#and now they've literally dubbed him ship creature

[areyoudoingthis]

i understand where the anger at izzy's still coming from, but I also think what's happening is that we built a lot of expectations around him, and in the end the way the show decided to deal with him was a lot simpler and, i think, a lot more meaningful and true to the overall themes of ofmd. on the one hand, this season has been chiefly about the effects stede's "kill them with kindness" people positive management style has had in the world even in his absence (i'm writing another meta about that because it's giving me the worst brain worms) and, on the other hand, the show also went "it's not that deep" (at least where the crew's concerned.)

yes izzy sold them out to the british, but the crew didn't really experience any negative consequences from that, they were allowed to stay on the ship and go back to life as usual. and they were fine for a bit after ed came back (until izzy committed his most recent hate crime, but that was between him and ed, and it'll have to be resolved between him and ed.) he was a shit captain and they mutinied, but that's over, he doesn't have that kind of power over them anymore, and he's now broken and pathetic instead. kraken ed was their captain for longer, and in their own experience they suffered more under him, and the consequences of that time are far more fresh in their memories (i'm not saying ed was worse, just that their time with him impacted them more, because ed's self destruction was much more raw and intense and harder to process than izzy's simple and absurd brand of despotism.)

so i get why the crew needed some time away from ed while they sorted themselves out, and I also get why they banded together to help izzy. this is a group of people that's been through hell but still remembers the days when things were better, and they associate those days with stede and his ways. of course they chose to be kind. izzy was frankly pathetic, drunk and crying and clearly still unwilling to live, finally experiencing the consequences of his own actions and suffering as others have suffered from them before. and the crew took pity on him and made him a new leg, which also served as a way of bonding among themselves and working through their own trauma. they chose to follow the stede bonnet way and kill them with kindness. and for the first time in the entire show, izzy accepted a gesture of kindness with genuine emotional openness. he cried when he read the note. he put on the leg and cleaned himself up and decided to accept the place he was offered among the crew. he whittled a shark and gifted it to lucius because he was having a hard time, and he used the wildest most fucked up logic to give what was actually good advice: deal with this and move on because if you stay stuck it will destroy you. he knows all about choosing to stay stuck in fucked up situations and being destroyed.

meanwhile ed went on his own journey of self discovery and healing with stede, who of course was always going to be the person to be there for him, but also, in what was an incredibly heartwarming moment, with fang, who other than izzy is his oldest crew member and the person who's known him the longest. and ed also got kindness and emotional honesty and forgiveness from the people that matter. I'm sure he'll keep bonding with the rest of the crew in the future, since most of them have forgiven him and he's so, so eager to heal and connect with others.

does izzy still have shit to apologize for? sure, and i feel like down the line he and ed are gonna talk and figure out whatever still can be figured out. but i think as far as the crew's concerned, he's a sad little gremlin they took pity on, and as long as he stays in line they're okay with having a pet onboard from now on