This is what happens when you're raised by TV and trained in literary analysis

Beyond the crushing heartbreak of that finale, one thing in particular has stuck with me when I look at it in the context of S2 as a whole.

He lays out their relationship, "We're a team, a group. A group of the two of us. And we've spent our existence pretending that we aren't."

He then turns his head away and says, "I mean, the last few years, not really."

He pauses here, facing the interior of the bookshop. Really looks it up and down.

Turns back, "And I would like to spend" before choking on his words and looks toward the window. He can't finish saying something like "And I would like to spend eternity with you" because that's too much, too fast, for both of them.

But it's that "last few years" bit that has firmly lodged itself in my very broken brain.

According to Gaiman, it's been "a few years" since the end of Season 1. Armageddon has been averted. Heaven and Hell have reluctantly retreated. Crowley and Aziraphale have been effectively cut loose from their "sides," leaving them to form their own side.

So at the start of Season 2, we get a glimpse of the “fragile existence” they have carved out for themselves. To me, the biggest difference that we see is how they exist together in front of others. Going to the coffee shop, the pub, and the other shops along the street that Aziraphale has lived on for over 200 years. And don’t forget how they act in front of Nina, Maggie, and sweet, dim Muriel.

At the coffee shop, Aziraphale stammers a bit when Nina asks who Crowley is, but he still seems to have affection in his voice when he says, "We go back a long time."

Compared to Shakespearian "He's not my friend! We've never met before. We don't know each other!" panic, this is an incredible difference.

Of course, each time, Crowley is cool and cheeky and does nothing to indicate that they aren't a pair. Though, of course, he does deny it when Nina asks about Aziraphale being his side piece. “He’s not my bit on the side! He’s far too pure of heart to be anyone’s bit on the side.” And refers to him as an “Angel [swallows]I know.”

When they go the pub, Crowley's joy at doing something together in public that they do not normally do is super cute, including his cheeky order for Aziraphale's sherry. Then, when bringing the drinks over to the socially trapped Aziraphale, he greets Mr. Brown with a truly adorable, "Hello" and a signature DT smile. Then upon hearing how “excited” Mr. Fell is to host the meeting, he looks down and says, “Oh? You astonish me.” while Aziraphale sips his sherry and squirms.

We also watch as Crowley follows Aziraphale as he goes to each shop and talks to the owners about the meeting/secret ball. In theory, Crowley has no reason to tag along, and he certainly doesn’t help sway anyone who doesn’t want to/can’t go. He goofs around at the magic shop. He splays out on the bench, chin on hand, looking for all the world a husband waiting for his wife to pick out a dress at the department store. They are so married it’s ridiculous.

Finally, their behavior in front of Muriel while inside their sanctuary. Crowley sits on the arm of Aziraphale’s chair, somehow looking supremely comfortable on the old-fashioned furniture. He folds up those gloriously long limbs and presses himself as close as possible.

He smiles and plays along with Aziraphale’s coaching of Muriel in her disguise. Calls him Angel and asks to speak in private. And at the end, during the awful wait while Aziraphale talks with The Metatron, Crowley cleans up the shop and tells Muriel that he and Aziraphale will need some “us” time after all this. No beating around the bush. 

Without oversight, they can be openly together and happy. But Heaven just can’t let that happen. 

OFMD details we should talk more about - No. 1

I love how historically correct the series is sometimes, even if it doesn't make any sense for the show.

The gravestone in episode 4 shows real life Stede Bonnet's date of birth - 29 July 1688. The current events of the series are happening in 1717, which would make our Stede 29 years old.

If same historically correct birth dates apply for all the real life inspired characters, this would make Blackbeard around 37 years old (exact date of birth isn't known), Calico Jack 35 years old and Izzy 16 years old!

Perhaps all the characters are ageing like Spanish Jackie ;)

Omg! I've actually was just spamming my friend about this on the rewatch! Though I do have a counter age. Stede is actually 30 years old. Because Ep 4 was September which is past his birthday of July.

So I'm rewatching "The Best Revenge is Dressing Well" (surprise! Said no one) and one thing I've noticed that first struck me kinda weird, but I wanna talk through, is the slight level of competition/personal jealousy between our co-captains before the party goes to shit and they come together at the end.

(Image from The Verge.)

Allllll right "Wherever You Go, There You Are" rewatch time!! 💖🙏

- I love, love, LOOOOOOVE that we get to start with Mary here and we are given SO much of her perspective and autonomy. She is literally Stede's ex, on such a dude-oriented show - and it's been said before, that with that being the case, it would be SO EASY just to demonize her here. Especially since we know that she was awful for/to Stede, just as he was to her. But that's the thing - just as he was to her. They acknowledge, so firmly, many times that even though Stede had to leave her and the kids, it was still balls of him to do so. He knows it, even as he embraces adventure and brings his brilliant, gloriously obnoxious self to the Republic of Pirates, and sets about accidentally wooing Ed. So to get Stede beyond that, free, as we see later, we need Mary's side of the story too. And now we get it!! Plus, with the community she's built around her, we get a glimpse of what life is like for women of Stede's class in this atmosphere. How stifling arranged marriage is for them, too. So even though there are too few feminine-presenting individuals on this here otherwise perfect show, what we get here through Mary's perspective is just glorious.

(That said, I am still manifesting as hard as I fucking can for Anne Bonny and Mary Read to show up next season.)

(And Evelyn is literally the shit we are so blessed to have her.)

- Can we also talk about the complete manic, aggressively positive desperation in Stede's expressions, both when he gets out of bed and talks about how nice sleeping in it was, and in the scene where he literally presents the petrified orange - which Ed gave him, a symbol of their adventure together. Of what he's giving up, by being there - to his kids??? JESUS. He is trying so hard, but it's like a scream.

