This season felt like a wattpad fanfic I wrote when I was 13 and had no concept of pacing

I blame HBO, they wanted at-least 35 minutes and max limited them

I think one of the ideas I liked from fans was when someone on Tumblr said Izzy could have lived and captained the ship while the co-captains did the Inn thing, going along with Izzy being the Unicorn and a part of the family. There's a lot of wasted potential here. There's so many things they could have done with him. Izzy became one of my favourites and he was done dirty. 😢

They could've told SO MANY STORIES with Izzy. Killing him off not only destroying future plotlines AND getting rid of Con O'Neill.

Another thing I don't see mentioned enough is the fact that both Ed and Stede just kill, like it's no big deal. There was so much set up in season 1 about Stede and Ed killing and the issues they had because of it and it's even slightly brought up when Stede kills Ned, but it goes nowhere and they just randomly kill.

The Olu and Jim thing is so real 😭 i loved them so much in season 1 that I was rooting for them more than Stede and Ed and then that just completely changed this season for no reason, and it didn't really go anywhere

we could have had such a beautiful arc of ed and izzy both letting go of blackbeard and finding their own identities outside of this toxic cycle they were in, but instead not only was izzy's entire existence was reduced back to his connection with ed, but killing him for the sole sake of ed's redemption frames it like ed deserves to move on and izzy doesn't. not to mention having a character who was just starting to find happiness after a s*icide attempt say "I want to go" and we're meant to take that as a good ending??? a character death is a character death, but this is different. this one hurts. and this lazy writing cost us not only so much potential but also (imo) the show's best actor. the disappointment is immeasurable.

The last shot of them legit building their new life on Izzy's grave made me ILL After watching the end credit scene I ran here to watch your review.

So much was left unsaid: - Ed didn't get to really understand and apologise for abusing half of his crew and leaving the other half to die - The crew didn't get to forgive Ed - Stede didn't get to understand that being admired by everyone in ep 7 made him change into an entirely different person, that wasn't at all himself anymore and that Ed didn't like him like that - How did Ed and Stede go from that personal disagreement to suddenly being together again? - How did Ed and Stede decide to get retired and why are they both okay with that? - Stede didn't get a redemption arch after being a dick all throughout ep 7 - Izzy didn't get to acknowledge the abuse he suffered from Ed - Izzy didn't get to heal from his trauma and pain - He didn't get to leave his abuser behind and find out who he is without Ed - Izzy and Ed didn't get to sort out their toxic power dynamics - Izzy didn't get to tell Ed what it means to care for your crew and be a family (because Ed clearly needed that kind of lesson from Izzy) - Neither Ed nor Stede got to be a good captain for once -The crew didn't get to know if Buttons really turned into a seagull. They still believe that Ed killed him. - The crew didn't get to have one single moment of uninterrupted happiness together (even at Calypso's birthday they were eventually tortured)... and in the end they were all kinda happy, but also all seperated with their partners and not together... - What is that relationship between Jim, Oluwande and Archie? (and Zheng?) We didn't get to see how they negotiate their relationship - ...and there is more Why was all of that left unsaid?? What happened to TALKING IT THROUGH HUH????

How did Zheng's aunty get a better redemption arch than Ed and Stede???

the entire season feels like they cramped 2 seasons into one. so much happened, the characters were all doing so much, yet so little character interaction happened. rushed developments everywhere...and my king izzy is no more. con and izzy were absolute gems i saw this quote on tumblr about the s2 finale that sums up my feelings perfectly - "it ended not with a bang, but with a sigh"

I definitely enjoyed the 2nd season but I 100% agree with your point. It felt really unsatisfying

I said it and i will say it again, with a Cast as lovely as this they could easily make 20 episodes per season, with only half of them having actuall story, and the other half just beeing the Crew and doing there shennanigans. I could watch Lucius and Pete, and Ed and Stede just talk for hours, they are just so cute.

My favorite thing is how David Jenkins changed his mind about Izzy and Ed's relationship. How do you go from 'jilted lover' to ' father figure'? 🤢

Also why was Izzy buried without his prosthetic leg or ring/necktie? And why was he buried on land instead of at sea? And why in the backyard of a shack that doesn’t hold any meaning to him and he’s never even seen before? It’s like he’s just left to metaphorically continue being the third wheel of the relationship. And don’t get me started about how they made jokes about him at his funeral. My only hope is that buttons the sea witch has some kind of spell to bring him back from the dead.

With the Zheng Yi/Olu Romance…. I just don’t believe Olu would ditch Jim so fast after pinning for them all season 1. I liked the Zhengs character a lot but there were other underutilized side characters they could have put her with. Why no love for Frenchie?

