Okay so, I think it's very likely that after Stede and Ed have had their first reunion they're gonna be separated again soon after. Probably because Ed's gonna be like "I'm totally over you actually and don't wanna see your stupid face ever again" and run away from Stede just because of how absolutely tooooootally over him he is, right? So Stede will probably be aboard the Revenge while Ed is elsewhere having his Live Laugh Love spiritual journey of Finding Himself and all that.
Now imagine Stede all bummed out because he's just having the full realisation of exactly how much he hurt Ed, and there's no hope, he absolutely blew it, Ed obviously wants nothing to do with him ever again! Despair! So he goes to mope to the Captain's quarters, wallows in the tragic state of them a bit while missing Ed terribly, and his eyes catch on a funky little skeleton dressed up all in black on a familiar spot on a particular shelf...
And he finds not only all of his auxiliary clothes intact, but also a nest in the middle of the room with two little figurines in it that have a very particular look to them!
Cue "Hello, Edward!" and "shipmates" and chasing Ed all over the place while Ed is like "who are you again?" and "I don't need you at all, look how I'm thriving all by myself and I definitely don't miss you, not even a little bit!", y'know, like a liar. And maybe they're having messy sex throughout all of this or maybe they're not, but either way, Stede knows! He knows! He saw the proof of Ed's heart carefully hidden away where only Stede could find it! He can fix this! He's gonna put his all into earning that trust back! Because he knows there's hope! ;U;
And yeah, this is more of a headcanon than actual speculation, but it's eating me alive, so I had to inflict it on you all as wel! 🔥🙌🔥
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I just wrote a monster of a reply on this post by @girlbossblackbeard, but I wanted to post this part on its own as well, because this epiphany just completely obliterated all my theories about the possible first reunion between Ed and Stede! (I do think they're gonna have tons of reunions throughout the season, as Stede keeps chasing after Ed and Ed keeps avoiding him and telling him to get lost.)
In their op, they pointed this out:
"the BTS production still of ed with his "trust no one" tattoo also features what i believe is the treasure chest we see jim carrying off the ship in the shot where fang is smashing two dudes' heads together!"
And in response, I noticed many many more things about that particular ship's crew, and what it says about who might be present:
I agree that the chest in Ed's quarters looks like the one they're carrying off that ship, but if I may add even more details...
The guy Stede successfully punches is dressed like the crew from that same ship where Ed is dressed like the Vampire Clown Blackbeard version, still with the Kraken makeup on, and shooting at something¿? (I don't think whatever he's shooting at is actually Stede, because you can see Frenchie and Jim's heads on the bottom left of that shot, and they don't seem all that interested in whatever Blackbeard is currently doing, they're just focused on their loot/corpses/whatever. And idk how I feel about the theory that Izzy loses his leg because Ed shoots it, rather than just gangrene, but if we were to go with that one: what if Izzy and Stede have been collaborating in secret, and this raid is when Ed finds out? I don't want or particularly expect that prediction to actually be right, but just putting it out there *shrug emoji* It could then also lead to Ed's "very rough night" and recruiting Frenchie to help with cleaning up his act the next morning?)
Also, when Stede does his swirly bit with the coat he's very much aboard the Revenge, because that's what the internal doors look like on the ship:
But I have no idea how that fits in the timeline. I think there may be a gap between when he first finds the coat, until the moment he gets to actually put on the whole suit with the matching pants¿? Or maybe not¿? Maybe all of that is happening in eps 1-2, which is an insane amount of information¿?¿??¿¿? 🔥🙌🔥
Also, I just realised this after I wrote all of that, I think this might be Jim going in behind Stede into the "I did a punch!" room¿? What's going on?¿?¿¿?¿?¿?¿? 😭
Tl;dr, I am losing my whole mind trying to piece a timeline with this scene 🔥🙌🔥 The Reunion™ could be as soon as ep1 going by this?¿?¿¿? While Ed is still in Kraken mode?¿¿?¿??
Edit: I also have no idea how Izzy/Jim's makeup or lack thereoff fits in with this timeline. Maybe they raid the same ship twice, at two separate points in time? Or it's a fleet with a strict uniform code, maybe a different navy, other than the English?
