I'm having a bit of a rough time and needed a little pick-me-up, so I decided to go through every episode of OFMD to determine an average "fuck" count per episode. An FPE (fuck per episode) if you will. Just curious about the average amount of fucks this show gives us in every episode.

And the funny thing is, the first three episodes? Single-digit fuck counts. Five to seven fucks uttered. But then we hit episode 4, and Ed's there, Izzy's there, Jim can talk - and the FPM immediately jumps up to at LEAST 20 per episode. Izzy's cranking out like six fucks in two seconds

Izzie Hands telling us that it's never too late to uncover and embrace your authentic self

Further: the cursed suit is Stede feeling HIMSELF. It’s something he loves, he embraces it, he knows he looks good. He gives it up because there are things that are more important, but he is embracing his gender performance there.

And he does that throughout. Yes, even the blue shirt and leather pants. Those are his, his choice, his expression, his self. He gets an earring—that’s something he does for him.

Is he trying on different ways of being? Yes. Are some of those things expressions of longing or attempting to belong? Also yes. But he is doing them for his own self expression, not because anyone else is telling him to. He is muddling through finding himself and that confusion is also HIS, not Ed’s or his crew’s.

Ed does the same thing, and he’s doing it for himself, not for Stede or what he thinks Stede expects of him. I’m glad they give Stede the same grace.

That’s very important.

I really love this moment because we see Ed trying to cope alone for the first time since his suicide attempt. It has a different valence to the wolf scene because here he’s fully cognizant. He’s not angry anymore. He’s not defiant. He’s exhausted and sad and he doesn’t know what’s going to happen next. Stede has just left again and you know that Ed must have a moment where he wonders if Stede will come back.

(gif by @meluli, from this set)

Taika’s performance throughout this show is quite nuanced, but here I think we just see the exhaustion—not despair anymore, but sadness. He’s hopeful. He wants to be hopeful. But he also really believes that people just don’t change.

Then Buttons turns into a bird, and Stede comes back.

Stede’s just happy to see Ed smiling tbh

OK, but, like, the “training montage” starts with a parody of the “old master” images from kung fu or swashbuckling films where we have Izzy shirtless and surrounded by candles “training.” Then the entire montage is a continuation of that parody—fighting, shooting, rope swinging, etc, with the hero (Stede) failing at everything. And then he never gets better. Because that kind of training and that kind of masculinity is just posturing bullshit.

Where Stede DOES get better is in his confidence and his ability to lead, and that is primarily a result of his own form of captaining and him relearning how he was captain of the Revenge in the first place. Doing masculinity HIS way, not Izzy’s.

This is…I’ve never realized how blatant a parody it is. It’s a sendup of how everything Izzy and the masculinity he represents is bullshit.

Just saying, when it comes to lovemaking, that Gentleman Pirate...

Please?

I'M JUST SAYING...

Gentleman Pirate indeed.

Or I'm just nuts.

They're the same picture.

every tv show i've watched: our flag means death [30/?] it's about belonging to something when the world has told you you're nothing.