#zheng yi x olu

[black-stede]

okay hear me out:

bi4bi4bi4bi archie x jim x olu x zheng yi

[courtjestermerlin]

OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH | 2x07: Man on Fire

[khruschevshoe]

Why am I scared based on the summaries and that one interview in which David Jenkins talks about Olu and Jim as if they're "friendly exes" that we are not going to get poly Jim x Archie x Olu x Zheng and instead two separate couples? Bc if I was Jim Jimenez and had finally let my guard down and sought happiness and intimacy only to have it ripped away from me a few hours later and then spent months trying to fight to stay sane and alive (finding another love along the way, yes, but still missing Olu with my whole heart), then I would not fucking consider him an ex. Same from Olu's POV, having a crush on my best friend for a year, finally getting to be intimate, then having it snatched form me and worrying for months about them possibly being dead until finally finding them bloody but fucking alive. That's not an ex- that's such a goddamn amazing dynamic the writers should kiss themselves, especially if they make it poly. In this essay I will-

(Sigh. At least there's always fanfic. And a fic series about them already being written/updated at that- lemme know if anyone wants the link, it is actively rewriting my brain cells as I read!)

[rhfffas]

#everybody is gay

#​​and olu x zheng yi sao is bi4bi i just knew it

[hikarielizabethbloom]

I'm so here for these three + Zheng

[orions-beltloops]

what the actual FUCK is going on with Jim/Olu like what the fuck is happening. genuinely just confused you’re saying they’re not soulmates??? wtf is happening. I trust this show with my life but I’m also so concerned rn.

[bellarke-is-my-death-wave]

OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH | 2x03 The Innkeeper

I love this scene so much. I, too, can relate to being really good at my job and am able to dismantle the egos of misogynistic men with a few carefully chosen barbs, but am equally unable to seduce anyone I like without terrifying them.

[preciseshadow]

As we come to the end of the season and look to the future, a couple of important thoughts:

First, BE LOUD about what you want from this show! Got something you want to see in the Gentlebeard relationship arc? Talk about it! Want to see what married life looks like for Lucius and Pete? Talk about it! Want more from the Jim/Archie/Olu/Zheng polycule? Talk about it! Want to see more Fang stealing the spotlight, Frenchie running cons, Wee John in drag, and Roach’s full self care routine? Talk about it!

This is a show that loves its audience. Several of the things from this season feel like they were taken right out of fanfiction, so the more we talk about what we want, the more likely we are to see that content. It’s no guarantee, but it certainly can’t hurt.

Second, we need an outpouring of support to #renew as a crew, and that needs to include calling on Max to pour more funding into this show. Everything from the statistics show that this is a popular series. In my opinion, the biggest flaw of this season was that with 8 episodes, things felt rushed for time and some of the character development wasn't fully worked through. Jenkins deserves all the time and money to bring his vision for the 3rd season to life, and we are the ones who can call on Max to give him that. And of course, we also need to continue to support the ongoing strike efforts and respect what those mean for production of even our favorite shows. No new season without fair wages and protections for the people who make this amazing content for us.

So be loud, not only about your love for the show, but also about your favorite characters and what you want to see next. Keep re-watching episodes, call on Max to renew, and show them that this show deserves the funding for more than an 8 episode season.

Here's to an incredible season 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[thesillydoll]

Jim was capable of letting Olu go as long as he was happy, and Olu wouldn't leave without them (+ Archie). And Zheng it's Okey with that.

Queer relationship are everything, baby.

[vroomvroomwee]

I love Olu, but I really hope Zheng doesn't forgive him. I know, I know, they're cute together, but me personally, I'm tired of the "badass supercool superpretty supereverything female character getting bested because she fell in love". We already saw the same thing with Spanish Jackie, another fierce powerful woman who got distracted by her bf/husband. I hope Zheng continues conquering and being THE pirate queen and not settle or give up her position for a dude and maybe find a girlfriend who will treat her right

[fuel-for-the-fyre]

thinking about the fact that david jenkins wrote both edizzy and fucking OLUZHENG actually makes me a little bit crazy

[black-stede]

after stede recovers from the heartbreak and they regroup and he sees that somehow there is peace, happiness between jim, archie, olu and zheng yi, that somehow something that should have been by society’s standards convoluted and messy and painful turned out quite lovely actually, he thinks

he thinks of ed. it’s always been ed, since the day they laid eyes on each other as stede laid bleeding out on the deck of his ship. it was ed when they crashed the party and watching the ship go up in flames and saying he wore fine things well and as he was stabbed through his stomach after not going to doggy heaven and through acts of grace. through the shaving of beards and miscommunications and backslides to old habits

it was ed when he threw love notes in bottles into the salty waves and when two women were poisoning each other and the house went up in flames and buttons turned into a fucking bird. as they celebrated calypso’s birthday and they were being tortured and when stede killed the man who hurt his crew and insulted ed. when he slammed him into the wall and ed nodded and they slept together under the fireworks. even when he left, it was still ed

except now there’s a man with a horse leg who he kind of loathed for months but now is something like a friend, a confidant even? who has trained greats and might even have something to teach stede. who slaps his ass to get him to rope swing and tells him like it is and guides him to be the captain he can be. who commiserates with him about falling in love with the same broken man. who sings as he and ed make love and congratulates them in the morning. who is there after ed leaves. who stays by him, watches over him when no one else does.

