#ofmd s1e4

[unhingedpirates]

Happy September 2nd, my guys 🥳

May you celebrate by escaping the jaws of death or something

[stedes-biggest-fan]

sobbing bc im rewatching season 1 of ofmd and got to the part in ep 4 when izzy says "i'm not dying. not for that ponce (stede), and not for you (ed)" and i just.

izzy you were a shithead at first but you did grow <3

[insteading]

Archie has clearly heard from crewmates some of the backstory about her captain and the man who broke his heart. Expecting Stede to be taller, muscly, more charismatic is of a piece with Izzy thinking, "Honestly I don't think this Bonnet is worth your time," Jack expressing incredulity about the "big gal" Blackbeard has shacked up with, and apparently some historical sources befuddled by a still weak, nightshirt-clad Stede wandering the deck during raids while Blackbeard was aboard the Revenge.

Stede's superpower is that people consistently underestimate him. This is partly because costuming has done an amazing job of obscuring those arms. It's also partly because many people around him at least initially undervalue traits like collegiality, contagious enthusiasm, and desire to give people the benefit of the doubt, all of which he has in abundance.

But Archie's line echoes a moment from "Discomfort in a Married State," where Lucius thought Blackbeard would be taller. The parallel between these scenes suggests that the myth is always bigger (and less interesting) than the person it surrounds. Even in his Blackbeard persona, Ed's power lies more in theater and persuasiveness than in being physically imposing.

And what makes Ed and Stede compelling to each other is that Ed sees and values a strength and creativity in Stede that no one else consistently recognizes, while Stede sees and values a softness and desire for intimacy in Ed that no one else recognizes. Archie is yet one more person showing us that these two guys understand each other in a way other people don't.

[insteading]

When he says "summer linens," he fully sounds like he's imagining dropping them all on the floor of the auxiliary wardrobe and rolling around on them, with or without company.

10/10, no notes.

Can we just take a moment to appreciate how Taika made "summer linens" sound like two of the sexiest words in the English language?

[ourflagmeansbts]

Source (Season 1)

[bizarrelittlemew]

I hope Ed and Stede go on their little date while Stede wears the red shirt and then he finds the slutty blue one somewhere and decides that he wants to wear it immediately and changes right in front of Ed who has to pretend to be all casual about it like yeah no big deal but in reality Ed is like 👀👀👀

[le-panda-chocovore]

(no spoil pls)

Guuuuuuys I understand now !!! I'm sorry I didn't take OFMD lovestory seriously, honestly I don't even know what I expected but it was certainly not Ed staring at Stede with all the love of the world in his eyes aihazihdqzdzmqfjefe

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

There's something that's been sticking with me about Izzy's insistence that he "manages" Ed for the past two years, something that's always landed a little sideways for me, and I've finally nailed down what it is.

Of course, even on a surface level, this insistence is bullshit. It's nonsense. Izzy acts like Ed should be grateful to him for "managing" him, as if Ed is a large stupid toddler who is not perfectly capable of taking care of himself. Izzy doesn't even do what he claims to do, besides - he goes around blaming anything the crew doesn't like on Ed, and it's clear from how he talks to Ed throughout the show that what he's actually doing is trying to force Ed's emotions to fit what Izzy wants.

And here's the thing - it's backwards. Izzy acts like he deserves gratitude for "managing" Ed, and it's entirely the other way around. The biggest part of captaining that we see Ed do by the time he joins the show is managing Izzy.

We see Ed having to convince Izzy to just follow his orders in his very first scene. He has to tease out information, later, as Izzy is just straight-up lying to him (how well Ed understands that Izzy is full of bullshit is up for debate; he's got no other frame of reference so my take is he probably doesn't realize just how fully Izzy tries to control narratives Ed isn't there for). Izzy acts entitled to Ed's emotions and time and is prone to nagging and throwing tantrums when he doesn't understand what Ed is trying to get at - he assumes that Ed is just dicking around at the start of s1e4, even though talking about clouds should be a pretty obvious lead into something for any sailor, and Ed spends a large chunk of the episode trying to placate Izzy. He's always having to worry about Izzy's feelings, Izzy's reactions, the harm Izzy might cause if he gets upset.

And it's just another way that Ed is recreating his trauma with his father, isn't it? Just another angry white man who Ed needs to manage?

It's honestly pretty fucking brilliant how OFMD turns your expectations on their head here. Our media landscape has conditioned us to genuinely expect a dynamic with a brown man and an angry white man behind the scenes who actually controls everything, and OFMD gives us the exact opposite.