Having Izzy apologize to Ed was such a slap to the face considering everything that happened; he wasn't ready at any point to accept Ed's half-assed apology. It made no sense for him to tell Ed that everyone loves him when the crew also suffered physical and emotional abuse none of them had fully even processed-- I don't think even in the best case scenario stockholm syndrome kicks in that fast. The overall scene cuts in the episode and pacing were atrocious. I agree with you on so many of your points and I'm thankful people have been receptive to these negative opinions (at least on your channel)! I also spent a good chunk of time watching interviews with Nathan Foad and Con O'Neil yesterday which really enlightened more things that seemed out of character.. I loved that Izzy got the chance to sing but it also just felt like fanservice? To my memory Con said himself that if Izzy had a musical sequence, it would be something dark and true to his traumatic background, which especially feels relevant in this season. So they gave him a song meant to serenade the new couples, including Ed and Stede? I'm struggling fr (and this isn't to say fanservice is bad; it was just very jarring). Sorry for the long comment!

i'm glad everyone else in the comments knows how to explain exactly how i felt this season lmao. it so sad because i really really tried to like this season but it felt like the show was trying to ruin any good character building they've ever had , like why did they stop doing character driven storylines and genuine character dynamics instead writing random plots and character storylines that aren't satisfying and generally just confusing

Season 1 will ALWAYS be a comfort show at least, it was sooooo good. Season 2 can be saved for when I want to hurt myself a little..

What confuses me is why in a season that had so much going on, with a very limited budget and time and with the fear of not getting a 3rd season, why was it so vital to kill izzy? Why did they want us to know so bad that he dies? They couldnt even give it the time and seriousness it deserved so why do it at all? Like even lucius' finger got a burial at sea and they gave it more time and the crew was sadder when karl died lmao i just feel like they could have taken those few minutes to develop ed and stedes choice to give up piracy

You really hit the nail on the head there. Compared to the first season it feels almost like fanfiction. No sense of the characters or even the themes or the plot. Black Pete telling Lucius to just get over his trauma really stuck in my throat. It was almost worse than Izzy telling aed that the crew he'd left dor dead, tortured and then ignored loved him. As for Ed and Stede, there was just nothing left to care about, was there? No fuckeries, no killing with kindness, not even any meaningful conversations. Just a self absorbed captain and an even more self absorbed layabout breaking up and making up and breaking up again until you can't be bothered to care anymore.

honestly my big thing with the 'they were cut for time!' excuse is that the writers could have altered the story to account for that, rather than shoving everything into the shorter run time. honestly this season just needed a much more focused story. they could have done the first 3 episodes in an entire season imo. season 2 could have been stede and ed conflict and getting back together, and then season 3 could have been mr. nose and the threat to piracy! im dissapointed as well.

Today i was thinking and trying to figure out in more details why i liked s1 but not s2, and ive talked about the pacing in the comments of a previous video of yours. But today it just dawned on me that the show changed genre between s1 and s2. S1 would be what id call "light hearted found family", yes yes we got our heavy moments, yes we got romance too in s1. But with the romance it wasnt just ed and stede, we got two other pairings that were well developped. Every character recieved strong writting, even if some did not have backstories, they had quirks to them, screen time with other characters...etc to the point where, i didnt forget any of the crew members even tho i watched s1 only once at the time. i rewatched it righf before watching s2 and at no point did i think "oh yeah that character, its [insert here quirk], i forgot!" No i was like "heyyy frenchie and the piramid scheme, i loved that when i first saw it" "yooo jim's character arc is so cool" "cant wait to see button's anthics"...etc Everyone had some levels on focus on them and i grew to love them all as a crew. S2 tho id call it more "angst romance", we focused so long on seeing the crew being abused, this hurt so much and for what? Such a whiplash with s1... and some characters i completely forgot where meant to be there in s2, when you said buttons became a seagul in ep 4, that legit shocked me cause i swore that happened in ep 1. Like did he even get any screen time with the other crew members during ep1 to 4? Why is it that he is mentionned only once after ep 4??? Like "we think hes dead" and nothing else? Didnt yall feel bad for him when his seagul friend died but you dont feel anything when you presume he dies??? There is honestly no found family anymore in this, its honestly 90% ed and stede going through every romance plot possible trying to achieve a speedrun and 3 other half backed romances. I feel like lucius and pete had 3 scenes to develop their romance -> "babe youre obsessed with ed" "youre right babe lets get married" "woooh we're married" uh??? And to know the plan is to change the genre again for s3 but even more drasticly... ugh.

