They were about to dance… ❤️🧡💛💜 Ned Lowe's timing in S2E6 couldn't be worse.

There is something so incredibly fucking sweet about Ed mirroring Stede when it comes to showing him affection.

Not just the "You wear fine things well" moment, but in going to check on Stede after killing Ned the same way Stede checked on Ed in the tub, making breakfast with marmalade the same way Stede brought him breakfast after the lighthouse thing in Season 1, like.

Stede has been the only one to show Ed such kind love, such soft and sweet and considerate love. Season 1 Ed only knew how to get affection from Stede by taking a sword to the gut, but Season 2 Ed has been replaying all those moments in his head just the way lovesick Stede was, and now that Stede's back the only thing Ed knows how to do is to mirror what has been the most earth shattering love he's ever experienced right back, because he doesn't know how else to show someone he loves them. It's so fucking endearing, and so real, and just.

Makes me excited for Season 3, ya know?

Let’s start from the beginning…🏴‍☠️ (Part 3)

From: Samba Schutte's IG

From Samba’s IG. Something about creating something you love with your friends on the beach in bare feet with your jeans rolled up. 🥹😭

god I truly love the red suit (because it's hot obviously and i am not immune), but also because of the glimpse it gives us into stede and where he's at halfway through s2 (thee season of change and growth).

he's been wearing the same shabby, stained white shirt all season so far because he left everything he owned behind, and he hasn't complained once about ed throwing all his favorite clothes overboard, because nothing was more important than finding ed and finally being able to tell him how he felt about him, and I'm so proud of stede for that bit of growth. the white shirt is symbolic of that growth, of his willingness to put ed and the crew first, of him not needing all his physical belongings anymore because he has people to care about now, he doesn't need things.

but he likes them, and the way his whole face lights up when he sees the red suit and he stops to put it on in the middle of a raid (and almost gets stabbed for it) is so stede. he's grown but he still loves his fancy clothes, he loves bright colors and frills and buttons and gold thread. growing doesn't mean he has to stop loving those things, and that's such an important thing for the show to say, especially given where stede is in his journey of self discovery this season. he's still allowing himself to enjoy those things in spite of the undercurrent of fear of not being good enough and self hatred that thrums under the surface since the opening of episode 1 (and eventually leads him to kill a man and get progressively more butch in his outfit choices as the season progresses). i LOVE that he gets to have that, that he gets to feel hot and pose in front of the mirror and strut around all day (and that he gets to be a righteous bitch when the crew destroys the suit).

it's such a realistic representation of someone on a journey of self discovery, of someone who's figuring out what he's worth and why he's loveable and what he likes and will allow himself to like and how he will allow himself to present in front of others. and he gives it away because he loves his little piratical family and wants to keep them happy, but he still got to enjoy that, and he still looked great in just the red shirt with a low neckline and black lace all over it (and he got a "you wear fine things well" for it!!!!!!! ed saw and he understood what it meant to stede and stede got to hear that!!!!!! I'm kissing the show on the lips).

i still feel some type of way about the teal shirt and the leather pants and everything they say about his state of mind throughout episodes 6-8, and i feel fifty more things about him finally being able to have his romantic fantasy come true and know that he's loved in the color that represents repression and being forced to perform a type of masculinity that's been destructive for him his whole life (as I've said before). I think it was insanely symbolic and important for him to be able to wear that particular outfit at that particular time and stay in it for the entire finale (i am also not immune to the ridiculously low cut of that shirt and the tiny laces that keep the whole thing together, I'm only human).

but. BUT. i can't wait to see what becomes of Stede's gender expression when he has time to rebuild his wardrobe, when he's not running around trying to keep everyone safe or prove he has worth, when he starts to realize and embrace that he doesn't have to be a certain kind of man for people to respect him and for ed to love him. i can't wait to see the choices he makes when he's finally free to choose. I think s3 might kill me yall

edward teach looking submissive and breedable in season two

Gosh this was quite on the money in some ways

The Hospitality Industry

The package arrived on a rainy day as Ed and Stede were hanging the curtains. Jose, a kid from the town a mile down the road, dropped it off and Ed rewarded him with some of the silver coins they'd brought with them from the Revenge. It paid to be neighborly - and it was still such a delightful novelty to have consistent, land-based neighbors.

"I lost a toof!" Jose told Ed happily, smiling wide so Ed could see the gap.

