#calico jack meta

[warmhappycat]

Time for me to bang this drum again:

I’m pretty sure CALICO JACK IS STRAIGHT.

You wouldn’t say that a gay person having had straight sex in the past makes them less gay, right? You’re not out there saying that Stede is definitely, 100%, indisputably, canonically bisexual (as opposed to gay) for having had sex with Mary, right?

Ok. Fun fact: It works the other way too.

Jack literally said the words, “anything goes at sea.”

I guess you can headcanon whatever you want. Sure. But to be honest, I find it kind of sus when someone is like, “well if he had gay sex then he must be queer!” That’s just. Not how that works, and seems kinda… idk, I don’t want to sling accusations, but it always makes me go 🤨 Because, why? Why can you accept that the kinds of sex people engage in don’t map exactly onto their identity when the “aberrant” sex is m/f, but not when it’s same-sex? I’m not inclined to think that anyone in this fandom is consciously thinking thoughts like this, but it really smacks of “well gay sex is gross, so no one would ever do that out of convenience or whatever. The only people who’d be willing to do that, under any circumstances, are people who really, innately want it.”

Plus - to get off my soapbox and be a bit less dramatic and moralistic about it, thank you for bearing with me through that - I don’t understand why you want, narratively, for the guy who tries to break up Ed and Stede, insults Stede, says “anything goes at sea,” is mean to Ed, and then dies, to be queer.

There’s no story to be had there about a self-loathing queer person learning to accept himself. If he was a self-loathing queer person, then he was still self-loathing when he died. That just feels, mean for this show? It’s depressing. I’ve seen enough shows about gay people hating themselves for their sexuality and then dying without ever finding peace. I don’t want that in my happy pirate show.

If he was straight, however, it’s an interesting story. It would mean he was a homophobic guy who used Ed for sex and consenting to being used in return, purely out of convenience, and the implication is that Ed was getting to have the kind of sex he wanted, but for his safety, had to pretend it wasn’t what he really wanted. Isn’t that so much more interesting!? Ed has had gay sex, probably a lot of it, but he’s never been safe to admit that he wants to be having gay sex! He’s probably had to stifle the signs of his pleasure, because if his partner thought he was having too good of a time, that could be dangerous for him!

I know a lot of people don’t want to be confronted with the threat of homophobic violence in their happy pirate show. I myself just said that I don’t want to see the tragic self-loathing gay trope in my happy pirate show. But, here’s the thing, one of those things is the case with Jack. I just don’t see a third option. Either he was queer and he behaved the way he did anyway, or he was straight, and that carries the implications it carries.

Personally, I find the second option both more plausible and more hopeful. We know Ed has been through terrible, traumatic things. That’s already true; adding the implication that having gay sex with straight men carried risks of violence for him doesn’t whumpify a character who was doing great before. It does, however, add a layer of meaning to his relationship with Stede! He’s been through that, and maybe he thought that was the only kind of sexual relationship he’d ever get to have! Maybe that’s part of why he thinks he’s unloveable! He’s surely heard that there are people out there “mAKiNg LoVe,” but none of the people he’s ever wanted to have sex with have loved him. It wasn’t even a possibility, and what’s more, he couldn’t even be honest about his own attraction to them lest they hurt him. But now!! Now! He’s attracted to Stede!! And he wants to have sex with Stede!!! And he loves Stede!!!!!!!!! And Stede!!!!!!! Feels! The! Same! Way!!!!!! They’re gonna have gay sex on purpose!!!

I mean, doesn’t that just seem nicer?

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

anyway do y’all ever think abt how the straw that broke stede’s back in e8 wasn’t jack insulting his masculinity or interrupting him mid-conversation or insulting his validity as a pirate captain or fake-crying to make him look bad. stede was willing to put up with all those insults and personal jabs, no matter how much they hurt

but when jack made stede question his friendship with ed (“and maybe you don’t know him at all”). that is when stede couldn’t take it anymore. that is what made stede decide “fuck this, i can’t put up with this asshole anymore.”

that, and also the part where jack peed on him.

[ladyluscinia]

There are obviously some people not taking Edward's S2 arc very well. Or - more often - twisting it to fit into absolutely wild takes and then pretending they are taking it well while everyone else is wrong and problematic for beliefs like "S2 clearly establishes Edward was harming his entire crew in his depressive spiral and he's still in the process of making that right." One of them wrote this section from a post that I found absolutely fascinating (if also wildly off base) in the way it buys into Edward's clearly faulty POV without hesitation...

...and I really want to talk about Knife Parade now.

Because I don't think that's what's going on here, obviously.

Edward has internalized some very fucked up shit in his piracy career, a lot of it probably going back to his time with Calico Jack (and others? Fang was with him for 20 years, and Izzy "all his fucking life"?) under Captain Hornigold, aka the man who killed Felix the cabin boy by feeding him a live crab. Edward didn't really emulate Hornigold until Kraken Era because he hated the man, but we can see from how he and Jack act in 1x08 that he still developed a very skewed understanding of violence and social bonding.

And, as unpleasant as it makes him, the Edward of the past was absolutely the kind of guy to "fuck with his crew like that for shits and giggles."

Like - hold the defensiveness because this is not a one-to-one comparison - Edward describing chasing Fang around screaming and terrified as just a fun game sounds like how someone's childhood bullies would describe tormenting them. Bullies often feel like they were just joking around or just playing a game, even when the other party was clearly not having a good time. The show even invokes this with Nigel and Stede in the first episode.

