#izzy redemption arc??

[keppuoss]

The unicorn⁉️

[blakbonnet]

Shark did this...

[laceratedlamiaceae]

There are a lot of legitimate complaints about how the budget cuts and eight-episode restriction have impeded this season's storytelling, but ultimately I think their decision to focus primarily on Izzy slaying over anything else was the correct one

[edgar-fujioka]

sometimes I think about that one interview where Con O'Neill said about Izzy "he wants to change, he just doesn't know how to change" and then I think about the fact that in season two we see him actually change, we see him realize people care about him and he starts caring for them as well, we see him realize his mistakes as he tries to make it up to people and talk and listen, we see him becoming friends with Stede even though he absolutely hated him and vice versa when he realizes Stede values his opinion, we see him slowly get out of the toxic relationship he had with Edward, we see him embracing his repressed queerness and casting away the toxic masculinity literally singing la vie en rose in drag in the most beautiful scene ever and suddenly I believe in love and I have faith in humanity and that people can grow and change and be better if they're given the chance and other people will help them and care about them and I just want to jump around my room happily

[hellouniversehowareyou]

[zo1nkss]

It's just that ppl who woobify the yt antagonist ALWAYS get the fan service. They ALWAYS get to live in their little fantasy world where the guy did nothing wrong and they can just go about their lives pretending everything is fine.

But for once a showrunner didn't choose them and they can't fucking handle that.

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

hey guys remember like a few days ago when a good chunk of this fandom thought ed and stede weren't going to reunite until like the very end of the season, or at least that they were going to spend a big chunk of the season separated? and then the full trailer dropped and suddenly we got all this footage of them in the same frame interacting and everyone realized how unlikely those predictions are??? and how literally just a tiny bit more detail changed everyone's perspective on things?????

anyway yeah maybe we need to all think abt that for a minute and like. rethink the way we're treating certain theoretical s2 plot points as if they're a given.

[some-anonymity-preferred]

all the good takes about that arc

Because I need them, and maybe you do, too.

Ways to Read the Arc that I Can Possibly Get Behind, Some Day

@areyoudoingthis on joining ed in valuing his own arc far more than he does izzy's

@forpiratereasons on how the arc is about the crew, not izzy

@asneakyfox explaining just how izzy's homophobia was stored in that rotten leg

@areyoudoingthis @medievill @appleteeth @maeglinthebold and @bookshelfdreams on Stede's effect on everyone, including Izzy, and Buttons flying over Izzy with the leg the crew gave him

@asneakyfox on how Izzy enjoying the behaviors he threatened Ed's life over is a means by which the narrative addresses his actions

@notfromcold on changed behavior being the best apology

@asneakyfox on how hbo's cut from 10 episodes to 8 negatively affects Izzy's arc, even if it's working for you

@doctornerdington on how ofmd's writing always asks you to read the subtext (even if I can hardly stand to look directly at this arc)

@zo1nkss with the pettiest take and I love it--Izzy doesn't deserve confrontation with Ed, let the lack of it be part of his suffering

Which is Not to Say We Aren't Suffering

@tfemteach wishing for just one line of apology and bringing all the discussion in the notes

@suffersinfandom on differential treatment of Ed's wrongs and Izzy's wrongs

Fix-Its

@asneakyfox with vision for ep 5.5, wee john, and ned lowe

@blackbonnetblog looking for a similar ep 5.5

@naranjapetrificada on izzy hungering for flesh

Mine: death without resolution is at least a rich source for fic development

Helpful Tangents

@ourflagmeansgayrights @zo1nkss and @lostakasha unapologetically appreciating Ed Teach as vehicle for revenge fantasies

@batsarebetterthanpeople on how the narrative makes it clear Izzy is one of Ed's abusers

@areyoudoingthis with a tangent that i needed, about ned lowe and ofmd still punishing racists, just complicating the aftermath

Mine (w/ debt to @naranjapetrificada): retribution vs rehabilitation vs atonement

The Very Best For Last

[arsenicflame]

getting real worried about this one lads

[blakbonnet]

Season 2 is great on 40% budget but our Unicorn man deserved a nice goodbye and proper apology from Blackbeard. That is my only complain.

