#zheng does it to olu

[darkshrimpemotions]

Which member of your OTP bites the other casually to show affection? Like just chomps on their arm or something like this out of love?

[whim-prone-pirate]

sidebar .. if olujim is actually like over for good i might not be like cool or okay. just a heads up.

[scarysanctuary]

i think Olu and Zheng are cute together but it seems like theyre setting this relationship up to fail right? like Zheng is such a badass and extremely skilled in all aspects of piracy, but keeps letting her guard down when it comes to Olu and it results in her failure after failure, and maybe they could work on things and she can find balance between her work and her love for Olu, but currently her one weakness is Olu. Most people arent fond of having weaknesses, but pirates are especially not fond of it, weaknesses can be used to control you, and it becomes an unknown variable in every plan going forward, so eventually she'll have to decide to either cut out the weakness, or embrace it, and i personally think she'll choose the former.

[buggreawlthys]

YES gutted over breakup v2

YES devo for pirate queen being betrayed

YES in our feels about izzy healing

YES pissed tf off at princelet no-nose

but

also

O T FUXKEN 4 !!!!!

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

crew of the revenge halloween party where everyone goes as a different flavor of captain bonnet:

wee john goes as stede’s fancy party powdered wig 1.05 look (but with more glitter)

frenchie replicates the cursed red suit (it’s only a replica tho so it’s fine, it’s not cursed, don’t worry you guys)

jim goes as all-white gut-stabbed 1.03 stede complete with a loosely tied piece of rope around their neck. remember in 1.06 when they fake tortured a dummy during the fuckery? imagine that much gusto being put into pretending to be stede getting hanged to death at random intervals throughout the party

olu goes as leather pants + slutty blue shirt stede and honestly? he kinda wears it better than stede does

zheng goes as the same stede but with a wooden board tied to the back of her pants to commemorate the time she publicly spanked planked him

fang goes as stede wearing ed’s leathers. this costume involves putting flour on his face to simulate how stede was suffering from severe blood loss in that episode

the swede goes as classic pilot episode teal suit stede and does a dead-on stede impression (picture stede in the background huffing “i don’t sound like that!” and ed kissing his cheek and lovingly saying “yes you do, babe”)

roach goes as 2.01 broke era stede. this costume also involves a pillow and a blanket and occasionally moaning “ed, oh ed” out loud

lucius goes as 1.08 stede pulling an all-nighter to stare at ed and jack through a telescope. nightgown, pink robe, makeup to emulate the bags under stede’s eyes, gripping a telescope for dear life (stede tries to argue “it wasn’t all night” but olu is like “no i was there, it was literally the entire night”)

black pete goes as 1.02 stede with his shirt all ripped up (ed voice: man it’s a good thing he’s already dead bc i could literally kill izzy for not telling me about this)

ed goes shirtless and wears an orange skirt. the crew is like “that’s not a stede costume” and ed’s like “no listen ok. one time i had a dream where stede was a mermaid.” the crew is understandably confused and ed’s just like “had to be there ig” and they’re like “had to be there… in your dream?” and he’s like “yeah.”

archie panics bc she hasn’t known stede for long and everyone took all the good ones that she was actually there for. jim offers suggestions but it’s all s1 stuff and archie’s like “i can’t do the treasure hunt look, i wasn’t there.” eventually she gives up and just shows up fully nude and is like “im stede on the night of calypso’s birthday”

about halfway through the halloween party buttons shows up and de-birds himself, at which point archie sees that buttons is there and is also naked and is like “bro no fair, i called dibs on this stede costume!”

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

My favorite thing about Olu is that, in a crew full of dramatic gays, he literally just minds his own business. He's the chillest guy alive. 99% of the time you can be pretty sure that if Olu is like "dude that's fucked up" then it's FUCKED UP.