And the reason bullies typically feel this way is because the social environment that they are in treats their behavior as acceptable (or fails to treat it as unacceptable because adults/other children are consciously or subconsciously designating the bullied kids as fair targets).

Edward thought chasing after Fang with a knife and shouting "come here you little fucker" was okay because he grew into adulthood in a culture where that and way worse was normal. Maybe he even got the idea watching an adult do it to someone (for likely non-playful reasons). He was probably older and/or higher ranked than Fang, in a culture where rank entirely out-ranks obligations to give a shit about someone else's feelings.

Just think about how he describes being Captain:

"Oh fuck no. Apologizing? Nah. Didn't apologize for jack shit."

The idea Edward didn't want to hurt Fang is not even on the table, because he didn't pay enough mind to the people below him to register hurting them was even a thing his "fun" actions could do. He's entirely rewritten the events in his mind.

And, again, this is a funny joke and a very understandable mindset to develop that literally no one has ever pushed back on until this moment, so good for Edward thinking back and going "oh fuck I guess Knife Parade was less Yardies and more Torturing Felix" and then immediately acknowledging that Fang has justifiable basis for beef with him. That's pretty big of him. Growth.

But "didn't care about Fang being terrified to the point he legit forgot because peer-accepted behavior" is still not quite the same thing as "genuinely didn't realize Fang was terrified" lol

[littlefingies]

I couldn't find the right gif for this, but I won't let that stop me!

I want to talk about that line from Ed in 1x08, where he tells Stede (re Jack)

You two actually have a lot in common

And I know there's been good discussion, and I know it's good for some fun sex jokes, but I had a THOUGHT this morning that I thought was really interesting!

Neither Stede nor Jack have any deference towards Blackbeard, and they're kinda the only people we've met at this point who treat him that way*. They think it's cool that he's Blackbeard, but they don't have any fear or sense of awe about him. (Critically, neither of them work for him, either.) As a result, they treat him like a person. Stede gets goofy with him and treats him gently. Jack gives him shit. And Ed doesn't have to perform Blackbeard. He lets down his guard. He's an asshole around Jack, yes - the kind of asshole he probably was as a much younger, deeply traumatized person trying to squeeze every ounce of fun out of any opportunity he got. (I know that in this instance Jack was manipulating him, but I think it worked so well because Jack was treating Ed like he always has.)

And:

Both Stede and Jack facilitate opportunities to bond with the crew. We see that Blackbeard has previously held himself separate from the crew. He has primarily communicated with them through Izzy, at first probably to keep himself safe and to create the sense of mystique, and probably due to depression later. But see my first point - Stede and Jack aren't thinking about Ed's role as Blackbeard. So Stede invites him to share ghost stories with the crew. Jack being around encourages Ed to act like he did when he was young, before he was a captain, playing drunken games and doing yardies. Ed doesn't need to be separate and in charge, he can just be some cool guy.

TLDR: When Ed tells Stede that Stede and Jack have a lot in common, what he means is

I don't have to be Blackbeard around you

*Later, we'll meet Anne and Mary, who also treat him this way; and we'll see him with Jackie, who does too. But at this point, it's only Stede and Jack.

[batsarebetterthanpeople]

Jack's thing is not that he super loves being a douchebag, his thing is that he's gone through what Ed had gone through. The same exact meat grinder that's making Ed say shit like "I'm unlovable and I don't have any friends and maybe death is a better option" is the thing that makes Jack say "pirates don't have friends we're all just in various stages of fucking each other over." And it's also the same thing that makes the crew act how they do in episodes 1.01-1.03. The show gives Jack sympathy this is not my woobification at work. They have Ed tell us that he's insecure and they have him tell the story about why he's the way that he is when they're discussing Hornigold. Jack's 15 minutes of fame fit incredibly fucking well into the overarching narrative of this show about toxic masculinity and if you can only see him as a villain rather than as a product of piracy just like Ed and Izzy and Mary and Anne and Fang, then you're missing an enormous part of both what he says about Ed and Ed's past and what he says about Stede and Stede's insecurities. That's the reason that people think Stede is having a Jack moment in 2.07, because Jack is what happens when you put Stede in the blender for long enough. You literally can't understand Jack as a character until you can imagine him and Ed as highschool aged kids getting flogged by their boss for holding hands.

You have to understand about him also that when Ed says to Stede that Stede and Jack have a lot in common because Jack comes on a bit strong at first but he's insecure, that Jack and Stede do in fact have the same insecurities about not being man enough. Think about how Stede acts when he's trying to be a real pirate and how he imagines himself in the fucking dream sequence that opens season 2 and then think about how Jack acts in his episode. Jack literally manages to trigger Stede's insecurities so bad because Jack is doing the exact same big man posturing that Stede wants to do so fucking bad. Stede at his highest manliest moment is Jack-esque.

[follows-the-bees]

One of the funniest shots in the show I feel is the standoff between CJ and Olivia. It is filmed like a Western standoff, and in true filmmaking style, the opponent is shown between the other's legs. Which means that Olivia isn't only shown between CJ's, but CJ between Olivia's.

We see this exact same style when Izzy and Stede standoff in 1x2.

And when Ed is having a standoff with himself during the kraken era.

Also, here's just some great shots of the standoff.