The Spanish Navy grunts from s1 dressed like this:
which is actually a very similar look, so maybe it really is just two different ships from the Spanish navy. It also explains all the catholic imagery and paraphernalia in the room where Stede finds the red & gold suit (the same colours as the ones the Spanish officers have).
So nvm, I've just convinced myself they're two separate instances, and I'm back to thinking the first reunion might be the headbutt 😅
Still interesting to point out, I think :D
(Also wondering about the significance of red neckties this season, which the Spanish grunts were missing in s1 but now all have, and Spanish Jackie's, and obviously, Stede's... 😁)
Soooo Ed is definitely present in this scene, then, isn't he?
Ed and Stede bickering like hell while crashing at Anne and Mary's, (maybe in hiding after their fight with the navy on that beach, although Stede's still-dirty starter clothes make me doubt that), and they still haven't sorted their shit out. They are so insufferable that Anne decides to take matters into her own hands, by aiming to make Ed jealous and push him to work things out with Stede?
Also inspired by the vibes I get from that scene, where Ed is tooootally insisting he doesn't care about Stede, oh yeah, Stede who? Pfst 🙄
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Archive Warning: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Categories: M/M, Multi
Relationships: Blackbeard | Edward Teach & Blackbeard | Edward Teach, Blackbeard | Edward Teach/Stede Bonnet, Blackbeard | Edward Teach/Stede Bonnet/Blackbeard | Edward Teach, Blackbeard | Edward Teach & Crew of the Revenge (Our Flag Means Death), Blackbeard | Edward Teach & Israel Hands, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Characters: Blackbeard | Edward Teach, Stede Bonnet, Crew of the Revenge (Our Flag Means Death), Israel Hands, Fang (Our Flag Means Death), Frenchie (Our Flag Means Death), Other Character Tags to Be Added
Additional Tags: Time Travel, Crack Treated Seriously, Character Study, Humour, Identity, Self-Worth Issues, Self-Discovery, Self-Acceptance, POV Blackbeard | Edward Teach, Unreliable Narrator, Blackbeard | Edward Teach Deserves Nice Things, Young Blackbeard | Edward Teach, Blackbeard | Edward Teach Has ADHD, (just like in canon. especially obvious since this is his pov anyway), Post-Season/Series 01, Co-Captains, Established Relationship, post-reunion, Man cheerfully bullies himself, Despite his best efforts it results in some genuine self-reflection, Aging, And the pains of having to witness it on yourself with no previous warning, Canon-Typical Historical Inaccuracy (Our Flag Means Death), The Arcane Ways Of The Sea, Cats may possibly be witches, Illiterate Blackbeard | Edward Teach, Literate Blackbeard | Edward Teach, He contains multitudes what can I say?, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Beta Wanted
"Fuck me!" Ed says when he finally takes in the situation. The situation in question seemingly being a younger version of himself, mid-twenties, right on the prime of the whole Blackbeard schtick, crouched defensively on deck and surrounded by half of the Revenge's crew. The Babybeard, for his part, has been shrewdly sizing him up, trying to be all subtle about it, but now makes a show of dubiously eyeing him up and down.
"Seems to me you'd be getting the better end of that deal, Old Man." Oh, he is absolutely fucking delightful, all wound up and prickly and still convinced he has shit-all to prove to anyone at all. Ed is going to have so much fun crushing his entire worldview!
"Aww, don't dismiss the value of experience," he winks, "I know a lot more about what you like than you do." He punctuates this with a delicate sip of his tea, pinky out, an airy swish of the sleeve of his wrapping gown.
~
The Mad Devil Pyrate Blackbeard has been living in kinda-retired bliss for a couple of years now, mostly going by Ed these days and enjoying a spoiled and pampered life as The Infamous Captain Edwards's co-captain, when he is abruptly faced with his worst and most fucking annoying foe yet: Himself.
Definitely gonna need a season 3 because that finale left me feeling very bleeeh :/
All the rushing and pacing issues throughout the season really stole a lot of the punch of it (and I'm side-eyeing certain writing choices that were once again not made with the thoughtful care that was such a given in s1).
I'll probably warm up to it after I've had the time to let it marinate a bit, because in theory it hits very good beats in an interesting arc; it's mainly once again the execution that falls short.