I think Ned Low deserved an apology actually because he worked so hard on his record and then no one even acknowledged it, yknow? Like ed should've apologised to him for breaking his record on half a whim (and when they said whim prone it was actually a nod to Ned and nothing about blackbonnet), because he's such an important character who followed them and everything, and he actually had ed's true interests at heart the entire time when he called him a low born dirtbag, I feel like those words could be taken to mean as words of concern and love, and he never got a proper apology and that's my real complaint from s2 tbh

[soapbubbles511]

Thinking about the concept of redemption in ofmd. It comes up a lot in regards to Izzy and whether he can/will/should be redeemed. I regularly see this idea that of course he'll be redeemed because that's what kind of show this is and if he doesn't they'd be going against the message of the show.

Does the show actually care about redemption though? Because I don't know that it does exactly.

The central struggle is characters trapped in lives that make them miserable. Trapped by the expectations of society and the people around them and who they think they're supposed to be. And the idea that it's never too late to let that go and live the life that you actually want. That's not the same as redemption. It's not about trying to be a better person exactly but living as the authentic versions of themselves.

And the character has to want that. They have to want to get away from how they've been living. Want to change the direction of their lives. And the narrative has to want that for them.

The other part of it is, who's story is the show telling? Right now it's Stede, Ed and Jim. That's it. They're the main characters. Those are the three that we've seen flashbacks for. We've learned about their families and childhood. Those are the three working through variations of the same central struggle. But it's not positioned as them needing to be redeemed.

Stede had his life planned by his family and society and had very little say. He had an arranged marriage and was expected to produce an heir regardless of what he wanted. Ed initially built the Blackbeard persona to serve him, but now feels trapped by it. And was told from a young age what kinds of things people like him deserve to have. Jim was raised to avenge their family and hunt down the people who killed them. All of them feel trapped by those expectations and are torn between the things pulling them back into those boxes and letting themselves figure out what they really want to be.

The narrative doesn't feel bad about enacting violence on anyone pulling characters back into their boxes. Sword through the eye. Burned alive. Snail Forked. Cannon balled. Kill a couple husbands. It would have fit perfectly well into the show's narrative to have Izzy actually tossed overboard after conspiring to bring the navy down on the Revenge followed by being a terrible captain. Except he hadn't finished his role in Ed's narrative yet.

Everyone else is a supporting character. Like any show as it progresses, we could learn more about some of the characters. More characters could get a central arc, including an Izzy redemption arc. But that's not guaranteed to any of them. Most of them will get some side plots but are primarily serving at least one of the main three's story in some way. And once their narrative purpose has been served, that could be it. Like we'll likely never see Mary again now that Stede's made peace with leaving that part of his life behind. Izzy's arc could end with Ed leaving that part of his past behind, regardless of where Izzy is going next (as long as where he's going next isn't to cause more problems).

[oddessea]

I’m loving that Izzy’s redemption arc stuff isn’t making him less bitchy or less unique as a character. It so often comes across in redemption narratives that to be a better person, you have to round off your sharp edges and be some watered down version of yourself, but that’s not the case. You can still be a weird bastard and just be less of a dick about it.

[castieldelamancha]

the way izzy says "they love you ed", making that emphasis on the you, they love who ed is, simply ed, nothing else, not the legend just ed, because he is enough

[mermaidlighthouse]

Since I’m apparently making this a fuckin series of posts…I’m gonna look at another Izzy moment/scene from the perspective that while a separate character with other functions and characterizations, Izzy narratively is a personification of Blackbeard and therefore an extension of Ed…this time we’re gonna look at the “you know me better than anyone has ever known me and I dare say the same is true for me about you” and recontextualize it around that premise…

Two things before we begin - First, this is going to be highly critical of Izzy if that’s not for you then skip it, however, this is critical of Izzy from the perspective of someone who does enjoy his character both as a separate entity and in this framework. Second, this interpretation is predicated on the idea that Izzy is both a personification of Blackbeard and that the persona of Blackbeard functions narratively as a physical manifestation of Ed’s poor self-worth and darkest thoughts about himself.