I've talked a lot about how Western filmmaking is used in this show. From Jim's revenge journey, to the Hornigold Crew, to it coming back during Ed's Kraken era, to the multiple standoffs.

[butch-pyrate]

Ranking OFMD characters as ouppy or kittin

[ariazureyt]

Bad luck to kill a seabird

Bad luck to kill a seabird - Our Flag Means Death

[erme-aeterna-arts]

jack rackham and the breaking of the fourth wall

(not really, but it sounds cool and you’ll see what i mean)

jack, silver and flint are the three characters most aware of the presence of the narrative. everyone else is opposing/upholding the system, the empire, their personal enemies, but these three target the narrative itself, hence all the soliloquizing about stories, narratives, names, history, art. they approach the subject very differently, but they are all very conscious about the narrative being the center of the show.

the only ones to be so, just like they were the only ones to see the wrecks of the urca with their own eyes and to know where the gold was buried later.

but i digress. jack is different from flint and silver because he also seems to be the one most aware of them all being in a prequel to treasure island, of himself being forever remembered due to a general history of the pyrates (the books itself is even shown while he finishes his speech).

jack rackham, as the real life dude, is said to have invented the jolly roger flag, which which may or may not be historically accurate (see wiki), but our jack definitely did do it and no wonder that it was him (jack: a story is true, a story is untrue, they said i made this flag, so yeah it was i).

the process of the creation of this flag is carried out from s2 till s4, which is a lot of time and signifies it as incredibly important.

in s2:

JACK: We all have the same swords out there. We all have the same guns. But, great art, has felled empires, and therein lies all the difference.

FEATHERSTONE: I don't, understand what that means.

JACK: No, but I do. So not to worry.

in s4:

JACK: A story is true. A story is untrue. As time extends it matters less and less. The stories we want to believe... Those are the ones that survive, despite upheaval and transition, and progress. Those are the stories that shape history. And then what does it matter if it was true when it was born? It's found truth in its maturity... Because what's it all for if it goes unremembered? It's the art that leaves the mark. But to leave it, it must transcend. It must speak for itself. It must be true.

i think, actually, this is the most and probably the only hopeful point in the finale, that reminds us that all that was not actually for nothing. we keep talking about the characters being doomed by the narrative, about the promised revolution that did not happen, because it was not supposed to happen, because we know the history and we know that the events of treasure island are meant to come to pass after we say our goodbyes to the black sails. but every story about stories is very aware that it is, in fact, a story. jack is the one who carries the knowledge that he is talking to us, the audience (hence the title of this post…), and i mean who else could he be talking to since most of the time on-screen characters tend to not listen to his rants and not understand what he refers to (because he says not for them, but for us!). and the fact that we are watching a show about queer people, about people resisting colonialism and deconstructing the very idea of the empire, is the proof that silver may have cancelled the revolution, but the pirates still have won.

we and everyone before us loved these stories. and if one spends enough time with these stories, enough time with the pirates, they might just start asking the right questions. like abigail ashe did, by the way. and that’s the only way for the world to know the truth.

and for that you indeed need to be remembered, to leave a reminder, a notion to all that you’ve been there. that we’ve been here. and always will be.

and jack was the one who understood that.

[edslacefront]

I want to hear that conversation between Izzy and Calico Jack so bad like how did he phrase "hey so I'm sicking the British on this fag who managed to become our Ex's new boy toy will u go get him out of there pls"

But no deadass I'm so curious about their dynamic actually god I want to see Captain Hornigolds crew back in the day so bad getting ungodly levels of wasted and commiting heinous crimes and having gross gay sex sorry

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

calico jack sympathy is a very rich vein for emotional ed whump btw. not saying anyone needs to sympathize with jack at all bc he DOES suck and personally idc enough abt jack to sympathize with him for his own sake, but there is actually textual support for a sympathetic cj read. canonically he has the same traumatic pirate background as ed and the two of them went through a rlly rough time together. we have direct support from the show that jack’s rejection of anything “soft” or “weak” comes from hornigold—the very first mention of hornigold in the entire show is when jack sees the breakfast table set for ed and stede and starts teasing ed for it with “just the two of you? hornigold would shit himself.” plus ed tells stede “jack’s always been emotional” and “he can come on a bit strong but he’s insecure” which strongly implies that ed has seen a side of jack that we don’t get to see in the one episode where he shows up. it’s a side that very well might be completely gone now that jack’s a grown adult man but to me it runs counter to the text to claim that ed’s assessment of jack is completely wrong and this vulnerable side of jack never existed in the first place.

so anyway one possible angle here for sympathizing with jack as a vessel for whumping poor ed’s heart is the tragedy of two kids going through something awful together and not being able to count on each other during the whole experience. being trapped in a physically and emotionally abusive environment together and empathizing when the captain singles one of them out bc they know firsthand what it feels like to be on the receiving end of hornigold’s ire, but at the same time they’re not able to ask each other for support bc what if they use that vulnerability, that plea for comfort, as a weapon against you? what if you try to offer them support and comfort and they push you away? what if, when you DO rely on each other for support, your captain sees that bond and uses it to torture you both even further?

