Can we take it... slow?
Because I am once again completely normal about a piece of media, here is a visual essay on You Wear Fine Things Well Take 2: Faces and What Those Faces Are Doing (It's Kissing, But Also Emotions)
(I lightened all these screenshots up so the faces are more visible)
Ed is telling Stede his very sweet fishing story. Stede is reacting totally appropriately - gasping, eyes wide, interested and adorable. He's genuinely loving spending this time with Ed, hearing about his day.
He even leans forward to examine the lil fishy. CUTE. He's just so happy to be here, with Ed, talking about their days, spending time together. ("I love being near you.")
Stede tells Ed his abbreviated "cursed suit" story, where Ed delivers the "that wasn't a long story at all" line deadpan with this hilarious face:
(Why is this face so funny? Scientists in the future may know, but alas, this mystery will not be answered within our lifetime.)
Ed then ups the ante - going from that hilarious face to this SCORCHING HOT ONE after uttering the line that ruined the life of everyone on this hellsite
You wear fine things well
Those big brown 'come hither' eyes are HITHERING (it's a word, don't Google it tho)
What I also like about the refrain of "you wear fine things well" - Ed is signaling to Stede that he is ready to take another step. In the last episode, Ed put down a firm boundary - "you don't get to say that to me." Stede, in his adorable, desperate, determined, stubborn yet respectful way, backed off (by delivering an arguably MORE romantic speech but whatever - he respected Ed's boundary and didn't say "I love you"). Ed is pulling from their shared history, from a beautiful moment where they both felt something (although it's arguable as to whether or not in the moment Stede actually knew what he was feeling - he certainly with hindsight was like OOOOOOOOHHH).
So Ed is giving Stede the ok to take a step forward - which he does, while making this face with is the human equivalent of the heart eyes emoji:
Stede then looks away - and he stays in place, letting Ed come to him, making sure it's Ed to initiate. I think Stede wants Ed to be sure, doesn't want to push, since he knows how badly he fucked up and knows how deep Ed's hurt is.
Stede looks back up, but stays in place. Ed is looking at him with such vulnerability...
..as he slowly does his adorable little teenager-about-to-have-their-first-kiss shuffle...
And he leans in for that sweet kiss under the waxing moon.
Initially it's just Ed who is leaning in, but then Stede leans into the kiss as well - and deepens it.
Ed is then like "ok weird for ME to be the one saying this but it's probably healthier if we don't skip straight to banging each other's brains out on the deck of the ship and like, make sure of our feelings first"
After Ed says "We're whim-prone, as you said," Stede goes through a little mini crisis. First, fuck why did I say that:
Then - before Ed can finish what he's saying, Stede's face falls. He's so worried he's messed this up. Ed gave him a kiss and he tried to go too fast, and he's getting rejected again.
He tries to put a brave face on it, but our lil guy is SO SAD
Then once Ed finishes his fish metaphor ("You can't catch a fish unless the fish wants to be caught") Stede realises that Ed isn't rejecting him. I think Ed's vulnerability here and how unsure he is ("we're the fish, I guess. Maybe. I think.") helps Stede to remember hey, this isn't about me and my stuff right now, this is about Ed and Ed's stuff.
Stede gains a little confidence back. He's reassured. Ed is still trying to figure out who he is without Blackbeard, and Stede gets it. And Ed still wants him to be a part of who the new Ed is ("we're the fish"). He's like ok, I got u babe.
So he pulls himself back, but he still wants Ed to feel his affection, and to know that Ed is loved. So he holds Ed's hand and asks for permission.
"What about this? Is this alright?"
"This? Perfect."
Then they have their adorable little hand moment - just happy that they understand one another, happy to be touching, happy to be together.
"You won." Stede whispers.
Ed looks away, beaming:
And, in contrast to the last time they stood on the deck, under the moon, and said "you wear fine things well", this time they walk off together.
FIN.
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So, on my [redacted] rewatch of OFMD, I noticed that the cadence when Ed says "and tonight I'm supposed to kill... you" and when he says "what makes Ed happy is... you" is the same. The movement of his head is the same, the moment when he looks at Stede is in the same place in the phrase.
DJenks talked that one time about how he actually thinks the bathtub scene is the most intimate scene in the show, how these two people who are so closed off from others sit there and open themselves up to each other for the first time, and how beautiful that is. And I think Ed is confessing the same thing in both these moments.
Now, hear me out. They sound like opposite confessions, right? "I was trying to kill you" vs "I love you". But they're both saying "I love you". It's just in different ways.
"Love of a pet makes a man weak."
"You don't belong in doggy heaven."
I couldn't do it. I was weak. I love you and it made me weak.
By episode 9, by "what makes Ed happy is you", it's changed, but it's not the opposite. It's not 'I love you and it made me strong'.
It's 'I love you and it set me free'.
In the bathtub, Ed is confessing it like a crime. On the beach, he confesses it like a truth. It's such a beautiful development.
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OK, yes, this has been picked over quite a lot, but I am emotions, so:
The moonlight kiss is the best because it's the kiss that never was. It's the moment that they both remember when they could have gone towards each other, and they almost did, and then they didn't. They remember it independently of each other, with longing and regret and Stede sighing in place of Ed.
And all Ed has to say is "You wear fine things well" and look at Stede and Stede knows. They both know that what they were feeling that night was shared, and that they'd kept that moment in their hearts through all the searching and the suffering.
It's an imperfect moment, because the moon isn't full, and Ed's wearing a potato sack and kitty bell, and Stede barely managed to keep the shirt on his back. They're not quite on the same page yet, and they've both been through their own versions of hell. But they can finally take that step that both were once too afraid to take.
They wear each other well.
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I’m rewatching the show from the beginning, and it’s REALLY clear to me now that there are major parallels between Stede’s enjoyment of his sudden fame at Spanish Jackie’s & Ed’s enjoyment of the same adoration from the French aristocrats in 1x05.
There’s even that moment where Ed is telling bullshit stories to the crowd, saying that he was “living as a sort of god-king,” which is so similar to Stede’s shouting, “I am a sea god!”
I absolutely love all the parallels!
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