#ofmd finale spoilers

[subway-tolkien]

Okay, this is 1600 words of (positive!) meta regarding the OFMD finale. Included is character analysis and a treatise on why a certain trope people keep throwing around does not apply here.

This is of course just my take, and I'm sure people will disagree, but I needed to get this out. Apologies if it comes off disjointed, I've had like no sleep.

Spoilers within, obviously. You have been warned. Heed the tags. I didn't tag any characters because I consider it a spoiler, but you know who this is about.

Listen. Listen.

Let me start off by saying I have been where you are. I’ve had beloved characters die, either because it was important to the narrative or for shock value. I’ve been there, so I’m not coming at this without empathy. I’m not an Izzy hater. I loved him as a character. I’m truly sad to see him go.

But from what I’m seeing around Twitter and tumblr, some of you do not understand the role of an antagonist in a story.

Izzy was always meant to die. The moment he said, in the first season, “the only retirement we get is death,” I knew he was meant to die in the end. The foreshadowing ran through both seasons. Izzy was the true antagonist of S1. He was there to keep Blackbeard tethered when he started pulling away, and yet he also set the plot in motion. He inadvertently introduced Blackbeard to the person who let him be just Ed. He put Ed on his own path to redemption without even knowing it.

S1 ended with Izzy getting what he wanted as Ed lost everything he had. S2 was about Izzy coming to terms with the fact that he’d gone too far, he’d turned Ed into a monster. It wasn’t what he wanted. He wanted Blackbeard back, just like old times. Instead, he got the Kraken, and it was more than he bargained for.

Especially after it cost him his leg and he realized how far gone Ed really was. The conversation that ended with Izzy’s half-assed suicide attempt was the final blow to Izzy—Ed really didn’t seem to care anymore. Where Izzy wanted him to stop giving a shit about his silly boyfriend, he instead got a Blackbeard who didn’t care about anything, and he was apparently now included in that category.

(I said half-assed suicide attempt because Izzy wasn’t meant to die then, THAT would have been an empty, pointless death. It wouldn’t have taught Ed anything—in fact, all it did was make him more self-destructive, which was Izzy’s purpose to the narrative, but not his endgame. That Ed thought Izzy killed himself pushed Ed to the brink. Ed wanted to die and take every scrap of Blackbeard with him. Had Izzy successfully killed himself, Ed and the Revenge would be at the bottom of the ocean.

It wasn’t until the crew left Izzy the unicorn leg that he realized the power of compassion, the incredible act of grace from a crew that suffered so much from Izzy’s own machinations and didn't need to forgive him. It moved him to tears, and it moved him to accept that maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea to let people in, to let himself be cared for. It was a foreign concept and something Izzy likely hadn’t experienced since losing his family (I fully expect a shit ton of fanfic of Izzy’s life before piracy).

Israel Hands found the capacity to let love all the way in and by god, did he pursue it.

But, again, Izzy was always meant to die, and I’m glad they stuck to the narrative they set out with instead of placating fandom and letting our influence dictate how they told this story That’s never good, trust me. Fandom should not influence a creator’s decisions regarding their own characters. It rarely if ever ends well.

[Stares in Voltron S8]

And I see a lot of people out here throwing the “bury your gays” phrase around—I beg you, please look up the definition of the trope. Izzy didn’t die because he was queer, he didn’t die because of his disability. He wasn’t one half of the only queer couple in the show fridged for shock value. He wasn’t killed off due to pressure from conservative viewers. He wasn’t the only queer, disabled character.

They didn’t kill off Lucius, or Jackie, or Wee John. Would you be as outraged if it was any of them?

Killing Eve is bury your gays. Supernatural is bury your gays. Pretty much any film, book, TV show, whatever, where a queer character dies because they’re queer, of AIDs, to further the narrative for a straight person, etc—that is burying your gays.

Izzy’s death was none of those things. Izzy’s death had meaning.

Izzy’s death freed Ed from the Blackbeard persona. It finally forced Izzy to say the things he couldn’t say until he realized it was his last chance. Izzy was also tired. I honestly think he stuck it out for Ed’s sake, because he was afraid to let Blackbeard go without making sure Ed would be ok.

He loved the idea of Blackbeard, but over time, he learned to love Ed. He finally understood what Ed tried to tell him the whole time.

“Fuck off, you twat. You’re surrounded by family.”