and what do you do if you both comfort each other, you both take care of each other, and then one of you fucking dies? because that’s how it goes—most of the pirates ed knows are dead, a pirate’s life is short but nice, the only retirement they get is death, you’re not likely to avoid near-death experiences in their line of work, heading towards a raid with the one hope being that a certain death ain’t slow. and it’s not just raids, either: your captain might have you keelhauled for a minor offense, might starve you for a week if you laugh at him during a speech, might feed you a live crab for nicking some rations, or maybe a disagreement with another crew member could turn into bloodshed. maybe someone will push you overboard for shits and giggles. what do you if you’ve found comfort with a crewmate, and then that crewmate dies? how do you cope? you’re probably better off not letting yourself care for anyone, rejecting people’s pleas for support or intimacy or friendship, because it’ll hurt less when they inevitably end up dying horrifically just like everyone else you’ve ever cared about.

and then the other big ed whump angle here is watching someone you know experience horrific trauma with not only fail to process the trauma in a healthy way but also become a worse person as a result of it. like ed knowing firsthand just how awful everything jack experienced was and remembering exactly what it looked like every time hornigold beat the spirit out of jack when he was ultimately just a vulnerable kid. ed hearing jack say some toxic macho bullshit and knowing exactly where jack learned that and how much it hurt for 20-something-year-old jack to absorb that lesson—and more than that, ed remembering when he used to believe that exact sort of toxic shit. and ed feeling like he can’t hold it against jack if he doesn’t grow bc he sees so many similarities between him and jack, and the only reason he was able to heal and become a better person is bc he met stede—and it’s not like stede was the only person in the whole world ed could’ve connected with, he had an entire ship full of kindhearted doofuses ready to offer him emotional support and he betrayed all of them because the recent back-to-back backstabbing compounded on a lifetime of trauma and made it impossible for ed to trust them. how can ed blame jack for rejecting opportunities to heal when ed did the same thing? when he can remember watching firsthand as years of abuse caused jack to gradually close himself off, the worst part of it being that it was like watching his own reflection as he also hardened under the pressure of just trying to survive another fucking day? how can ed judge jack, when jack is who he might’ve been if he’d never met stede?

[ladyluscinia]

Izzy Hands Is Manipulative, But Not That Way

...or I finally finish that long ass meta post about why I love the fucking Navy Plot lol

The Izzy manipulation debate has been really interesting to me pretty much since it started, because I'd see a post arguing he's manipulating Edward and go "No, and he couldn't if he tried" and then the next post would say he sucks at manipulation because he's a blunt fucking instrument and I'd go "Yea- wait. Hmm. No, he can be targeted and tricky as fuck." Which does, on its surface, seem like a contradictory stance, but I swear it works.

Because the thing with Izzy - and this is such a fun thing imo - is there are two core types of manipulation that characters engage in, and Izzy fucking sucks at the one you expect his style of antagonist to focus on. But he's scarily good at the other.

Long meta under the cut, so get comfy.

...

From his role under Edward to the protagonist vs antagonist dynamic setup to his introduction scenes, Izzy is very much invoking the conniving second in command. We know this character from other media. He doesn't have the full power he wants so he's constantly scheming to get it. He can't or won't challenge his boss for some reason, so he settles for being the devil on their shoulder or working behind their back. He's the voice constantly ready to inflame insecurities and turn relationship cracks into chasms, and usually he's lying constantly to do so. His fingerprints are all over his boss's problems up to the moment they show some weakness, and then their loyal second goes right for the backstab. He is THE ambitious manipulator. The shady advisor. The snake.

And then you actually look at Izzy and he is not that guy. In fact, it's a testament to the strength of Edward's character arc how much his evil little henchman is not causing his problems.

So - Izzy and manipulation:

Izzy Can't Convince People To Do Things

Like. He really can't.

This interpersonal struggle is fairly fundamental to his character. And moreover, it's a skill that Izzy is intensely aware that he lacks, so usually he doesn't even try.

In his first episode he walks right up to Buttons and just straight up asks him for the information on his party. He doesn't even resolve to steal the hostages until he realizes that Stede has lost them in the bush already, and Izzy obtains them by buying them. When Stede confronts him they end up splitting the pair in a very above-board negotiation and he pretty much just goes with what Stede suggests.

Then in 1x03, people make a big deal of Izzy "manipulating" Edward by not clarifying that Stede didn't know who he was when he turned down the invite, but kind of importantly he repeats the damning line of the conversation faithfully. If he was going to lie, then why not lie? Why even go see Stede at all? And, if he didn't want Stede dead until after the conversation (understandable, tbh, since "Iggy" was stab-worthy), surely he could invent a better insult to rile Edward up. It makes his omission hit more like being bitchy about Stede not recognizing the obvious - namely that Izzy Hands works for Blackbeard and literally everyone knows this - than a slander campaign to get him killed. And once we properly meet Izzy and Edward in 1x04, Izzy's inability to manipulate becomes his main struggle.

Izzy's a blunt and direct person. He leans on authority bestowed by Blackbeard to take control of situations, playing the role he's supposed to play, and without it he lacks a Plan B. In 1x04 he doesn't have any authority over Edward, so his efforts to get him to take the danger of the Spanish seriously amount to "Well as bored as you might be, if you don't make a decision soon we're gonna fucking die." And this is true! There might be a very subconscious attempt at manipulation in his resignation speech before the "That's Blackbeard. I'm Stede, remember?" line - of the piss him off to get him to get his shit together variety - but Edward literally makes a joke out of it so not exactly effective.