Gosh, I agree with you on everything, this season was an absolute mess. In all honesty, I had no hope for the last episode because everything was so rushed before it that there was no way they were going to end it decently. The thing that annoyed me the most was Izzy’s death. Like sure, even if we accept it that he died for shock value, we can’t ignore the fact that what Izzy said to Ed literally on his deathbed was meant to be taken seriously because those were his last words. He said to Ed that he has a family, the crew is his family, not only Izzy. And you know what he does? He does a complete 180 and literally leaves the crew to be with Stede. I mean, did Izzy’s words mean nothing to him?? This complete switch and contradiction totally disoriented me and more than being shocked at reveal of them staying at the inn, I was filled with disappointment. Also a few other things, and I really don’t want to bash the writers (there are some well written scenes and I don’t think I would have written anything better trust me lol) but some of the things that the characters say are literally never mentioned again?? Like when Izzy lied twice about Ed (how the crew didn’t actually kill Ed and the Ed shooting Izzy scene). Or how Ed just magically found the exact spot where he threw his leather clothes overboard? Ok now a few things I’ve liked in the last episode!! Even though, yeah, it’s not really explained or understood how Auntie survived the explosion, I really liked the scene where she talks Zheng in the pub and she says is proud of her, showing some kind of development. It really makes Zheng a lot more human and relatable, knowing that she struggles with living up to Aunties expectations. Also, Izzy’s speech when he talked to Ricky was so good!! It was so powerful and maaaaan I loved Izzy as a character so much. “It’s about belonging to something, when the world has told you you’re nothing.” Another thing, for some reason, I really liked the scene with Ed, Stede and Zheng where they were sitting on the beach just talking and joking. I wish it was longer. I really liked all your analyses and I would love to see more videos from you, even if its just rambling about I haven’t seen lol (fun fact, I saw you had a Little Miss Sunshine poster on your wall and decided to watch it cause I loved the poster design and it did not disappoint!! I loved it so much) Anyways, Izzy carried this whole season, we love him

Also? That did not love Edward. They were terrified of him and only annoyed and putting up with them to stay with the rest of the family at the very least. They want him gone. Izzy was their family. They loved him. Except I guess they didn't because they made it clear you just have to move on. When people die. And when people treat you like crap and you're powerless to stop them.

I put off watching these videos because I was feeling so disappointed and didn't want to open the wound once again. Now that I have finished bingeing on them I can only say a big thank you for your analysis and great points as usual. I am so happy to have found your channel. Whilst the S2 ep6 finale of GO had me devastated, this finale just left a big hole in my heart. I wasn't mad or despairing about Izzy's death. I just felt infinitely empty. It's so final. It left me speechless.

I'll put season two in a box and never open it. (Except for the mermaid scene. Literally the best scene in television history.)

Oh, I absolutely agree with you on all fronts. It feels like they tried to cram a 10 or 12 episode season into 8 episodes and ultimately failed despite a few highlights like Izzy. Speaking of Izzy, HOW FUCKING DARE THEY DO THAT TO MY BOY?! I actually predicted his death at the end of episode 7, but I refused to believe they would sink so low. So when it happened...I was a sobbing wreck. What a random, bullshit way to go! And all the missed opportunities! I really liked the interactions between Izzy and Stede, especially in episode 5 with the pirate lessons. Imagine they kept it up, that Ed saw their blossoming friendship. That Stede would show compassion and understanding for Ed and Izzy and act as mediator between their fraught relationship. That he encourages Ed and Izzy to actually have a deep, meaningful conversation where they genuinely apologize to each other for everything. Maybe Izzy does go off and becomes captain of the Revenge to learn who he is without Blackbeard while Ed and Stede create the Inn as a safe haven for them, but they separate with, if not a happy friendship, then a healing friendship. Maybe in season 3 they could come back together stronger than ever, after all: distance makes the heart grow fonder. Maybe by the end of season 3, a glimmer of Steddy Hands was shown since all three would've grown so much it could be possible. Maybe have Lucius and Pete plan their wedding, Lucius being a total bridezilla, and Izzy knocks some sense into him. I don't know! Just something other than this! I'm strictly in the fuming and angry stage of my emotions regarding this freaking show. I think the worst sin to come out of that finale is that I'm not excited for a 3rd season. They made me not care for the other characters, except Izzy, whom they KILLED OFF LIKE OLD YELLER to the point where it could end here, and I'd be indifferent to it. And this was my favorite show! Like... what the flying fv€k!😡😡😡😡😡😡🤮🤮🤮😭😭😭😭😱😱😱😱

Oh man I am so disappointed w how they treated Jim and Olu!! After building their romance all season 1, they are barely touched on. I would be down for a Jim/Olu/Archie thrupple if they if showed that coming together. That could have had some sweet/comic moments but all we got was seeing them mop and giggle together. If that is all it takes I guess I was in a lot more thrupples w co-workers then I knew.

The finale was so fast. I was blinking like am I hitting the forward button? I knew Izzy was dead when he sang that song in earlier episodes. They won’t let a character change. It’s ruined my comfort show.

You are so right about Izzy being a follower and how Ed didn't give a shit about what Izzy thinks. Which makes how djenks in interviews is now retconning that Izzy is father figure/mentor to Ed so bizarre? Before ep 8 came out he was saying Izzy was a Ed's jilted lover and how it is a love triangle but now its actually Izzy is Ed's father figure and has to die??? Thank you for this vid. ❤

I had fun with this season, but mostly because I stopped caring about the actual story and just tried to vibe with the characters. Once you start to think about the plot and character progressions for more than five seconds though, it becomes kind of frustrating. Idk what went wrong with the characters and writing and pacing, but it all just felt off and kind of cheap for me. Kind of like they just put random plot points together and didn't even try to connect them. Really liked your analysis videos!