Worst thing Olu ever does is kinda snip back and forth with Pete (and in his defense Pete called him babyface). He's the best guy ever. Literally everyone is planning a whole mutiny in the pilot and Olu is chilling with his arts and crafts. He's realistic. When Jim decides to leave he does some pining but he respects their choice. He's just an all-around great guy. He moved on VERY quickly to smooching when he initially thought Zheng was threatening him with swords. He is not easily rattled. His hat stays on during sex.

Genuinely Ed and Stede are my specialest guys but if you wanna chill and have a drama-free life then Olu's right there. I struggle to think of a more perfect man by most every criteria

[bougiebutchbitch]

just, jim taking one look at the immensely fucked-up and kinda abusive threesome that is steddyhands, and going. hmm. nope. Revoking your Izzy privileges

and then they show Izzy how a real dom should treat him 😭

my favorite genre of fic is 'Jim confiscates Izzy from Ed and Stede because they don't appreciate him enough, so now the crew have a loyal little fucker of a guard-dog/puppysub and Ed and Stede are horrendously jealous'

it's so very delicious

[forpiratereasons]

i know we know but i once again reiterate that watching s2 all the way through is such a great experience i love ofmd so much i love ed and stede and i love frenchie and i love jim and olu and archie and zheng and we need a good name for the polycule guys and i love auntie and i love izzy and wee john and i love black pete and lucius i love spanish jackie and how much swede loves her i love fang and his fishies i love roach and his propensity for putting things on his face directly i love the cunty red suit and the brown leather trousers i love hellcat maggie i love champers i love buttons turning into a bird i love anne and mary i love ed hiding under a blanket again i love the cat collar i love the soundtrack i love the merman sequence i love ed's wig i love family i love never too late to start new i love acceptance i love grace i love trust i love understanding i love the way ed says i love you like he can't stand to not say it anymore i love watching these deeply flawed people do their best in a world that does not want them to succeed and i love when they fail because then i can love when they learn and change and grow and i love it. i love all of it.

[portraitofadyke]

I think Our Flag Means Death is a very unique show in a way that they don't care to cater to mainstream media. And yes, by mainstream media I mean the general straight people.

I think it's very important that we have feel-good shows like Heartstopper. A few years back, a tv show about two queer boys in high school would be unthinkable. But its plot generally revolves around explaining queerness. Sure, it's nice. It's definitely the show I would watch with my family if I were a teenager and wanted to come out again (I had to watch glee with my mom to do that. not optimal). It's the show where teenagers find love and themselves, but sexuality is constantly discussed, explained, sanitized. It's the show straight people will watch. And that's good. We do need shows like that.

But Our Flag Means Death doesn't even bother trying. It's a show about mostly middle aged people, most of them not white, most of them queer in one way or the other. It's really a game of spot the hetero, like someone said. And the characters are not sublte about it. They have sex for fun, something most characters don't have in tv shows, definitely not queer characters. They make dick jokes. They are not all conventionally attractive and they know it, and the writing doesn't care. They are all people before they are queer representation.

Stede's storyline in s1 is in a part about discovering himself and his sexuality, but it's not obnoxiously repeated. Instead, it's played in a natural way. Stede's storyline is ALL about finding himself, yet it's not just about that. Just like Ed's storyline, it's about toxic masculinity and allowing himself to have fine things and self-hatred and finding his place in a world, something most of us can relate to. Hell, none of us were even sure the main characters were going to kiss and end up together, we were all so sure it's a queerbait. But this show doesn't bait its audience. It's not afraid of weirdness. It embraces it instead. There is a nonbinary character. No, they are not a mermaid. Call them jim. That's it. Yes, Lucius and Pete got engaged. Everyone there knows what mateolage is, congrats. Olu and Jim never break up and then Archie shows up, then Zheng, and we all know. We all know.

Two men nearing fifty have a deep, romantic moment where one of them appears as a mermaid, and it's treated as the profound scene it is without ridiculing it. This would never fly in a 'mainstream' media. It would have to be downplayed. Here, it saves Ed's life.

