#stede is still 'a rich bitch' as she kept calling him all throughout our mini-binge

[wolfnight2012]

You know what, Stede was right in 1x07 too, actually. I know I already talked about how Stede didnt deserve the full blame for getting boarded by the English (1x01), running aground & losing the hostages (1x02) or getting captured by the Spanish via Spanish Jackie's trap (1x03) in this post here buuuut, there's a fifth & final thing I must insist is not 100% his fault, and that folks, is

The Oranges!

Yeap! Stede's response does not help his case at all here (like, I'm 89% certain he's trying to avoid blame when he "throws Roach under the carriage") and he mostly likely doesn't even believe his own excuses.

Stede (in order to shift blame off himself) calls Roach out for "bad meal planning." It certainly sounds like an excuse, but the thing is, he's right!

Roach is the cook (and surgeon) on board the Revenge. As such it is his job to keep track of their rations.

Like sure, a 50 orange cake is very extravagant. I don't doubt Stede asked for it specifically to treat Ed to fanciful desserts. But decadence is in no short supply on the Revenge. Stede's jars of marmalade, Ed's 7-sugar tea, the breakfast spread of 1x08, the frankly obscene mountain of food Jim heaps on their plate in 1x04, the tapas of 1x03

(like, I don't doubt they were at least in part Roach's idea, he seemed so fucking HAPPY telling Geraldo about them + I'm convinced he came aboard the Spanish ship just so he could watch actual Spaniard's try his dishes--Stede had no need for back-up/protection, he fully trusted Geraldo. He only needed to bring himself, his remaining hostage & Lucius to take notes/sketch the transaction. Geraldo requested Jim come along (since the trap was for them) but there's no need for Roach to be there, unless he invited himself so he could see his proud creations enjoyed as they should be)

I digress. My point is, enjoyable food, satisfying food, food cooked for the pleasure of it (either the pleasure of cooking it, or the pleasure of eating it) seems common place on Stede's ship.

So much so that a cake requiring 50 oranges wouldn't be such an "out there" request for Stede to make. He's not hogging supplies that are already so freely given to anyone aboard.

That leaves the cards in Roach's hands. If Stede's request wasn't a feasible one, it was up to Roach, as the person in charge of their food supplies, to either say "We dont have enough oranges for that" or (more likely) "okay, but we have to set course to buy more oranges, because we'll be out then"

But Roach does neither of these things (we know he doesn't, because when Stede starts to point fingers Roach points right back saying "Hey, there was that cake you had me make!" Rather than an "I told you so")

Stede trusts his crew pretty explicitly. When Izzy asks about the ship's speed & ammunitions, Stede responds that that's "more the crews' thing", because he does trust them to know how to run the ship.

When Roach brings up the oranges, despite being so distracted by the threat of Ed leaving, Stede still calls a crew meeting so they can discuss the problem as a group, he listens & sets course for St. Augustine after Frenchie(?) suggests it, he signs off on the expedition (led by Jim) when Black Pete & Oluwande mention it.

Distracted as he is he still helps line up the dominoes that allow Black Pete & Co to acquire the much needed oranges. Had Roach mentioned something earlier, Swede might not have gotten scuvy at all, because Stede would have set course to buy more oranges once it was brought to his attention.

Stede should have maybe realized 50 oranges were a lot of oranges to waste while trapped at sea, with no immediate way to get more once you run out.

But! Roach should have also known how close they'd be to running out once he made that cake & requested a supply run before they fully ran out.