- Izzy borderline spiraling out to the point that he forgets how to give the crew orders is the delight of my life. Also, "So he's sick but doing well, is the news?" Frenchie for President.

- I don't care how Jim got back on the boat, they and Olu are such a frakking joy and once again, excellent timing, excellent storytelling, that their reunion and them finally kissing - Olu's honesty, about the room and why he gave it up, that very "oh, fuck it" sigh before he tells Jim he missed them? And the intensity of their kiss immediately leading into more intimacy, after all the will-they-won't-they, no hesitation, no question? *Exactly* what we needed in the face of Stede and Ed's situation right now.

- Stede's reaction to Mary's painting studio, especially in the face of how he reacted to her lighthouse painting before. Wow. He looks legitimately interested and amazed - finally seeing her work for what it is and respecting it. And he is trying now, yes, but I think the key difference is that he has had the space to live his life and truly be himself recently, which grants him a new perspective, enough perspective, to see her as she truly is and be able to finally absorb that. It's honestly a gorgeous moment. AND, to top that off, the look on his face when Doug shows up? He looks mildly panicked. Like he's gone from that aggressive positivity mask that he's been wearing this whole time, to being blown away by really seeing and finally understanding the wonder of Mary's work, his walls come down without him realizing it in that moment, and while he's still vulnerable he is faced with a new situation - this new person in Mary's life, an unknown, that he couldn't prepare for, and for a moment he freezes. Only to try to swing back into the pleasantries and mild passive aggression he knows work in this world, but Doug is having none of it. Yeah, he greets him with an (honestly genuine-sounding) pleasantry, "I've heard so much about you, I feel like I already know you," but then he focuses right on Mary again, ignoring Stede's jabs about Mary not having mentioned him, mentioning her showing, encouraging her to show him the fliers despite the name-awkwardness.

Because, because because because, Stede is the one making it awkward and Doug knows that. And just like Mary, later (after we know she's slept with Doug, and still is), he is not willing to throw away his happiness just because Stede reappeared. So even though Mary's journey is in focus here, and we do get to see her assert that she's not giving up her life for Stede's convenience, we see Doug do it a little bit here, first. And this the first we see of him. Kindness to Stede, yes, but above all belief in and loyalty to Mary and himself. He loves her, and he is not backing down from that, all while accepting the reality of Stede's presence.

- Which makes it super duper interesting that we move from that right into Ed in the blanket fort. The very first time we see him all episode. He's requested Lucius, with the excuse of needing his skills as a scribe, but we all know that Lucius is the emotional heart of the ship, the voice of Love's reason both in general and in Ed's own history. He is the one who clued Ed into the fact that Stede liked him back. So maybe, just maybe, he can make sense of this (as far we can tell, Ed has spent the entire time since he climbed back on board setting up the blanket fort - with Izzy's unhappy help, please - and then laying in it, wondering how the fuck he was so wrong when everything on the beach seemed so clear).

That clear support and understanding of one another, like Doug has for Mary (and is certainly reciprocal, even though we didn't get to learn more about Doug's life and passions, other than he is an artist too), I feel like Ed thought they finally had that, him and Stede, on the beach. And like I said before, I think that his plan to run away was really him trying to find a middle ground for them between the domesticity he liked at the Academy and the adventure he thought Stede expected from a life with him. He really, really thought they understood each other. He knew his feelings were returned. So how was he so wrong?

But of course, he can't ask that, or say any of that out loud, admit to any of this pain outright, sooooo lyrics!! And Lucius' reactions, including the caring kindness he offers Ed - "What if it's not a death?" - are just incredible. He goes into the cabin not knowing what to expect at all. All the crew knows (again, as far as we can tell) is that Stede and Ed were taken together to the Privateering Academy, never to be seen again, only for Ed to show back up like a day later, beardless and heartbroken. Did Stede die? Did Stede leave him? What happened?? So, even under that confusion and honestly terror at what he was gonna find - the worst of Blackbeard's legend not being a secret, after all - Lucius DOES look curious, and so compassionate, when Ed gives him those lyrics. And he plays along, finding space within Ed's denial to try and reach him. Help him.

And "What if its not a death? What if life just begins again?" happens at the end of the scene, transitioning into....

- Stede looking at the painting of his family, while surrounded by the light of a literal gazillion candles, and seeing that Mary has had him sponged out. Ouch.

I think two things are happening here and the symbolism is important: a) the association of Stede with light, like the lighthouse, in the face of his apparent death according to Mary, and b) I think it pulls back to the lyrics from "High on a Rocky Ledge," which played waaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in episode one as he was recalling the idea of - not the reality of - his happy family.

"Then spoke a spirit, if you would win your lady love / There's only one way, fall to your death from high above / You will begin to grow in snow beside the / One you have waited for to be mated with"

THEY PUT THIS IMAGE OF STEDE'S "DEATH" RIGHT AFTER ED COMPARED HIS BROKEN HEART TO A DEATH, AND LUCIUS TOLD HIM HE WAS WRONG. But BOTH are right.

As much as this is a tragic scene, seeing Stede realize how deeply he hurt his family, how far Mary went to remove his memory, there is hope in the echo of that lyric, and the light placed around him. As much as Ed believes he will die if he lets go of Stede, or the idea of what they were going to be to each other, it's actually a transformation. A rebirth. Echoed in the fact that as Stede looks at himself removed from his family, as if he never existed ("Our old lives would be dead and gone. Never were.") he is surrounded by a symbol of the light he and Ed created together the very first night they were together.

I think the "death" is being willing to move on in the first place. Being willing to grow.