The show tells you racists suck, but it doesn't tell you in a condescending, finger-waving way catered to the white people. Instead, it sets your ship aflame and burns you alive, runs a knife through your hand, puts poison in your drink and kills you.

This is a show for adults, for queer people of all kinds, and it does not give a fuck if anyone else gets it. It's so rare to find a tv show that caters to us, yet alone a tv show that's genuinely good and caring and so well loved.

This is a show that basically straightbaited its audience in the first season, that's how much they don't care.

Idk, I just feel that it will take ages for another show like OFMD to exist in a world full of MCU and media that tries so hard to be liked by everyone it loses its personality and charm. Rant over

[lightbluetown]

i saw some people say ed and zheng are master strategists while stede is just some guy with ridiculous luck, but i think that's unfair. sure stede's ideas are insane, but they fit the looney tunes ass universe of ofmd perfectly. they're mostly well-thought-out, well-executed and they showcase stede's strengths and growth! so allow me to talk about them:

1- ghost of the forest - 1x02

a fuckery™ before stede even knows what a fuckery™ is! this is amateurish and stupid in every way. he's not even threatening izzy with a real dagger-- that's a letter opener. does izzy actually believe that stede has a huge crew hiding behind the bushes? doubt it! but this weird little act is enough to establish stede as a (ridiculous) pirate figure to the legendary izzy hands and to accomplish his goal of taking a hostage back

2- lighthouse - 1x04

imagine coming up with the exact same idea at the exact same time as the most brilliant tactician of the seven seas! we don't know who came up with which parts of the plan (honestly it was probably mostly ed) but this is still bloody impressive

3- stark revelations - 1x05

stede's first big success! he uses his knowledge of the aristocratic world to get a shipful of rich assholes to destroy each other, but he's also showcasing what sets him apart from them: this plan only comes to fruition because stede talks to frenchie, olu and abshir as equals. as people he can learn from, as sources of inspiration

4- duel with izzy - 1x06

this one was absolutely unhinged, but its success was far from dumb luck. only stede could think of using a brazillian cherry wood mast and ed's weird stabbing lesson to win a duel, and that's what makes this plan so undeniably stede and brilliant

5- faking his death - 1x10

i love that he just had to "die" in the most dramatic way possible. a heroic fight (tiger), a realistic accident (carriage) and the most cartoony death in the book (piano)... not only is his triple-death able to convince everyone in barbados that he's dead for good, it also allows him to have closure with his family. it's filled with stede's ridiculous unique flair, but it's designed to be a fuckery™ through and through. ed would be SO proud

6- stealing jackie's indigo dye - 2x01

quick little stealth mission. did ricky manipulate stede into trying this out? sure. did ricky also ruin it? absolutely. but it was working until then! the swede isn't part of stede's crew at this point, but his respect for stede is what gets him to cooperate and risk his relationship with his beautiful wife. also, it's thanks to his love for fine things that stede immediately recognizes the value of "blue dirt"

7- prison break - 2x03

in my eyes no scene depicts stede's growth better than this one. knocking zheng's entire crew out with tea is the most stede thing out there, and this plan uses the cherry wood mast as well! this plan relies on stede's (unrealistic) tea knowledge, overly-fancy ship and ability to coordinate his crew. what makes it breathtaking is that he secretly sets this plan into motion while actively mourning the "death" of the love of his life. he's putting his life on the line to rescue ed's "killers" because he's emotionally mature enough to look at things from their perspective and forgive them

8- inciting a mutiny - 2x06

yet another brilliant plan that could only be executed by stede. this entire episode revolves around his idea of "turning poison into positivity" and here he, well, fights poison with positivity. stede captains his pirates with respect and care (best he can) which just so happens to be the opposite of ned. he exploits this and gently gets ned's crew to turn on him. he singlehandedly saves himself and his entire crew from a notorious pirate! oh he also literally invents walking the plank right after this

9- "it's only suicide if we die" - 2x08

okay, yes, this one didn't go that well (sorry iz). but it's not like ed, zheng or anyone else had any other ideas! stede's weird suicide mission, for the most part, worked. they needed to get through british soldiers to reach their ship and they did exactly that. if only they'd remembered to check if ricky had his gun... oh well, you live and you learn

sure, ed and zheng are legends and stede is a silly newbie with wild luck. but he's also quick-witted, creative, confident and brave! he's a damn good captain and he deserves to be recognized as a good strategist!

