#izzy is assumed to have the authority of blackbeard behind him and treated accordingly

[ladyluscinia]

I've been thinking about whether Izzy is manipulative - yes and no, still pondering - and that led to how Izzy interacts with others, and then trying to suss out how Izzy functioned as a First Mate at all. So thoughts I've had:

First and foremost, in command Izzy functions as part of the Edward-and-Izzy unit (aka Blackbeard). He's not equipped to function on his own, but neither is Edward. The difference is that Edward can hide that fact for longer because he's the one with the instant charisma whose issues trip him up later, while Izzy cannot take control of a situation for the life of him but probably doesn't suck once he has it and a clear goal. This is, I think, the root of why Izzy struggles so much on the Revenge. Edward effectively abdicates his role as unquestioned top of the hierarchy, which cuts Izzy off from the source of his authority.

And while Edward can keep riding charisma / the Blackbeard mythos / his relationship with Stede to stay on top anyway, Izzy is left to fend for himself in his personal hell.

Izzy is small, and loud, and mean. He wants people to do shit because he tells them to and he knows what he's doing, but he has zero patience to actually persuade people of this. He dresses like a goth businessman which is very professional and also really not that scary. No badass scars or huge visible tattoos. His only real ability to enforce his will is with a sword - usually overkill and counterproductive - or with the threat of punishment - toothless against Stede's crew because they know the Captain won't back him.

Basically he needs people to respect him, but they are immediately primed not to due to all his Izzy-ness, and the very laidback and consequence free situation in the show deprives him of any method of proving his worth. (Worth he hasn't had to prove in fucking forever because he's fucking Izzy Hands, right hand man to Blackbeard!)

So what would Izzy be like in a different situation? Like aboard the Queen Anne?

Well Izzy is kind of a shit manager of people no matter what, but I think an established hierarchy would help him a lot. No one is going to love Izzy, but if they have to obey him, then they are more or less forced to observe that he's a dick who knows what he's doing instead of just a dick. Then suddenly there's a reason to put up with him. Also in a stricter hierarchy he probably wouldn't have to directly manage or interact with everyone. People have pointed out that Izzy doesn't do work himself, but "delegator of tasks" is a job of its own once the sphere is big enough. And often the overall delegator has smaller "team lead" style workers below him - people who do work but also can be in charge of making sure a bigger task gets done.

Izzy probably didn't interact with the base labor force on the Queen Anne beyond a knowledge of who's who. He'd just know a small group of guys he considered competent and reliable, and then assign everyone else to them. After all, Izzy doesn't have to personally check every sail stitch. He just needs to know William won't let anybody else on sail duty fuck up, and be satisfied with what he sees when he passes by.

And Izzy is a lot nicer when he doesn't think people are fucking up!

In episode 4, the main notably not-dickish interaction is when Buttons spots the Spanish and shows them to Izzy (aka does his job). Izzy gets pissed but doesn't take it out on Buttons at all. Just runs to tell Edward because that's the chain of command. Buttons -> Izzy -> Edward. This is because Izzy, for all his dickishness, is not a sadist (and really good that he's not, because it's the main thing keeping his management style functional). He doesn't punish people for the sake of punishing them or for shit they can't control. Still not great at positive reinforcement, but you can absolutely have a "good" working relationship with a boss who ignores you as long as you do what you're supposed to.

(And now we're back to Edward-and-Izzy as a unit, because Edward is great for the morale boosting that Izzy can't provide, and Izzy can just work on keeping Edward happy and the crew neutral but functioning when he isn't. Still not easy, but at least possible for him to succeed at.)

This theory is also somewhat backed up by Fang and Ivan, who seem to fall in Izzy's category of "competent and reliable" crew. Other than yanking on Fang's beard - which was a deliberate reminder of hierarchy and light punishment for questioning Edward - he seems to have great faith they will do what they are told without micromanaging and he effectively promotes them to the task of managing Stede's crew in the absence of clear leaders. Unfortunately, Fang and Ivan both fall into the muppetverse and simultaneously realize Edward won't enforce Izzy's authority on them either. They don't seem to hate Izzy, but they aren't inclined to defend him. Not a great trait in the only muscle he has to lean on.

In the end, I can see how Izzy's whole deal would work in a system that he was already integrated into. If you are a new sailor on Blackbeard's crew then the First Mate is a dick, yeah, but he doesn't talk to you. The Captain trusts him implicitly, everyone knows better than to openly disrespect him, and the senior crew who you report to have an established professional rapport with him. And then he leads a raiding party and you go "Oh shit this guy is so good at murder" right before he pays you a lot of money.

Whereas if you are Lucius, this small angry man follows Blackbeard onto your ship to rescue your Captain out of nowhere, spends a day getting increasingly anxious as his Captain ignores him and really shatters the terrifying myth of Blackbeard, moves onto your ship but isn't really given any authority over you, and then yells a bunch. He can kill people, yeah, but you don't have any particular knowledge of or respect for that skill, and you have no reason to think he's allowed to kill you. He's just a dick trying to force you to respect him, and you are Lucius and live to be a bitch right back.

No wonder Izzy just wants to go home.