Picking up from the end of season 1, Stede and the part of his crew that was marooned are sailing around trying to catch up with the revenge, but are ill-supplied to be doing so both due to the small size of the boat on the open ocean and that Stede didnāt seem to have much in ways of supplied with him when he left Barbados.
I donāt think the marooned crew would consider Stede as their captain at this time (given that he abandoned them to the kraken!Ed). Stede would probably be avoidant in talking about where heās been (in the ārules for thee but not for meā way he operates) other than heās back to stay, has no money, and only what little experience heās had in his brief time sailing as skills. They wouldnāt abandon Stede though, seeing him as maybe the only person who could fix this mess.
Stede and his bunch get picked up by another ship who, turns out, is also looking for the Revenge. This ship is either operated or in the command of Bellamy (though heās using a different name these days because heās supposed to be dead).
When Stede introduces himself, heās somewhat met with āa pirate captain without a ship and that wasnāt mutinied upon?ā questioning (some amusement there on Bellamyās behalf), and Olu or all of the marooned people explains to their understanding what happened on the Revenge while Stede was gone to the best of their ability.
The tale of the Revengeās crewās current state was left in just drives them both to want to find it even more. (A good chunk of this story is tracking down information to find the Revenge, which fortunately, Bellamy still has information sources in spades. Sometimes things just happen on the sea. Maybe they run into Jack again?).
Bellamy may or may not be a less than open about who heās chasing after on the Revenge (havenāt decided, or maybe itās something that eventually comes out but isnāt said directly at first? Bellamy would have little reason to give up his many-year alias/charade to Stede and also strikes me as the kind of man to hold his cards close until he wants to play them). Stede gets to know more about Ed as a person from someone who knew him years ago without Ed there to curate ( Much like Jack and Ed, they act like no time has passed next they meet. I think they would have had a kind of rivalry but also an underlying respect for one another. or at least some base kind of comeradery) and also about pirating when money isnāt your background.
Just to complicate things, because Stede and Ed have escaped the royal navy, pirate hunters have been sent after the Revenge (Hornigold maybe?). This is discovered at one of the ports they stop at for information. Time is ticking for them to find the Revenge.
Stede no longer has the family inheritance money to lean on, and from the change in lifestyle heās had to take to compensate, he develops a kind of understanding if not respect for Izzyās steadfastness in duty of running the ship.
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Meanwhile back on the Revenge....
Things keep getting worse somehow.
Izzy knows he Fucked Up (see walking on thin ice with Ed), but keeps telling himself Blackbeard is back and this is what he (Izzy) wanted. Itās whatās best for Ed. Izzy tells himself this, but even he knows itās all gone wrong. He canāt face that reality because Izzy only finds the value of himself in serving Blackbeard. This wasnāt always true. Itās not something heās ready to confront yet.
Izzy is also managing (not well) the missing pinky toe whose stump is healing about as well as Luciusā finger did. His swordsmanship has also suffered due to the lack of balance from its loss. He must hide all this to the best of his ability to keep up appearances, but of course things will go horribly wrong.
Ed notices none of this of course; too wrapped up in his own grief and trying to be the Kraken for the one last reliable person (Izzy) heās scared will leave him if he isnāt being exactly what Izzy expects him to be. After all, Stede disappeared on him without a word, Jack helped Izzy sell Stede (though ed probably interpreted it as selling both ed and stede) out to the British.
Ed and Izzy havenāt been talking outside of strictly first mate-captain business talk. And even then, sometimes itās Izzy (nervously but with a front to show the crew otherwise) managing without Ed.
Lucius is living in the walls at this point and sees and hears much from people when they think they are alone. Edās fragile state and crying. Izzyās struggles with his foot and brief forlorn expressions when heās alone. Maybe thereās times when heād grip the ring, saying nothing but mind going mile a minute to something Lucius wouldnāt know at this point. He could probably pick up that itās a thought of someone missed.
Lucius canāt keep a secret for long so heād start conversing secretly with some of the crew. Jim perhaps? The two of them have a precident of secrets kept aĀ la season 1. Those that were part of the Revenge both donāt see a way out of this and start trying to plan for a means of a way out of this.
Would there have been more crew transferred from the Queen Anneās Revenge to the Revenge to fill out the crew with competent pirates? Maybe.
Eventually though Izzy canāt ignore that this isnāt anything like the usual moodswings ofĀ Blackbeard heās accustomed to managing. Things arenāt changing and heās already been dragged too deep underwater by the kraken to surface from the situation. Might as well continue to try and keep the rest of the crew afloat and working as they should be.
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(A maybe possibility of an event but not sure how it fits in characterization wise?)
Lucius eventually reveals himself to Izzy (under funny accidental circumstances probably). Perhaps when things have gotten Really Bad for Izzyās foot and heās bed bound with fever and infection? Would Izzy admit to Lucius he didnāt think an infection would be the thing to do him in? Probably not, but maybe in such a situation he would?
