soundoftherain

say what you want about him but black pete didn’t miss even once this season. “oh look, running water” “you have impeccable balance, babe” “they must’ve been really into geometry” “you’re making it really hard to look up to you right now” “come find me when blackbeard isn’t living in your head rent free” “i never hear anything about the fact that you lived” “we’re sort of in the pre revenge window” just absolute bangers all around, no one is doing it like him

hey so several people (@blakbonnet & @forpiratereasons at least) have noticed this by now

when this episode first aired nobody thought this was a particularly notable line, right? we all thought ed was just talking about breaking their own previous record or something. but it's now pretty clear that wasn't it; he was specifically talking about shooting for ned low's record.

but that's a weird way to bring it up, right? surely you'd think they'd indicate that more clearly up front. and we can actually be pretty sure they did, because there's at least one scene from the teaser that looks a lot like it was cut from the first episode, remember?

we thought originally the tally marks were days without stede bonnet or something like that, but they're not. those are raids. those are steps toward breaking the record.

so what we're looking at is a subplot that would have clearly established that ed was shooting for that record, and it was deemed unnecessary and cut for time. but i want to talk about how it would have changed our interpretations of the first episode if it were in there.

i don't think it was just there to set up ned low showing up later, or to make it ed's fault ned hurts the crew and stede; i think this is something that would have made both ed and izzy's characterizations in episode 1 much clearer, as thematically tying together multiple plot threads that run through the rest of the season.

you add in the stuff about ed chasing the record to 2x01, and it does all of the following:

The letter is such a turning point for Ed I think because it's proof, tangible proof in his hands, that Stede thought of him and missed him and was trying to get back to him while they were apart. That he may have panicked and run, but that didn't mean Ed was just a whim to him after all.

dj saying izzy was like a father figure to ed & then trying to connect that to ed killing his actual father is insane but specially, specially, when you remember that last episode stede & izzy had a pretty obvious moment where they came to an understanding about what it's like to be in love with the same man

that's not the kind of conversation and look you share with your ex's father figure. It's the one you share with your ex's ex while you're both still in love with him

Then the episode before that they kept cutting from stede&ed having sex to izzy singing a love song?

And the episode before that izzy stuttered and hesitantly asked stede what ed's been saying about him??

I know found families can have parental figures whom you may still feel a sexual and/or romantic attraction to, but at no point did either season ever show such a relationship between the two. I guess if you want to reach for it you could say that in early S1 there are times when izzy tries to look out for ed & guide him but even stede (fucking stede) clocks them as 'old married couple nearing the final stages of their divorce'

You could on a technicality apply the 'mentor dies at the end' trope to izzy but that's only if you assume that izzy's somewhat significantly older than ed and so probably looked out for ed at some point when they were working under hornigold together, which again is never shown in their dynamic (the only mention we get of it is through stede but I'm almost certain that most of what stede said was just him buttering up izzy to get him to train stede)

I feel like rather than 'father-figure/mentor dies at the end' it gives more 'even as we try to move on our existences are inseparably linked to each other and you're the last part of my old life that needs to die before I can finally be free to change and we both know that, even as it hurts' Yeah yeah izzy deserved to live a happy life away from blackbeard's influence the same way ed deserves to live a happy life away from izzy's (and I really wish he could have) but they've been unhealthily connected from the beginning (much more obvious in S2 seeing how neither of them could bare to get rid of the other's body) and it makes sense that eventually that's the trope & ending izzy fell into

point being:

david jenkins, sir, i respect your writing and love your show but that was absolutely NOT what was going on there

Izzy wanted to get fucked nasty but Ed's a bottom so it never worked out

OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH Ed and Stede in 2x08 Mermen

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

a song about experiencing love for the first time! and when the Swede sings it, Stede says "oh this is my cue"! (I have been a little bit obsessed since seeing this tidbit sometime last year)

The fact that all three of Ed's themes are together in the love letter scene and weaving together is absolutely perfect :)

It segues from Air on a G-String (the unconditional love theme) to a chord of Voi Che Sapete (Kraken theme), then into fully orchestrated Gnossienne No.5 (their love theme) and finally back into the Blackbeard theme. All parts of Ed together :D

Had intended to color this for the @ofmdcoloringevent a while back but didn't finish it in time. But @finngualart recently re-shared the line art, and I thought...why not? XD

This was super fun, @finngualart! Thank you for such an awesome drawing and the invitation to color it.

HOLY SHIT. the fiery background!! the light illuminating them from above??? YOUR COLOURING SKILLS!!!!!!

Dear Ed

you can tell I'm totally normal about this djsjjssj

the fact that the tonal shift in ofmd happens when Stede decides to walk away from the story is driving me insane. Like we see him have an insane amount of plot armor during the season and we are being told the story (until about episode 9 or 10) through his (and by extension Lucius' eyes) and then he walks away from it and loses control and the story grows darker and darker until it's almost unrecognizable

our flag means death but make it don bluth that ended up being a series apparently (bunch of these are available on my inprnt if you’re interested, shop link is on my description!)

Gonna start some discourse:

By far the WORST part of S2 is that we did NOT get any glimpses of Ed’s BELLY!

Seriously, wtf??? So many opportunities and not only did we not get even a sliver of tum but the shirt was FULLY TUCKED IN 😡😡😡

I’m disappointed no one is talking about this travesty tbh

this IS a tragedy make no mistake but it's also indicative of ed literally covering up his soft belly - he's trying very hard not to be vulnerable the way he was in s1, because that got him hurt.

meanwhile stede is trying very hard to show off his chest - his heart. (the fact that his fuckin tits mate are in the way is just luck.)

ignore the fact that i got the screenshot with both their eyes closed.

but this is what i'm talkin about! stede is fully shirtless, positioned to lean slightly in. ed is fully closed, positioned to lean slightly back. this while ed is telling stede about seeing him as a mermaid, saving his life - but he plays it off a little, nbd, and stede is trying so hard to keep up that he sees nbd and goes ok, i'll match, nbd.

"but darcy shouldn't ed have had a crop top on then in the last shots of e8!" no babes! the last shots of ep 8 are about ed and stede putting themselves on equal ground and committing to doing the work. they ain't done it yet. calm down and ask max to renew for s3.

if we don't get renewed, you can safely assume as in every fairy tale that ends at "they lived happily ever after" that they do the work in the future. but most importantly, tell max to renew.

Even the history's greatest, most fearsome pirate needs a hug sometimes

EDWARD ’BLACKBEARD’ TEACH Our Flag Means Death: Season 2 Episodes 4-5

i love one man

My favorite

Here are some more favs I’ve collected

Anyway, go ahead and blow your brains out, but your last act on this planet will be surrendering to a woman... Or we could have drinks.