And once Edward stops giving Izzy authority in general, his plan to make Lucius do stuff is still just... brute force. Which works at first when Lucius doesn't realize that Izzy's on his own now, and stops working as soon as Fang breaks ranks. His last ditch blackmail attempt isn't manipulative either - he just plans to tell the truth to Pete and assumes he'll be pissed about it. My guy loses a fight over the pirate equivalent of making an uppity employee clean the coffee maker while the boss is out. Not only does he fail to manipulate the crew in a conniving antagonist way... he doesn't even try.

I mean, the only time he (somewhat) succeeds in talking someone into things is 1x06. Getting Edward to agree to killing Stede isn't really manipulation - Izzy gets Fang and Ivan to back him in a very straightforward way because they all actually do have a stake in this - but he's passably able to push Stede to go through with the fuckery via fake compliments. It's not exactly high level work, though. Stede being vulnerable to ego-stroking / dares is pretty obvious.

So what is Izzy good at?

Well, if you can't make people do anything other than what they were going to do in the first place, you might as well lean into that.

...

Izzy Manipulates Situations, Not People

Situational manipulation is one of those fictional tropes that rarely can happen in real life, but there's not much resemblance because real life rarely gives you all the building blocks for a proper gambit and lets you loose. Too many factors. In narratives, though? It becomes one of my favorite ways of having a character be clever.

And before I get into this too much, a really fun sidenote - I think Izzy does situational manipulation more like the way protagonists do it. See, antagonists are usually emotionally and situationally manipulative (ex: provoking the hero to lash out and using it to frame them for a bigger crime), but it's not a good look when your hero drives the target to do something bad and then punishes them for it. So heroes lean on stuff like Batman Gambits - where the lynchpin of the scheme is the target fucking themselves over by behaving completely in character. They've written Izzy so ineffective at emotional manipulation that he pretty much has to rely on other characters' flaws or histories to cause problems, which has a very similar result. And it's wild.

...

Going back to the 1x03 confrontation in Jackie's bar, Izzy doesn't really do anything abnormal in how he conducts himself, but people are picking up on an agenda for a reason. Namely, the whole damn conversation quickly turns into a trap, and Izzy fully sits back and watches Stede spring it from sheer idiocy.

There's no indication that when Izzy walked up he wasn't going to carry out his task with all the bitchy professionalism expected of him, while probably hoping that Stede would eventually stick his foot in his mouth without Izzy's help (assuming he's the kind of idiot Izzy thinks he is). His first section of this conversation is nearly polite:

Izzy (about the Nose Jar): "I have a few colleagues in there." Stede: "Ugh. You again." Geraldo: "Mr. Hands, welcome. It's been a while." Izzy: "(To Geraldo) Yeah, because I hate this fucking place. (To Stede) But for some inexplicable reason, my boss would like a word with you. Bonnet."

It's not until Stede starts talking that I think Izzy clues in that Stede doesn't actually know who his boss is. He didn't introduce himself until the literal last second of their 1x02 interaction, so it wasn't obvious Stede wasn't literally bolting into the forest in horrified realization.

And Stede? He goes hard on being a bitch right out the gate. Brushes Izzy off, tells him to "get in line", calls him the wrong name, says he doesn't care who Izzy is...

Izzy so far has met Stede in a public place, in front of people who clearly treat Izzy with respect and fear. He doesn't bring up their previous interaction, Stede does. He doesn't even goad Stede beyond existing. He corrects him on his name, and watches it not register in the slightest. The next line is the clincher:

Izzy (slightly incredulous): "So I'll tell my Captain that you're declining then, yeah?"

As Izzy is speaking the conversation becomes a trap - he chooses a reasonable way to refer to Edward that isn't "Blackbeard" and waits to see if Stede will make this worse. The jump from "no I'm busy" to "tell him he has terrible taste in flunkies and he can go suck eggs in Hell" is all Stede, completely ignoring context clues as Geraldo stares on in horror. Hell, Jackie only refrains from later de-nosing Stede on the spot because Geraldo knows what's up, and Stede still doesn't pick up on the fact he should maybe be asking some questions (though I'll give him the knife was distracting).

Izzy returns to the ship, quotes Stede directly for his damning line, and waits to see what Edward will do with it. It's not good behavior on his part (and if he could have seen the future he might have tried worse), but switching mid-conversation to offering Stede an opportunity to fuck himself over is a very different mindset than simply lying to / provoking Stede or Edward to get what he wants. He's mostly being petty.

Stede did insult Edward of his own volition, after all, and just because Izzy fudges the truth to hide he didn't know he was insulting Blackbeard instead of just Izzy and a random stranger doesn't change that. All Izzy did to "escalate" that conversation was give Stede a second opening to do so himself.

But there is a far better example of Izzy masterfully manipulating a situation than this in-the-moment bit of pettiness, so let's move onto my favorite bit... explaining in extensive and slightly awestruck detail why the Navy plot. Fucking. Rules. Because it does. Ready?

...

How to Mastermind the Decisive Removal of One Stupid Fucking Stede Bonnet Over Drinks

Ahem. The Navy plot. Masterclass in intimate betrayal. Izzy's biggest escalation in the total collapse of Edward and Izzy's relationship, but also a completely fucking fascinating glimpse into whatever tangled web of codependency they've got going on, because Edward isn't even mad after 1x09. This wordcount is going to be insane enough without me getting into the Blackhands relationship connotations, so I will... attempt... to stick to breaking down the actual scheme.

And what a scheme it was.