And the moving on they each have to do is different - Stede has to admit how he really feels, even as he's already tried (and believes he failed) to admit and sieze the chance to be who he really is. That he loves Ed, and that even though he has to make amends, he also has to admit that he was right to leave in the first place (just not in the exact way he did it. Whoops). AND they follow that with the first mention we get, from Stede, of Ed as Edward, not Blackbeard. Having dinner - alone, just as he was exploring the house and then will explore the grounds, later - he addresses the petrified orange (sitting now at the end of the table, nearer to where Mary sits) as Edward. Asking him about his day. Sounding more resigned and looking more depressed than we've seen him yet.

He knows what he gave up, and he is starting to see, without a shadow of a doubt, that it was all for nothing. His family does not need him, after all.

(And all of that, of course, followed by him catching glimpse.... by way of literally putting a ladder up to the window... of very obvious proof that Mary is in fact sleeping with Doug and hasn't stopped doing so now that he's returned.)

The "death" for Ed is that Ed has to believe in himself beyond what anyone else thinks, including Stede, regardless of whether or not Stede comes back. As I've said before, there is no reason that this growth can't coincide with their reunion, BUT they need better communication in order to get there, and I hope that - if nothing else - how miserable he ends up being at the end will make it clearer to him that he has to change. For himself, first. And maybe Stede's return will be the catalyst, the spark, for him believing that he's worth it. Or maybe there will be something else that happens first, before Stede reaches him. But either way, he needs to find that light inside himself, too. To really meet Stede where he's at, no matter what happens. And that's the miscommunication we saw on the beach, as much as I believe Ed was trying to find a middle ground for them. Before this, and especially after this rejection, he's never gonna believe that Stede loves him unconditionally unless he at least starts to try to learn to love himself and embrace who he is and really wants to be.

And again, I'm not saying that this can't happen while they start working things out (I am living proof of such things, but that's a much longer and very personal story). Suffice to say that it is possible, but the communication needs to be there. And as much as I hate it, I think Story separated them for this reason. Stede was never gonna be able to move on from his past and be fully himself, fully with Ed, if he carried the guilt and the belief that he ruined his family - ruined Edward, too. Was, at his core, a ruiner of fine things. Ed was never gonna be able to move on from his people-pleasing nature and trust that Stede can and will love him for him until he'll have to pull himself out of this darkness, and then see Stede return to him, anyway. As he is, truly. And stay, with Ed as he is, truly.

(Dammit I just want them to be together why is this all so well constructed???)

- ......And now that I've said all of that, I think that Mary's speech in response to Stede trying to call her out communicate about Doug also points to the fact that, as is glaringly obvious and the framework for the whole episode, he is also being self-sacrificial, literally having abandoned his dream and the love of his life based on what he thinks, per his family and per society, was the right thing to do. Only to be having that blow up in his face. Please, pleeeeeeease let this be foreshadowing for how the Kraken situation is gonna go, since they love their parallels so much.

Also, must must must acknowledge how much Mary is an absolute Queen. Again, they could demonize her. She literally just technically committed adultery. But they don't - everything she says to Stede is valid, even he knows it, as much as he grasps at straws for his dignity re: her word choice. Pffffft.

- Also also, must again acknowledge that Jim and Olu are absolute sunshine in the face of all of this. I'm so grateful that they are good, and Pete and Lucius are/already have been good, before everything that happens happens. Keeping us believing in love, despite Stede (and Ed, later) being idiots.

(Also Lucius barging in on them? The Family vibes are SO STRONG. Oh my heart.)

- As for Ed's song and the idea of the talent show. It's been said that with this, Ed is doing the same thing he does with everyone else and is trying to snap into what they expect in order to survive - and I think that's true, to some extent, there's definitely still a level of desperation under his actions, manic enthusiasm for all their talent that rings of something else - but there are also a couple of good things happening here.

1) he is seizing permission to still embrace softness, since Lucius said life might begin again. So while that's still following Lucius' lead, it does get him to show up in that capacity at all, and assert what he wants to be called, now. Really, really moving on from Blackbeard, as well as his heartbreak. Which we saw was something he wanted even before he met Stede properly.

And 2) even with someone else leading his actions, at first, this could open up a path for healing for him that he does not know how to reach on his own. His childhood was mostly filled with pain and abuse. His young and full adult life were absolutely filled with pain and abuse. He is gonna need to see there is another way (which is part of why, I think, he hid in the blanket fort until his talk with Lucius).

Sometimes we still need guidance out of the dark.

(Which is another reason why I think he can still grow in the ways he needs to, even if Stede shows up before he's done figuring himself out. Just take that chance, be brave, honest, and communicate.)

- Also also, Mary's friends all showing up for her to help set up her showing!!! She has a found family, too 💖

- I don't think there's anything I can say about the bar scene that hasn't already been said in this excellent post by @knowlesian so DO read that if you haven't yet.

I will say, though, that as a queer person the way that Stede has to backtrack over admitting that Blackbeard is "absolutely lovely" and having to adjust your tone, language, etc. to keep yourself and the friends you're talking about safe? Yes. This. Exactly.

That on top of the fact that Stede can't pretend, in the face of this, that he doesn't have new trauma from his time away AND that he is lonelier than he's ever been. This is the most openly miserable we see him, after the men congratulate him for what is clearly causing him pain, and the way that the writers have just built up and chipped away at the manic-aggressively-positive façade he started the episode with... *chef's kiss*

And of course, that the old schoolmate that pulls him into that conversation in the first place is named Jeffrey, like the name Ed chose for himself on the fancy party ship, and dressed all in black. I.... yeah.

And and, of course, that while the majority of the men listening to Stede's tales are dressed in black too (Ed's false color) or blue (Stede's false color), the guy who asks him if he's ever killed a man, demands that answer with anticipation of excitement? He's wearing the closest thing to gold, Stede's true color, that anyone is wearing. And he mimics Stede's own romantization of the pirate life, while calling him to unexpected honesty about that trauma and about his loneliness. They don't get it - just calling for more drinks for him - but we, as viewers, do. They don't see him.