I honestly started to hate Ed's character. He's not emotionally unstable, he's on a fucking roller coaster the whole season and i can't keep up! First he becomes a villain, tortures the crew, shoots his best friend's leg off and tries to set the ship on fire (he could never be reedemed for that in my eyes, unless he suffers or dies in some heroic way for their sake, which obviously won't happen) (also he knew Stede for so little before they separated and he already wants to kill everyone and then himself when they separate what????) then goes off to the in-between, then takes like a few hours to "forgive" Stede (love Stede for reminding Ed that he has tried to KILL him before so leaving wasn't even that bad) and becomes a literal kitty in a collar, all calm and collected like nothing ever happened. Then he suddenly decides to be a fisherman and LEAVES Stede, the same man he had ruined lifes for, including his own!!! And then, out of fucking nowhere (because a fisherman pushed him and called him a bum???) he becomes the murderous Blackbeard again and crawls back to Stede with a love confession. AND THEN, as you said he cries and begs for Izzy to live, as if he didn't hurt and torture him both mentally and physically and didn't care when he thought Izzy killed himself! No Izzy, the crew is NOT his family, they don't love him and they shouldn't. Ed and Stede's relationship also became unhealthy, Stede is so madly in love that he doesn't see Ed's mistakes as they are (absolutely horrendous and nearly unreedemable) (he literally thought funding Calypso's birthday was it). I don't know what Ed could possibly do in hypothetical season 3 for me to like him again as much as I did before. And don't even get me started with Izzy's death. I hated his guts in season 1 and fell in love with him in this one. He was the best acted and written character of all. He could be so iconic and powerful as a captain and a part of the family, but no, we have to kill off the redeemed bad guy (while what he did was nothing in comparison to what Ed did). He didn't deserve to go like this, for nothing, blaming himself to make Ed look better. Maybe he really believed the shark tale, and if yes, that's incredibly sad. Someone said he didn't even get a sea burial and that makes me mad as well. In conclusion, this season had its nice moments, like Zheng's and Auntie's characters, the Swede as Jackie's husband, Lucius and Pete getting married, the drag show, Izzy teaching Stede how to fight (that was my favourite) and probably more, but overall it was really dissapointing. I feel bad for the hardcore fans who were waiting for so long just to get... this.

My biggest problems with s2: -Ed and Stede don’t fully talk about their issues it was very surface level Stede didn’t even tell Ed that he was kidnapped!!! -the side characters barley have screen time yet a bunch of new characters are introduced 4 of which only appeared in one ep and wasted screen time - Archie and Zheng were seen as love interest first and then characters you can literally remove Archie and the story remains the exact same -Izzy’s development was very rushed so I didn’t really care bc it was obvious they were only doing it to kill him off. (I have way more to say but then this would be an essay) - We know stedes motive in s1 was to show piracy doesn’t always have have to be barbaric but we know it’s not really his passion he just wants to have adventure bc his whole life was already decided for him. It would have been nice to see him learn that in s2 but instead he just leaves piracy to be with Ed without any development

holy sharting whales and lesbian michael sheens

I agree so much with everything you say in this video. It's sad really, because I genuinely think that Season 1 is the best tv season I've ever seen; it's so well crafted: the symbolism, the themes that keep coming up again and again, the messages; everything about it is brilliant. Season 2 on the other hand was such an absolute mess. And it wasn't even funny!

This season really could have been something special. They took Ed to a dark place, but they could have brought him out of it again satisfactorily for me if they were willing to either commit to him working through his issues and making amends or - alternatively - commit to bringing the show back into the protection of cartoon logic and plot armour for the whole crew once everyone was back together on the Revenge. (And I mean the whole crew - none of this "Izzy dies from a wound on the side that Ed's survived being stabbed through dozens of times, spends his last moments assuring Ed he's blameless and loved despite Ed having tortured him and the crew, and then gets buried in the yard with his prized possessions removed from his body.") Talking it through as a crew, not bottling things up, and dismantling the abusive nature of pirate culture was literally what 1x01 told us life on Stede's ship was going to be about. Season 2 didn't have to take them all the way there, but it should have cared about making progress. Instead, either rewrites and editing went completely off the rails or they wanted to have their cake and eat it too by having violence and healing be meaningful sometimes and then be brushed aside when they didn't want to deal with it. There's just so many ugly messages lurking in what they did, particularly around bringing Izzy back from a suicide attempt, through an arc about learning to live with a life-changing disability and rediscovering himself, to announcing that he's all right dying and presenting that as good for the growth of the character who maimed him in the first place. Although I think the truth is that there probably weren't any messages intended at all, because they seemingly stopped thinking about the characters and themes at the end and just tried to wrangle the needlessly busy plot points they wrote themselves into.

