Work Text:
ANONYMOUS:
Another important sign about how Iz feels about the whole kraken situation. In the beginning, when he's lying to the crew about Ed being fine, he's trying to find something to keep the crew occupied even though they have nothing to do. He's tense about Ed's state, but he is basically calm. Later, when they actually are working on throwing out Stede's stuff, he limps in an angry tizzy (Tizzy Izzy?) and demands they work faster. It gives the impression that he's frightened, IMHO.
TIZZY IZZY TIZZY IZZY TIZZY IZZY
ahem sorry. good job i cant discord with wanda tonight or i’d be spending the whole night stimming going “ehe tizzy izzy” at her while throwing rocks at her head in minecraft
(wait, no, she throws rocks at my head, disregard that last point)
ANYWAY: yes, i agree with this fully. This honestly leads me to believe – which, I think, is backed up by the fact he isn’t already maimed – Ed has never hurt Izzy before, not like this. Fighting? Punching maybe? Throat slamming in the past if he pushed him too far? Maybe!
But he’s never maimed him before. Maimed enemies? Sure. Maimed Izzy?
No. Never.
This is a completely new thing and I think that’s one of the most terrifying things Izzy has ever encountered because he wanted Edward and Izzy against the world, like it should be, not Edward vs Izzy vs the world.
ANONYMOUS:
Thinking about Izzy problems in terms of a massive failure of leadership on Ed's part. He intentionally withheld his knowledge about the fog in ep 4 for drama or to upset Izzy, causing Izzy to nearly leave. He set forth the kill-Stede plan, but looked like he would fail to follow through so Izzy and co. had to meet with him about it. He refused Izzy's offer to do it for him, failed to follow through, and then didn't do anything when Izzy challenged Stede to a duel.
Oh yeah!! Absolutely. He doesn’t communicate at all. In fact, Edward doesn’t really communicate with anyone really well up until the beach scene, and even that’s a bit iffy?
Like, he decides he wants to meet Stede but he doesn’t tell Izzy that, so Izzy is like, “So what’s the plan? Murder?” and he’s like “nahhh invite him aboard” and Izzy’s like “okay but what” but Ed doesn’t really get into why he wants to meet him? He doesn’t say, “He’s fascinating, I want to meet him to understand the choices he makes.”
Which, in the way the show is presented in Episode 3, can be explained away in a doylist manner of, “We don’t know Blackbeard doesn’t mean Stede any harm, so he can’t tell Izzy that on screen,” and that would be fine and make perfect sense except that this perpetuates throughout the show.
He doesn’t tell Izzy, “I don’t want to do the plan anymore,” he doesn’t tell izzy, “Actually I have a crush so I kinda want to keep him around at least until I can get dicked down,” he doesn’t tell Izzy, “Look, I want something new out of my life,” so they can try and figure out what that means together (he only says he’s bored and then goes on about dying and at that point if you’re Izzy your brain has shut off because none of it makes sense).
Then when Izzy challenges Stede he goes, “We’re not doing this!” and Izzy is like, “You’re not doing this, I am doing this,” and Stede doesn’t just order him to stand down. Which, he absolutely should have done. Izzy would have, I think, if he’d said, “No, I’ve decided the plan is off and we’re carrying on like this. Stand down,” because the main issue is that Izzy (and co, but probably mostly Izzy) has been doing all of Edward’s active murders this whole time, which leads Izzy to think that’s what’s expected from him now, too.
Then there’s the fact Ed doesn’t tell Stede how he’s feeling, he’s just like, “Eh eh eh I should go,” so Stede will ask him to stay (sort of), he doesn’t communicate a damn about what is happening in that stupid gorgeous head of his, he just coasts along like those around him can somehow read his mind (and thank god for Actual Psychic Lucius Spriggs tbh).
Even in the final episode he’s pretending someone else is miserable, he just can’t hide how upset he is.
My thinking is: Edward was a god damn excellent captain and leader. He collected together the best pirates on the seas, he got the best first mate who fills in all the blanks where he’s struggling, and he was the best. And then, over time, because everyone knew they didn’t stand a chance against Blackbeard, he stopped having to try, they all did.
They’d sail up next to whatever ship they wanted to pillage, the flag would scare them into surrender, and they’d do whatever they wanted, then move on. At that point you don’t need to be a good leader, everything just… works by itself.
So when you throw in the wrench of Stede and his entire muppet crew, everything changes and suddenly you do need to communicate.
And neither Ed nor Izzy remember how.
on a less joking note, i was thinking about the (nice) ask i got yesterday, where i replied with a deep-dive into fandom discourse and why izzy is made out to be manipulative, but it’s not izzy i want to talk about for a second, it’s ed
I was just thinking while I was sewing that… Ed really reacts badly? lmao
I know that sounds very understated but what I mean is… if your best friend suddenly rails at you and tells you that you’re a fucking asshole right now and that they aren’t friends with this person they’re friends with that person you were before and what the fuck is going on and you should watch your step
do you, um, well, go assault them in their sleep?
I don’t think so, no matter how cruel and nasty they might have gotten during their tirade
This dips in a little to the fact I said I don’t think Izzy expected Ed to go full kraken but Ed’s reaction is…whew. overblown.
Izzy is mean and he’s callous and he jabs Ed right where it hurts, he really does, but Ed’s reaction is to go, as a few other people have described, fucking nuclear. Izzy hurts him and Ed responds by attempting to murder seven people and assaulting Izzy.
And I was thinking about narrative framing again and I was thinking about genres and all of that, and how people continue to villainize Izzy, even after the assault
and I was thinking of having a similar situation but framing it differently, with a different genre lens?
And before I do, I want to say that I do understand the genre matters, and that Ed’s reaction isn’t unthinkable in the genre they are in (much like killing someone in a show like From Dusk Till Dawn or something isn’t an unthinkable, irredeemable act, whereas it would be in like. Glee or something.)
but imagine it this way: Ed and Izzy are companions. Maybe best friends? But definitely companions. Let’s even say roommates. They share an apartment in some other genre, a modern AU. Stede swans on in and just destroys everything around Izzy and ruins his chill, and Ed is all about Stede, to the point he lets Izzy have a real blow up argument at Stede like, “One of us has to leave this fucking apartment!” and when Stede ‘wins’, Ed even lets Izzy go.
but then something happens and Stede fucks off back to his wife, and when Izzy comes back to the apartment, Ed is moping about in Stede’s old robe, surrounded by Stede’s things, making blanket forts and eating marmalade
and it’s still a horrible place for Izzy to exist in, because this is not what he signed up for when he agreed to room with Ed
Ed gets a little better, he’s starting to tidy up, and Izzy finally unleashes a tirade upon him about how he’s a horrible roommate and how he’s ruining Izzy’s life and this isn’t the person Izzy agreed to live with and what the fuck Edward
Could this be a friendship-ender in another genre? Oh yes. Might this lead to a real rift and lots of fighting and yelling? Yep.
But Ed reacting with violence and going so entirely 180 switch-flip to the point he trashes everything, cuts ties with all their friends, and then assaults Izzy?
That is an overreaction.
It ties back in to what I said earlier that Ed is very mentally unstable, which is neither an excuse nor an accusation, it’s just a fact.
And, to come back to Stede, Ed needs to work his way through this kind of reaction before Stede comes back, or the first time they have a relationship squabble, shit is going to really, really hit the fan.