- Just as Izzy doesn't truly see Ed in the next scene, with even more damaging consequences. Insisting that he should have let Edward die instead of letting him heal - so attached to the idea of Blackbeard that when Ed tries to assert that he is still Blackbeard as well as what Izzy is seeing (he is both, and he knows he is both, which makes me feel like he's more aware of who he is and what he wants than we've given him credit for, as much as we do see him chameleoning for his survival), Izzy gets aggressive as fuck, waving the illustration in his face, throwing his toxic misogynistic homophobia at him.

Which gets Ed to snap - react violently at Izzy weaponizing his pain and his love - protecting himself automatically in the only way that he knows Izzy responds to. Which of course is exactly what Izzy wanted, reacting with a really intimate face touch (ew) and a look on his face that's openly interested (EWW), and then desperate. Which makes Ed disgusted - with Izzy, obviously, but also probably himself for snapping back into that behavior. This is obviously, obviously not the first time this has happened.

But this time, Izzy follows it up with threatening Ed's life - eyes continuing to flick over parts of his face and body like he's a piece of meat, as much as his words are condemning and violent - and Ed is reminded, by someone he thought he could trust, that this softness, this vulnerability, is not allowed in his world. It will get him killed.

And of course, it is significant as fuck that that moment is immediately followed by the crew calling for him, for another song, calling him Eddie. As has already been pointed out by several other posts, that is a throwback to what happened at the fancy party. He was called on to entertain and be "loved" by that group pf people, only for them to ridicule him. There was harm in that, too, after all. Humiliation in that, too, after all. Which only serves to prove Izzy right, in a backwards way. The softness isn't safe for him in that way, either. He thought he could trust these people, but maybe he can't...

- And then back to Stede, drunkenly crashing Mary's showing! Hoo boy. He's been riled up by the crowd at the bar, reminded of his misery - yes, the traumatic parts, but also how much he misses the life he'd chosen - and goes there to demand that she meet him at his sacrifice. Only to attack Doug when he tries to offer him some calm and comfort (Doug really is the best, jesus).

(Shoutout to Evelyn immediately stepping up to defend Mary/get him the fuck out of there, before Mary holds her back. Excellent.)

And this of course leads right into them getting ready for bed, and then the attempted murder scene. I think it's super duper significant that this, and Stede's "I forgive you by the way" about Doug are the last straws for Mary. So much of this show is about being who you are with enthusiasm, and loving who you love without apology. And in this moment, Stede is threatening both of those things for Mary.

If we were to look at this scene and the last in terms of parallels, in this case, Stede is Izzy, and Mary is Ed. Just..... damn. And/but where Ed doesn't have the wherewithal yet to fight back, fight for the life he wants to choose, Mary does!

- So, the murder attempt, and THE conversation.

Their friendship is so pure already, gawd (figures it would take a murder attempt for us to see that! I love this show so much). And after they get the drama out of the way, and sit together, in openness about their situation... Stede thinks to ask Mary was love feels like. She doesn't volunteer that, why would she? But he's curious - we know he loves Shakespeare, he's read that at least and I'm sure tons of other romances, but he's never felt it himself. And as she describes it, the thoughts of Ed come almost immediately. And his expressions, Gods - first considering, like "Hmm, okay," then amused and warm, and then finally positive-resignation, acceptance and a kindly "Wow, I'm an idiot. That is what that was. That is what we are." And the way his voice breaks when she says she hopes he finds that, and he answers "I think I have." AND the fact that he is honest with her, quietly, but openly, unquestioning. Both in his certainty about how he feels and about her support.

(And again the fact that he had to be shown what love is before he realized he was in it? Excellent parallel to the fact that Ed's healing is still valid even if he has to be shown that softer way, first.)

- And/but this segues, of course, into seeing Ed for the first time after that confrontation with Izzy, and we see him let go in a BAD way, instead. The red silk now not only a representation of his mother's love, but of the moment his feelings for Stede became obviously romantic to him. He thinks of that, and we see him let the silk fly into the ocean - now that he is under threat, such a serious one, from the person who used to be closest to him, he's not just giving up the love he had (HAS) for Stede. He's giving up any hope for the healing and kindness and finery, emotional or physical, that his mother told him he didn't deserve and Stede told him he did. He is abandoning any and all hope for a better, different life.

It is safer to abandon himself, let himself drown under the weight of his legend - worse than ever - than to let himself be killed and/or humiliated, since Izzy's threat was so intimate.

"I am the Kraken." I am only the monster I have always believed that I was, deep down. That is the only thing strong enough to survive.

So he lets the silk go. He "kills" Lucius. He puts the costume of Blackbeard back on and takes Izzy's toe and has everyone empty Stede's spaces. No more finery no more softness no more kindness. Stede is not coming back, and now neither of them are.

And as far as the crew are concerned, everyone looks confused and downtrodden about having to throw away Stede's things - particularly the books - but we see Frenchie and Pete most clearly and that is SO INTERESTING. Frenchie looks devastated. And even Pete looks like he can't believe it, saying "Jesus" to Frenchie once Izzy is out of earshot.

- But then back to hope, with Stede's fuckery! Huzzah!!

And firstly, Stede establishes to Mary that he and Doug had been talking the situation over, which means we very likely were cheated out of a conversation in which Stede said to Doug that he's in love with someone else, and that it's a guy, and Doug would likely have answered "Yeah I figured" after the "Unhand me or bleed" scene and whatever Mary has told him about the quality of their marriage bed.

*pause for delighted clapping and laugh snorting*

Also also also, he's giving up all of his wealth this time. All of it. To go after Ed freely.

(Nobody fucking touch me omg.)

And again, I love Evelyn SO MUCH. I know we probably won't get to see her again but she is amazing.

