#archie x jim x olu x zheng

[libertyeveningsun]

I only make textposts for Willow why am I suddenly making textposts for OFMD?

[black-stede]

okay hear me out:

bi4bi4bi4bi archie x jim x olu x zheng yi

[courtjestermerlin]

OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH | 2x07: Man on Fire

[khruschevshoe]

Why am I scared based on the summaries and that one interview in which David Jenkins talks about Olu and Jim as if they're "friendly exes" that we are not going to get poly Jim x Archie x Olu x Zheng and instead two separate couples? Bc if I was Jim Jimenez and had finally let my guard down and sought happiness and intimacy only to have it ripped away from me a few hours later and then spent months trying to fight to stay sane and alive (finding another love along the way, yes, but still missing Olu with my whole heart), then I would not fucking consider him an ex. Same from Olu's POV, having a crush on my best friend for a year, finally getting to be intimate, then having it snatched form me and worrying for months about them possibly being dead until finally finding them bloody but fucking alive. That's not an ex- that's such a goddamn amazing dynamic the writers should kiss themselves, especially if they make it poly. In this essay I will-

(Sigh. At least there's always fanfic. And a fic series about them already being written/updated at that- lemme know if anyone wants the link, it is actively rewriting my brain cells as I read!)

[hikarielizabethbloom]

I'm so here for these three + Zheng

[orions-beltloops]

what the actual FUCK is going on with Jim/Olu like what the fuck is happening. genuinely just confused you’re saying they’re not soulmates??? wtf is happening. I trust this show with my life but I’m also so concerned rn.

[squirreljc2]

I’ve been thinking about why I have mixed feelings on OFMD season 2, and I think I’ve partially figured it out?

In this season, they’ve introduced some really strong new characters like Zheng and Archie, and I love both of them. But it kinda feels like the writers don’t know how to keep new characters around with some kind of romance? I do really like Jim and Archie’s relationship, and I think they’re very adorable, but I also don’t think they needed to be a couple, at least, not yet? Jim and Oluwande were one of the best relationships in season 1. Their relationship was full of pining and missing each other and now they’re just… different. They’ve had one conversation this season that wasn’t about Zheng, and there has been no conclusion to the relationship they established in season 1 (which was explicitly mentioned by Zheng when she asks about the status of their boatmance, and there’s never a clear answer given). Archie and Jim being in a relationship is weird to me with how quickly this happened. It sorta feels like denkins heard people wanted lesbians and just sacrificed a major established relationship for a brand new nblw couple. Archie doesn’t really strike me as the relationship type from what we know about her, so her coupling just feels like a way for them to keep her around rather than a genuine move the characters would make. (She gives me the biggest aro vibes). And Zheng and Olu is just. Strange. Olu is canonically oblivious to all of her advances until right before they leave her ship, but they treat it as though he’s been pining for her this whole season. Which. Is not the case. Again, it feels like the show is pushing him towards Zheng to clear a path for Jim/Archie, and so they have a reason to keep Zheng around. The women in this show are all very strongly written, but they’re all being shoved into romances with the central crew of the ship, which is just unnecessary. They even gave Spanish Jackie a crew member husband (which again, IS A RELATIONSHIP I ENJOY). It feels as though the writers don’t feel like they can come up with a better reason for a woman to stick around besides coupling her up.

Also, I do think this season having fewer episodes is detrimental because we can’t focus as much on the non-captain part of the crew. Season one did a great job of fleshing out the crew and their backstories, but season 2 has had such a heavy focus on stede and Ed that everybody else has fallen to the wayside.

I am enjoying the season, but I do miss the ensemble-y vibe from season 1

[preciseshadow]

As we come to the end of the season and look to the future, a couple of important thoughts:

First, BE LOUD about what you want from this show! Got something you want to see in the Gentlebeard relationship arc? Talk about it! Want to see what married life looks like for Lucius and Pete? Talk about it! Want more from the Jim/Archie/Olu/Zheng polycule? Talk about it! Want to see more Fang stealing the spotlight, Frenchie running cons, Wee John in drag, and Roach’s full self care routine? Talk about it!