[poison-ives777]

⚠️Ofmd S2 spoilers ahead⚠️

I’m just gonna say it:

Season 2 was painfully rushed. I didn’t wanna admit that fault, but it REALLY damaged the quality of the show. Part of what made S1 so great was watching the slow and steady character development and story arcs. We developed attachments to the characters because we saw them go through everything leading up to the end.

This entire season has had abrupt changes in character development (especially with Izzy. I love that they made him more human, but he went from masochistically devoted to Edward to terrified of Edward all within the span of a time jump we didn’t even see.)

Ed and Stede’s relationship shifts way too abruptly. And I know them taking it fast is part of their arc, but it still felt like they were just trying to move from arc to arc within the span of one episode each.

I also hate how none of the sideplots really tie into the story on a deeper level. (They have amazing parallels to S1, but aren’t great plot-wise.) Not to mention they almost completely abandoning the relationship they built between Olu and Jim. (I love the polyamory aspect, don’t get me wrong. And I love that they don’t blatantly explain the polyamory / tokenize it. But, the way Jim was willing to just give away Olu to Zheng in episode seven, even if they and Archie couldn’t go with him, made me upset. Not to mention that at times, it feels more like they’re trying to write off Jim and Olu as fwb, but that may just be me. And the two of them didn’t get a lot of screen time in general compared to season 1.)

The parallels to season 1 and overall symbolism were amazing, and I do still like this season overall. But it really is heartbreaking how Max sacrificed the show’s quality all for the sake of profit. I know David could have done much better with more resources.

The main reason this upsets me so much is because not only does it hurt on a personal level (damaging the quality of my comfort media), but it’s also the perfect representation of how streaming is KILLING the quality of TV. S1 was a masterpiece. The whole show is a masterpiece. But TV productions can only work with so much. And streaming services aren’t willing to accommodate to the demands necessary to make real art.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk. Be gay, do piracy 🏴‍☠️🍊🧜‍♂️(for legal reasons, don’t actually do piracy)

[confusedraven1]

i absolutely love that jim is the one to keep the heart of stede’s crew alive while ed did everything he could to destroy it.

one of the first comments ed makes to stede’s crew in season 1 is “everyone’s covered in rope!” so what does jim do? literally covers themself in rope, to remind ed that, as long as they’re alive, that hope and love isn’t going anywhere.

not only that, but, in the bible, rope is a symbolism for trust and security. jim became a secure place for the crew to tie themselves to while just trying to stay alive.

of course, i then had to look into why they have a fishing net around their shoulders as well, and found The Fishing Net Parable from the Book of Matthew (13:47-52):

"Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away.”

“This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

jim amputates izzy’s leg, despite having never done it before. they quite literally separate him from the rotten bits to save his life.

jim says, “he was your friend.” they separate ed from who he was before from who he’s allowed himself to become, not to punish him, but to remind him of the consequences of his actions.

jim tells izzy point blank, “you’re in an unhealthy relationship with blackbeard.” they aren’t trying to break them up; they’re just bringing to light whats true so things can (hopefully) get better.

jim shows archie that, just because pirating is normally done a certain way, doesn’t mean it has to—they separate archie from the toxic belief that “that’s just how things are, it’s just life,” and “why save him if he’s a dick?”

jim tries to separate the idea from the crew that ed is fine, because they immediately recognize that things are about to get much worse: “so, do we think he’s better?” “FUCK no!”