And most strikingly, we get to see in this fuckery that left to his own devices, Stede's theatrical instincts ARE finely honed enough. This is just as, if not more, complicated as the lighthouse fuckery, and he pulls it off of his own volition (with help, obviously, but the whole thing is his design alone). So take that, Izzy of several episodes ago!

- Meanwhile, the crew... the fact that they were willing to go on the island and believed that Ed would be along shortly, after being made to throw out Stede's things, must mean that he hid himself from them all day. Either lower in the ship, or in Stede's hidden wardrobe. But I bet if they had seen him, seen how he looks now, they would have figured out something was up and never let Izzy take them there.

- Paired with the fact that Ed shows up in the empty cabin, now using it as an office, going through the motions of asking Jim to join his new crew and acknowledging Frenchie's skill, complimenting them both under threat - which is interesting, as I'd mentioned before, in comparison to Chauncey's behavior in taking the cabin, but still asserting his dominance and masking his pain with manic laughter, which Fang is expected to join in on, and does. Which leads me to believe that so far, the persona he is putting on is not too different from what his earlier crew members (Fang, Ivan) expect. But I do still think we're looking and more violence and recklessness from him moving forward and I dearly, dearly hope that bites Izzy in the ass.

(And not in ways he's gonna like. Important distinction.)

- Back to Stede, if Alma doesn't grow up to follow him out to sea I will be QUITE surprised. Also, her acceptance of his choice being symbolized in splitting the orange in half - physically acknowledging that he still loves them, but he loves himself and Ed, and the life possible out there, too? Perfect. Especially since now that all is (about to be) resolved - Ed first gave him the orange, after he found it himself, and now his daughter is giving it back to him, changed, but even better for the way it's had to change? Just... yes.

- Also, the intensity parallel of Stede faking his death but really heading toward life, and Ed abandoning the crew, abandoning himself, in order to survive but actually dying more and more internally 👏👏

- Everyone's frakking reactions to Stede's death too, omg. Clearly he didn't tell Doug all the details and I am here for it. As I am for Evelyn's little nod of respect when he tells them not to blame Ned, before the carriage hits him and the piano "kills" him finally. And of course, the whole fuckery itself. Absolutely amazing all around.

- I also really, really hope that as much as Stede is in more typical mariner clothing, stripped down from his frills and the shield of his clothing, in the shot of him "finally free"..... I get why he's stripped down to that, but I hope he gets to maintain his fashion sense to some extent and I look forward to seeing how they balance that. I don't think just having him drop all the fashion and frippery would be true to his character. Yeah, he's still starting from scratch now, by choice, but his clothing before was self expression as much as it was protection. So yes, balance please.

- And then we get the flag 😭 Which, more than anything - considering that right after we see it in full, the shot switches to Ed, drinking, staring/glaring intently at it, and then walking away - I think he had Frenchie do it as a reminder to himself. Guard your heart or it will bleed. Which is as much about the threat of Izzy as it is about Stede.

- I also agree that with Guz leaving the show, there is a high likelihood that Jim is gonna have to kill him in an escape attempt. Ouch.

- And then, the last scenes we get of both Ed and Stede - what they want us to take away, especially since at that point it hadn't been renewed yet.

Our last shot of Ed is him sobbing in Stede's cabin, in Stede's bed, so small in that space, staring first at Mary's lighthouse painting from their first fuckery together (and then out the window). Their first day really together, even if neither of them understood that yet.

🎉 THAT IS EXTREMELY HOPEFUL 🎉 Not that I want Ed miserable, ever, BUT the fact that we are allowed to see that he is still falling apart inside and is choosing that space as refuge - still hurting so much despite what he's showing to everyone else, but taking what little scraps of comfort he left himself? That memory, and the place where Stede rested? That is VITAL to understanding that there is still hope for him. He can still come back from this because he hasn't cut himself off from his pain entirely and he IS still reaching for whatever softness, what care, is left, when no one can see him.

And for Stede, we get him rescuing his crew from yet another traumatic experience - which is a nice parallel to his speech in the beginning of the first episode, about pirate-life trauma and caring for them, especially since in this case they really DO need and want help this time (sorry Buttons. No Swede roast for you). And of course, Olu - the most competent of all of them - sees him first, and through the spyglass we see that he stands up clumsily and we get the lighthousey imagery of him raising one arm up, standing straight as possible (ha, straight). Guiding them with that gesture.

So we get the reassurance of that imagery, but also the reassurance that he is still himself - whatever comes next, he's still gonna bumble through it and likely survive with the usual Muppet luck. AND, equally importantly, getting to the crew means a) doing right by them but b) also knowing as much as he can about what happened to Ed, and what he's facing next.

Now, pairing that with the last shot of Ed - I absolutely think that we're meant to take away that Stede WILL reach him and Ed WILL be reachable, at least eventually. Obviously it's gonna take a LOT, and there are likely to be heart-rending and hysterical shenanigans involved, but they WILL get there.

So, yes. Well done everyone. Now please go pull Lucius out of the ship's walls, first and foremost, for fuck's sake.

Remember the old interviews of Rowling saying that Gellert is like Albus’ ‘dark twin’, a morally bankrupt version, and the several times she’s mentioned that they saw in each other qualities that they shared with no one else? 

Now, think of the Qilin’s walk. Gellert can only be chosen by the dead/corrupt Qilin but he craves to be chosen by the real one. He believes in the righteousness of his cause and he always sees himself and Albus as equals. When the real Qilin chooses Albus he’s not even angry because he does not oppose that choice. He understands it. Yet he genuinely believes that he’s the best of the other candidates.