[batsarebetterthanpeople]

So I was going back over OFMD in my mind because of the whole scene with Fang and I was like "I'm pretty sure Ed sits with himself canonically actually." But then, maybe Fang is right because in s1e3 hes higher than a fucking kite, in s1e4 hes either with Stede staring at tits or hes analyzing the weather. In s1e5 he's having a flashback so I guess he is alone with his thoughts but his thoughts are emo and have mommy issues so idk if that really counts, in s1e6 he sits alone in the tub after he had a full ptsd style flashback, s1e7 and s1e8 hes not alone or quiet at all really, e10 he's having a cry both times so once again idk if that counts on the same principle as 5. Does brooding count you tell me? In s2e1-3 he's either high or suicidal and he doesn't really in s2e4 so..... But then, he's folding socks in e9 and that's the one moment where you can't be like "this guy doesn't ever sit with himself."

So I guess for Fang, Ed doesn't sit still unless he's high off his ass or he's brooding, which doesn't tell us who Ed innately is, it tells us who Ed is in an environment where he's expected to be Blackbeard. But he can sit still and quiet with his own thoughts after he's signed the act of grace and he thinks he's gonna get a break from all that for a while. Which means that he's like that because Blackbeard, being Blackbeard, being on a pirate ship, puts him on edge, it makes him nervous, it makes him feel like he's about to be stabbed in the back, he talks and makes sure that other people know he's alert. Even if it's just to Fang.

[izzymarksthespot]

The entire episode is one big parallel between Ed&Izzy and Stede&Mary relationship-wise, it's insane and absolutely amazing.

Fucking obsessed with how the scene of Stede trying to tell Mary how unhappy he is in the worst possible way (making the boat model and trying to surprise Mary with it) is followed immediately by Ed doing the same to Izzy ("We haven't died yet. Maybe we should try that.")

[sarucane]

OFMD Spiral Narrative 49: Whims, Self-Knowledge, and Committment

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.

---

Stede and Ed both make many decisions impulsively (although Ed more than Stede). But their whims are rather different: Ed's are the result of things he's been brooding on for a long time, which rise to the surface and become actions in the form of whims. Practically everything he does in S1E4 falls into this category: the way he's drawn to Stede and acts on that feeling, telling Stede "I'm Ed," the clothes swap: it all points to deeper dissatisfaction and longings.

Stede, on the other hand, acts on whims as a form of denial, as a bad coping mechanism to avoid dealing with or thinking about something he's having trouble getting his head around. The whims build on things that have been bubbling, but they amount to "X makes me scared/nervous/anxious, I'll throw myself into Y." The whims are fundamentally misguided ways of dealing with those X things. Going after the hostages in S1E2 is an example of this: Stede is transferring his fears about how he let down his family (his daddy issues) onto an unrelated situation, trying to prove that he's "adequate."

Some of their whims lead to disaster (Stede's more than Ed's), but others lead to goodness, and all work out in the end (since it's that kind of story). Whims aren't bad in this show, but over the course of season 2 Ed and Stede develop better, more self-aware relationships with whims. Because the problem isn't having those whims, or even acting on those whims: problems arise when they act on the whims without fully considering about how they'll negatively affect others, or engaging with those negative effects afterwards. Things like Stede dragging Olu and Pete into the woods with him to save the hostages, and Ed not thinking about how what Izzy might do in response to Ed's changes.

The first time the word "whim" is important on OFMD is in season 1 episode 10.

Mary has completely called him on this. Stede had been brooding about his family even before, but his decision to come back is so impulsive that he's not actually wearing shoes when he arrives. Instead of dealing with what a horrible person he thinks he is--or the intensity of what's happening with Ed--he tries to run back into a life that was empty, but safe. It didn't register on him 1) that he might not be welcome home and 2) that he'd be completely breaking Ed's heart. He can't deal with what's happening in his pirate life by running off back to his married life. But in season 1, Stede refuses to own this until he's forced. His reaction to being called on this shit is denial.

The next time the word whim appears on OFMD, it's also being thrown at Stede by an angry ex after his unwelcome return.

But this time it's Ed, and this time Stede doesn't reject the accusation. Instead, he goes wide with it: he points out that technically their whole relationship was founded on whims.

Whims aren't necessarily a point of conflict with Ed and Stede. They can be a point of empathy, of understanding.

The problem isn't the fact that Stede left on impulse, the problem is that he left. He didn't respect Ed's feelings, at the moment it was most important.

But under the whims, there's love. The whims aren't bad, but they're not a solid foundation for a long-term relationship.

Ed figures this out, and decides he wants feel more secure in his choices in future by considering them first.

He doesn't want to have whims bubble in his unconscious, unrecognized, and then manifest in real life without him understanding what's really happening in his own head.

He wants more solidity, more trust in himself and in Stede than he'll feel if they don't temper their impulses.

Because whims mean his actions may spin away from the kind of person he wants to be--and Stede's important to him, this relationship is important, and he doesn't want it to fail.