And also it desperately needs a s3 to actually work, because if that were to be the ending it leaves them in a rather shit place narratively. Ed and Stede making a well-meaning but *very clear* mistake as their family sails off to likely death. The innkeeping is obviously going to go as well as the fishing did, which is only highlighted by just how long of the episode they spent on it, proportionally¿? Also a bit too long spent on tooting Izzy's horn (understandable, even if not a choice I'm happy with) and the whole dragged out bit with the Brits in Spanish Jackie'z just being unbearable racist dicks (which we already know¿? and extremely uncomfortable to watch, even if most of them did get poisoned and bayonetted, but eh).
All of which is time that could have gone to giving us actual talking between Ed and Stede, or a deep, slow kiss at the end scene there (or both), because while the interactions we did get were cute and good enough, they did feel rather sidelined in their own show's finale¿??¿¿? Which is once again just ~good enough~, I guess, for the ending of the second act, but without a guaranteed s3 I'm very much not satisfied right now :/
(and Pete and Lucius deserved better too, very underwhelming wedding :S)
Edit: This post just got a couple more notes a week after I wrote it, so disclaimer that this was my gut reaction immediately after watching the ep for the first time, when I was feeling rather overwhelmed by the sheer amount of stuff we got in only 30 mins and still reeling from the pacing. After rewatching it my opinion was a lot more positive than this, and especially after having had the time to think about it and seeing other people's thoughts as well 😅 I am writing a new post with my actual opinion now, but I do have terrible adhd, so until that's written, yeah, take this with a grain of salt :p
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I have been screaming internally about Ed and his little wedding toppers since I saw the teaser, so here's the obligatory Ed In A Wedding Dress fic! Also obsessed with the makeover he gave the little auxiliary wardrobe figurine, which isn't something I've seen anyone else discussing yet, so obviously I had to include that too 🔥🙌🔥
{AO3}
He's got a little carved wooden skull somewhere, in his box of shit he brought over from the Queen Anne's, when he decided his unnervingly empty quarters needed more knives. He's also got plenty of scraps of black leather, with the revamping of the crew's gear they've been doing, and plenty of black paint to go around.
His hands hurt from stabbing wood, fucking up the empty shelves, gouging at the table. Must be nighttime, no light filtering through the papered-over windows, only a fat candle burning low. Creeped up on him, it did, deep as he was into his continued redecoration. His hands hurt, but they won't stay still.
The little skull shows up in the little ornate box where he keeps his stash of weed, for some reason. Happy coincidence, that. He packs his pipe as he grabs it, along with the paint and the least fucked-up brush he can find, with the bristles only a bit wonky and not shedding too much from previous abuse. He lights his pipe, and a couple of extra candles for light.
He stabs an iron nail into the underside of the skull so he can hold it without messing up the paint, and goes about turning it pitch black, really getting into all the little details in the carving with a brush that's really too big for it. Not like it matters much, when the goal is to make it all one solid colour. He tries to make the finish as smooth as he can anyway, despite the wrong tool.
He sets it aside to dry, but his hands still hurt, still won't stay still.
He lifts the crate on the too-empty shelf, the one that hides one of the few remaining things that no one can see. (That Ed can't stand to see.) Peeling the little jacket and waistcoat away is easy enough. He grabs one of his thinner knives, more of a scalpel really, that's seen a skinning or two in the past. He digs the tip into every little stitch that holds the tiny clothing together, pulls its pieces apart without damaging them. He traces every pannel onto his leather scraps, cuts them all to shape.
Hands still hurt, won't stay still, so he gets to sewing.
The fat candle burns out, he replaces it with a new one, refills his pipe. The tiny outfit comes together, all black. He hammers in a few of the teeny-tiniest studs in his collection to achieve the right vibe.
The paint on the skull's dry enough to the touch now, so he stabs the other end of the nail into the neck of the mannequin, and dresses him up in his new little outfit. Looks like a right vampire clown now, he does, all tough and scary-looking muppet, perfect fit for Blackbeard's crew. He grabs the crate that hid him and drops all the fabric cuttings and shit into it, kicks it all under the table.
His hands still hurt, still won't fucking stay still. The grey light of dawn is making an attempt to filter in through the windows now.
He grabs his rum and crawls onto the bed nook, ends up passing out still in his leathers, kohl caked on his face.
Izzy looks at the little shelf guy next time he's in the room, jaw doing that angry clenchy thing it always fucking does, but he wisely keeps his mouth shut about it.