"I see that. What happened?"

Jose shrugged. "They just fall out sometimes. 'Cause I'm a kid."

It had been a while since Ed had been around kids. Long enough that he'd half forgotten about baby teeth. Of course he knew that was a thing but still - wild.

"I'm gonna catch the toof fairy!" Jose said as Stede came to stand next to Ed at the door.

"Well, if you catch it be sure to bring it by to show us!" Stede said.

Jose cackled as he walked back down the steps. "I will."

"Great," Ed sighed, curling an arm around Stede’s back and resting his head on his chest. "Now he's gonna bring some animal by again." The snapping turtle incident was somewhat fresh in his mind.

"I'm sure it will be fine," Stede soothed. "What did you get, darling?"

"Not sure. Some sort of package. No return address."

"Well." Stede led Ed over to the couch and stretched out with his feet in Ed's lap. "Let's open it."

The package contained a note. Underneath the note was an empty glass jar.

"Welcome to the hospitality industry," the note said. "Thought I'd send you this in case you wanted to start your own collection. Love, Jackie."

There are so many little physicalities in the reunion scene that overwhelms my soul.

It’s not just the kisses. I mean, it’s mostly the kisses let’s be real, but it’s the glances, the soul seeking, the hand placements, etc etc…

I’ve been replaying this scene over and over, probably an innumerable amount and each time, I’m filled with those little butterflies in the pit of my stomach. 🥹 it’s akin to kicking my feet and giggling.

I wanted to show zoomed in clips of each of their perspective because Rhys and Taika have incredible ways of storytelling through their physicality.

Rhys is a fantastic actor. Unbelievably emotive. Outrageously funny. But he’s also wonderfully honest during moments of tenderness. There’s so much that can be said of his perspective looking at Taika. It’s the way he allows Stede to keep his eyes open right before locking lips with Ed. It’s the way he grants permission to Stede to study Ed’s face in admiration while he’s talking. Rhys hits the mark on every beat of that scene.

The generated heavy breathing having just run on the beach. The gentle swaying in Ed’s arms after riding that high. The nuzzling into Ed’s hand pressed against Stede’s face. It’s all there. And it’s intuitive and beautiful.

For Taika, he shows us what Ed could be like without the presence of any piracy and general swashbuckling. His character development in this season was astoundingly emotional for me and I think it’s because Taika allowed himself to “live truthfully under imaginary circumstances.”

Click the link to read about Meisner technique and how it informs authentic acting.

Taika is also intuitive with his roles. He brings a certain level of familiarity and that’s evident in Ed. Not the whole ‘feared pirate legend’ bit, but the bit where Ed is a man that fell in love.

Now I don’t know about you all, whether some of you that read this have had acting experience, but for someone who does, it is quite an undertaking to act a scene like this. The vulnerability can only be achieved if your partner meets you halfway. Meisner believed acting is doing, right? There’s no talking when it comes to acting. Acting is action.

These scenes are incredibly difficult for not only the logistics/planning of the kiss, but the before and after said kiss. That one kiss needs to be built into a storyline, and if you aren’t able to bounce off that stimuli to your acting partner, it falls flat and appears clunky and irregularly timed.

But Taika and Rhys went above and beyond to present something that’s honest, tender, and not at all uncomfortable, out of place or inauthentic. It was as real a kiss as could be in a gay pirate show lol!

Taika inhabits the reality of Ed’s world by resting his right hand against Stede’s neck. His physicality is compelling. The furrowed brows. The hands grasping Stede’s face. The hand resting against Stede’s chest, almost as a way to fully feel present. Or maybe it’s a way to hold onto Stede after the delirium inducing kiss.

But my favorite part of this entire scene?

“I love you. I love you.”

Ed pulls away mid kiss to let Stede know he loves him. As if Stede didn’t already know, though I’m sure grateful for the spoken affirmation nevertheless. It’s the fact that Taika made a choice to say ‘I love you’ in an abrupt way. To the audience, it could be interpreted as his inner monologue springing forth to be heard. As if he’d been saying ‘iloveyouiloveyouiloveyou’ while his lips were desperately clinging to his lover’s.

He says it twice. The first time it’s quick and in an attempt to make Stede understand. The second time he’s willed it into existence. Taika also makes a choice to say the second ‘I love you’ while maintaining eye contact.

