Had Izzy successfully killed himself, Ed and the Revenge would be at the bottom of the ocean.

It wasn’t until the crew left Izzy the unicorn leg that he realized the power of compassion, the incredible act of grace from a crew that suffered so much from Izzy’s own machinations and didn't need to forgive him. It moved him to tears, and it moved him to accept that maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea to let people in, to let himself be cared for. It was a foreign concept and something Izzy likely hadn’t experienced since losing his family (I fully expect a shit ton of fanfic of Izzy’s life before piracy).

Israel Hands found the capacity to let love all the way in and by god, did he pursue it.

But, again, Izzy was always meant to die, and I’m glad they stuck to the narrative they set out with instead of placating fandom and letting our influence dictate how they told this story That’s never good, trust me. Fandom should not influence a creator’s decisions regarding their own characters. It rarely if ever ends well.

[Stares in Voltron S8]

And I see a lot of people out here throwing the “bury your gays” phrase around—I beg you, please look up the definition of the trope. Izzy didn’t die because he was queer, he didn’t die because of his disability. He wasn’t one half of the only queer couple in the show fridged for shock value. He wasn’t killed off due to pressure from conservative viewers. He wasn’t the only queer, disabled character.

They didn’t kill off Lucius, or Jackie, or Wee John. Would you be as outraged if it was any of them?

Killing Eve is bury your gays. Supernatural is bury your gays. Pretty much any film, book, TV show, whatever, where a queer character dies because they’re queer, of AIDs, to further the narrative for a straight person, etc—that is burying your gays.

Izzy’s death was none of those things. Izzy’s death had meaning.

Izzy’s death freed Ed from the Blackbeard persona. It finally forced Izzy to say the things he couldn’t say until he realized it was his last chance. Izzy was also tired. I honestly think he stuck it out for Ed’s sake, because he was afraid to let Blackbeard go without making sure Ed would be ok.

He loved the idea of Blackbeard, but over time, he learned to love Ed. He finally understood what Ed tried to tell him the whole time.

“Fuck off, you twat. You’re surrounded by family.”

You’re safe. You’re loved. You don’t need me anymore. You don’t need to be reminded of who you’re capable of being, you need the people who will guide you to who you will become, and I’m not one of them.

I know a lot of Izzy fans are stung by his death, some of you are deeply upset. I get that. Like I said, I’ve been there. Sirius’s death made me throw that fucking book across the room. That Fucking Woman™ killed off my entire OTP, purely for shock value and, imho, a direct response to shippers. Trust me, I have felt betrayed by a creator for their decisions.

But I need you to understand that no, this was not a personal attack, this was not malicious, this was not “bury your gays." A show that celebrates queerness and diversity is not suddenly homophobic and ableist because your favorite character died and happened to be both of those things. But when the majority of your cast of characters is different in some way, and they’re in a show about 18th century pirates, you have to accept that one of them could, in fact, die. “Anyone Can Die” is also a trope and the more accurate one to describe E8.

If only being queer and disabled made you invincible.

Spoiler alert: it doesn’t.

And no, I’m not an Izzy hater. I loved him, I loved him as an antagonist, and I loved his redemption arc. He was fascinating and Con put his whole O’Nussy into that part. I’m sorry to see him go, but as a mystery writer who often has to kill off beloved characters, I understand that he served the purpose he had from the beginning.

I swear, if some of you had your way, there’d be no conflict at all in any form of media. This what a steady diet of nothing but fanfic gets you. This is not a fluffy one-shot with magical healing dick and a happy ending where everyone sails off into the sunset. If that’s what you wanted, what you headcanoned, you did this to yourself. It’s not David et al’s fault that we took that character and babygirled him. That’s the risk we take when we decide to love a specific character, when we take a genuinely terrible person (in S1) and woobify him.

So, please stop harassing and attacking David, Alex, et al. David did not and should not change his story to placate us. The fact he went ahead with it despite the backlash I’m sure he expected makes me respect him as a creator even more.

Anyway, I’m going to revel that we have three (!) queer relationships with happy endings where one or both didn’t immediately die (again, the actual definition of “bury your gays”) and that we got at least two seasons of a little show that celebrated individualism, diversity, queerness, compassion, and love.

In the end, it all came down to love.

“There he is.”

Goodbye, Blackbeard.

Hello, Ed.

[bornonthesavage]

This is going to be a controversial post, but I find it very “interesting” how people are taking Ed’s storyline this season and projecting it onto Izzy. ED was the one who was suicidal. ED was the one who believed he was unlovable and unloved, and that he had to be something he didn’t want to be just to be a little bit accepted. ED was actively trying to die and get people to kill him because he was too scared to do it himself. ED was the one who was working through years of trauma to find a way to be happy with himself and learn that he is capable of being loved for who he is.

And yeah, Izzy has some of that as well. Though genuinely, that could be said for most of the characters. But it’s SO STRANGE how many people I see saying “Oh well I guess the message of the story is that if you’re suicidal then you should die.”