I had HIGH hopes after watching the first three episodes.. thought the trauma and mental turmoil portrayed in both Ed and Stede was beautifully directed, but then it was so rushed and unsatisfying towards to end of the show

the first three episodes were soooooooooooo good. Con is arguably the best actor on the show and they just wasted my boy. what a shame.

I’m so sad they killed Izzy off after making him my favorite character this season, but i might have been a little less mad about it if his death had meant more. They also made a big deal out of his last words; like, he told Ed to be with his family (the revenge crew) and they make a big deal out of them teaming up with the pirate queen and then it just cuts to… ed and stede leaving piracy entirely and sending their crew off?? and there’s not even an explanation or anything it just- AAAAAGH Izzy just deserved SO much better but anyways loved the video as always, as soon as I finished the finale all I could think was, “cant wait to see what zemantler has to say about this one” lmao

Hi, I absolutely loved your analyses of OFMD s2. you expressed a lot of the things I also thought and felt but in a much calmer, more structured and observant way ^^ you did an amazing job. in all of your ofmd videos. it was a great analysis! I am really looking forward to your next videos but please take as much time as you want and need ^^ it's good that you listen to yourself and take a break. oooff, I can't believe that s2 went from "omg, this is even better than s1!!" to "damn, what a dumpster fire.... wait, did they let their fucking hostage carry a loaded gun??"

They made me fall in love with Izzy then took him away like that

I liked and enjoyed watching the season, but i also like to hear your opinion! Always look forward for your analysis

THEY JUST USED IZZY AS A STEPPING STONE.I’m never going to get over this ending because his last words were him telling his abuser that it’s his fault.THE DYING MANS FAULT???THE ONE THAT GOT SHOT AND MUTILATED???Izzy deserved better.

Izzy didn't even get a proper pirates burial. Also its incredibly fucked up that they said its only suicide if we die and then Izzy who is recovering from a suicide attempt dies while apologising to his abuser. Where was the sensitivity readers for this messed up script. I no longer care about Ed or Stede as its so messed up and just another Toxic Anne and Mary situation. Also the rest of crew got shafted. Zheng and Auntie who are meant to be intelligent tacticians are now idiots who didn't consider the clocks to be bombs? Zheng no longer being a captain? Auntie saying Oluwande doesn't count as man because he is soft? Wtf? This was supposedly a kind romcom of queer joy and we got none of it.

If this show does get renewed for a new season I would honestly have given it a chance. Give them the benefit of the doubt. But then they killed my favorite character and that benefit of the doubt went down the drain.

Also its very hard to feel like ed and stedes ending was a happy one when it is very clearly stated theyre both whim prone and have a tendency for escapism and after seeing anne bonny and mary read being like "our relationship is trash bc we moved to fucking nowhere and started a business" and then you see ed and stede moving to fucking nowhere and starting a business...

After some thinking, I don't know whether I agree with my "feeding darkness" point in the Izzy section, so take it with a grain of salt :D Decided to leave it in because I still think it's good food for thought. Take care!

Jeez I comletley agree. Probably won't watch next season. The fact that they saw how popular the show is and decided to cut the budget for the next season is just beyond me 🤯 It's homophobia at Its finest 🤬 At least Good Omens 2 was absolutely amazing.

The worst part of Izzy's death is him saying it's good that he's dying (I forgot the exact line, I think "I want to go") like, what the heck? WHAT IS THE MESSAGE THERE???

I think this whole season should have been two seasons. The second season should have been the journey of Steede and Ed finding each other again (with the last episode being with Ed and Steede reuniting at the antique shop). The third season should have been Ed learning to become a better person while dealing with what he has done to his crew and people in his past. Steede becoming a more famous pirate while his crew recovers from their trauma. The end being Ed and Steede overcoming their flaws, leaving piracy behind, and becoming innkeepers.

I remeber crying when Izzy died.:((( He is still my fav character

i did not even realise izzy was dying until they were back on the ship

ok, but i really don't like zhengs character like, shes the pirate queen who conquered china and shes so strong and powerful but she just completely melts for olu?? and she forgave him WAY too easily like from her pov he betrayed her and left why is she still infatuated with him? you would think the super powerful pirate queen would trust him less or something. Also the whole bomb thing, surely there would have been previous attempts to get rid of her if she conquered china, so how did richard, this guy who was shown to be kind of an idiot come up with this amazing genius plan that took her by surprise? Zheng was supposed to be this powerful pirate but shes just not and i kind of hate that. idk its like auntie carried her entire career or something.

i agree, killing characters off seems to be the easy way out for the writers using as shock value because the dont know where to move on from the point they’ve gotten the char to.. lazy writing in my mind especially when there is some character dev at all, which is rare theese days in any shows. this whole season was so rushed, which was so sad after s1 euphoria. it was almost like they were given more time but suddenly the money was no longer there and the writers got confused and did not know what to cut.... thanks for the good rant!

been loving ur analysis's of the new episodes, you kinda voiced all my thoughts in a coherent way and ill def be watching you again!

excited to see what you do with your channel! all your videos so far have being really enjoyable to watch!