You’re safe. You’re loved. You don’t need me anymore. You don’t need to be reminded of who you’re capable of being, you need the people who will guide you to who you will become, and I’m not one of them.

I know a lot of Izzy fans are stung by his death, some of you are deeply upset. I get that. Like I said, I’ve been there. Sirius’s death made me throw that fucking book across the room. That Fucking Woman™ killed off my entire OTP, purely for shock value and, imho, a direct response to shippers. Trust me, I have felt betrayed by a creator for their decisions.

But I need you to understand that no, this was not a personal attack, this was not malicious, this was not “bury your gays." A show that celebrates queerness and diversity is not suddenly homophobic and ableist because your favorite character died and happened to be both of those things. But when the majority of your cast of characters is different in some way, and they’re in a show about 18th century pirates, you have to accept that one of them could, in fact, die. “Anyone Can Die” is also a trope and the more accurate one to describe E8.

If only being queer and disabled made you invincible.

Spoiler alert: it doesn’t.

And no, I’m not an Izzy hater. I loved him, I loved him as an antagonist, and I loved his redemption arc. He was fascinating and Con put his whole O’Nussy into that part. I’m sorry to see him go, but as a mystery writer who often has to kill off beloved characters, I understand that he served the purpose he had from the beginning.

I swear, if some of you had your way, there’d be no conflict at all in any form of media. This what a steady diet of nothing but fanfic gets you. This is not a fluffy one-shot with magical healing dick and a happy ending where everyone sails off into the sunset. If that’s what you wanted, what you headcanoned, you did this to yourself. It’s not David et al’s fault that we took that character and babygirled him. That’s the risk we take when we decide to love a specific character, when we take a genuinely terrible person (in S1) and woobify him.

So, please stop harassing and attacking David, Alex, et al. David did not and should not change his story to placate us. The fact he went ahead with it despite the backlash I’m sure he expected makes me respect him as a creator even more.

Anyway, I’m going to revel that we have three (!) queer relationships with happy endings where one or both didn’t immediately die (again, the actual definition of “bury your gays”) and that we got at least two seasons of a little show that celebrated individualism, diversity, queerness, compassion, and love.

In the end, it all came down to love.

“There he is.”

Goodbye, Blackbeard.

Hello, Ed.

[ldrmas]

One more thing

Can we talk about what's worse is that Izzy didn't die by his gun? He died because he walked a man who was armed and extremely dangerous into the den of wolves. And not one person spoke up to say it was a bad idea. In fact, he died because the characters were stupid for stupid sake, which is one of my biggest pet peeves in tv tropes.

Izzy was holding the man hostage with only a single dagger, nothing else.

And both men that he trained with, also pirates he mentored into becoming an formidable crew, you're telling me that not a single one of them spoke up to say "hey maybe let's make sure Prince Ricky is unarmed!"

You're telling after staying by Stedes side and training him, Bonnet didn't once think to search the prince to make sure he couldn't pose a threat to the crew.

You're telling me that after sailing with Blackbeard all these years, disarming hundred of crews, rampaging ship after ship, Edward wouldn't once think to say; "Hey strip that fucker bear we only got one shot at this, we gotta be smart now if we wanna stand a chance."

You're telling me Fang, Jim, even Black Pete wouldn't be the one to volunteer to lead Ricky across the battlefield so that Izzy wouldn't be front and center in danger.

This, this is what hurts so twating much! I know you fellow izzy stans understand.

[mysteriouslybluepirate]

Izzy digs himself out of the grave- but it turns out the crew were too lazy to dig more than two feet deep(.6 meters). So a dramatic moment is cut short with him just...sitting up. Lightly disturbing the dirt around him.

[nightcolorz]

Ed and Stede don’t need an inn they need a yacht.

ofmd spoilers for finale.

