#here we go. a reaction post.

[quillyfied]

Okay first batch of episode thoughts that I don’t know that I can expand into real coherent thoughts so heck it we’re doing it live and cramming them together, no chronology just memory vibes, PART ONE:

- the visceral physicality of that hug on the beach. Hot.

- The way dream Ed keeps repeating phrases but trying new pet names. Additionally: the tears in Stede’s eyes when he first hears Ed calling his name

- Swede being the new husband: fair. Makes sense. Farewell, fond thoughts of unexpected dreamboat Buttons.

- I WANT TO KNOW ABOUT ED’S UNLICENSED MIDWIFERY

- Zheng Yi Sao’s reveal from soup lady to Pirate Queen. Never been another like it.

- Zheng and Auntie have a dynamic that reminds me of a much healthier and better adjusted Ed and Izzy—Auntie calls Zheng out for getting distracted by Olu but doesn’t stop her or interfere, Auntie is the harsh voice of Zheng’s orders and her enforcer with the crew but isn’t cruel, and Auntie clearly respects the hell out of Zheng and supports what she built with her piracy career, and actively helps her and is respected in turn by Zheng. Take what a captain and a first mate are supposed to be like, and bring a flavor of Stede’s people-positive management style without the naive condescension. Competent and thriving. We love to see it.

- Okay but can we get a recipe of the noodle soup bc that looked genuinely so good

- Frenchie is a cat. He’s being a cat. He’s a cAT—

- Fic writers who called bitchy teenage anger Lucius aimed at Stede, take a bow, you’re the MVPs. (And sweet sweet farewells to the many headcanons of Lucius living in the walls of the Revenge as a ghost, but girlie you did not need to be there and that’s for the best)

- Frenchie is so intelligent though. And sneaky.

- Been wondering too if Ed’s impossible bird is a reference to something existing, or something made up for the show, but keep forgetting to Google it. Keep seeing references to albatrosses, which tracks and I’m okay with letting that be the extent of it for now.

- I’m telling you, either Buttons IS the rabbit, or the whole crew is gonna THINK Buttons is the rabbit. Auntie gives him a document about transforming into animals, and in later episodes Ed is wearing Buttons’ shirt and there’s a rabbit??? Buttons has something to do with this.

- The garlic and finger crosses are deffo gonna be aimed at Ed in upcoming episodes. Can feel it. Also wondering where exactly Jim brought down the cannonball for Ed to survive it—AND ALSO HEY YALL THINK CALICO JACK SURVIVED HIS OR—

- Listen I can’t think for too long about the mermaid sequence or imma cry but SWEET LOVING GOLDFISH ;A;

- Also if they don’t make a Rick Roll joke or reference with Prince Ricky then what is the POINT of him

- Also points to us for being pretty sure he ran into Spanish Jackie; you never want to assume but when a guy shows up in this universe without a nose…

- Wondering about the symbolism of the pig in Ed’s Limbo

- Also finding grim humor in how Ed’s vision of Hornigold had to force the nutrition down his throat. Not at all metaphorical and layered.

- Black Pete being honest and not taking the shot. Go you, Black Pete. Not letting your ego talk yourself into irreparable trouble.

- I love Archie. I want more with Archie. Can’t wait for Jim to get good use out of having two hands for more than hyper competent murder. Hyper competent cuddling of their exceptional partners.

- Olu pronouncing eucalyptus. I want to bottle it for a rainy day. Also he’s so sweet the entire time they’re on Zheng’s ship. Love him. Oh captain my captain.

- And…the original rat man in the room. Izzy caring about the crew all of a sudden feels fast but tbh there’s been a time skip and Izzy is fighting an uphill battle with the consequences of his actions; I’m inclined to give the season a bit of leeway and see where it goes. Can’t get into too much detail or I’ll derail this whole thing trying to decode him and I don’t want to.

- I KNEW THE PROMO PIC OF PETE LOOKING EXCITED WAS HIM SEEING LUCIUS. I CALLED IT. IN MY MIND.

- also called that old guy in ropes was Hornigold. Nice.