Stede recognizes this, he recognizes why it's important.

And then he and Ed proceed to both completely fail to follow through on that.

Each acts on one of their classic Stede and Ed whims. Sure, Stede's been "longing" for Ed for weeks--but sleeping together right now, when Stede knew that minus pressure, Ed wanted to take it slow, and when Stede's clearly freaked out by what just happened with Ned and trying to avoid fully dealing with it? That's a "Stede tries to deal with X by focusing on Y" kind of whim.

Still, it's worth noting that Ed doesn't at all blame Stede for acting on this whim and pushing Ed to go faster than he was ready for. The fact that what happened was impulsive isn't used to invalidate the relationship, like in the conversation at Anne and Mary's. There's an acceptance of the reality of Stede's "whims" implicit in the whole conversation. But rather than communicating about what's gone wrong and how to move forward, Ed panics and whims out.

And Ed's been thinking about leaving behind being a pirate for a while. He's been brooding over his own confusion about his sense of self--and what that means for his relationship--for a while. It's a panic move, but it speaks to real needs for a self-identity that's not dependent on piracy, and for surety that he's emotionally safe.

That said, Ed also isn't considering how this will impact Stede. He leaves insisting "fishermen and pirates are nothing alike." And he's horrified later when he realizes he might not have been there when Stede needed him most.

But by facing these whims and their consequences, each man grows.

Stede doesn't panic when Ed tells him he regrets their night together. He doesn't lash out over any hurt this causes him, or try to displace his pain (though later, he does exactly that and almost gets killed by Zheng). Right in the moment, he demonstrates real growth.

Stede sits with the kind of problem that used to send him running, and he engages constructively with the consequences of his whim.

Ed, meanwhile, thinks at first that his fisherman whim has worked out perfectly. Except it turns out that whims don't always work out against reality. Then he finds that following whims unquestioned meant he wasn't there when Stede needed him.

Ed's whims speak to real issues. Leaving Stede spoke to a sense of insecurity about himself and the relationship. But when he finds Stede's letter, he rediscovers security in that relationship.

And when he finds Stede, Stede understands why Ed followed that whim, and doesn't blame him.

Instead, he offers Ed security. Ed might not fully understand why he follows some whims, but Stede does. And Stede understands Ed well enough that Ed acting on his whims, even when he's careless, doesn't invalidate the relationship.

And then we come to the boys' final whim of the season: turning a shack (which they have clearly never entered) into an inn.

This could have been a negative whim. Ed becomes an innkeeper for a lot of the reasons he tried to become a fisherman, after all. But this is also more considered a whim than something like "we'll go to China."

And most important of all, Ed goes out of his way to make sure that he isn't steamrolling his partner by following this whim (like with the China thing). That they're in it together.

And Stede following his boyfriend to become an innkeeper could have been a displacement. He did just wind up in a world of trouble over being a pirate, after all. And he's watching his own ship sail off.

But this isn't displacement from Stede. This is commitment. Faith that the bones of the relationship are solid, whatever whims are laid over them. Knowing his own blind spots, knowing Ed's, and choosing which whim to follow--together.

[insteading]

A song, for Jim and Ed, because:

Jim, s1e4: "I'm not a fucking mermaid!"

Ed, to Stede, s2e4: "You're not a fucking mermaid."

I was swimming around in a circle I wasn't always in view You said we might get into red flag danger And I am alone when I'm not with you But I am no mermaid I am no mermaid And I am no fisherman's slave I am no mermaid I am no mermaid I keep my head above the waves

[margaritaville]

my best friend is watching ofmd for the first time and i’m like living vicariously through xir it’s making me crazy like i’m rewatching the episode in my brain along with xir (s1e4)

[bitter-sweetener]

I'm rewatching OFMD cause I need the feel good chemicals in my brain. And its KILLING ME that in the first convo Ed and Stede have in S1E4 is Ed saying he's been blackbeard for too long. And then is S2 he leaves to go fishing because he's afraid Stede won't help him reach his new goals. But hwjwbqobdiej BABY YOU HELPED HIM IT'S YOUR TURN!!! Ofc this man who risked his life to find you will want to help you experience a soft life. Lile the whole basis of your friendship is helping each other experience new things!!! Jsnwvwkbsb i fucking live this show

[ourflagmeansbts]

Source (Season 1 - March 10th 2022)

dingdongitsclaudiaodortherty: Marrying Rhys Darby on ‘Our Flag Means Death’ this week.

[notabeanie]

OFMD SPOILERS S2E3

Anyone else notice the parallels between Stede holding the near-dead Ed's hand right at the end of s3e3 there, and Ed gently cupping Stedes hand way way back in S1E4 while he's almost dead from stabbing and dreaming about Mary and the devil? Symmetry.