currently thinking about the crew as a family and the "they love you ed" line???? like yes they do but it would be a lie to say that they didn’t love izzy as much or even more than they love ed.
(this ended up being extremely long so the rest is under the cut <3)
in season one, most of them were on stede's crew while ed became like the cool stepdad they all adopted. he was a beloved member of the crew but was never quite as close to them as stede was, considering stede was their captain first. at the end of season 1, he forced them to work for him, left some of them abandoned on an island to die, and !!! "killed" lucius, traumatizing him with that experience and with all of the things he had to go through in the time following that.
in season 2, he continued to force the crew into terrifying and traumatizing situations they didn't want to be in simply for his own gain and to deal with his grief. he forced jim and archie to fight to the death for his amusement, shot izzy for standing up to him and just generally created a horrible atmosphere on the ship. because of all he put them through, they killed him (or at least tried to). the crew then had terrible trust issues, were extremely paranoid even when surrounded by (former) friends, and expected the worst from every situation. once ed was back, he gave a half-assed apology (which I dont believe he ever actually remedied?), had a one-on-one conversation with fang, and then just like.. went about his business. i think they cared for him to some extent, but (at this point) did they trust him as much as they used to? was there really much love left there?
izzy on the other hand... izzy they loved. in season one he was, lets be honest, a bit of a shit. but in season 2?? everything changed. he continually put himself in between the crew and ed when he was at his worst, taking the brunt of ed's anger and allowing himself to take the punishments for their wrongdoings, all the while not saying a word (or at least trying not to). when ed was so far gone he was unreachable, izzy was the one in charge of the crew, trying to lead them through it all.
the crew cared enough about izzy to talk to him about his relationship with blackbeard, explaining why it was toxic and unhealthy, and that he shouldn't have to deal with it.
he confronted ed when no one else could, bringing up the concerns of the crew because they were too scared to say anything, putting himself on the front lines yet again.
fang was unable to stop crying after ed shot izzy, and frenchie risked ed's anger to try and get medical supplies for him. they all cared enough to spare his life when they were ordered to kill him, hiding him away and not letting him die even when he yelled at them to kill him. jim defended izzy when archie mentioned that he was kind of a dick because yeah, he was, sure, but he was their dick.
he shot ed when he was about to shoot off the cannon and doom them all, forced himself to get above deck — bleeding and weak with one leg and a head injury, having just tried to end his life — because he knew the crew needed him.
when his wooden leg broke and he was obviously struggling, the crew found a solution and gave him the leg of the unicorn from the front of the ship, making sure it would hold his weight, writing the note to him saying that he was their new unicorn, and showing him that he was one of them, a part of the family, and the thing that led them forward.
he carved the wooden shark for lucius and helped him move on from his trauma with ed. he worked with stede to make him a better pirate captain and validated the crew's fear about the cursed clothes.
izzy shot sarcastic quips at ned low's crew when they were being tortured, trying to lighten the mood and direct some of the anger on himself rather than the crew. he did the same thing when they were all stuck in the jail cell, correcting banes on a technicality and calling him a twat, making a fool of the man holding their lives in the balance to try and make things seem a little less dire.
when he came out in drag to sing at calypso's birthday, the crew danced along, listening to his performance with smiles on their faces, happy to see izzy so free. they made him feel comfortable and allowed him to heal and discover who he was on his own and become the great izzy hands again.
and sure they care about ed and yes he's a part of the crew, but izzy hands was more their family than ed ever was.
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the short stories are actually really provocative and profound, heartrending and disturbing and thought-provoking and funny all at the same time and in such a short amount of space.
but i feel like when n*tflix touched them, they were the first victim of a withering away and soul sapping for me, in which i couldn't bear to be around the kinds of discussions and jokes and everything which were coming up at that time as fundamental misunderstandings of them so it just became very painful and very banal because they were all, in essence, forgotten.
however, that damage is not irreversable.
particularly in the case of a good adaptation, the musical, i have begun to remember all of why i love the short stories so much, just how good and painful to my heart they are, as well as thinking more deeply about some aspects which i had not previously considered or paid a lot of attention to (in lieu of other things which excited me more).
i think the biggest strength of a "good" adaptation and a "good" fandom is that they make you realize things you hadn't, interested in parts that weren't your 'favorite,' and generally expanding your mind and love of the source material. in contrast, a "bad" adaptation or "bad" fandom is that which makes you wish to forget and eventually end up forgetting your love and leaving it behind yourself. "good" is to remember, "bad" is to forget.
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