- I got distracted and made another post about Ed really taking the long way around this whole suicide thing but my heart just drops every time I look at how he CHOPPED OFF THE WHEEL. THAT THING LOOKED SO SOLID. ED YOU TAKE THE AXE OUT AT THE WRONG ANGLE TOO HARD AND YOU COULD HURT YOURSELF PLENTY.

- Okay also aside for how I was NOT expecting either Ed’s prettiest babygirl look to be at his most unhinged, and I was NOT prepared for Ed shooting Izzy in the leg to be the thing that made Izzy lose the leg.

- Like seriously, I figured losing the leg was going to be a metaphor for Izzy cutting out the worst and most toxic bits of himself, the pieces literally rotting away and killing him with them, the toxic masculinity and the homophobia and the racism and such—but not quite like THAT XD and it’s way more a metaphor for him being forced to let go of his relationship with Blackbeard before it kills him, which is better and less comprehensive anyway.

- The way I flinched a mile when Ed shot him though. Just wasn’t expecting it.

- And the way Jim is sticking up for Izzy. The whole thing with them and Fang and Frenchie—I’ll put this up from one of my many failed Izzy essays, their treatment of him has nothing to do with Izzy and everything to do with them as people. Their choice to fight for a better ship atmosphere. Because love and forgiveness have fuckall to do with how much either party DESERVES those things and everything to do with whether they’re WILLING TO ACCEPT THEM. Love is redeeming and transformative but it takes work, babes.

- Izzy just happens to be the recipient of their reaching. And he might just be tenderized enough to let it start getting to him. But we will see.

- Ed’s suicidal tendencies and his will to live and hope versus his belief in his own unlovable nature has been covered so much and so much more eloquently. But it bears repeating that I knew I was going to fall in love with this show when Stede was shown to be passively suicidal, and then later Ed was too. Maybe I’ll make a fuller post about it later, but. That just means so much to me personally. And while the visceral hurt and drama of Ed’s journey is a step beyond me…I get it. I love how it was handled. Looking forward to seeing how it progresses.

- STEDE BELLYFLOPS OFF A SHIP TO GET TO ED. MY BELOVED GOLDEN RETRIEVER.

- Stede’s continual cold dismissal and refusal to engage with Izzy. Character growth. Delicious drama.

- I sincerely hope Zheng Yi Sao accomplishes her piratical takeover. And I hope some sort of truce with the Revenge can be reached, bc yeesh. What a way to get out of an admittedly not great situation with an objectively great character.

- It’s so weird bc like. It’s baseline a historical show. We know that the golden age of piracy ended and not well for the pirates. But they’re already throwing actual hard facts and reality out the window. So it makes things like a Chinese pirate taking over the Caribbean feel way more plausible. I’m excited to see what happens with the larger scope of the show as well as the smaller emotional focus.

[dukeofthomas]

"Angry robin" "violent robin" "misbehaving robin" shut up and accept my alternative; spunky Robin. Determined and head strong, can out-stubborn the Batman, has a strong moral-backbone and does what he thinks is right regardless of what anybody else says, Robin. Jason who was sassy and quippy and made crude jokes with a smile on his face. Jason who hid in Bruce's cape and whispered gossip to him. Jason who, if Bruce refused him something, could keep bothering endlessly until Bruce caved. And also dramatic Jason. If Bruce tells him no, it becomes a whole theatrical show; a monologue, a narration, embellishments, and falling onto the floor in his grief upon the fact his cruel father has denied him once again.

(Jason who has suffered through abuse and homelessness and poverty and starvation, who is the Fight out of Fight or Flight, who's built up defenses and walls and when pushed and triggered responds with the thing that's always protected him; anger. He's sweet and kind and funny, and when he sees a pimp hitting a prostitute he gets furious and responds with violence.)

[violentdelightshavevioletends]

Welp… I’m bawling like a baby… just read Chapter 36 of Fourth Wing… and I am not okay.

[licensedproldier]

brennan will really be like "is anyone gonna write six of the most tragic and fucked up teenagers in the whole world and their narrative foils having violent murderous beef with each other in a devastatingly teenage way and then tell their story through a series of unreliable narrators or" and then not wait for an answer.