...aaaand its cancelled. RIP in peace OFMD, one of the series of all time

i totally agree with you that it was disappointing, it felt like everything went too quickly and was more disorganized :[ izzy is still the shining star of the season for me! (btw it feels illegal to be this early omg)

the worst thing was watching the writing quality of the episodes go down gradually, and realising they were reaching their budget by episode 7. like it all just slowly started feeling off bit by bit, and the last episode really felt like a kick in the ass. it felt like they just rushed to wrap up all the story and character arcs in the span of 20 minutes. the fact that the potential for a 3rd season was mentioned by one of the creators kinda hurts more, bc that makes me wonder why they didn't pace it better and just save all the later stuff for season 3, and give all the characters the arcs and development they deserved. the way season 2 ended kinda just makes me not want a 3rd season. i really hope there are some fanfic writers out there willing to rewrite the season how it should have gone

I think they realized that there will propably no third season and tried to give us at least somewhat of a closure. Also, less money, less episodes and less everythmg. I think if they have had the time they would have planned the story out better. For me this season was up and downs and I love everything but Man on fire and the finale. Calypsos birthday was my favourite episode i think, because maybe it was the last hurrah for everyone......I am sure Karl was in the vicinity and Swede is a happy husband. With what they had, they did their best and they really tried but not everything worked out. Ich brauche Izzy´s song La vie en rose in full, please. that was amazing. I get from a writer and arc point of view that Izzys´s death can make sense but I still wanted him happy. I wanted all of them happy. One big Family.

Within the framework of this show, the seriousness of violence and abuse is somewhat lower than reality, so Ed was still redeemable after episode 3. The show simply failed to redeem him. Instead they gave him the red flag behaviors of an unrepentant repeat abuser. And a sociopathic lack of regard for anyone but himself - and Stede, who he still treats rather shitty.

I think one of the main drawbacks about OFMD in general is that there is was too many characters, and the writers really have no idea what to do with half of them other than just "supporting Stede and Ed" or "not supporting Stede and Ed" at any point a person not supporting their realationship is kinda like ya know the bad guys and It IS the main plot. That is what the writers focused on and it just seems odd. And there was no bonding with Ed after he Traumatized and horridly manipulated his whole crew one "Im sorry" (kinda) and were back. It just seemed like the writers just wanted things back to the status quo so they could continue with Stede and Ed's realationship. (It doesn't help that I don't really enjoy romance things but I have never had a harder grip on Ineffable Husbands so I know it can be done very well)

the most logical solution is: Izzy becomes a new captain of the Revenge, his redemption arc is finished, and Stede and Ed abandon piracy in the name of the cottagecore and I honestly don't get why on earth they haven't done it??? like, it wraps up already-settled things? even with all of the season's imperfections...

I have wanted to say this but had no idea where to put it BUT i think it would have been more memorable if they buried izzy in saint augustine where they dug up the "treasure" of the orange and started an inn around there because thats where they spoke about the restaurant in the first place and i think it would make more sense that way and salvage it a bit,, ALSO if you go the route of talking about your favourite shows i would love to hear your takes on what we do in the shadows!!

i dont know whether or not izzy’s death actually IS fridging or not, but it’s what first came to mind when i watched the episode. Izzy dies and suddenly he’s so cool with dying, he wants to go??? it feels like izzy’s whole character arc and all of his thoughts and feelings were completely thrown to the wayside so that ed could have a sad “but now i’m all alone” moment. Izzy’s death has nothing to do with his personal character arc and all to do with what he could make the other characters feel, which is apparently just sad for like half a day. i’m so upset about this because to me, izzy was the most interesting character in season 2 and i thought that they were actually gonna do something with him, but then this is what they did.

I absolutely agree with all of this I've been waiting for your video it's always nice to jump in and just get all of your thoughts. I actually found myself in that same negative bubble just looking for anything fun going on or something but I've failed at finding anything. I really hope you keep uploading Caz every time it's just the best thing I see that day solely because it's you talking about whatever you're passionate about. Also Vick you sound really fun (not that I think you might see this but) you do sound really awesome.

I just found you but wanted to say I really like your style and your voice, editing and everything goes so well it makes it just so enjoyable to watch. Definitely going to be binge watching you now. Hope you keep up the work because I’m like genuinely very excited to see more of your videos. I love the way you think and put everything so well. I don’t really find usually channels that I like that much, it goes Kurtis Conner and then you haha. Hope this didn’t sound weird, promise no sarcasm in here, I am genuinely excited that I found you. Best of luck!