To get to the meat of the scene I think it needs to be said first, that Izzy is canonically and categorically WRONG in his assertion. He doesn’t know Ed all that well at all frankly and it’s apparent from the very first interactions between them. So, let's go through some of those:

The scenes in the Captain’s cabin on the QAR: Izzy didn’t know that Ed was so fucking bored that the idea of something…really anything…out of the ordinary would interest him. We know that Izzy has no qualms with straight-up lying to Ed. “I explicitly told him Blackbeard desired his company.” Even if you take the stance that there should be no way Stede wouldn’t know canonically famous for being Blackbeard’s First Mate Izzy Hands (which I have said before) that means that Izzy assumes he’s just that famous that he should be a known entity but, that still isn’t explicitly saying Blackbeard. With that in mind, why didn’t he just lie to Ed about losing Hornberry? He could have very easily lied about not having been “bested at swordplay”. That’s just another interesting thing about Stede…Izzy ends up being the person who ultimately keeps making Stede seem like the MOST interesting person. The fact that he couldn’t recognize that Ed would not only find Stede initially interesting but would find him even more interesting because he told Blackbeard to “go suck eggs in hell” after they’ve already been following him around is a huge indication that he doesn’t understand Ed at all, let alone better than anyone else.

The first day on The Revenge: so Izzy NEVER realizes that Ed already has a plan to get away from the Spanish. I’m not litigating whether Ed’s actions are manipulative (which I do think there’s a sound reading there btw) I’m simply saying that Izzy was unable to read Ed’s actions or nonactions to recognize he was being played with. I’m also not litigating whether the plan was sound because again my whole point is that Izzy never realized Ed had a plan from the moment Izzy found him on deck. This one may be up for personal interpretation but, if you know a person better than anyone else, it seems like you should have some sort of inkling that they are messing around with you. 

I’m not actually going to go through every interaction between them but I think these showcase that from the start of the show Izzy doesn’t understand Ed, he doesn’t know Ed. Izzy is not telling the truth, he’s lying.

Back to the original premise then

looking at this line from the perspective that Izzy functions as an extension of Blackbeard. So, a lot of the dialogue between Ed and Izzy throughout the show can be read as showcasing when you have self-loathing, the voices in your head will lie to you because you can’t see a way around them. That you can and will lie to yourself when you hate yourself because it’s easier at that point to perpetuate the lies because they’ve been what you’ve told yourself for a very long time. That you may have a skewed perspective especially about yourself. Essentially, I’m saying that Izzy functions as a way to show the audience how Ed talks to himself in his darkest moments, Blackbeard’s voice (in the same way ghost!Nigel functioned for Stede). 

Izzy telling Ed that he knows him best and vice versa is the voice in Ed’s head, Blackbeard, saying “we are the same. I’m the only one who understands you and no one else will see you better than me. I know all your darkest moments which means I know the REAL you. The version of you that I desire is the REAL you. I’m here to protect you from the darkness within and from outside because I’m your only point of contact in the world.” It’s a personification of how low self-esteem or self-worth preys on and isolates you by creating a false dichotomy where no one else will ever identify with you. Or that anyone who thinks you can grow beyond what your low self-worth dictates is “the right way to be” is wrong because they don’t know you, not really. 

It’s the ultimate mindfuck because it’s the voice in your head manipulating you from the inside, it can be very difficult to argue against your own thoughts. We see this in the scene as well, Ed never actually contradicts Izzy even though we already know there are several ways in which Izzy doesn’t know Ed.

This scene shows how Ed can easily feel as though there will be nothing but this, this constant boredom, this constant pain in trying to conform to the darkest thoughts in his head, Blackbeard.

This same logic can be applied to the "This is Blackbeard. Not some namby-pamby pining for his boyfriend" line. Izzy is voicing the idea that the persona of Blackbeard isn't supposed to have emotional entanglements. He's implying that Blackbeard doesn't want or need to be loved, Blackbeard only needs prestige and power. The desire to be loved is all Edward and Edward is nothing without Blackbeard. That Stede is an impediment to who Ed REALLY is. It's mirrored in Izzy telling Stede "I know you think you understand him." It's how your self-loathing can and will attempt to push people away. And Izzy falters when Stede proves that he actually does know Ed, he's fully aware of who Ed is as a person in his entirety and Stede is the person who is going to accept ALL of Ed's iterations. All of these lines from Izzy are lies and manipulation disguised as self-preservation.