(I didnāt think through this scene too much, but maybe some more direct hints that there was someone else (Sam) for Izzy a lifetime ago? But since Izzy never really dealt with the loss other than just shove it down, he doesnāt really want to talk about it?
This would provide an opportunity for those that were left from the Revenge crew to gain a kind of respect and the briefest of peaks beneath the demanding middle manager demeanor Izzy has.
HOWEVER, this seemingly conflicts with two of the truths Izzy upholds for himself: Loyalty to his captain above all else, and, pirates all just in the process of screwing eachother over)
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Back with not the Revenge...
Bellamy, Stede, and the rest of the marooned crew eventually catch up to theĀ Revenge with barely enough time before the pirate hunters arrive.
If Stede hadnāt but it together by now just who Bellamy was looking for, it would be outright said who specifically is being sought after. (Stede probably wouldnāt put it together that the man he calls Iggy has the name Israel or may be referred to by the nickname Baz)
Stede could say itās him and heās returned, but Ed wouldnāt believe him. By now, Stede looks quite different a man. No matter what Stede says,
It takes a proper pirate boarding and takeover to get Ed to listen. Maybe Stede getting stabbed by Ed (just like he was taught) to get Ed to listen. The revenge crew on both sides wouldnāt want to fight their friends/companions.
The jig is seemingly up on romcom logic where everyone is going to be okay.
Maybe Ed boils over and Stede sees the Blackbeard the books he has tell of? Does Ed kill someone in his kraken rage or just think he killed someone in order for him to snap out of it enough to allow that emotional vulnerability to show again? (It would have to be him directly doing it, not throwing someone into the sea, or fire, or anything like that. As with when Jack was talking about Ed burning people alive in ep 8, Ed considered it the fire doing the killing, not himself.)
There is of course a dramatic and emotional reunion of all the couples. Them all dealing with what happened in their own ways.
Izzy of course is beyond words. Not knowing how to emotionally deal with 1) Sam being alive. Sam being here. 2) Stede Bonnet is back. 3)Pirate hunters (Hornigold?) on the horizon coming right for them.
That third point would cut everyoneās emotional reunions short, but also be the only one of the three that Izzy has any inkling of how to deal with after years of shoving his own emotions down and never dealing with them. The fight to even get on the Revenge having caused enough fatigue that a fuckery has to be used to get away. Stede gets to showcase what heās learned as a practical, broke, pirate (and that probably not enough if he creates the fuckery without assistance from others).
Thereās a grand kind of confrontation between Hornigold and the two captains who were once under his command. Stede gains a deeper understanding of the man that in many ways shaped Ed (and Izzy and Sam and Jack and maybe other figures that could have been encountered while looking for the Revenge such as Anne Bonny and Mary Reed).
And then finally, the crew can start to unpack and sort out the situation.
Itās a long process. The world, under normal logic, wouldnāt wait for them to sort such things out. Maybe romcom time makes a comeback and they can sort through at least a good chunk of it. Ed, for his part, does a lot of growth or at least tries to.
In the end, Izzy ends up leaving with Sam for retirement. Ed tells him to go, be happy. Releases him from service (much to Izzyās conflicted feelings on it). Izzy insists that no thatās a big mistake. Ed insists thatās what would make Ed happy (even if that too is a lie in some capacity?): to see Izzy finally have that same happiness with Sam that Edās now found with Stede.
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As for what happened between Izzy and Sam all those years ago...
Years ago, Sam was sweet on Izzy when they were both serving under Hornigold. It was a whirlwind romance. Sam promised Izzy fine things and retirement together- something so rare for those in their line of work. It seemed like the stuff of fairytales, but something made Izzy give Sam a chance to make it a reality.
I havenāt decided what the reason they werenāt sailing together. Izzy and Sam would have been on different ships under Hornigoldās command. Sam with his own ship and Izzy under Edās command. Maybe Izzyās sense of loyalty to his captain was there (as instilled by Hornigold in all his men), but at the time, he wasnāt giving both of his hands to his job. One for the ship and one for his own interests.
Maybe Ed was jealous and didnāt want to āshareā Izzy with a someone else and he pressed the loyalty to the captain aspect? Maybe there was some other fuckery a la Ed afoot?
Maybe Izzy, being torn between duty and love, said heād go with Sam once Sam got the money needed for that retirement? That seems to conflict with the intensity of which Izzy holds loyalty though.
Hmm....
In any case, after splitting off from Hornigold and some time passing, Sam ended up reported dead along with almost all of his crew in the sinking of the Whydah. (The timeline with Hornigoldās involvement and if heās still alive even seems to be pretty loose at this point as far as OFMD canon goes in comparison to history. Therefore the timeline between Bellamy being elected captain of what once was Hornigoldās fleet, his independent ventures, and the sinking of the Whydah can be played with fast and loose.)
Ever since then, Samās been working under another name to regain those funds, find Izzy, and give his love the retirement he promised.
News of what happened to the Whydah and Sam eventually made its way to Ed and Izzy. Izzy never really processed the grief. Just bottled it up and dedicated his whole self to his captain. Both hands to the ship. (āThe only retirement we get is... deathā)