jim immediately says, “wasn’t the wedding thing a bit over the line?” they know they’re all pirates and have questionable morals anyway, but knows it was fucked up of them to massacre a wedding, an event that’s supposed to be joyful and full of life and beginnings, not death and destruction. they’re, again, dividing up the way things are vs. how they could (and should) be.

ed tries to pin them all dying on jim cause they wouldn’t kill archie, but they bite back with, “you would’ve done it anyway!” they know exactly where the lies are, and separates them from the truth, and ed can’t deny it.

jim separates themself (and olu) from the bounds of monogamy through their honesty. olu is still their best friend and lover and family even though they found and did things with someone else.

jim holds out their hand for olu to take when they’re escaping the red flag. olu’s interest in zheng yi sao isn’t bad and jim’s not trying to separate them, but is trying to keep together the things that are good: their family.

(later addition, edit) jim is also the one that “kills” ed. they’re the one to make that final choice, to say, “it’s you or us.” jim’s actions and choices entire first two episodes led them to that moment, like it was the “final judgment” of blackbeard.

jim is the rope and net of the crew. they’re trust and security and honesty, everything that stede was trying to get the crew to understand from day 1, everything stede is always trying to embody (and i dare say is starting to succeed at).

[amuseoffyre]

Just had a little epiphany about why Stede reacted so intensely the way he did on Calypso's birthday night.

We know from his past experience that he's been deeply unhappy for a long, long time. He has a habit of removing himself from a situation when he's upset/distressed, so he can hide away alone rather than face the scorn of others, which is cemented by the fact he was emotionally abused by his father for showing negative/'weak' emotions and bullied by the Badmintons for crying.

Mary said herself that she thought she had heard him crying sometimes when he was alone at night. Specifically it was in the past tense - she'd heard him and only approached him about it later.

Alone is the key part here.

He's always been on his own. He's never had people really show concern or check in with him when he was having a hard time. More often than not, they would laugh or belittle him for it, so he's become used to squashing down the emotions and taking them somewhere to hunker down and let himself have his grief and distress in isolation: after Jack upsets him, when Ed's shaved in the academy, after they escape from Zheng.

The crew had to help out in 1x01 but even then it was out of necessity and obligation. The closest we really came to anyone intervening before Ed was in 1x02 when he has a complete breakdown in front of everyone, so they don't have a choice but to stop and Olu explains what happened to the chief.

The only time someone actively comes looking for him when he was upset is at the academy. Ed finds him on the beach and says, relieved, "there you are" and we know how that scene ended.

No wonder Stede reacts the way he does at Calypso's Birthday - the scenes really do run parallel from start to finish:

Stede is distressed and runs. Ed watches him go, hesitates, then goes after him. Stede marinades in guilt/grief and seems surprised when Ed shows up. Ed reassures him and offers his emotional support and assurance that he'll be all right. Kisses.

Stede is distressed but he's no longer alone. He can be upset and someone will care enough to come after him and comfort him and love him enough to make sure he's all right. No wonder he got caught up in it, knowing that someone cares and cherishes him despite everything. And no wonder Ed reciprocated, seeing such a tangible expression of passion from Stede.

[crimson-and-clover-1717]

There’s a little interaction between Stede, Olu and Zheng in 203 just prior to the Revenge reappearance. It doesn’t propel the narrative, but rather presents an aspect of Stede’s characterisation. It goes like this:

Olu to Stede: Yeah, the Captain’s [Zheng] got a bit of a packed schedj, mate…

Stede: I’m sure she does (picks up abacus). This is weird, isn’t it? Musical (shakes it).

And this little scene just makes me cry. Stede just does not have the social skills to understand the nuance here, and therefore does not follow up with expected behaviour i.e. leaving! And as someone who is probably a little neurospicy, I might’ve done something similar. Continued to hang around. Probably have played with the abacus too…

It’s such a small scene, but it tells us so much about Stede’s neurodiversity* and lack of understanding of social cues. But he’s also amazingly empathetic and intuitive when it comes to Ed; gets things so right in the 204 couch scene and the 205 YWFTW hand-hold. He also cares deeply for the crew, and is often shown to be the emotionally intelligent character in a situation. He’s so layered and complex. I just want to shout from the rooftops how amazing he is.