The voice of Blackbeard is literally just how Izzy speaks to Ed…and in this way Izzy is the rotten leg that needs to come off................

This is no way justifies or allows Izzy to get off the hook for being manipulative and being an outside person who does all this shit...I'm just looking at how the show allows you to understand Ed better by giving an outside voice to the things Ed is struggling with internally. It can be both.

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

nobody thinks izzy is mean to ed “for no reason” btw. he’s got reasons! he’s got motivations! but izzy’s reasons don’t excuse him, and they’re not written to excuse him. izzy’s actions are justifiable from his perspective, but the show doesn’t agree with his perspective. yknow, because he’s an antagonist?

and an antagonist’s actions can be unjustified AND sympathetic, actually. i personally don’t find izzy to be sympathetic, but that’s just my taste in blorbos. just for an example tho: azula from avatar the last airbender is very sympathetic to me, but that doesn’t make her actions justified, yknow? she was helping her dad commit genocide. no amount of childhood trauma excuses that.

that’s where the “villain discourse” around izzy comes from. when there’s a post talking about how fucked up it was that izzy called ye olde SWAT team on the Revenge and someone argues “well, he just wanted his captain back! ed was changing and leaving izzy behind! he felt betrayed and heartbroken!” it’s like… yeah, we know??? that doesn’t make calling the navy not fucked up????

or a post about how cruel izzy’s being when he says “i should’ve let the english kill you. this… whatever it is you’ve become is a fate worse than death. edward better watch his fucking step” getting countered with “izzy thinks ed needs to be tough or else the crew is going to lose respect for ed and their respect for ed is the only reason izzy didn’t get thrown overboard” or “izzy doesn’t understand how ed is changing and he doesn’t like it” like yeah we all know that, the thing is that izzy is wrong and that’s the whole point.

idk. liking and sympathizing with izzy doesn’t have to mean misunderstanding his narrative role in season 1, y’all. he’s an antagonist, and his reasons are not meant to be excuses. if he gets a redemption arc, it’s going to be a redemption arc, not an “izzy-was-justified-the-whole-time” arc. and as long as the fandom understands that, then we’re all in agreement!

[sarucane]

OFMD Spiral Parallels 46: Izzy Being Wrong Part 4--Izzy's redemption (in which he learns to be right)

Intro: What I love most about how season 2 builds on season 1 of OFMD is the spiral narrative structure. Ground is repeatedly and explicitly re-trod from season 1 to season 2, but in season 2 everything goes deeper than season 1. Meanings are shuffled, emotions are stronger and truer, and transformation is showcased above everything. The first season plucks certain notes, then the second season plucks the same ones--but louder, and then it weaves them together to create a symphony.

---

This totally spirals round! I was starting to feel bad that this wouldn't really do the spiral thing and the title shouldn't apply, but it totally worked out!

Episode 10

In this episode, Izzy's wrongness reaches its peak. Izzy's operating on basic toxic masculinity lies: emotion is vulnerability, vulnerability is weakness, weakness is bad. And he's also having to face something he didn't really understand all season, which is that Ed's changes aren't actually all because of Stede. They go deeper.

Izzy's belief in his own lies are so deep that he can look at this

and say this

Izzy does his best to impose his lies on reality here, a dark reflection of Stede willing a better world into existence. Izzy walks away from this interaction with Ed feeling triumphant. And when Fang asks what happened to Izzy's foot, his response is this

But you can tell from Izzy's face that he doesn't quite believe this is "correct," even though he made this happen.

Izzy didn't understand anything that was happening to Ed in this episode, and he reacted to that lack of understanding in the worst possible way. He's finally realized that he was wrong when he believed just removing Stede would turn Ed back into Blackbeard. But he's only starting to realize that Ed being Blackbeard again isn't actually a good thing, for anyone.