It’s the kiss we all wish we truly could experience.

It’s a kiss of acceptance.

Unconditional love.

It’s a kiss that says everything they’re unable to say.

It’s everything. This reunion was everything.

so wait let me recap. the new music we hear when ed emerges from the waves like a kraken having just strangled some guys and wearing his blackbeard clothes. uses the vocals of voi chi sapete. the love song that the swede sang when ed had his kraken flashback, leading to an unprecedented moment of vulnerability revealing the deepest guilt he carries avout violence to a man who told him he is his friend anyway. that song plays as ed, dissociating and killing and by all appearances fully back into his kraken and blackbeard roles, walks into stede's fervent written love confession and then getting to tell stede he loves him back and hear that stede knows and believes he is capable of that.

so not only is ed loved as blackbeard as the kraken as ed not only is he CAPABLE of love as everything that he is not only is the kraken, in fact, born out of love, but those parts of himself he is ashamed and afraid of have ALWAYS been lovable and in fact ALWAYS BEEN LOVED

and for one last musical gut punch, the lyrics playing as ed and stede reunite include "I love my baby ever since he was born"??

NOW WADDA HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO DO ABOUT ALL THAT

the answer, apparently, is burst into tears about stede's boundless capacity for unconditional love and the fact of ed finally being able to receive and accept it. brother it is 10am on a Sunday

the levels of "you're not broken" messaging in here are also really getting me. in all their low self esteem issues and inability to be comfortable with the lives they're "supposed" to lead their problems were NEVER because of a lack of ability to love or be loved

David Jenkins: Lets give Blackbeard daddy issues

The writers room: Ok lets have him watch his dad slap him mom and then have him kill his dad as a kid and that's his tragic backstory.

David Jenkins: More!

The Writers: uhhh ok what if he had an abusive captain as a young pirate, we'll even bring that motherfucker back in season 2 and we'll have him do a "open up for the airplane" bit just to drive it home how daddy he is.

David Jenkins: MORE!

The Writers: Uh...... When he quits piracy he offends the family he's gone fishing with and gets beaten up by the dad? have him call him poppop just for fun

David Jenkins:

The Writers:

Lemme sight my sources here

ed dissociates, hallucinates the love of his life screaming for help, strangles two men to death for the first time since killing his dad, dives to the bottom of the sea to get his discarded blackbeard look, emerges from the sea like a kraken-- and then walks directly into written evidence that he is loved. a few minutes later he gets to tell that man that he DOES love him and kiss him on the face and hear that someone KNOWS he, ed, is capable of love. hello can anyone hear me

the i know actually hits so hard with all of this. i need a fuckijg minute. i KNOW. I KNOW THAT. HE KNOWS

because the first time he was this scared he was alone he had to build blackbeard to escape the kraken and keep himself safe and he was alone. and the second time he thought he was alone and wanted to die from it only to be dragged back out of the depths by the hand of a man who loves him. and this time he walks up out of the depths on his own two feet to go get that man and tell him he loves him too. and it's OKAY this time because he loves stede and stede KNOWS

also that he kills and comes up from the sea like a kraken and puts on the blackbeard clothes all to go be edward with his love. synthesis. for which of my bad parts didst thou first fall in love with me? for them all together.

hey who’s writing the “Ed teaches the crew to read and write as part of his cat collar probation”?

bro teal is not stede bonnet’s color that’s the old self he breaks out of

the times stede wears blues:

1. episode one,

2-3. flashbacks to his childhood and marriage,

4. episode five when teaching ed about high society,

5-7. leaving ed behind in blind man’s cove/being captured by the english,

8. and throughout all of episode ten when he’s trying to fit back into his old life and eventually leaves it behind by faking his own death and leaving a corpse that’s. dressed in teal.

literally they fucking put him back in teal and his ass is chucking violins with intent to kill and dueling thee pirate queen against literally everyone else’s better judgement. because he again feels threatened, and is again responding by leaning into the version of himself that he thinks people will take seriously. the difference is just that this time it’s a pirate version of himself.

I see you’re trapped in my gay and stupid maze again

OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH 2x06 Calypso's Birthday

"...and then Black Pete is calling me and talking about 'come get Stede - he's talking shit to a pirate queen' and I was like, 'Gurl, why do you think I left?' Anyway, I ended up giving those kids a gun too, because I'm on my positivity journey."