Like, please, learn some media literacy. Ed and his arc are RIGHT THERE. I feel like I’m living in an alternate reality where we all watched a different show. Why are you unable to relate to Ed? I’ve literally seen people say “Oh well I just don’t care about Ed.” Truly, why are you only able to relate to that storyline when it’s through the perspective of a white man?

I’m not trying to be antagonistic, but this is really bothering me.

[preciseshadow]

Okay, but did anyone else notice the matching ribbons Pete and Lucius are wearing during the wedding?

I'm super curious if there's any special meaning behind this but it's also just adorable.

[edward-teach-born-on-the-beach]

Explaining The Importance Of The Flag Change In OFMD Episode 10

So, we all remember when Ed decided to change his flag from this (ep2):

To this (ep10):

right?

But because episode 10 was such a rollercoaster of emotions, I feel like we overlooked this key detail that has been sitting right in front of us the entire time. But I managed to figure it out today and it blew my mind to pieces.

So I decided to do a bit of a google research and apparently there is a certain code of meaning behind certain symbols on pirate flags.

-The skeleton is obviously an homage to the devil

-The drink in its right hand is hence supposed to signify a toast to the devil/evil/cruelty

-The spear in its left hand means war

But what about the bleading heart that Ed forced Frenchie to add?

Well, when I watched the episode for the first few times I always thought of the bleading heart as a metaphor for Ed’s pain which he wants the whole world to know about by showing it on his flag - but no.

Holy fuck no. It is SO much worse.

The bleading heart means that no quarter will be given.

Now “hold up, hold up”, I hear you say, “What does that mean?”

“To give quarter” was the moral code amongst pirates that when an encountered ship was willing to surrender a fight and their goods their lifes would be spared.

So you might have already guessed it, “no quarter given” means that even if the enemy surrenders their lifes won’t be spared.

Or to put it quite literally:

(The new) flag means death

Ed’s heart and mind have been broken so severly that as a result he went from being the man who told Stede that he couldn’t and wouldn’t kill again, to the man who promises anyone, no matter how innocent they may be a certain death if they get anywhere near him.

This man has been triggered so much by Stede’s crew that he literally dropped them of on an island to forget the pain of the love of his life leaving him yet still decided to keep Frenchie around to have someone who could create this new flag.

He willingly accepted the pain of having someone around who reminded him of Stede just to create a physical promise to himself and to Stede that Blackbeard is back - more cruel than ever - and that Edward Teach is now a relict of the past.

[frooogscream]

This show who’s creators said time and time again that it is kind and that it knows how important it is for queer people just spat in my face and told me that I don’t deserve a Happy End. 

To me the worst part about Izzy dying, is that right before he gave the "piracy it’s not about glory it’s about belonging to something in the world that makes you feel like you don’t fit in it’s about finding your found family" speech! This is the last thing we see of him before he fucking dies. 

Why is this so bad? Well, why do queer people love pirates, vampires, monsters, every representation of something that is deemed unnatural and bad? Because this is how the world treats us till this day. We don’t belong. We don’t fit in! Izzy’s statement is something that every queer person can identify with, something very essential to the way we survive as queer people in a world that doesn’t treat us kindly. 

And in this show full of outsiders that don’t fit in with society, Izzy is the one character that even in the world of the outsiders still doesn’t fit in, still is portrayed as the antagonist even though looking back most of his actions are very understandable and human.

Even in this show, where pretty much everyone is queer, Izzy still symbolises the queer outsider, the one who doesn’t fit in, the one who is demonised, the queer person that is not plateable to society, the angry queer who has been through so much that they lash out to protect themselves.

Izzy represented a very essential aspect of being queer and his statement right before his death reinforcorces that yet again. And then he has to die!

Because after all only the queer people who are acceptable to society deserve a happy end. But as soon as you get bitter or start having problems trusting people, because of the horrible way this world treats you, then the best you deserve is a noble death. 

Some queer people are just not acceptable to society, I loved every single one of these characters but THE ONE that I can truly see myself in, as somebody who is scared, who is hurt, who as a trans person gets demonised more than ever, was Izzy! 

This show who’s creators said time and time again that it is kind and that it knows how important it is for queer people just spat in my face and told me that I don’t deserve a Happy End.

[attractive-nuisance-esq]

snapshots from the alternate universe where djenks gave the full episode 8 script to the ofmd cast at the initial table read

[sluglover666]

I just find the WAY Izzy died really weird, they just spent a couple of episodes establishing that despite losing his leg he's still quick and deadly, and then a guy they have every reason to expect a sneak attack from catches him off guard and just shoots him...? Where did he get the gun? If they left it on him to seem less suspicious, that would be a reason for Izzy to be even MORE vigilant, and if he stole it from Izzy... how? How did a dude who's famously Not Good At Piracy snatch a gun from a guy who's famously Very Good At Piracy and has every reason to expect it...? This whole sequence was just so out of character.