Let's start at the beginning. Jack showing up to lure them into the trap at the start of 1x08? Nope, earlier. Izzy getting kicked off the ship and going to Jackie at the end of 1x06? Further back. Edward proposing the "kill Stede" plan at the end of 1x04, which is the domino that starts all this, right? Closer, but still no.

Izzy's first appearance on screen is in episode 1x02, and that episode is where the seeds of the Navy plot are first planted. See, during Stede's confrontation with Izzy, both of the hostages chime in:

Hostage 1 (Wellington): "Believe him, he's quite insane." Hostage 2 (Hornberry): "He does have the eyes of a madman. Sorry, you do."

Wellington says his line in a tone of voice that clearly indicates a story to tell, and it should also be noted that he is the same one who earlier jumped at the chance to tell the tribe chief about Stede murdering their captain - Nigel. And he's the one that Izzy leaves with, in a sour mood and wanting information about this "Stede Bonnet" character.

When Izzy later reaches out to the Navy, it's no coincidence that he finds Chauncey. He's known since right after their first meeting that Stede was directly responsible for the murder of an Admiral's brother and that the English Navy would know soon enough, since he was literally about to ransom a hostage back to them who would tell the story. And he filed that information away until it was useful or relevant like a clever pirate should.

Moving on to Jackie's bar in 1x03, Izzy gets more potentially useful observations / inspiration. Jackie is actually the first person in the series to make a deal with a naval power. Izzy and crew track the Revenge to the Spanish warship, which means they must see Geraldo sold out Stede to them. Izzy isn't stupid. He knows Geraldo and Spanish Jackie, knows that she's the brains and brawn behind this deal, and has seen enough of Stede that he'd absolutely believe that he did something to get Jackie pissed enough to plot his murder. File away Jackie wants Stede dead and details of how she nearly succeeded in offing him for later.

Izzy spends 1x05 up to the fuckery demonstration observing Stede's crew while waiting for Edward to pull the trigger. I definitely want to note the scene where they interrogate the Frenchman at the beginning of 1x05, because Izzy is staring directly at Stede as he leans away from Edward threatening violence (we know this will later be in his love montage so not actually a turn off, lol, but like... it looked like one). His opinion of the crew is that they like to fuck around without structure (1x05 during the party), probably that they enjoy more standard pirate levels of violence (not shown directly since they are kept out of the 1x05 raid, but fairly obvious), and that they are really easily awestruck by the chance to hear "real pirates" tell charismatic stories (1x06 ghost story).

Any of that sounding like someone we know?

And now to go back to Izzy in 1x06, when he gets sick of Edward being cagey about the plan to kill Stede and decides to "make" him stop stalling, he's straightforward again. Getting Ivan and Fang to back him isn't emotionally manipulative, but it does give him weight in the conversation. They are the ones who bring up the whole "love of a pet makes a man weak" thing, and they do it in the context of calling out hypocrisy. Izzy knows the standards Edward holds his crew to. He lets them convince Edward it's time.

Taking the chance to suggest Stede try a fuckery is a strong blend of situational and emotional manipulation, and later challenging him to a formal duel knowing he'd be overconfident enough to accept is more situational again. Even the terms of the duel are designed to take advantage of the situation. And then Izzy loses in the most comedy way possible, Edward lets him get banished, and Izzy decides that if he was ok with just sending Stede Bonnet on his way to fuck-off before... he's fucking gonna kill him now.

My guy is not a creative thinker, but he's definitely a logistical one. And as he rows away from that ship, all the pieces fall into place.

First, Spanish Jackie. Who listens to him bemoan his relationship woes because she likes him (Izzy gets Jackie in the divorce). Who wants Stede dead and has the clout to summon and deal with a distasteful ally - Chauncey. Together, they concoct an arrangement where a trap will be set and Chauncey gets Stede and only Stede. This isn't a tip-off or a free-for-all. Stede comes from Chauncey's world and they are sending him back. Permanently.

Then it's time for the trap itself, which needs to do two things: get the Revenge somewhere that Chauncey can corner it, and get Edward out of there. And Izzy? Izzy knows Edward. Knows there's one particular person in his past that will have no trouble integrating with the crew, getting Edward to act more like a pirate than a gentleman, and who happens to have a great ambush location on hand.

I've said this before but I'm gonna say it again - I don't think outside characters realize how hard and fast Edward is falling for Stede. The BlackBonnet bonding moments happen almost exclusively when they are alone. The place Izzy dramatically fails to manipulate the situation is not having the evidence he would need to predict Edward going back for Stede. He (and Jack) both think that a precise wedge between BlackBonnet - one that Jack delivers near flawlessly by playing into real issues - will be enough to remind Edward that Stede isn't his people. This isn't a plan to murder the love of Edward's life while his back is turned. It's a plan to get rid of Stede, and remind Edward why he was on board with doing that in the first place. "That's fair," Izzy says about a punch to the face.

Instead, Izzy's plot accidentally backs Edward into a corner and forces him to publicly pull a grand-gesture relationship level-up that he was not emotionally ready for, and the fallout from that explosion is way worse than any of our conspirators were counting on.

Still... you gotta admit. It was a really good plan.