When the Qilin chose Santos, Gellert didn’t just snap because he lost the election. There was something very specific in the wording of Albus’ plea for a second choice: “Just as two of you were born that night, there’s another here, equally worthy.” Gellert always sees himself and Albus as binary stars and he cannot stand how the Qilin as an ‘impartial judge’ disrupts this idea because he feels that it’s one of the last threads that his connection to Albus is hanging from. 

Before that, when the alive Qilin is calling out to the dead one, Newt says: ‘She can’t hear you little one, not here, but perhaps somewhere she’s listening’. Considering how FB works a lot with metaphors, it breaks me to think how Albus too tries to make Gellert hear him, in the sense of seeing reason. There is something broken in twisted in Gellert too, so he can’t ‘hear’ Albus right then, but some part of him IS listening and that’s the very part that will come to the surface when he will ultimately surrender and show remorse. 

i was recently making a compilation for a friend of ouat scenes and i found the scene where they are at baelfire’s cave in neverland and the DRAWINGS ON THE WALLS PEOPLE !!!!

they focused on the counting thingys but baelfire, even after his argument with hook, what does he draw ?

first of all, right there in bold, the port and starboard thing killian carves, he’s not even on a ship and he left it there for prosperity, plus what i think its the view from the front of the jolly roger on top of that !

and my absolute favourite, he drew the hook !

i’m just, it made me so emotional when i noticed it and i wished, i fucking wished the writers had more balls to include that in the episode, maybe see killian get visibly emotional - we didn’t need much, just a prolonged, longing look at the drawings and then maybe not include the love triangle thing cause you know, it’s absolutely ridonkulous !

there you go, hookfire feelings

Actually @darkcolinodonorgasm remind me that I wanted to ask if there is some meta about portraying Killian Jones drinking problem or I have to do it myself?

Perhaps @killian-whump can help? Some other people who should do meta about Killian are @winterbythesea and @lillpon :3

Hey, okay. I’m game. I don’t think I’ve ever talked at length about my thoughts on this issue, though I do think I’ve mentioned it here or there when discussing other things.

Once never actually comes out and says whether OG Killian has a drinking problem or not. Peter Pan says he has one in S3, but he might just be needling him. And we DO see Killian do an awful lot of drinking throughout the show, but it’s almost always done for comic relief or to fuel character interactions - which lends a more light-hearted air than what is usually seen in characters who are intended to be seen as actual alcoholics.

Season 6 shakes things up a little when it presents Wish Realm Hook as an overweight drunkard, and Emma clearly makes the connection to her own Hook’s drinking and decides he should switch to water. However, ALL of this is done with a humorous bent, making it doubtful that this was ever intended to be seen as an indication of a serious drinking problem.

It’s only in Season 7, with a somewhat-retconned and refined Wish Hook, that the show presents his drinking as a serious issue. When we see him in 7x02, Wish Hook is a recovering alcoholic who hasn’t had a drink in years. And when he’s taken by the curse, we see that Detective Rogers retains this trait. They even go so far as to show us Rogers emotionally struggling with the constant temptation to go off the wagon. The show tells us (and shows us) that Wish Hook absolutely does have a drinking problem.

And there’s a couple of really interesting things this presents:

1) Since OG Hook and Wish Hook share their genetic make-up and 90% of their history, it can be assumed that if Wish Hook is a bonafide alcoholic, OG Hook should have that same propensity.

2) The show creators/writers were absolutely willing and able to present a drinking problem in a serious and sensitive way. Therefore, the lack of presenting OG Hook’s drinking as a serious problem was NOT due to the nature of the show or a reluctance to “go there” with the character, but a conscious choice they made.

3) Wish Hook reveals to us that after he gave up hope of curing his poisoned heart, he retired to the grotto and lost himself in drink. That implies that the problem drinking began well after the point where the two Hooks’ life paths diverged.

So! It’s safe to say that Wish Hook / Rogers does have a drinking problem. He is clearly presented as a recovering alcoholic in canon.

But OG Hook is a little trickier to determine. With a canon tendency towards addiction and clearly unhealthy attitudes and behavior around alcohol, an argument can definitely be made that he is an alcoholic or is on the path to becoming one. However, with the show presenting his drinking as a light-hearted character quirk and never as a serious issue, and with Wish Hook’s drinking not becoming a serious issue until experiences unique to his life drove him to it, you could just as easily make an argument that OG Hook’s drinking is perfectly manageable and not a problem for him at all.

Ultimately, I think it’s just a personal choice of how one wants to interpret the character and the information we’ve been given. Personally, I find that having OG Killian be an alcoholic adds an element of existential angst to him that I’m just not comfortable with (shocking coming from me, I know!). I prefer to see him as a fellow who enjoys a sip or two of rum now and then, and otherwise has a more-or-less healthy appreciation of drinking with friends. I also find that having one Hook be a recovering alcoholic and the other not creates an interesting and believable differentiation between the two men, and adds an element of depth to their imagined interactions post-finale. I also like the idea of Wish Hook serving as a wake up call to Killian that he should watch his drinking, lest it DOES become a problem for him. He has far too much to lose now in his life to want to risk such a thing, and I think he would naturally tone it down more so as a result.

But, personal feelings aside, it’s not something I’d ever argue over, as canon truly leaves ample room for either interpretation.