If Max renews ofmd s3 and David and the crew r able to put their intended ending to screen (they will I’m staying hopeful) I just know that Ed and Stede’s inn situation is going to be soooo dysfunctional 😭😭. These r the last mfs who can handle running an inn, emotionally and skill wise. It’s not a coincidence that their circumstances are mirroring Anne Bonny and Mary Read,, couple who retire from piracy to be business owners in the middle of no where. Ed literally says “let’s go find a wild animal to eat” like Anne and Mary rabbit hunting for dinner. The inn was such a perfect way to end their arcs bcus if we don’t get s3 we can interpret it as their happy ending, but if we do get s3 it’s a great set up for a s3 conflict. Ed and Stede will not be happy as inn owners, it’s not what either of them really want. Stede wants a community where he is loved and celebrated for who he is, Ed wants safety and stability and tenderness. Stede believes piracy is key to finding his want, Ed believes domestic life is key to his. Truly, neither of these notions r key to anything. Ed thinks he wants domestic life but at his core he is a thrill seeker who doesn’t like sitting idle. He gets bored. He thinks he wants domestic life bcus he doesn’t like feeling unsafe and hurting people all the time, but rlly this is just bcus he’s a kindhearted person who wants love, not bcus he’s built to live domestically. Stede thinks he wants to be a pirate but at his core he’s nonviolent, “soft”, and sensitive. He thinks he wants a pirates life because the monotony of married life depressed him, and he loves fantasy and adventure. Really, he just wants to belong to something, and to feel invigorated by life and not drained by it. The only way they will get their wants is by embracing their chosen family, communicating their needs to each other, and establishing a lifestyle where they are surrounded by love and not engaging in violence. Stede’s initial thesis on piracy, in the first episode, is that piracy doesn’t need to be a culture of abuse, and can simply be a life style built around community and adventure. Ed and Stede can live on the ocean with their crew without partaking in a culture of violence. The key is queer found family yacht life, in conclusion. Peace and love.

[xillyxysblog]

[ringogoboots]

"So, we're innkeepers, then?"

"Thought we might give it a go."

[rhinexstone]

Listen I understand that Izzy’s death feels like a slap in the face but I think y’all forget the type of man Izzy HAS been. He was the embodiment of Ed’s self destructive nature, he even called himself part of Blackbeard. All of season 1 he served as the mirror to Mary, instead of how women uphold toxic masculinity, he was there to show how men do the same.

But then we saw Mary as a person, as someone in a shitty situation who clawed her way to a happier life. And she got to live because she wasn’t a pirate, and the narrative keeps telling us pirates live fucked up lives.

And so in season 2, Izzy was treated the same way, but he has a bigger role than Mary, so more time can be spent on his arc. And we learn he isn’t some ghastly monster, but just another person looking for love and contentment (like Mary).

But that’s the thing.

Stede had to leave Mary, he had to leave the land. And Ed had to leave Izzy, he had to leave Blackbeard. If you have been deeply entwined with someone for years, decades possibly, no matter how much that person changes the pretense of your relationship will always remain the same.

Ed will always be the person who mutilated Izzy, and Izzy will always be the person that fed the vessel that carried Blackbeard. And unlike Mary, Izzy was just as bound to the sea like Stede or Ed, so he couldn’t just walk away. And he couldn’t stay without some part of him sparking the Blackbeard in Ed (or vice versa), so what’s left? How could he leave with us knowing he’s just trying to find peace yet stay true to character? Die a hero’s death. Die like a family member. Die with all the weight he carried for so long, lifted off of him.

I know a lot of you expected just boundless queer joy in this series, but there still needs to be a narrative, not everyone can always escape death, not every storyline can end perfectly. We lauded over how realistic relationships are in this show, with things not being perfect, we loved how things didn’t always go how we expected, so don’t become hypocrites over this. We saw Izzy become human, crack open his exterior and finally know his place in the world. The only issue is that this is a story, and he was built to be a monument to the person Ed (and pirating) was at his worst. And if he were to live on, it wouldn’t be as Izzy; it wouldn’t be as someone who experienced and remembered what he had.

[streetlight-haver]

i see that a lot of people are feeling very strongly about The Event Regarding Izzy in the finale. they way i interact with media means im not personally feeling that reaction, but i think it's interesting.

personally i'd've loved to see him become the captain of the crew, especially after they (the CREW) were really the major effort behind his healing (finding a queer community instead of fixating on one toxic queer relationship to survive), and he protected them when Blackbeard was on his suicide spiral. something about Izzy and the crew providing each other with safety and protection, physically and emotionally.

i think jumping to call David Jenkins homophobic is A Lot, especially after (gestures to literally everything). channel your energy into creation!! it will be amazing <33

i don't see the point in Izzy's death myself, but I haven't thought on it too much. it felt underwhelming is all.