[sarucane]

Fragile Stories, Strong Stories in "We Gull Way Back": OFMD Meta Analysis

By episode 8 of S1, the stories on the Revenge have nearly fallen apart again and again. The crew plotted mutiny in the first episode; Ed planned to kill Stede in ep 4, changed his mind in ep 6--but still stood by while Izzy tried to go through with the plan--and was considering leaving in ep 7; Stede's actual skills as a pirate captain haven't exactly improved; Jim left in ep 7, leaving the Revenge without its most skilled fighter. And all this begs the question: how strong are the stories that bind these characters, anyway?

Calico Jack sets out to test exactly this. Jack uses stories as a weapons. He manipulates people's emotions,

he sidles in and tricks people into wanting to tell a certain story with him

and uses stories to separate people from each other.

And Jack's good at it. He's charming and fun. He fits into the pirate world in a way that Stede never will. Everyone wants to play his games with them, and no one wants to tell him "no."

Since Stede is the pillar at the center of the Revenge's story, it makes sense that just about everything Jack does is designed to undermine him. He immediately senses Stede's weak spot--he's not 'masculine' enough for the pirate world--and attacks it, calling Stede "the big gal." He repeatedly gets Stede's name wrong on purpose, he pretends fragility when called out on his bullshit, he wraps people up in games and booze so they don't notice just how toxic he is until it's too late.

And he does all this indirectly, by building a story around Stede and manipulating others to fill in the gaps.

Jack has actual conversations with Stede only twice. Both of those conversations have the same goal: drive a wedge between Stede and Ed by showing just how fragile the story Ed's told Stede--and by extension, the story Ed and Stede are telling together--really is.

When Jack tells the story of Ed setting the ship on fire, even he doesn't realize what he's exposing.

Ed's story to Stede about not having killed a man since is father? It's just a story. It's semantics, a split hair that lets Ed tell himself a certain story about himself. Ed's constantly telling stories about himself or acting out stories told by others about him, and even he doesn't really know which of these stories are true and which are false. He barely understands who he is, let alone what stories he wants to be telling. So, extending that logic, is the story he told Stede about not killing anyone as fragile as the story he and Stede have been telling together?

For Stede, the answer to this is actually no. Stede trusts Ed and Ed's 'strength,' rather more than he should sometimes. And Stede's opinion of Ed doesn't actually change after the story of the burned ship.

Jack's ideal outcome would probably have been for Stede to be the one who broke up with Ed. But although he does hone in on a failure of communication between Stede and Ed (one of MANY...and for that manner, a failure of Ed's self-awareness), he doesn't actually succeed in disrupting their relationship over breakfast.

But the second time Jack has a conversation with Stede, he does succeed. He rattles Stede with his talk of "dalliances," of careless sexual relationships, directly implying that any bond Stede thinks he's developed with Ed is fleeting. And then he says the quiet part out loud: Ed isn't who you think he is.

Stede doesn't really get what's going on here, but he knows he doesn't like it. So, he retreats. He tries to go back to the ship without talking to Ed at all. When he does try to explain why he's leaving, he plays into Ed's narrative that Stede and he don't belong in each other's lives.

Stede does well telling Ed how he feels, but he makes a mistake when he tells Ed he doesn't like who Ed is right now. He's openly doing the same thing Jack's been subtly doing: telling Ed "this is who you are." Stede means it as "this is who you are in this situation," but Ed isn't aware of the fragility of his own identity. Or of how much he's changed since his time with Jack.

So here Ed is again, with the idea that he's "a certain kind of person," and there's nothing to be done about it.

And then, everyone gets tested. A point of fragility is exposed, a vulnerability is attacked and destroyed.

And then everyone has to decide how they'll react. Whether they'll tell Jack's story, or their own.

Most of the crew gets through the test. Buttons holds to his truth, keeping glaring at Jack until he's off the ship. Stede gives Jack the boot, to the protest of absolutely no one. The crew don't even think about taking Jack's bait of mutiny when he asks them to come along.

Not so long ago, Stede wouldn't have been able to be this assertive. He would have bullshitted and made a speech, he would have wavered under Jack's glare. And the crew who first got on the Revenge wouldn't have been upset by the killing of a bird. They've changed. Their stories are strong enough to get them through this test.

But Ed fails.

For Ed, Jack's stories have given him a simple, easy, and narrative to regress into: he's a certain kind of person, who doesn't belong on the Revenge. His and Stede's relationship was always fragile and doomed. After all, it was based on pretense and lies.

And at the same time, another fragile story is being exposed. Back at Jackie's, Jim is facing the fact that the monsters of their childhood weren't exactly 'monsters.' those men were dumbass bastards, and if they keep chasing each murderer down they'll wind up as worn down as Jackie. And Jim doesn't really even want to be telling this story, either.

Back at Blind Man's Cover, Ed is faced with a bit of whiplash. He thinks he's here because this is the 'strong' story, this is who he really is. But he only went with Jack after an emotional appeal!

The next morning, Ed's clearly unhappy with what's happened. Because like Jim, Ed doesn't want to tell this story. And after an episode of yes-anding Jack, of protesting an then complying, he finally finds his limit when Jack suggests killing Lucius to steal his stuff.

Ed doesn't want to drink his breakfast, engage in careless murder, or treat his relationship with Stede as just another 'dalliance.' So it's not all that big of a surprise when Ed turns against Jack. Because the most important thing turns out not to be whether a story is strong or fragile. It's whether the tellers want to keep telling it.

And Ed finds that he wants to keep telling his story with Stede. That makes their story strong--and it makes Ed strong. Strong enough to face the biggest risk of his life, and go back to the ship without a clue what'll happen next.