(Ed never pulls the lever.)
~✯~
She's all creamy white porcelain skin, bright red curls, pristine dress. His hands itch to crush her in a tight fist, her and her rosy pink bellend both. (The pink bellend's not so pink anymore, kohl rubbed off all over his side where Ed's thumb wouldn't stay still.)
He's not got a brush that's fine enough for this, to get all the little details just right. He grabs a pinchful of strands of his own hair and cuts off about an inch from the ends, secures them to the tip of a thin wooden stick with some glue and string.
He grabs his black paint, some weed for his pipe, lights some extra candles for light.
He waters down the paint for the skin, makes a thin wash that should look brown once dried. It ends up just looking like a kinda dirty wash over porcelain white skin, so he draws his tattoos over it to hide it a bit, snake on his arm, hawk on his chest, beard on her face. He darkens her hair, mixes some chalk into the paint to make a muddy grey for highlights. He adds some shading to the cleavage.
Some of the skin-wash run off to stain the skirts around the hand area, but aside from that spot the dress still looks too fucking bright, too blue, too nice and proper.
With the thick undiluted paint, he lines the folds of the dress, shadows under some ruffles, follows some of the seams. He darkens the flowers and lace around the collars, on one of the sleeves. He draws asymmetric black shapes on some areas, makes it look cool and intentional, like the asymmetry of his jacket.
She looks as right as he can make her. He still wants to crush her in his fist, hurt his hand with the porcelain shards. Her and the bellend both.
He buries them both in the crate under some leather scraps, kicks them back under the table.
(Ed brings them out some nights, when his hands hurt and won't stay still, when his eyes won't close no matter how much they ache, run dry.)
~✯~
Ed sees the dress during a raid, inside a trunk in the quarters of one of the posh passengers on this ship. It's mostly sky blue, with accents of lavender, all soft pastels and delicate lace, opulent silk. It conjures up memories of a painted little figurine, probably long lost in the mess and confusion of everything that's happened since.
He asks for Fang's help to carry it back to the ship and hide it where Stede won't see.
He doesn't do all the work in one night, hoping to numb his restless hands. Instead, over the course of a few weeks, Ed enlists the help of Frenchie, Fang and Wee John, with occasional contributions from Jim, the Swede or Pete, and they work only until their hands tire with the satisfying ache of a job well done, in stolen moments that won't make Stede suspect a thing and ruin the surprise. He doesn't smoke while they work, this time, not wanting the smell to soak up into the fabric, but they do come together for a smoke and a laugh afterwards, once they're done with their secret project for the day.
They add a studded harness of black leather around the bodice that gives some visual interest and does some real favours to his cleavage. They cut off the right sleeve, a ruffle of black, purple and silver lace draped over the shoulder in its place, matching the one they use on the cuff of the left sleeve, finishing off just under his elbow. They add a layer of sheer black lace over the skirts, still showing the shimmer of the blue silk underneath.
They've properly tailored it to his body, too, and when Ed finally sees himself in the mirror with it, it hugs his shape just right. A perfect fit.
It looks even better on the day, with flowers and ribbons threaded through his curls, his short beard neatly combed and trimmed. In the bright light coming in through the clear windows, he uses the detail brush he made with his own hair to cleanly line his eyes with a sharp wing of kohl, adds a hint of rouge to his lips.
The purple cravat Stede gifted him is tied around his neck, the tails framing his hawk tattoo, with his favourite pearl necklace layered on top. He has to marvel once again at just how fucking good his tits look in this dress, a hint of chest-hair peeking enticingly over the lacy neckline. His eyes water a bit, but he holds back the tears, not wanting to ruin his eyeliner just yet.
Stede doesn't bother containing his tears when he finally sees Ed, an awed gasp that turns into the brightest smile Ed's ever seen, even with the waterworks. He looks gorgeous and glowing in a new suit of red silk, with golden accents and a matching golden waistcoat that really bring out the shine of his perfectly tousled curls. The crew's smiling faces surround him as he makes his way to Stede, where he stands before Oluwande. There are some more teary eyes among the crew too, but Ed wills himself not to cry yet.
Ed stops to face Stede, as his hands come up to hold Ed's.