I felt like episodes 1 to 3 had logic to me, from ep 4 ahead were rushed fr

No because I was thinking the exact same thing when it finally hit me that they were killing off Izzy!!! And even then the show didn’t give any time for watchers to be sad or see the crew actually impacted by his death; the pacing was incredibly off. They put so much time into creating him into a likable character (at first I wasn’t rooting for him) and gave him the depth we wanted so bad….just to kill him off? His redemption arc was sweet and seeing him genuinely loved by the crew was so cute :,) it sucks that they cut his story short, he had so much potential on his own and not as a supporting character.

I hear all these critiques but I really think HBO is mainly to blame. 8 episodes 30 minutes each is not really enough time to have a fully fleshed out season. Also the reason so many of the crew were either missing or didn't get a lot of plot time was due to budgeting issues.

I think the all the little post credit things where all so cute and funny. They all seemed to have the found family vibes from the first season had, that this season didn’t get because we didn’t have enough time for it with EVERYTHING else going on. That where I can see that this season was definitely rushed by HBO and Max. You can tell with these small interactions that this is what they wanted to have more time with but because of the cut budget and time limit they couldn’t 😢

Cannot even blame HBO as djenks has said he always intended it to be 8 eps. So it was poor pacing and writing decision.

Perfectly summarised. The second half of this season especially felt like such a dip in quality. 😥🏴‍☠

I had a huge rant about how Izzy's story could have revolved around the fact that people DON'T forgive him and that sometimes that's just the reality, but regardless of whether someone accepts your apology you still work to become a better person anyway because nobody owes you their forgiveness. Having him live with his mistakes and potentially having to part from the crew in order for everyone involved to fully heal could have been interesting, and maybe have left doors open for Izzy to appear later (or bring other interesting characters into the mix, such as other famous pirate captains).

I can see that I am alone in really enjoying the season. I think that everyone did the best with what they had, and as much as I am _still weeping_ over Izzy's death, I could see the writing on the wall at the end of Season 1 and knew they were going to kill him off. It was the best death he could have asked for - dying in Ed's arms, having fought alongside him for his family. He tried all season to atone for his many mistakes and everything he did to bring about all the catastrophes of Season 1, his completely utter betrayal of the Captain he'd been following for over 20 years. It was beautiful, tragic and gut-wrenching, but beautiful. They'd already established that Ed never apologized for anything while he was captain, and that Izzy wasn't expecting him to, and yet he tells Izzy that he should be the one apologizing. I wish he'd had more time with Stede at the end, but I can see why it was just him and Ed, like it had always been. God this shit makes me cry. Stellar writing and acting. Everyone upped their acting game this season. I was wildly impressed by all of them. For all Nathan's protestations that he doesn't "do sincerity" well, he was really great at being all drama-moody and sincere. Taika and Rhys outshone everyone except Con, who deserves a fucking Golden Globe. Absolutely amazing. I'm so happy that they gave him an excuse to sing, even if the song was written like 200 years after the events of the series. But who cares!? 😆 It's epic fantasy pirate romance!! 😄 Sure everything was rushed. Couldn't have been avoided. My only real complaint is how easily and suddenly Jim left Olu and got together with Archie, a weirdly not-really-introduced character who just appears and becomes the new love interest. Okay then. Anyway, I'm not disappointed by the season or the finale. Setups all had payoffs and the main characters had decent arcs (especially Izzy). I wish there had been more and can only hope that they get a third season and more than 8 episodes. Pretty please.

Yeah, it was a mess. More awkward because it dealt with a bunch of *historical* figures in very deceptive and unflattering ways. Bonnet died at 30 by hanging, Blackbeard was killed in action around the same time at the age of 35-40 (the actors are both in their late 40s). Blackbeard was no lowly born psychopath; he was an educated and very clever Englishman who preferred parlor tricks and false narratives to build a reputation; he avoided violence at all costs. He did take over Bonnet's ship, with Bonnet aboard and on board for it (Bonnet was Not a natural leader). There were no women on his ship, but a notorious female Chinese pirate was sailing the seas in another part of the world then, as were a lesbian couple. It was weird how they stuck to some true elements in the story, and completely made up others that weren't as compelling as what actually happened. It all felt very rushed, random and haphazard.

I was so mad about the ending! (about the whole season in general) Izzy carried this all season to die at the end???! Thank you director and writers. Oh, And HBO, Of course

I still want more insights! What are your more in depth thoughts on Hannibal?

And on top of all this I find out that Taika signed the pro-Israel letter.