What about in the flashback of Liam and OG Hook on Capt Silvers ship? When the crew talk about OG Hook spending their little money on drinking and gambling which led to Liam making the deal with Hades?

if liam were like 8-10 years older than killian instead of like 1-3 years, i feel like it would have made a dramatic change to their story. like, brennan abandoning them when either A, killian was like 3 and liam was 13, or B, killian was 9 and liam was 17.

young teen liam being responsible for toddler killian on top of them being passed off to this random crew to serve. killian having practically no memories of his father at all, while liam simmers in hate and disgust for the man. liam being a bit darker, willing to do some bad things for the sake of raising and protecting killian. a lot of killian getting into things he shouldn’t because he is a curious child and liam frantically yelling at him, not because he wants to scare him or be cruel, but because he is terrified that a crewman or the captain will toss his brother overboard if he messes up too badly. liam unintentionally making killian grow distrustful of others just because he wants him to be safe. killian not knowing how other children live, or that his life is unusual. liam pushing himself to teach him someday, when he gets them out of there.

or older teen liam refusing to accept working for the captain or crew, planning an escape as soon as they threaten killian’s life to force him into working. liam and killian on the run in a foreign country, stealing to get by, wary of authority figures, unsure of their destination but unwilling to stay by the water to avoid possible run-ins with anyone who might recognize them and force them back into servitude. running from law enforcement for stealing. killian learning to pick pocket. both falling into the roles of charming con artists. liam feeling a steady dose of guilt for it.

no one:

literally not a soul:

me: do you ever think about how Rogers not only was feeling the loss of being separated from his daughter, without of course knowing how to explain that feeling, but he was also deprived of his connection to the sea? like the curse made it specific that he never visited the ocean despite having had a strong wish to do so and that made him even more miserable and sometimes i wanna cry for sweet detective muffin ;_;

Ah, Gothel’s curse is so beautiful, because while most of the recipients of it are just, like, different or whatever, but getting on with their lives, whatever, the curse did Hook SO dirty that it had to have been done on purpose.

Granted, he was already separated from Alice before the curse, so their separation IN the curse was a given. But that separation is Gothel’s fault in the first place, so it just adds to the petty shit she’s done to him.

But the sea thing you said. I mean, the sea calms and comforts him. OG Hook said as much, and even Dark Hook found its presence soothing. To deprive him of it entirely is just needlessly cruel.

And the loneliness. I mean, the angst when he explodes with, “Because I don’t have anybody!” is so painful to watch T_T Hook always had a crew. Acquaintances. People around. Friends, even. Rogers was just… so alone.

And she channeled his obsessive need to reunite with Alice into an even more obsessive need to find her, so she could use him to free herself when the time came. She fucking used his pain to benefit herself.

Sorry, I could talk forever about the curse and how it did him wrong.

I mean, I hate it… and I love it. Gothel is just the kind of vindictive villain who literally fucks people over just to do it. And that is SO great from a whump standpoint. I mean, that kind of villain will toy with their victim just to watch him squirm, simply because it amuses them. There’s nowhere you can’t take that kind of dynamic. You can do whatever you want. I love it.

absolutely love the symbolism of how Rebecca’s interaction with musical theatre songs – which she had based her life on – shows how far she has come in knowing who she is and what she believes in. although in the past she used the language of feminist theory, she had a lot of cognitive dissonance when it came to actually applying these ideas both to her life and to the media she consumed. in 4.14, we see her once again being put in a box for a narrow female role, this time a literal role, as the director tells her that this song best captures her “essence.” but as Rebecca goes through the song, she realizes that it doesn’t capture her or her views at all… and this time, rather than reshape herself to fit that role, she changes the song itself. 

because the problem isn’t her inability to conform to one-dimensional roles (the ingenue, the party girl, the scary scary sexy lady), it’s that these reductive views of women exist in the first place. Rebecca doesn’t fit any of them, and that’s not a failure – she’s hard to summarize because no person is just one thing. although not everyone may like the changes she makes, she finally knows who she is, and although staying true to that may be hard, it’s also freeing. 

Something I love about Rebecca’s character development is that as she’s been getting better, she’s been dressing more casually, and not trying to please men so much. I get so sick of the trope where when a girl gains confidence or self esteem, she starts wearing more revealing and traditionally feminine things. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with dressing that way if you want to, it’s just suspicious that “empowerment” is so often portrayed in ways that appeal to men.

Whereas with Rebecca, trying very hard to please men is part of her dysfunction, and just wearing what she’s comfortable with is a really good sign. She hasn’t been making self-deprecating comments about her appearance either. And she’s honestly really beautiful when you can see the happiness and personal fulfillment in her.

the funniest thing in the entire pirates of the caribbean series is definitely that one scene in At World’s End where they have parlay but davy jones is part of it, and rather than have him stand in the shallows or something they get a big bucket of water and have in stand on it on shore

who thought of that idea? who thought “put davy jones in a bucket of water” and had the guts to suggest it aloud? and then who went “hey that sounds like a great idea!”

at some point someone told davy jones their idea was for him to stand in a bucket of water and he agreed to it

*stands majestically in a bucket*

ok but notice the trail of buckets behind him meaning he walked from the ocean through three other buckets of water before he got into the one hes standing in

It’s even funnier when you consider how he must have figured all this out in the first place.

Some folks are asking “well, if he can avoid the no-dry-land curse simply by standing in a bucket, doesn’t that ruin his whole motivation?”, but he’s not on dry land here.

The parley takes place on a sandbar - which, for the unfamiliar, is a temporary “island” of sand deposited by breaking waves, unconnected with the shore, that spends most of its time submerged, being exposed only at low tide.

What Jones is doing here is rules-lawyering his curse. Can you imagine the trial and error he must have gone through in order to determine that this would actually work?

“Okay, do islands count as dry land? How about parts of the shore below the high tide mark? Reefs? Shoals? What if I stand in a pool of water on a shoal? Does it have to be seawater, or will any water do? Does it have to be a natural tidepool, or can it be something artificial, like a bucket?”

What I am saying is that there must have been a process.

Pretty sure that this implies that the reverse - a bucket of sand, floating on the water (big bucket with just a bit of sand), would qualify as dry land. That’s absurd, so I’m pretty sure that his lawyer pulled a fast one over the curse governor.

