#ofmd 2x5

[bizarrelittlemew]

new reaction gif

[luciuscodedswedeboy]

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

1x4 | 2x5

[with-love-from-the-universe]

lucius in his little bell bottom jeans and with his little whittled shark mean so much to me

[millenialmfa]

Not to be horny on main…but why is no one talking about the little moan in the season 2 kiss? (Which I think is Stede but I’m not 100% certain). The scene is lovely, beautiful, so important…but also DAMN that made me feel some things.

[dizzy-izzy-in-a-tizzy]

Hello again, everyone. 😁 Chapter two of my fic, *is it wrong to pick up girls on a pirate ship*, is now out!

Thank you for reading! 🙇🏽‍♂️

[khruschevshoe]

OFMD Critique: Finales, Writing Backwards, and the Importance of Building Relationships

Continuing on the rambling meta bc it turns out there are a couple of people that responded well to my initial thoughts...

Am I the only one that felt like the OFMD Season 2 finale suffered from the exact same problem as the Game of Thrones or the How I Met Your Mother Season finales? Well, not exactly the same, but lemme explain.

The treatment of Izzy Hands in Season 2 of OFMD feels like when they sat down to write this season, they wrote his death scene first (for whatever reasons that might be, though likely for the sake of Ed's arc- we're not going to address my feelings on THAT rn), THEN backfilled his arc for the rest of the season based on that, but then didn't rewrite his death scene to address the stuff that organically happened when writing the rest of the season.

Like, for example, I've seen plenty of people point out that the deathbed apology from Izzy to Ed doesn't really work (I fed your darkness) both in regards to the sheer imbalance of damage shown onscreen between Ed and Izzy, but also doesn't work as a "putting Blackbeard behind us" scene when Izzy figuratively (and literally, if you count him as part of the group with the cannonball) killed his half of Blackbeard in the storm scene in 2x2, with whatever parts lingering in him killed with the unicorn scene in 2x4. After this point, his arc and his focus has very, very little to do with Blackbeard or hell, Ed in general besides the couple of comments made to Ed and Stede that cement that Izzy is happy that Ed moved on and found someone that makes him happy.

Izzy's arc has left Blackbeard behind already. He has already hit the emotional beat that the finale wants to retread.

And then the other part of his deathbed comments to Ed- "the crew loves you, Ed"- makes no sense from the Ed side of things. The show built up an arc for Izzy that would make people care when he died, but that arc was literally about the crew literally putting aside their differences/fear/distrust of each other to help, support, and accept Izzy as their figurehead, their protector, their friend, their recovery, their family, their (insert positive symbolism/metaphor for all of the VARIOUS implied flirtations here).

What did they have with Ed? Other than his moments with Stede and Fang, what relationships were built up before Izzy's death? Calypso's birthday included no scenes of the crew interacting with Ed other than the short Archie/Ed/Stede convo at the beginning. We get none of him talking to them when prepping for the party. He spends 2x7 and 2x8 with Stede, only having scenes with Stede, never building anything with the crew.

THE LAST SUBSTANTIAL INTERACTION ED HAS WITH THE CREW BEFORE IZZY DIES IS THE "INFLUENCER APOLOGY" IN 2X5 (other than with Fang in the boat). Holy shit, I didn't even realize that until I got to this point in the meta. I had realized that something felt wrong/off about the "the crew loves you line," but I thought that it was because 2x1-2x3 cast such a long shadow on the rest of the season that it was impossible to escape. No, there were cracks in the back half of the season as well.

All of which is to say: if you have to kill Izzy (which you really, really don't, btw, it makes little sense in a show where pretty much every character has survived a near death experience with nary a scratch, but for the sake of hypothetical), there is a way you can pull it off: you have the crew at Izzy's side as he dies instead of Ed. You have their relationship with Izzy at the forefront, because their relationship is the one that matters at this point in the narrative. You have Izzy die trying to save one of them, not by random gunshot.

And then after Izzy dies, you finally give the crew their agency back. You let Izzy's death be the last straw in THEIR arcs. You let them tell Ed that they cannot allow him to stay on the ship after everything. You let them tell him that they are putting their foot down, and he can go retire if he wants, but they will not let him destroy this crew anymore.

(Or, you know, you can have all of that with a death SCARE instead of an actual death, and allow Izzy to sail off into the sunset as a first mate instead of as a dead body. Because that would suit the tone of the show and the story better.)

But I have the feeling that point B (Izzy dying/his death scene) was the thing that was decided on first, and so the budget crunch/other factors may have led the writers into making the same mistake as so many before them have: writing point A out organically, and then failing to change Point B when it no longer fit the story they had written.