[angelitosdemiel]

So I have heard a lot about the OFMD s2 finale

And…

I am choosing to protect my peace. I left off on ep6 and that’s where I will stay. Calypsos birthday forever motherfuckers. I’m seeing la vie en fucking rose until the end of time.

[turq8]

re: the new spoiler image from the finale: if I see anyone still saying Ed can't read after this, I'm gonna cut a bitch

[ldrmas]

Izzy Tattoo

haven't made Izzy fan videos yet but I did make something else I'm good at; tattoos to honor our beloved First Mate!

One without color

And one with color!

I used these pictures for Reference, they arn't mine and I'll try to add links to them as I go back and find them.

i know this top one is from https://x.com/tuherrus/status/1544684621979336704?s=20

The flowers were the ones Stede was picking at his boarding school. Pandorea Jasminoides. So it's to represent both captains and our first mate! Then of course the gold eye and the "for the new unicorn" is to represent the crew who is his family!

[starbramble]

Saw the finale and while narratively I don't have a problem with anything that happened, I do think that the pacing and what they chose to show/focus on was ?????????

unfocused spoilery rambles under the cut

Standard caveat of this is all just my opinion ymmv and all that,

- reunion was really cute but then we dont see Ed and Stede talk about Piracy vs Retirement or any of their issues at all???

- I mean the pacing of Izzy's arc has been wild to me anyway this season but it feels weird for him to get *both* character development and a tragic death?? and the timing/pacing of it felt really rushed. (for context Character death in stories doesnt tend to bother me as long as it serves a purpose, but the themes of this felt a bit all over the place for me. I also completely understand why people would find his death increadibly upsetting)

- Izzy's speeches were nice but didn't neccessarily feel like they lined up with what we've seen on the show for me tbh (also love ed but lol at the idea that the crew like him more than izzy this season)

-in general S1 izzy and S2 izzy feel like different characters to me and it feels like this death scene was written for S1 izzy not S2 izzy if that makes sense?

- Good for Jackie getting to poison everyone but neither stede, ed or zheng really having much interaction with Ricky at the end felt like a missed oppourtunity. though I suppose that could work with the fact that there was not meant to be an external villlain this season, but then the characters internal problems were kind of brushed over anyway???

- honestly love Zheng and Stedes interaction though, his bumbling managing to keep her alive juuussttt long enough for her to get out of her depression moment and do all the work herself 😂 he truly is most useful as a little pirate mascot.

Tinhat theory here but it kind of felt like maybe this season was originally going to end with Ed and Stede split up again but the writers/ showrunner didn't want to risk not getting renewed and leaving them in a bad place?

Double tin hat theory - Izzy is chilling in the gravybasket with buttons and will show up next season as a ghost/dream/hallucination (or hell just straight up come back, I mean if Ed can do it after being beaten to death 😂 )

good for lucius and pete :)

Glad Auntie is alive but RIP to every other Chinese pirate I guess, also all of Jackie's other husbands????? ( also lol at the long continuing narrative condition of having a side character who has objectively lost a lot more people comfort a main character over another main characters death (star wars im looking at you))

Anyway just my ramblings after having first seen the episode would love to hear other peoples thoughts.

[atom1cflea]

Heart bursting, crying, then smiling through tears. If you would have ever told me that a show about pirates could make me feel better about a world on fire, and that a season ending would make me feel like I'm saying goodbye to cherished friends I would have thought you were high, but here we are.

Smooth sailing, Revenge. Already wishing for S3.

[vatirath]

So since Izzy wasn't buried at sea and a seagull (presumably Buttons) landed on his grave that means he's gonna come back right? Right?

[ringogoboots]

i am never not thinking about her <3

[rhinexstone]

Izzy shouldn’tve— WHAT ABOUT ZHENG FINALLY GETTING COMFORT AND APPLAUSE FROM HER MOTHER FIGURE?

WHAT ABOUT AUNTIE LEARNING, FROM A MAN (the type of person she trusts least) THAT BEING SOFT CAN BE OKAY AND THAT SHE COULD BOTH SURVIVE AND BE SOFT. THEN SHOWING THAT TO ZHENG?

WHAT ABOUT HOW THEY ALREADY HAD A GOOD RELATIONSHIP, BUT EVEN GOOD RELATIONSHIPS CAN BE IMPROVED UPON, AND THAT THE OTHER PEOPLE WHO ALSO LOVE YOUR LOVED ONES CAN HELP YOU TOO