Enter the Pirate Hunters: My Predictions for the Plot of OFMD S2
(I've discussed in another post (here) that I think the emotional plot of a good chunk of S2 will be the Redemption of Blackbeard. This post is more about what I think the action plot structure of S2 will look like.)
So I think the OFMD fandom can't help but be wrong about a lot of what's going to go down in S2 because most (not all) people are extrapolating from the available data and imagining the new season's drama without knowing what new elements are going to be introduced, like new characters and especially new antagonists.
For example, I've been saying for a bit that I don't think Ed and Stede having a big dramatic fight is going to take up the whole season, I just don't think that's in-character for how they've interacted up to this point (in a very caring way for each other and with very little drama up to the point where Stede vanished because he was kidnapped at gunpoint). I think they might fight for The Drama but I also think it's more likely that if they're kept apart by any sort of conflict it's more likely to be because some antagonist keeps them apart (for ex., Izzy lying about who Captain Thomas is or otherwise deliberately steering the Revenge away from Stede if he spots him before Ed does) OR, it's going to be because of other external villains we have't seen yet.
At the very least, even if these external villains aren't what keep Stede and Ed from each other, they're likely going to make up a chunk of the plot in S2 and I hope people are ready for that and the fact that all of S2 isn't going to be 10 episodes of Ed adn Stede making up and getting back together, there's going to be other pirate adventure stuff going on, just based on the structure of S1. Characters like Calico Jack, Spanish Jackie, and the Badmintons are going to have a lot of screen time too, and drive a lot of the plot that isn't just Ed and Stede (or Izzy or Olu and Jim's) relationship.
My predictions for S2 aren't that filled in yet, because we don't know for certain yet who the villains are, but structurally they look like this:.
Mirroring S1 (again, extrapolating from available data so this also could be totally wrong if they don't build from the same structure) - we spend 3 episodes seeing how hapless Ed is without Stede, in a striking reversal. We're introduced to just how evil Blackbeard was but we're seeing it through the lens of an Ed who is trying to recapture being Blackbeard after tasting the happiness of being himself with someone like Stede. He might be better at it in some ways (ie, more vicious, with his "no direct killing" rule abandoned as part of no longer running from the "Kraken" part of his past) but in other ways he might be worse because he really doesn't want to be doing this, he's emotionally shattered, and because we need to not just emotionally give up on this guy if he's too loathsome. We need to see glimmers of the Ed we knew.
Meanwhile, Lucius is IMO on the Revenge. To get a bit more granular with the predictions, I think Ed is having a psychological breakdown, not unlike Stede did after killing Nigel. I think Ed will be hallucinating a spiteful, drowned ghost of Lucius telling him how awful he is, to the point where at the end of episode 1, Ed doesn't even notice the real Lucius standing in the galley stealing some food (or something like that) because he's too in his head about the ghost version.
Lucius's not-actually-dead return is the comedy beat (and welcome surprise for the audience) that relieves us from the darkness of Ed's new normal, as Lucius is stunned that Ed looks right at him and keeps walking. From that point on, we have Lucius sneaking around inside the walls as our audience surrogate who is able to give us the objective narration of what's really happening on board the Revenge, like whatever Izzy is really planning, how Jim and Frenchie are doing, and things like the fact that Ed is crying himself to sleep every night.
I'm not sure if we'll see Stede in these first episodes in a similar manner to the fact we didn't see Ed until ep 3 of S1. Of course, Stede is our protagonist so that could be completely wrong. We might see glimpses of him or we might even get a Stede-dominant episode as he finds a new ship with the crew or does some other post-time-skip stuff.
(Oh, and at some point in here I expect we'll meet Ed's original crew on the Queen Anne's Revenge and find out what they've been up to.)
More importantly, like the British in S1, I think we're going to see the S2 villain in these first few episodes and have the non-romance plot of the season introduced. Possibilities include:
- Anne Bonny and Mary Read and their lesbian crew hunting down our protagonists to look for Calico Jack - for the record, I think they're more likely to be a one-off episode antagonist (or ally) and not the overarching plot because my theory is:
- Pirate Hunters - Stede and Ed skipped out on the Act of Grace. I think that will be ignored when convenient, like when Stede went home, but I think it's a great dangling thread of consequences to bring back. They are wanted by the law if they return to piracy (technically, only if they attack English ships, but I'm not sure how historical OFMD is going to bother to be). Which brings me to my real predictions for potential villains in S2:
- Benjamin Hornigold (dream-cast as Vincent D'Onofrio of MCU Kingpin fame in my mind, who expressed interest in being on the show) who historically was Blackbeard's "mentor" and went on to become a pirate hunter after his crew mutinied on him. (He historically hunted Charles Vane who could be brought in as an ally to our protagonists on the run from Hornigold.)
- Woodes Rogers - the historical pirate hunter who is credited with ending the Golden Age of Piracy
- Lieutenant Robert Maynard - the man who historically killed Blackbeard (to be clear I'm 1000% convinced Stede and Ed's historical deaths will actually be fuckeries so they can run away together at the end of the show).
- If the show continues to mirror the structure of S1, this will be the "Ed and Stede get back together" episodes. I honestly think their fighting will not dominate the entire season, I think they'll be reunited by Episode 4 and then rebuilding or growing their relationship up until the finale.
- This is when you'll probably get one-off episode antagonists like the French party folks or Calico Jack and where I think we'll meet more women characters and specifically where I'd expect to see an Anne Bonny/Mary Read introduction.
- Remember, this show is technically a romantic comedy so I also expect to just see some silly hijinks-style plotlines in here somewhere.
Episodes 9-10: The Finale
- Whatever villains have been pursuing Our Heroes catch up to them in the finale. In S1 it was the British with the help of episodic antagonists like Spanish Jackie and Izzy.
- IMO, it will be pirate hunters catching up with them, or any of the above-mentioned likely antagonists like Rogers, Maynard, or Hornigold. S3 will be set up, perhaps with a cliffhanger, teasing that Stede and Ed are very much in danger now and heading towards a climactic battle / Stede being captured and hung for his return to piracy (as happened historically and which again, I believe he will escape in the show).
- S3 will, in my opinion, focus on the historical ends of Blackbeard and Stede Bonnet and be the most epic in tone as befitting a climax of a 3 part story.