[sisterdivinium]

You know, the reason why I'm sceptical over communities on Tumblr is because I think the issue is not how it was lacking in a community feature but how there seems to be a lack of a community mindframe for a lot of the userbase. There's only so much you can do when a lot of people have devolved into only ever using likes rather than actually getting in touch with others -- and there's only so much conversation you can withstand when every new addition equates to reblogging a post in full and potentially annoying your followers with "walls of text" (since, let's be real, this isn't a text-forward website)...

[aliusfrater]

[fisheito]

"makotolookinass"

the intersection of nu: carnival and free! fans that are all here because of our favorite green haired hunks (himbos?) is so funny

but it kinda makes sense given that both nu: carnival and free! are both at their core about caring about the people closest to you and prevailing internal struggles

dang , anonn, you really cut thru all the glamours of distraction

in brief contrast, i feel like a simple creature. one who was dragged into the intersection simply because i saw some dudes with Unlikely Physiques

[reallyhardy]

Sorry what’s up w the Ethan slater stuff? I know him only from your posts / SpongeBob stuff

HI HELLO please buckle in

yep -- the same guy from the spongebob musical, and my posts abut the spongebob musical.

he blew up completely and now the general public knows him as 'ariana grande's new boyfriend' - their relationship seems to have started off the back of co-starring in the upcoming wicked musical film adaptation.

it's just been like. a monkey's paw curling sort of a way for him to get catapulted to fame, as i had always really enjoyed him as a performer (as spongebob, yes, but also in the other roles i'd seen him in,) and my biggest hope back around 2017 was that he would continue in and be really successful in theatre, get a lot of broadway roles, maybe take on some existing parts i thought he'd really suit, like seymour in little shop or ogie in waitress.......... but instead he booked the role of boq from wicked in a massive hollywood film production instead, where he met ariana grande. THE ariana grande.

and then yeah. at some point, he and grande broke up with their respective partners, (slater leaving both his wife AND newborn son) jumped into a new relationship, and now the whole wider internet knows who he is but certainly not for the right reasons.

there's been speculation regarding whether or not grande and slater had cheated on their previous partners before their relationship began with various sources coming out of the woodwork saying "yes they did" and others saying "no they didn't" -- humans are all perfectly capable of making stuff up, the media especially, so i simply don't know who to trust and i admit it had completely shattered my whole good impression of him - PLUS it gave the wider internet an absolutely awful first impression of him, resulting in, yeah, the (frankly, unflattering, sometimes downright cruel) memes of him popping up on twitter and, as i discovered yesterday, in non-theatre youtubers' videos who would literally never have heard of him if not for the slater-grande romance 🥲

FULL COVERAGE of the situation as it was happening can all be found on the lovely @notasimpleslater's blog under the tag 'ozgate' if you want to delve deeper!

[rainbowtvz]

*grits teeth*

i do not want to discourse here or anywhere anymore but it does kind of affect me as a transmasc bi person when i see shit that indirectly misgenders me and implies that bisexuality is an icky no good word and identity and you have to be bi and gay and bi and lesbian and bi and straight at the same time or support them or you're an evil stinky stinky terf like... hello where am, i

[butchvamp]

the romance in this game is making me bonkers, am i the only one that feels like the triggers aren't working. the scene i just got was really just

lucanis: i never wanted you to see me like that, rook

rook: (with the biggest wettest puppy dog eyes) it's okay, lucanis.... i'm here aren't i........ i Love You.

lucanis: (no reaction. goes straight into the next conversation topic)

thanks. my rook is killing herself after that one

[snaplight-anxiety]

Rand is sooo mad that Moiraine is there it is actually so funny. Min goes “Moiraine—” and immediately he’s like UGH and goes on a rant. When he finishes his paragraph Moiraine appears with a dramatic flair like she’s been waiting for the most opportune time to insert herself from out of nowhere into their conversation. She gives him fanart of himself. He tells her to burn it. She bought it with her own money days ago and has been holding on to it. He says that having the dragon banner on full display is inviting people to kill him. She has shored up the stick it’s held on. She says people are going to be killing him anyway. He accuses her of sending a babysitter to manipulate him. She tells him that though he may be surprised to hear it not everything in her life revolves around him. She is a revered and respected figure to everyone else. He is seething every time she shows up. Min is sitting awkwardly next to them during their entire conversation.