[follows-the-bees]

I ended up writing a ton more OFMD meta posts than I thought. And for the sake of my own sanity, I made a master post of all of them.

Filmmaking Meta

How cinematography, blocking, and camerawork in S2 eps 6&7 show Ed's and Stede's emotions

Sound design in 2x3 MerStede scene

Full filmmaking breakdown of 2x3 MerStede scene

Scene that captures the thesis of the show

Filmmaking, camerawork, framing, in 2x1

Breakdown of love "confession" scene in 2x4

Progression of the candle light getting closer to Ed in 2x4

The contrast of sounds used in the bathtub scene

The use of greenery in negative space in 1x7: This Is Happening (Part One of Negative Space Series)

How center-framed shots of Ed's back show his emotional state and isolation (Part Two of Negative Space Series)

How negative space shows Ed a hopeful future (Part 2.5 of Negative Space Series)

Negative space shows Ed's isolation after shuffling on the Blackbeard/Kraken role. (Part 2.5.5 of Negative Space Series)

The camerawork, cinematography, and blocking during Blackbeard and Frenchie's "impossible bird" conversation at the end of 2x1.

How the camerawork used in 2x2 Red Flags shows the power dynamic and tension between Blackbeard and Frenchie.

The contrast of having these two shots (2x1 and 2x5) set in the exact same place.

Cinematography of sun beams on Ed in 2x5

Wild West/Western theme used with the original Blackbeard crew

Wild West theme coming back when Ed is The Kraken

More Western tropes that I found

Buttons as a conduit of death/purgatory

Ed and Stede jumping into the water for each other

2x3 and 2x8 Ed and water parallels

Light motifs show hope and love

Green lighting used in 1x6

Ed and Stede wedding cake toppers

Light motif during the lighthouse scene in 1x4

Mirror shots

Izzy's lighting in jail

1x8 and 1x10 depression era robe

Fanfiction Meta

Stede's costume color in S2

Face touching and Ed's outfits meaning

Character Meta

Stede is demisexual

Ed hiding his heart: the silk and cake topper

Frenchie's moments that lead to him being a great captain

Ed's body language in 1x7

Single layers and no shoes show Ed's emotional vulnerability

The crew voting to let Ed back on the Revenge

Stede heals the tattoos Ed puts on his body to get over/integrate his fears/image

Archie's role in the narrative

Jim's transformation in Calypso's Birthday

Jim's journey of embracing Stede's way of piracy

Ed not really wanting to die in the grav(e)y basket

Jim's journey, the epitome of queer joy

Stede touches Ed's elbow and back of head cause he knows it's safe

Ed touching Stede's chest

Frenchie's and Ed's instant friendship

Ed and Frenchie have similar coping mechanisms

Discomfort in a Married State

Doggy Heaven line

Izzy taking the blame for the painting

Ed hiding his heart (silk, wedding cake toppers)

Stede character study

Demi romantic reading of Ed

Stede Bunnet Symbolism

Choice of saying us not me

Ed's trauma response

Stede going quiet when grieving

Stede reading and writing

Reading Ed's body language

Fanfics!

Non-Meta

Stede is a cutie patootie

Ed's introduction

Comedic actors can't pull off drama

Small moments in PB scene

Jim as Peter Pan

Edward Teach, born on a beach

Pirates get by on sugar highs

Song Lyrics

All Shades of Blue

The Stable Song

Dark, Dark, Dark

Southern Star

Second Chances

Swallowed in the Sea

[veeagainsttheday]

Thank you to @naranjapetrificada @epersonae @chaotic-neutral-knitter and @emi--rose for tagging me to post about my favorite fics I've written. I've loved reading what each of you had to write about your fics! I know we put so much of ourselves into these things and it's lovely to learn more about friends.

My favorite fics that I've written are my two fics retelling the two seasons of OFMD, the completed Don't Let Me Die with My Soul in the Air for season 1, and the in progress My Heart is Full of Love (I Have Nothing Else) for season 2. I just really, really love thinking about Ed's journey throughout the show. He's such a special character to me and I love thinking deeply about his motivations and inner world.

I also love the canon world of the show very, very much - it takes a special AU for me to read it, but I will read literally anything set in canon. In addition to the fics above, I have written several things filling in moments in canon and have two others in my WIPs. My fic going from Ed and Stede's kiss in 2x5 to Calypso's birthday in 2x6, The Kissing Game, is one that I particularly wish I could see acted out by Taika and Rhys :D. I feel like it hit the spirit of the show well and also captured the big emotions we see from both Ed and Stede during those episodes.