and the thing is, stede had never anticipated ed. even on his whim of piracy there was never anything beyond that. except then there was ed and maybe he is capable of love after all. and then there’s this annoying man that he doesn’t hate anymore and then ed leaves him and he is lost.

there is a way out, he knows. this can’t be the end for him and ed he is sure. except izzy is the only one at his side when he challenges zheng yi and he is grounding him when the attacks happen and suddenly if ed is his ship, izzy is his anchor. or something like that in this weird analogy he thinks up.

and then he sees archie’s arm around jim who is leaning on olu who is holding zheng yi’s hand gently and they are all covered in soot and blood and panting with exhaustion but together. he doesn’t know exactly how it will work, but apparently they do because they all seem content, happy to simple be in the others’ presences

and he thinks

and he thinks

and he lets himself hope

…

maybe this isn’t the end

maybe it’s the beginning

[wingedbears]

I would like to say I totally called it with the Jim/Archie/Oluwande/Zheng polycule.

I hope they get a happy ending (also the sex would be phenomenal)

[alsoknownasallison]

so do olu, zheng, jim, and archie need a 5th??? because I'm available.

[cottagecoreunderscore]

Anywhere’s good enough, hook me up!

[khruschevshoe]

OFMD Critique: Jim & Olu, Screentime Quality & Quantity Issues, and Fandom Engagement

It is kind of insane to me that post-Season-1 of OFMD, the tags for Jim Jimenez and Oluwande Boodhari were almost as strong as the ones for Stede and Ed. Like, scrolling back on tumblr, I'm hit by the sheer amount of content posted for them. The fanart. The gifs. The meta. The sheer anticipation of what might come next for them.

(Now, this might just be because I first started looking at the fandom a year in, but I did my best to look at time stamps and how far things were spread out over time for them.)

Now, only a month and a half out from the finale...that flood has dried up to a trickle, if that. There is very little Jim/Olu content, or (more interesting in my own opinion, at least), very little content of them individually. There was plenty when the season was airing, but now? Not so much.

This is not to say that there is no content at all- I am an absolute fan of the fanfic writers, artists, meta-makers, and gifmakers who still contribute to the tag. The QUALITY is still great! It's the QUANTITY that fascinates me.

Because I think it comes back to both the lack of payoff for the rich character writing for these two post-Season 1 AND the butchering of what they did get.

If you read my past metas for these two characters, you'll find my critique of the fact that late-season Jim doesn't feel like Jim at all, and that Olu throughout ALL OF SEASON TWO doesn't feel like Olu, but rather like the writers dumbed him down into the "himbo" role on the show just to have the badass woman x himbo dynamic with him and Zheng Yi Sao (and I am an admitted lover of said dynamic, but not when you strip one of the few emotionally intelligent, clever, logical characters on the show of his intellect and jam him into the role rather than, idk, choosing one of the actual himbos on the show and putting him into that role...wait a second. The writers already HAD the himbo x badass dynamic with Spanish Jackie and the Stede. Is that literally the only way they could figure out how to write a F/M dynamic this season?).

Also, if you pull out all of the Jim/Olu pre-reunion build up (I see you, deleted scene in the Republic of Pirates where Pete and Olu get to pine after Lucius & Jim and talk about how desperate they are to get back to them), have their reunion be rather anticlimatic, and then don't let them have any real kissing/hugging/even emotional intimacy for the rest of the season...I can see why the tag has gotten to the point it has.

A cursory glance at the Blackbonnet/Gentlebeard tags shows that at least half of the tag is just writing fix-it fics for the season, but they are at least ENGAGING with canon because they were given a lot of material (some might argue too much material, as their screentime was often VERY overbalanced as opposed to the rest, and contrary to what some believe, Season 1 WAS an ensemble show, not just the Stede/Ed show) to work with and sort through. Jim and Olu were not given that in Season 2, and thus the amount of material that those in the tag got to pick through and use was either miniscule or felt OOC in nature. So the investment in the characters and ship has rather gone down, which is sad, because post Season 1 these two had my FAVORITE dynamic on the show.

What is the point of this meta? Idk, it's just a thing I've noticed and that has fascinated me. Watching this fandom from both inside and outside has led to noticing some rather interesting patterns/responses to writing that I thought someone else might be interested in.