✨age:27, (she/her) ✨💚 reviews: “The chaos. The intensity. The stance that says ‘by god I know I’m right and if I’m wrong I will beat the shit out of the world until I’m right.’” — millicentmarva
it’s also worth remembering, right, that ed and stede both wanted that night. ed gives stede a nod before stede kisses him. he kisses back enthusiastically. he goes to bed with stede. we see him sitting a little shyly, on stede’s bed - still fully dressed, even, where stede’s lost his shirt.
look at how achingly tender that face is. it’s ed wanting to take care of stede the way no one took care of him; it’s stede wanting to protect ed where he’s failed in the past. it’s a near-death situation drawing the love and need and desire out of them like bleeding a fever. it’s accompanied by a romantic song. the imagery we’re giving is fireworks. it’s fucking fireworks for them.
the morning after, ed makes breakfast in bed. shares with stede the beautiful moment of his mermaid vision, which is an incredible show of vulnerability. you see the first sign of ed Having A Realization when stede says avoiding near-death situations isn’t likely in their line of work.
then they go out to the republic of pirates, but ed takes stede out of the town and into the countryside, to a place where he feels safe. ed high-fives a child who isn’t afraid of him. stede tells ed about writing him love letters. they’re having a great day together, they’re laughing, they’re having fun.
it’s not really until after ed sees stede becoming famous, until he sees stede stepping into the role of The Pirate, that he starts to pull away. jackie says he’s trying to be a regular dude, and that sounds good to ed. trying something new. he wanders off to go watch fishermen and these shots are weird until you see that he’s focusing on the twine the fish are caught up in - just like the twine he left stede on their breakfast tray, just like the twine he wrapped up his leathers in. and stede, who is feeling accepted and powerful and capable for the first time in his life, pulls back too.
they each want to be something the other is trying desperately to leave behind. how does anyone reconcile loving someone who loves the parts of yourself you hate the most?
when the fireworks clear, all you have left is smoke.
for ed and stede to find something real, something they can hang onto, they’re going to have to put in the work. that’s how you build the happily ever after. brick by brick.
adding this twitter reply that hit the nail on the head
Okay but when Con O'Neill as Izzy Hands came out onto the deck of that party boat in dramatic drag makeup and sung the most beautiful love song so the crew could dance my middle-aged, late-coming-out heart grew three queer fucking sizes, I would lay down my life for this man
Okay but when Con O'Neill as Izzy Hands came out onto the deck of that party boat in dramatic drag makeup and sung the most beautiful love song so the crew could dance my middle-aged, late-coming-out heart grew three queer fucking sizes, I would lay down my life for this man