I have written quite a few AUs and each of them is special me for its own reason but I think that More of the Gravy Basket than the Grave is one of my best because a. it incorporated s2 very shortly after s2; b. I posted it every day leading up to Christmas which felt fun and on theme; and c. A Christmas Carol is so ripe for AUability and it was really fun to riff on that with the various "ghostly" characters. Honestly I could easily do another version of A Christmas Carol AU using completely different characters and this coming Christmas I just might.

Another fav of mine for stylistic reasons is my Gold Rush AU, The Legend of the Gentleman and the Outlaw, by Lucius Spriggs (La Leyenda del Hidalgo y El Bandido, translated by Jim Jimenez). I worked on this fic for months and it was extremely fun to play with the onion style from Cloud Atlas as well as write from the POV of nearly every character in s1, including two birds.

Finally, there's the fic I wrote with @petrichorca, Runaway Effects, which was my first collaboration and made me a wonderful friend. It's also the only one of my fics that anyone has ever made fanart for - the lovely @lizluzz made SUCH a beautiful painting for one of its scenes.

Tagging @petrichorca and @ghostalservice and @thetardigrape because I have not seen them do this yet!

[knitnightstudio]

OFMD Ed's Emerald Ring

I'm rewriting this slightly for clarity, to fix an error, and to add a little.

The Emerald ring Ed wears in season 2 of OFMD is Stede's ring.

The emerald ring is too big for Ed. Stede's rings are canonically too big for Ed. In 1x4 when they change clothes, Stede's rings on Ed's hands are lopsided the entire time. The Emerald ring is also lopsided nearly the entire time. There is NO reason for Gypsy Taylor to make Taika Waititi wear a ring that doesn't fit unless there was a specific reason that it needed to be too big.

If the ring was part of his plunder Ed would have gotten rid of it in 2x6 when he called his plunder posion. He got rid of everything except the emerald ring, why? Because it isn't tied to pirating

When Ed drops his leathers overboard in 2x7 he still keeps the emerald ring. If the ring had some attachment to the leathers he would have sunk it with the rest of his stuff.

The ring is Stede's color. Stede spends a majority of his time in green/sea green clothing, Stede's main ring is sea green. The captain's cabin has a lot of green elements. Nearly every outfit he wears has at least a trace of green in it, even before he leaves his wife.

Ed has a history of keeping stuff that signifies Stede close to him. We see this when he wears Stede's black scarf for most of season 1 and puts it back on right before he sails into the storm in season 2.

The only reason for Ed to keep a piece of jewelry THAT DOESN'T FIT is if the meaning was divorced from piracy and special to him, and the only thing in his life that comes close to that is Stede.

At this point I am assuming you're with me, the ring was Stede's ring. Assuming this is true, then:

Either Stede gave Ed the ring sometime in season 1 but he never wore it until season 2, or Ed found it when he was ransacking the ship after Stede left him and decided to keep it. Either way, It's Stede's ring.

You can't see Stede's tie in season 2 until Ed drives the ship into the storm, so sometime between when he leaves Izzy with the gun, and when he tells Frenchie to let him steer the ship he put the scarf back on. After he and Stede are reunited we don't see the scarf again. Why? I think it's because the crew knew that the scarf belonged to Stede. If Ed had worn it prior to driving into the storm the crew would have definitively known that sweet Ed was still in there. Clearly they knew why Ed was behaving in the way that he was, but I think Ed probably thought he wasn't being so obvious. He could wear the ring though, and keep Stede close to him because nobody had seen it before and the crew would just assume it was from a plunder, not as a reminder of Stede.

Ed keeps the bride and groom figures from the wedding and draws on the bride to look like himself. The black all over the bride and groom is either from the makeup he's been putting on his face, or from him mushing the dolls together, or both. Either way, he doesn't want the crew to know he is holding on to them. Since they don't know the ring belongs to Stede Ed can keep this reminder of Stede with him at all times without anyone else knowing.

Once Stede and Ed are reunited Ed doesn't need the scarf anymore. It's too reminiscent of the life he wanted to leave, but the ring symbolizes Stede without the pirate baggage, so the scarf goes and the ring stays.

Ed wears fine things well and an emerald ring is certainly a fine thing

Even when he is dressed down in 2x8 he keeps the ring. We've seen Ed without his leathers AND dressed in comfy clothes 3 times. In 1x9 when Ed and Stede kiss for the first time, 2x5 when he goes fishing with Fang, and 2x7/2x8 when he is either in the bathrobe or Button's clothes before he puts the leathers back on. The first 2 times Ed doesn't wear any jewlery. The third time though, after Ed and Stede have sex and breakfast in bed and brunch together he keeps the emerald with him.