[pickingbelovedoffthesofa]

MY CRITICISM ISN’T JUST THAT IZZY DIED. This isn’t because he’s my favorite character. And nobody is wishing they were being handled with kid gloves. Every time I see that take, I want to scream. I can think of LOTS of ways that his death could’ve been handled better. I actually LOVE when my shows and books hurt me. I SEEK OUT media that kills characters I love. Honestly, this show was my break from that. But it’s only good when it makes sense. I’m sorry, but that was weird. Like, really weird. Nobody eulogized him? They didn’t bury him with his leg? He couldn’t think of any reason to go on living because he was just a part of Blackbeard? When Ed called for help, the crew had already written him off as dead despite the fact that this show exists in the universe it exists in and characters have literally been skewered in the same spot and been totally fine? Sacrifice Auntie and Zheng’s weird “soft”thing/reconciliation that felt unearned for the TWO MINUTES that could’ve been better spent paying respect to a major character. I would love more of Auntie and Zheng, but like… let’s be real. The opening with Ed and the fisherman? Cut that down just a smidge. I mean, it wouldn’t have been any more choppy than the rest of the episode turned out. It’s not like we’re just bitching to bitch. I can actively SEE some small ways that it could have been helped. Still wouldn’t have been enough given the constraints but it would’ve been a start.

I don’t know what’s going on on Twitter. I don’t doubt that there are bad actors that are harassing DJ and crew. But those of us screaming in our small corners of the internet are ALLOWED TO HAVE CRITICISMS. It’s almost like some of y’all need to be handled with kid gloves. So scared of hearing anything negative about your precious show. Well, it’s MY precious show, too. It’s okay to admit when things don’t live up to your expectations. It’s okay to move the goalpost, even, and try to be positive when that happens. But it almost feels deceptive to try to convince other people that their criticisms are without merit (especially when some of them are just objective. That shit was RUSHED. The pacing was BAD.)

[cobaltaugustao3]

Season 3 opens on the crew on deck.

Frenchie patches a sail, while Oluwande and Archie scrub the railings under Auntie’s watchful eye. The Swede swabs the deck, Jackie watching from nearby, appreciating how his muscles flex as he sloshes water onto the boards.

Lucius dangles from the side of the ship, paintbrush in hand. He's putting the final touches to the vessel's new name.

'Babe! Can you hoist me up?'

Pete peers over the railing. 'All done?'

Lucius looks up at his husband and smiles.

"All done.

As Pete sets to work pulling him up, Lucius's gaze falls to the name again. The letters aren't as straight as he hoped, but the words are clear. The sun glints off the gold paint, illuminating a promise and a warning for every ship to see.

Izzy's Revenge.

[raggedy-spaceman]

Ok everyone, if there’s one thing we’re very good at at this point is how to be in denial. We’ve mastered it. Years and years of disappointments made us fucking experts in the art. What do you mean Izzy is dead? The last we’ve seen of him he was the captain of the Revenge with his first mate Frenchie, obviously!

I’m expecting some incredible fix it fics and comics that will put the actual creators of the show to shame. Do your thing fandom ♥

[izzyhandslightofmylife]

ofmd really said okay imagine there's this guy that's been desperate for love his entire life and was so convinced that he was destined for tragedy that he actively tried to bring about his own downfall and pain because he was convinced it was all he had. now imagine that there's this guy that got accepted despite the darkness inside of him for the first time in his life and instead of being scorned ended up bringing light to everyone around him. imagine him with a family that he had convinced himself he didn't deserve. got him in your head, this little guy? is he there? do you love him? we're killing him now. sorry

[carrymelikeimcute]

I've been thinking about this frame, a lot. Too much probably. I've already speculated about Izzy being injured and I know there's fears that he might die, but I wanted to talk about the specific pose it looks like Ed's doing here.

He could be telling everyone to stay back - which makes sense in a 'give him some air' way. It happens a lot when people are injured/dying on TV. But to me, in this tiny amount of footage we have, it doesn't really look like anyone is moving forwards, and he's holding his hand up very purposefully, like he did it slowly and not in rush - though again it's not easy to tell from this short clip.

To me, this could almost be a gesture from a SPEECH. Like he's holding up the blood (Izzy's blood?) as a symbol almost. Of what, I have no idea. The cost of their lives? The sacrifices that have been made to get them here? To rally them against the navy? The opening lines of Ed's in the preview are that he used to see the sea as a battleground but that he is now fully present - is this that moment? Where his finally has to be still and reflect?

Pairing this frame with Izzy's line about their spirit lasting for throughout the naval/Ricky's/the british empire - perhaps this is a gesture by Ed of remembrance, to remember everyone they've lost since the clocks went off, and to not let their deaths be forgotten. Their blood washed away.

No idea. But, those are my thoughts.

[erm-you-see]

Being a long time Izzy hands enjoyer during the finale is like reading a fic but you didn’t notice the “major character death” tag until it was too late.