And Ed's not the only one with an unexpectedly strong story. Button's madness turns out to have been truth. And his hex is stronger than anyone expected.

It's Jack's stories that turned out to be fragile. The ones that were true were shallow, and the ones that seemed 'strong' were lies that fell quickly away.

The episode ends with the crew captured, the English triumphant. But for now, at least, the chain isn't broken. And that means the stories are still being told.

[extraterrestrialechos]

I have watched Episode 8 possibly more than any other episode and it's so vital what Jack's saying and what he thinks he's doing, which is completely centered around pointing out Stede's from outside their world and pointing out Ed he's wallowing in unsustainable excess.

Jack: Just for the two of you, huh? Hornigold'd shit himself.

Jack: That's a real pirate! Not like one of these store-bought types.

We're soon provided the information Jack genuinely believes he's been acting with Ed's full support and consent since back at the dramatics on deck.

Jack fully believes he shook Ed out of whatever weird, seemingly uncharacteristic funk Ed has gotten into.

Jack: Best thing that could've happened to you, if you ask me. Like when I heard that you'd shacked up with him, I said... Ed: Where'd you hear that? You didn't just happen upon us, did you, Jack? Jack: Took you long enough. The old Blackbeard woulda seen me comin' a mile away.

Jack: I figured you were on to me when I lured you to Blind Man's Cove, seeing as its distinguishing feature is that... Ed: It's impossible to make an escape.

Ed, otoh, had a good reason to want to show Jack, who he cared about, they could both be a part of Stede’s love in — he wanted to believe that there was room for Jack in muppet land, and a different future for both of them than they’d ever imagined.

That was so far from Jack’s reality he never conceived it was happening and believed they were co-conspirators in a completely different series of events from the one Ed was living.

Chauncey makes a similar point to Jack's in the next episode:

Chauncey: I'm afraid the offer doesn't extend to you, Bonnet. After all, the King was only referring to real pirates. He's from my world, not yours.

That Stede isn't part of the fabric of that world is pivotal to the thrust of the thing, because it's not just about Ed and Stede. The crew, who Oluwande assured in the first episode would come to kill Stede next if he didn't say he killed Nigel on purpose, and who'd all just reassured Jack would probably still mutiny on Stede in the future, decide at this moment that Stede, admittedly a work in progress, is worth standing up for.

And shortly after, Ed chooses to give up everything he's worked so hard his whole life for, a career and huge prestige and "more riches than you can shake a fucking stick at," to go into an unknown, barefaced future with Stede.

Despite Jack not believing Ed would throw away what he built from nothing, what they were stabbed and ground down to nothing and treated like dogs for a chance to aspire to, despite that Episode 8 exists to let Ed see the risk he's taking.

Throughout, Izzy builds up reminders of the bonds he forged with crewmen who believe in the him he chose to show them that he has to choose to separate from:

Ed: No, Izzy, we're not doing this. Izzy: No, you're not doin' this, so I must.

Izzy: Remember though, you said when you made me first mate, "Above all else is loyalty to your Captain." You're my captain, and I was never gonna stand by and let you destroy yourself for that... twat.

Izzy fully believes throughout he is doing what Ed (who at the start of this had repeatedly, disturbingly expressed suicidal ideation in Episode 4 leaving us with two long shots of Izzy standing stunned and shaken after he walks out) pledged him to do. To hold the outfit together and keep Ed's reputation secure.

There's nothing nefarious about the sad henchman sitting in prolonged denial.

Izzy: The plan is very much alive. He promised me.

But Fang and Ivan have now seen through the thing, too, and so they remind Ed of the sacrifices they've made to be a part of this outfit the three together. And still Izzy is careful not to speak in front of them when he offers to help secure their normal,

Izzy: I'll happily end it.

We can assume here, and when Ed couldn't do it and Izzy steps in, that what Izzy knows after all these years is Ed doesn't kill people face to face. How many other people has he dispatched to shore up the occasional slack for the continued honor of sailing with the most brilliant sailor he's ever met?

It is my strong opinion that diminishing these character’s belief in the Ed they’ve known for years and the loyalty they display diminishes the enormity of the choices we see Ed make and risks he taking putting his life and heart in Stede’s hands.

These are men he chose to forge bonds with through his own actions, and the resistance to change they put up comes out of having traveled well worn paths with the Ed who made himself king of the ocean who is suddenly exhibiting erratic and, to them, totally unprecedented behavior.

Ed returns to an Izzy whose faith is at last broken, and swiftly and expertly resecures his place of power. Even devastated himself that his start at a different life a part of him privately yearned for left him so completely bereft.

[been-around-seen-things]

Can’t-win-for-losing Stede

I keep thinking about how, in s1 ep8, Ed takes off with Calico Jack, toxic masculinity poster boy himself, after CJ reminds him that he saved his life. Stede is left behind in the breakup robe, tears in his eyes.

And then in s2, Stede starts embodying the toxic masculine traits he never had access to before. Ed thanks him at the start of ep 7 for saving his life. And then Ed leaves anyway.

Ouch.

Yes, both Stede and Ed have a lot to learn, and they’ll eventually be okay. Yes, toxic masculinity is bad for everybody, and Ed isn’t wrong that this isn’t Stede at his best.

But still. Ow.

[butch-pyrate]

OFMD weed consumption method.