Ed wears the ring on his left ring finger, which is traditionally where you would wear an engagement or wedding ring.

Conclusion: Our pretty princess loves Stede so fucking much and these two boys are gonna talk it out and work everything out because regardless of what they say they're obsessed with each other in the best way.

[epersonae]

I stayed up to work very late and now i'm loopy as fuck so

tags: shapeshifting, allergic reactions, coffee shop AU, urban exploration, ecoterrorism

I've had this in my inbox since DECEMBER 7 2023, and I think today it just clicked:

Modern AU of OFMD 2x5, where in the cursed suit is actually literally cursed (that's where the shapeshifting comes in), start in media res with Ed and Stede rebuilding their relationship but with parallel narratives in this piece, Stede et al are doing the urban exploration (maybe some plant-bombing in abandoned buildings?) and discover both the suit and whatever the hell Frenchie is allergic to. Meanwhile Ed and Fang are having a very deep conversation in the coffeeshop. Or something. (I appear to have left out the Lucius and Pete plot line, which I would want to find a way to include too)

[from a prior iteration of the fake fic ask game]

[bizarrelittlemew]

[luciuscodedswedeboy]

imagine having to convincingly reject something that Con O’Neill just put in his mouth… boy must be eating his fkn wheaties

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

[aquapatty]

OFMD 2x5 SPOILERS

i have now watched that kiss scene three times and it just gets better every time 😭😭😭 i actually love them so much

[dizzy-izzy-in-a-tizzy]

[Note: I drafted this up before Thursday. Didn't edit my thoughts but they have CHANGED since 2x7. Left the opinions untouched.]

Day before episodes 2x6 and 2x7! My thoughts on the main trio ships.

These are all my personal (and rather unhinged) opinions. Feel free to tell me why I'm wrong! 😁

Crackpot ship theory after the cut:

Ed x Stede: They're very cute but they kinda make each other worse in an unfun way. Ed's kinda getting enabled by Stede; I'm thinking of that early 2x5 scene involving Ed's awful speech. Stede is kinda ignoring the crew's safety needs for Ed's sake, although simply exiling Ed isn't really the answer either. They both need to grow up if their endgame is going to be satisfying.

Ed x Izzy: Oh god, they make each other so much worse, but in a way that you can't tear your eyes from. Something about this ship makes some dark, angry thing in my psyche absolutely feral. However, it would be a hugely unsatisfying regression for Izzy, not to mention—what the hell would have had to happen to break up Ed and Stede? Thankfully, this will never become canon—although I adore it in fic.

Stede x Izzy: Are you a person of culture? Do you want to see your enemies to lovers slow burn come to life? Are you unsatisfied with Edward's growth? The cult of stizzy welcomes you with open arms. After 2x2, I already wanted Izzy and Stede to get as far away from Edward as possible. After 2x5, I want Izzy to have someone who looks at him the way Stede looks at him—and not just the happy moments! I want Izzy to get as good as he gives.

this has approximately 0% chance of becoming canon.

Stede x Izzy x Edward: Now, I know what you're saying. "Steddyhands??? After all your Edward trash talk???" Yes. Did logic get you to Buttons becoming a bird?? Now hush.

For better or for worse, OFMD is a show about change—painful, difficult, necessary change. It's also a show about love, and how every person is worthy of love. It would send a cruel message for Edward to be truly irredeemable. They have to square the circle of him doing some truly heinous shit, and coming back from it.

Izzy is at the core of that. Edward cannot succeed on his journey without making amends to Izzy. Likewise, Izzy has to find a way to accept what happened to him. Not to forgive Edward, but to accept his new life after what was done to him.

I also think Edward and Izzy's love for each other was possessive and unhealthy, but it probably wasn't always that way—and it doesn't have to stay that way. But they were missing a piece of the puzzle, because they were both trapped in survival mode for so long.

Stede has shown them that there's a different way, and both of them are changing for it. In some ways, each of them has something the other two need. Edward is their spontaneity, Izzy is their pragmatism and Stede is their kindness.

Notes: I considered these ships as an endgame to the exclusion of the rest of the ships. Color and shape coded green-bold, orange-italics and red-subscript for how much I wanna see them, green-bold being high and red-subscript being low.

These are all personal opinions and I respect everyone's right to choose the ships they want to see canon.