His hands finally still, held steady, safe in their cradle, no longer hurting. His eyes spill over, tears running freely into his smile.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
"Fuck me!" Ed says when he finally takes in the situation. The situation in question seemingly being a younger version of himself, mid-twenties, right on the prime of the whole Blackbeard schtick, crouched defensively on deck and surrounded by half of the Revenge's crew. The Babybeard, for his part, has been shrewdly sizing him up, trying to be all subtle about it, but now makes a show of dubiously eyeing him up and down.
"Seems to me you'd be getting the better end of that deal, Old Man." Oh, he is absolutely fucking delightful, all wound up and prickly and still convinced he has shit-all to prove to anyone at all. Ed is going to have so much fun crushing his entire worldview!
"Aww, don't dismiss the value of experience," he winks, "I know a lot more about what you like than you do." He punctuates this with a delicate sip of his tea, pinky out, an airy swish of the sleeve of his wrapping gown.
~
The Mad Devil Pyrate Blackbeard has been living in kinda-retired bliss for a couple of years now, mostly going by Ed these days and enjoying a spoiled and pampered life as The Infamous Captain Edwards's co-captain, when he is abruptly faced with his worst and most fucking annoying foe yet: Himself.
Anyway, in light of That Bullshit™, here’s a show recommendation for everyone here who enjoyed the Destiel meta for years:
Watch The Untamed!!!!!!!!!!
It is based on a canonically queer book where the main couple get married and have a kid and everything.
It is a Chinese show, so the censorship doesn’t actually let them show it as such.
What did they do about it¿?
They turned it into one of the sweetest and most loving and most fucking blatant queer love stories I’ve ever seen, even within the constraints of actual fucking homophobic state censorship.
The censors wouldn’t let them kiss on camera, so they made up for it by pumping up the romance from the book even more, to the point where their relationship is actually slightly healthier and more thoroughly built up and more supportive than in the book it’s based on, and it breathes and soars beautifully throughout the show.
This is a show that was made by a cast and crew that OBVIOUSLY carried this love story in their hearts and actually put their best work forward to portray it with all the love and respect it deserved. Again, whilst working against honest-to-god censorship!!! (unlike certain other shows... ¬_¬)
The same style of subtext analysis that has been used on Destiel for years works really well here, because it is also a blatantly queer story that’s superficially mislabeled as something else, but unlike with fucking Destiel you actually get a fucking satisfying resolution that sticks the landing beautifully!
And that’s another great thing about it!!! The show’s finished!!! No nasty surprises!!! The ending is good and happy!!!
It also has lots of angst and drama, but it pays off!!! *insert the noise of popping open a can of fizzy* 👏 Sa 👏 Tis 👏 Fy 👏 Ing 👏 !!!!!! 👏
This ACTUALLY CENSORED show does a better fucking job of handling their queer love story than fucking supernatural, because unlike fucking supernatural, they are utterly unapologetic and unashamed about the story they’re telling! (and oh, supernatural *was* telling that story, even if they took that insultingly cowardly approach and exit.)
It’s also slightly campy fantasy with creepy supernatural stuff and great character relationships with lots of heart and complexity. The main mytharc plot is a bit weakly developped at times and the cgi was obviously made with a toaster oven from 1987, but honestly, if you enjoyed supernatural at any point I don’t think you have any particular issue with that :P
And yeah, I’m fucking angry and bitter at supernatural right now, after so long of my life invested in a show that in the end did not fucking deserve it.
But one thing I will always cherish about this fandom is the incredible critical analysis it’s always engaged on, and everything it personally taught me about how stories are built, and all the richness you can imbue into them with even the smallest of details. It taught me to pay attention to each and every single element of a story, no matter how small or inconsequential it might seem at first glance, and to find greater meaning within it. And even if supernatural’s ending is a Betrayal against good storytelling and everything their characters ever stood for, I am telling you, The Untamed is a show where those skills are put to good use. Where it is actually rewarding and fulfilling to engage on that level!!!
I’m making this post because as angry as I am, I know it would’ve hit me even harder just last year, or a couple of years ago, when I hadn’t been into any other fandoms that let me hyperfixate as deeply and intensely as this one does, and if it helps anyone move on, please take it! It’s also extremely popular at the moment, so there’s no shortage of good content to explore!!! And yeah, we fucking deserve better than supernatural. THIS IS BETTER, censorship and all, because it feels intrinsically queer in the way the story’s been told, even with all its constraints.