He doesn’t always understand social typicality. But Stede Bonnet helped me forgive myself for thinking I ever did anything wrong.**

*If you don’t read Stede as neurodiverse, I’m happy for you. But please don’t come and ‘correct me’. I’m not interested ** I’ve done many things wrong, just not these things

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

jim helping zheng mourn all the crew members she lost when ricky blew up her ships and supporting her on her revenge trip bc they know better than anyone the need to avenge the people you care for. but also the whole time they’re hunting ricky down they’re making sure zheng is getting enough sleep and eating enough and spending time relaxing and hanging out with olu and auntie and the rest of the crew, bc jim also knows better than anyone how easy it is to get so absorbed in a revenge plot that you lose your sense of self and lose sight of what actually makes living worth it.

olu giving zheng space when she needs it but also encouraging her to open up and rely on him for support. reminding her that she’s not a failure, that she’s allowed to be soft sometimes. he stands by her while she does whatever she feels like she needs to go but he makes sure she always knows that she has a safe home to come back to whenever she’s ready for it, he will always save room for her by his side.

archie pulling zheng out of funks, helping her burn off steam and clear her head when the pressure gets to be too much. she makes her laugh even on some of the worst days, when the grief and the guilt and the doubt and the rage become overwhelming. zheng’s never made room for silliness in her life before but archie wedges the silly in there whether zheng likes it or not, and she realizes this isn’t just something that helps her feel better, this is something she needs, an essential vitamin that’s been missing from her diet.

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

I've been thinking about the pacing this season, and I think a lot of the issues with telling instead of showing we've been noticing come down to two big factors.

ALL the episodes this season are sticking very strictly to 30 minutes or less. Most of s1 did that, too, to be fair, but some of the most important episodes - 4, 8, and 10 - are all closer to 35 minutes. It doesn't sound like a lot but that's extra breathing room that we're not getting now, it means some things that were almost important enough to make the cut had to get chopped. We're probably missing a lot of little lines that would've rounded things out because the writers had to bank on us getting it from context.

I wouldn't be surprised if the writers went in expecting a 10 episode second season and Max hit them with cutting down to 8 eps, or they had to make the hard choice to save as much money as possible to increse the odds of getting renewed and decided to cut it to 8 themselves. Either way, I definitely think they'd planned on 10 episodes and because of that some things feel rushed; it's really starting to show in ep 7 and I think that's because they just haven't had the space to set things up they thought they'd get.

I really think that we're missing an episode here, and I'm pretty sure it would've gone between 5 and 6. That would've been the logical place to let Ed and Stede's relationship breathe a bit between their second kiss and having sex in 6, and it would've been the right spot to wrap up some lose plotlines (when did Ed get off probation? How does he feel about it? The crew seem so much more comfortable with him in 6, does that make him feel safer and more loved?) and forshadow what's coming up (literally just one line with Olu feeling bad about what happened with Zheng Yi Sao would've made that so much less jarring).

On the whole, I genuinely think the writing this season has been smart and efficient, but not to the same standard as season 1 (which, to be fair, was a very high standard, but still). And I really think the things that matter (Ed and Stede's arcs) are largely done very well.

But it has still been so obvious that they tried to make this season as cheap and palatable for Max to produce as possible. I really hope it pays off. I think it will - like I said, I think the writers always managed to keep sight of what matters, and that's Ed and Stede's story. And I'm grateful that, despite trying to make this show an easy one for Max to make the decision to renew, they didn't compromise on the queerness.

But it stings. You know any other show that's so successful and has not only such a devoted fanbase but such a deeply invested cast and crew would've been renewed a long damn time ago. I am so, so happy we got s2, and I've loved it, really I have, but I'm still a bit sad thinking about what we could've had.