[rainingincale]

.

[good-beans]

💖

[yesterdayiwrote]

For someone who's so thoughtful when he speaks, Lewis really does still give some absolutely terrible quotes when he's talking to journalists...

[i-am-just-a-skeleton]

aaa i dunno. more weird watercolour stuff

[rarepairnation]

i've gotten so mad about the tomato scene to such an irrational level that i've actually come all the way around the other side and decided that in a vacuum removed completely from the rest of the film denethor portrayal, that i can make it good. now i know i sound crazy but i promise i haven't been replaced with a pod person just hear me out for a moment. i just think that it COULD be the image of a father who cannot bear to think about the fact that he has lost one son already and must now send the other back out onto the field because there is no other captain who could even halfway hold the line. it isn't, but it could be. i think what i really mean is that i think adding a scene in that specific location in the narrative, structured around some of the same motifs, could add a lot to the denethor despair arc (that doesn't even exist in the film, but that is neither here nor there).

think of it as a precursor to "i have sent my son out unthanked unblessed onto the field of battle and now here he lies with poison in his veins." like it acts kind of as a midpoint between point A, them parting with harsh words/"then faramir's restraint gave way"/faramir forcing denethor into ordering him to his very possible doom and denethor not having any other choice but to do it, and point C, when faramir returns wounded/dying and he completely crumbles. where he is perhaps regretting the harshness of his words, regretting the things he has done, but in this moment he cannot allow himself to feel any of that regret at all because he has done what he needed to and that was the only choice he possible could have made, as the steward, and he has ever been only the steward with his sons. he sits here with his bread and cheese (and, fine, tomatoes) and eats because it is what he is meant to do. he is the lord of gondor; he is the one person who is indispensable to gondor (and his son(s), no matter how harsh it is, are not) and it is his duty to go on while they fight and so what else can he do but. have the afternoon meal.

and pippin is here, too, and he asks him for a song. please make it so that i do not need to think about the thing i have just done. and pippin sings edge of night, because pippin loves denethor, too, and he wants him to realize that faramir also loves him, and would not do this if he didn't love him, at least as gondor, if not as his father. he doesn't let him not think about it, but perhaps it is a plea for him to recognize the sacrifice faramir is making, and to reconcile with him, if he still can. and it could also be an honouring of his despair. that he wishes things could be different, but if they are not, at least pippin will sing of it, so that it can be remembered. he understood poor denethor a bit better or something.

and as he sings it's interspersed with scenes, rather than faramir riding towards certain doom and sacrifice, of him fighting, and winning, until he no longer can. home is behind, the world ahead - him at the rearguard of the retreating company, minas tirith so far away, fighting like hell to see at least some of his men all the way home. and there are many paths to tread - denethor, eating, but we can tell the food is the very last thing on his mind, we can tell all his mind is bent towards the retreat, that if he could carry faramir through this himself he could. through shadow, to the edge of night, until the stars are all alight - faramir turning his horse to ride back towards the nazgul even as we see the rest of the company scatter, until he faces at last a foe he cannot surmount. mist and shadow, cloud and shade - and we see that maybe denethor knows somewhere in himself what his son faces; it is the fortitude of his mind, after all, and his mastery of his horse, and the blood of numenor, that let him even think of challenging the nazgul. all shall fade - and the black breath takes him at last. all shall fade.

i think i want it to be able to be read as a condemnation of leading from the rear/sacrificing your own son for a battle you would not fight/even of just being unwilling to confront the reality of the consequences of your decisions. the very real consequences of valuing duty over love. to act as a setup for when he himself has that realization, and the way in which it breaks him. without being a complete villainization of the choices he made. this all is under the assumption of literally everything else going along with book canon denethor and faramir and inserting this into all of that. What If It Were In Character.