I LOVE YOUR VIDEOS!!! I swear we have the exact same interests (I see your TWO paul dano posters)

I think izzy dying was the least of the probelms this season. death i can handle a rushed and messy plotline is my problem

i didn’t really think of buttons landing onto izzy’s grave as something meant to have a symbolic meaning, i thought of it being a possibility of izzy coming back (could be my delusions, but djenks said there was no show without izzy). it could be a way to bring back buttons and also bring izzy back but i don’t think it’s super likely. izzy’s death was the thing that pissed me off the most this season, and considering i was an izzy hater during season 1 i was surprised how much i loved him this season, and considering all the things ed has done it made me hate ed as a character. being completely transparent reading fanfic does change my perspective a bit because it makes me think about other sides of people’s stories and it did make me dislike stede as well because he also abandoned his crew not just ed. i know they had 30 minute episode and 8 of them at that so it makes sense that everything was rushed but i feel like there were certain things that could have been adjusted to allow for the conversations that needed to be add. the lack of conversations happening in the last 2 episodes pissed me off to now end especially considering ep 4. also i can kind of understand ed being upset about moving to fast in ep 7 but he also was a participating party and had the option to say no and i have no doubt in my mind that stede would have stopped. it felt like they set up a lot of things and each thing was fulfilled as it came. as i was watching the last episode i realised how fast it felt like it was going. i will say it was ok for what they had but it could have been a lot better. now i know when doing rewatches i can avoid watching certain episodes and stick to the fanfic instead. i also realised i don’t really want to read black bonnet fic which makes me a bit sad because there is such a lack of anything else.

It reminded me of a shitty watt pad slow burn that was made in 2 days with only 6 chapters which sucks to say but it felt like a rlly bad fan fiction the entire time

you’re so correct

this season was sooo rushed, I really wish they would've planned the episodes and characters developments and plots better

I agree with your points, izzy just started to change for the better and just when I BARELY started liking him they kill him off? like what was even the point of that whole thing lol and about ivan, the actor stated that he was literally kicked out with no warnings and the reason is apparently because he supports palestine so thats a yikes from the production team :/

I’m willing to forgive it because they knew they were likely going to get canned and they didn’t want it to end on a cliffhanger, but they had so much to get done. “OMG we gotta get Ed and Stede back together, we gotta get them in bed or the fans will be bummed, but we gotta have Ed atone for what he did, but we can’t have the whole season be heavy and sad, sooooooooo SPEED RUN!!!!!!!”

Everything was solid until ep 8 and then they gave it a rushed ending because they knew they weren’t to get a season 3. I feel the ep was supposed to end when the gang decide to get revenge on Izzy’s murderer, but then they shot Ed/Stede waving at the revenge as everyone else decided to move on. The Inn ending would have been okay for a s3 where Ed and Stede both finally come to a peace of giving up the pirate life. But at the beginning of the episode you had Ed deciding to be a pirate again, and Stede was coming into his own as a pirate. They weren’t ready to give up the life yet. Idk why we weren’t given 10 episodes and why we couldn’t have had a third season. I blame the HBO/Warner merger for bungling so much as OFMD was bringing in an audience to the streaming platform Another thing I didn’t like was them destroying Olu/Jim after the s1 build up when in canon the crew had been separated for only a few months. As much as I like who Olu and Jim ultimately end up with, had we had time to develop it wouldn’t have felt like it was doing a 180 between seasons.

I felt like everything was going so fast that after the end I was left confused for a while because I swore there was an episode or something missing

When hbo shortens your run time then you have to accommodate for that via plot. Instead of trying to do so much they could have told a smaller story. Like this season, focus on steed and ed getting together (without all of the terrible bullshit) and have that be your end goal. Have next season be the big epic where they have to fight all the bad guys and retire at the end.

i agree with you on everything!!! i'm so upset :( I also agree on Ed's character arc not making any sense, but on the other hand that's kind of why I relate to him bcs it's giving very BPD coded

I liked this season til ep5 but after that it just went downhill :(

Enjoyer of this season here because there is like /NOBODYELSE/ talking about this season 😭

very cool!

I just thought for about 4 seconds and thought of a way better plot for the crew to trust ed again. What if Ed honestly sacrificed something for the crew. They were in danger and nothing else he could do he took a metaphorical or physical bullet. It would open up the crew into actually talking about what happened when Stede left, and Ed could open up to his own crew about why he mentally and physically abused them and that way and not have two separate plots where the same issue gets resolved separately.

Oh wow i think i was the only one that liked this season i literally watched the whole season in one day i loved it so much and i really really didn't find a problem with maybe it bcs i'm looking for something unserious 😢

I was a bit bummed when Ed took a dive to get his gear. I wanted him to "catch" it with the fishing pole unintentionally. And the Izzy apology thing really didn't make sense. Izzy was definitely the best character of season 2. I was devastated that we won't see Izzy with the crew of The Revenge anymore. I was lowkey hoping Izzy and Wee John would become something. The way Wee John opened him up to the makeup, and the way Izzy kissed his hand on Calypso's Birthday. All and all, even if it was strange, I'm just so f*cking thankful we even got a season 2. And yeah I wanted Buttons to land on Ed's head bc the connection between them. (Ed making note of Buttons being a "bird guy" in season 1. Ed witnessing Buttons' transfiguration)

I'm sorry but after everything that happened in season 2 I'll not be able to gove it a benefit of the doubt and selflessly wait for the season 3 about ✨the inn keepers who used to be pirates ✨. Just no. I was ok with ignoring all it's flaws until the finale episode. That was just sad.

yeah i hated this season and you articulated perfectly why. thank you.