Ending The Series With Lucius And Peter Getting Married And Ed And Stede Starting An Inn? PERFECTION

ending the series with lucius and peter getting married and ed and stede starting an inn? PERFECTION

i haven’t actually seen the episode in full yet but uh. something i’ve observed I suppose?

Izzy Hands. He dies yes? Yes. It makes sense narratively. I can understand being upset, but I’m telling you!! Izzy was the last attachment Ed had to being Blackbeard; the last reminder that he was this bloodthirsty pirate, the last reminder that he was unhappy. Izzy Hands was never a character for the sake of a character; he was written as a plot device, and will continue to be one if we get a season 3, I’m sure.

Just because you love him doesn’t mean him dying is illogical. It makes sense. It is Blackbeard finally being dead. It is Edward Teach finally being free. Izzy was queer, Izzy was depressed, Izzy was tortured. We saw this coming. Some people are saying “We thought DJenks would be better than this!!” but this is storytelling. Thinking about Izzy as a plot device rather than a separate character shows a lot more— he is used as a direct analogy. He represents Blackbeard. The death of Blackbeard was long time coming. Blackbeard wanted to die; Ed wanted to live. Izzy singing and becoming comfortable as himself is literally an analogy for Ed becoming comfortable as Ed.

That out of the way, here’s my thoughts about the seagull on Izzy’s grave.

One idea is that the seagull is Buttons. He is a symbol of magic this season, obviously. So, in theory, because magic is real, we could be getting Izzy back via Buttons magic.

My other theory is that Buttons being on Izzy’s grave is a reference to “to love […] requires change”

In order to love Stede the way Stede needs to be loved, Ed needed to change; Blackbeard needed to die. If this is the case, then Izzy was the remaining part holding Ed back from changing.

Anyways sorry about this but it’s so frustrating having people complaining about this. Being upset is fine, but the show writing itself is absolutely magnificent. Bury your gays does not apply to this situation because these are the “bury your gays” definitions:

Gay Guy Dies First: When the often only queer character dies early on, before straight characters.

Gayngst-Induced Suicide: When an LGBT+ character commits or attempts to commit suicide because of reasons connected to or caused by being LGBT.

Homophobic Hate Crime: When a character is attacked and often murdered by homophobic characters.

Out of the Closet, Into the Fire: After a character comes out they are quickly killed, harmed, or cosmically punished.

Tragic AIDS Story: The story involves the miseries of HIV/AIDS, often starring gay men, sometimes treated like a punishment for homosexuality.

Vasquez Always Dies: The most lesbian-coded character, or the closest thing the work has to a butch character, always seems to get killed off, or has the most violent and drawn-out death.

The closest possible one, if this were bury your gays, would be “Out of the Closet, Into the Fire”. HOWEVER!!!!!! Izzy is not killed because he’s queer. He’s not killed “after he comes out”. Plus, literally every main character in the show is queer. Every single one. I do not believe this is a bury your gays. I believe this is a purposefully heartbreaking kill; you’re SUPPOSED to like Izzy by now! Because Ed likes Ed now. He’s accepted himself. That’s what Izzy was for; showcasing Ed’s internal journey.

I really hope Lucius walks in on Ed and Stede cuddling a la Jim and Oluwande. I need that callback! I even wrote it into a fic I never published. It would be so goddamn funny!

I can smell the criticism of this finale from a mile away and can already see a few flooding in, and don’t get me wrong some are very valid (i.e. the pacing, because it was very fast like literally over in an instant and they managed those insanely tight pivots from one emotional beat to the next well given what they had but like… yeah it was too fast, I blame max)

but also straight up if I hear anyone else talking about how it was out of character for stede to stay with ed in the end I’m going to lose it!!!!

like NO, his character motivations did not completely disappear in that moment, because episode 7 was about showing how stede’s trauma leads him towards toxic masculinity, not how it’s his overarching goal!! I think maybe it would have made more sense to people if stede hadn’t been making those comments about his performance, like little jokey jokes of him lying about his contributions, seeking approval/praise, etc. but like… that’s not a sign that his shit behaviour from episode 7 still lingers in my opinion. it’s about how he still at the end of the day is just Some Dude who really wants acceptance in this community.

stede’s overarching goal going into piracy was community. he wanted to change things for the better and operate under a new work ethic. he wanted to build family, and though pirates have been able to do that under harsher, more traumatizing and ruthless circumstances, like izzy and ed, we see how the violent nature of their circumstances permeated their relationship for a long time and makes it very charged, perhaps not gaining true vulnerability and clarity until it’s too late. THAT WAS STEDE’S GOAL. he wanted to be a famous and celebrated pirate, yes, but he also wanted to change the game. he lost his way a little, but episode 7!stede was a phase.

because he came into it for fame and community, but he left knowing he’d helped his found family as much as he could, recognizing that zheng is a competent leader and that his teachings were going to carry on through his crew and on his ship. and he left for LOVE. that is the core of stede bonnet and I will never let all you grumpies and grouchies forget that.

The thing about so many people being mad at Izzy's death is that they have no fucking media literacy.

Did it make you sad? Does it feel unfair?

YEAH! THAT'S THE FUCKING POINT!

It is sad. It's unfair, even.

But what it's NOT is bad writing or "bury your gays" or cruel to the viewers.

You dumb shits.

"But Izzy is disabled!" So are Lucius and Ed.

"But Izzy was suicidal!" So was Ed.

"But Izzy was an elder queer who came out later in life!" (Debatable but) So was Stede.

"But Izzy was abused!" So was literally everyone.

Y'all just don't want death to happen to your favorite characters. Which is FINE and a very NORMAL response but you're doing way too fucking much.

It's like when Noah died in The Raven King and people were sending the author abuse about it. Like SOMETIMES SAD THINGS HAPPEN! If everyone got off scot free and no one suffered consequences you'd get the end of Breaking Dawn. Which NO ONE can argue was 'good writing'.

I don't know man, it's like you're allowed to be sad your fave died but this witch hunt, this crusade of virtue signaling trying to assign your bad feelings to some Great Bigoted Crime of Problematacy is just fucking ponderous

Are you okay?

Izzy trying to push half of the responsibility for Ed's Kraken heel turn onto Stede is honestly so annoying. He was healing just fine before you, his friend and righthand man, told him he'd be better off dead than being himself. Fuck outta here with that crap.

I really hope this is acknowledged one way or the other this season. I hope Ed tells Stede about that conversation and he knows that, while he did hurt Ed badly, Izzy's words are what pushed him over the edge. I'm all for Izzy redeeming himself, but not to Stede's detriment. If Izzy truly wants redemption, he needs to be honest with himself about his role in all this.