It may be absurd, but the text of the film bears it out. Davy Jones can sense the presence of his heart while it’s at sea, but not while it’s on land (indeed, that’s why he buried it on land in the first place: to break his connection with it) - yet placing the heart in a simple jar of dirt conceals it from Jones’ awareness just as surely as burial on land does, even if the jar is on a boat at the time. Suitably prepared vessels filled with dirt absolutely count as dry land for the purpose of Jones’ curse.

Then the reverse should also be true. If he buried it in a jar of water, no matter how far inland it is, he would be able to sense it. So by this logic, any container of seawater counts as not dry land, ergo, the bucket is a perfectly viable loophole.

Not necessarily. It’s traditionally a lot easier to accidentally get whammied by a curse than it is to weasel around it - I figure that’s why he’s using multiple layers of indirection here. He’s forbidden to set foot on dry land, but it’s technically not dry land (it’s a sandbar, a non-permanent landform exposed only at low tide) and he technically didn’t set foot on it (he’s standing in a bucket of water). It’s entirely possible that either one of those things alone wouldn’t make the grade.

okay but this all raises one further, very important question: if it’s specifically “dry land” he’s forbidden from, what about wetlands. can Davy Jones fight you in salt marshes? can he throw down in a peat bog?Swamp Battle?

This is the quality content I come to Tumblr for.

could he step on land if his shoes are wet?

No matter how ridiculous PotC gets I will love it. Especially when it results in conversations like this

What if he crawls around on his hands and knees, with his feet raised slightly into the air? Can he walk on his hands? Can he ride around in a litter or a wheelchair?

can he be in a wheelbarrow?

What if he flies over dry land? Like in a hot air balloon, or in the claws of a giant bird?

What if he’s carried by two swallows using a strand of creeper?

European swallows or African swallows?

this whole thread reads like a conversation between these two:

In fact im not entirely sure that it wasn’t their idea in the first place

Since the person who gave him the curse is a sea goddess, I’m guessing salt marshes connected with the ocean would be OK, peat bogs not, and any water you can drink is right out.

Emma Swan’s wedding gown: an astonishing failure by any metric

(Many, many pictures in this post.)

I hope that, as readers of this blog, you know that I have a great deal of respect for the work of Eduardo Castro on this show. It was with dismay that I began analyzing this dress last season, when friends began asking me to talk about it. I like talking about the successes—negative analysis can be fun and cathartic and all, but analyzing something that works, in order to understand why it’s really that good, is at least as valuable, if not more so. But sometimes, a thing is really that bad, and that’s where we are today. I hope everyone understands that this is a critique of this garment, not an analysis of the character.

But let me be very clear: this dress was poorly made, poorly fitted, and poorly suited to the medium.

Arguably the most famous wedding gown ever made is that of Grace Kelly, worn for the Catholic ceremony of her wedding to Prince Rainier of Monaco (the pair had been married in a civil ceremony the day before). Kelly’s gown was designed by a costume designer from MGM Studios, Helen Rose. Rose was a two-time Oscar-winning designer and ten-time nominee. She had designed costumes for Kelly several times, and she was also a well-regarded wedding gown designer.

This gown is without question her most famous work, and its influence has been far-reaching. Fifty-five years later, a dress inspired by Kelly’s was worn by Kate Middleton for her wedding to Prince William. Several European princesses of the same generation have also drawn inspiration from this gown.

Emma Swan’s wedding gown, however, does not draw inspiration from Kelly’s. It is a copy, and not even a good one.

Let’s start from the top.

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Sometimes I think about, “I was just scared that you were gonna realize  you’re way better than me” and “Wow, you were really worried about me?” and how Jake is always so surprised by how much people (especially Amy) care about him because he always expects people to leave him like his dad did, because he doesn’t think he’s good enough, like he wasn’t good enough for his dad (or at least, that’s how he feels). I mean, the reason Jake is such a workaholic is because it’s something he’s good at, something that he gets praise for doing. He wants to be the best cop he can be, so that he feels like he’s worth something, like he’s worth loving.

It’s all the more heartbreaking when you consider how quickly and deeply he loves other people. He considered Terry a “friend friend” when Terry still saw him as a “work friend,” and refused to give up helping him realize he didn’t want the vasectomy. He truly loved Sophia, but to her, he was really just a fling, and it was so much worse because he actually tried with her, he did everything right, and gave it his all, and he was still left heartbroken in the end.

And now with Amy, it’s so clear that he’s in love with her (has been for years now let’s be real), but he’s so unsure of himself because Amy is so amazing and she could have anyone she wanted, but for some reason she chose him. She’s dating him. And he’s messed up so many relationships before and he can’t mess up this one because this is Amy. And so he’s treading lightly and holding back just a little and he’s still expecting her to leave him and find someone better and I just.

I can’t wait for the day when Jake Peralta realizes that Amy Santiago loves him just as much as he loves her.

DO YOU EVER JUST GET HIT IN THE FACE BY HOW MUCH JAKE PERALTA LOVES OTHER PEOPLE AND HOW MUCH HE HATES HIMSELF BECAUSE I DO AND IT MAKES ME EMOTIONAL.

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alright so now i’m crying because

listen,,,jake was so worried about kevin and holt (who are most definitely his dads and in a not-weird-at-all way). but not when the threat was death, something a bit distant, something he faces and fends off every day. he’s beaten insane ex-defense attorneys, latvian mobsters, and even other gang leaders from witsec. 

no, what gets to jake is when they might end their relationship. 

holt has been a role model (if a reluctant one) for jake since he walked through the door, and his relationship with kevin has been a shining example of what jake can one day hope for, even if the vocab is a bit above his head. seeing his new dads threaten divorce was another threat to the system he so badly wants to believe in, that he so deeply believes he’s found with amy. 

but it’s different this time, because it’s not roger. it’s holt and kevin and they’re dads the way dads should be. and jake got to see a marriage that did something different, just like he hopes to.