This is a show that loves its audience. Several of the things from this season feel like they were taken right out of fanfiction, so the more we talk about what we want, the more likely we are to see that content. It’s no guarantee, but it certainly can’t hurt.

Second, we need an outpouring of support to #renew as a crew, and that needs to include calling on Max to pour more funding into this show. Everything from the statistics show that this is a popular series. In my opinion, the biggest flaw of this season was that with 8 episodes, things felt rushed for time and some of the character development wasn't fully worked through. Jenkins deserves all the time and money to bring his vision for the 3rd season to life, and we are the ones who can call on Max to give him that. And of course, we also need to continue to support the ongoing strike efforts and respect what those mean for production of even our favorite shows. No new season without fair wages and protections for the people who make this amazing content for us.

So be loud, not only about your love for the show, but also about your favorite characters and what you want to see next. Keep re-watching episodes, call on Max to renew, and show them that this show deserves the funding for more than an 8 episode season.

Here's to an incredible season 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lady-of-the-spirit]

Praying that the season ends with both Jim and Olu in a "we have two hands" situation

[thesillydoll]

Jim was capable of letting Olu go as long as he was happy, and Olu wouldn't leave without them (+ Archie). And Zheng it's Okey with that.

Queer relationship are everything, baby.

[wingedbears]

I would like to say I totally called it with the Jim/Archie/Oluwande/Zheng polycule.

I hope they get a happy ending (also the sex would be phenomenal)

[black-stede]

after stede recovers from the heartbreak and they regroup and he sees that somehow there is peace, happiness between jim, archie, olu and zheng yi, that somehow something that should have been by society’s standards convoluted and messy and painful turned out quite lovely actually, he thinks

he thinks of ed. it’s always been ed, since the day they laid eyes on each other as stede laid bleeding out on the deck of his ship. it was ed when they crashed the party and watching the ship go up in flames and saying he wore fine things well and as he was stabbed through his stomach after not going to doggy heaven and through acts of grace. through the shaving of beards and miscommunications and backslides to old habits

it was ed when he threw love notes in bottles into the salty waves and when two women were poisoning each other and the house went up in flames and buttons turned into a fucking bird. as they celebrated calypso’s birthday and they were being tortured and when stede killed the man who hurt his crew and insulted ed. when he slammed him into the wall and ed nodded and they slept together under the fireworks. even when he left, it was still ed

except now there’s a man with a horse leg who he kind of loathed for months but now is something like a friend, a confidant even? who has trained greats and might even have something to teach stede. who slaps his ass to get him to rope swing and tells him like it is and guides him to be the captain he can be. who commiserates with him about falling in love with the same broken man. who sings as he and ed make love and congratulates them in the morning. who is there after ed leaves. who stays by him, watches over him when no one else does.

and the thing is, stede had never anticipated ed. even on his whim of piracy there was never anything beyond that. except then there was ed and maybe he is capable of love after all. and then there’s this annoying man that he doesn’t hate anymore and then ed leaves him and he is lost.

there is a way out, he knows. this can’t be the end for him and ed he is sure. except izzy is the only one at his side when he challenges zheng yi and he is grounding him when the attacks happen and suddenly if ed is his ship, izzy is his anchor. or something like that in this weird analogy he thinks up.

and then he sees archie’s arm around jim who is leaning on olu who is holding zheng yi’s hand gently and they are all covered in soot and blood and panting with exhaustion but together. he doesn’t know exactly how it will work, but apparently they do because they all seem content, happy to simple be in the others’ presences

and he thinks

and he thinks

and he lets himself hope

…

maybe this isn’t the end

maybe it’s the beginning

[cottagecoreunderscore]

Anywhere’s good enough, hook me up!

[thebasementgirl]

"Things I'd like to see in s3" part 5

The polycule being canon. I know it's implied in s2, but I want it to be official in s3. Somehow I want it to be confirmed that olu x jim x archie x zheng are in a polyamorous relationship

[kajaono]

I really hope David leaves Zheng, Jim, Olu and Archie in a polycule and do not split them up into two seperate couples

[rimbaudofficial]

Olu/Archie/Zheng/Jim fic for the Izzy Handsome winter exchange.