Season 2

Izzy keeps being wrong at the beginning in the second season. He's wrong in thinking talking honestly to Ed will have any good effects, that he can now invite Ed to be vulnerable when he's the one who pushed Ed to be someone who reacts to vulnerability with destruction.

And Izzy's wrong again when he tells Ed that the atmosphere is fucked because of Stede.

Ed doesn't react with violence, real or threatened, when he's thinking of Stede in other contexts. His response to seeing the little figurine at the wedding (which he later directly addresses as if he's talking Stede) isn't to join in the violence.

Ed only reacts with violence to reminders of Stede when Izzy's the medium of those reminders. Because Izzy was the one who imposed the logic on Ed that experiencing any real vulnerability was something that deserved destruction.

And so Izzy remade Ed's world so that Ed would react to invocations of vulnerability like this:

Ed doesn't shoot Izzy because Izzy said "Stede Bonnet." He shoots Izzy because Izzy said "Stede Bonnet."

Izzy thought he was making Ed into "my captain," the strong Blackbeard of the illustrations. But he was just making Ed into a scared, lost man so terrified of living with himself, he couldn't imagine anything but running.

Ed doesn't try to kill himself over Stede. Stede leaving him just triggered deeper insecurities in Ed.

And Izzy made it so that Ed would have no way to deal with those insecurities except violence, turned on others or on himself

Izzy pays for all this, for all his actions in the first season. By episode 4 of season 2, he's a broken shell of a man, drinking hard liquor like it's water to try to cope with reality, screaming at a wooden figurehead that doesn't even actually have a head.

Izzy's wrong a lot in this episode. but while he had to learn he was wrong before through violence and pain, this time he learns it through kindness.

Izzy's wrong when he tells Stede decides that Ed's "a rotten leg" that has to be removed from the ship. But Ed isn't rotten. He's just messy. Not unlike Izzy just now

Later in the episode, Izzy tells the crew that he himself is "already gone."

He's pretty clearly working himself up to a suicide attempt. He shot himself last time because he thought having only one working leg (and being cast out by Ed) made him unworthy of life.

Izzy thinks he's got no place in the world anymore. The conceptions he built his internal world on were wrong, and there's nothing to replace them.

And Izzy's wrong.

He rotten leg came off because other people knew this, because the crew knew that he deserved a better ending than this, no matter how badly he'd acted in the past

And they're able to pass that on to Izzy.

Because Izzy isn't going to die alone. And he isn't gone yet.

By the end of the second season, Izzy's come to understand his wrongness better than anyone. He's come to understand that what he was driving Ed to do was about his own desires, and that those were both incorrect and morally wrong--because there's a better way to live, and to treat the people you care about.

And then Izzy's monologue spirals on through this moment from season 1

And presents it again

The first time we see this image, we listen to a monologue where Izzy expresses his fears over Ed being absorbed into this world. Izzy himself is in the back shadows of this shot, looking only at Ed, at the proof that so many things he believed to be correct (Ed was the mad devil Blackbeard, Izzy's position in Ed's life was secure, the world had a permanent hierarchy of strength and weakness) were wrong.

The second time we see this image, there's also a monologue of Izzy playing over it. But his perspective on the image has completely shifted. It's not a narrowly focused moment that endangers Izzy's sense of self. It's an inclusive image, that defines Izzy's sense of self.

Izzy knows better than anyone what's wrong, and what's right. And so he's able to move a step deeper than right/wrong, to understand something important about what it means to be good, or evil.

Izzy was wrong for most of this series. But he figured it out in time to make amends. To understand himself, the world he lived in, and the people he cared about better than he ever had before.

And to determine for himself what his life, and his death would mean: not hopelessness, but a gift of hope; not an enforcement of wrongness, of evil, but an embrace of uncertain rightness, of goodness.

Sometimes, being wrong--and having time to figure that out--amounts to an act of grace.

Previous posts:

Izzy Being Wrong 3 (S1E6-9)

Izzy Being Wrong 2 (S1E5)

Izzy Being Wrong 1 (S1E3-4)