In a universe where piracy is coming to its natural end, where the theme that the leads’ lives revolves around is looking like a past they’ll think fondly of, someone like Izzy hands - who is the motif of that theme, THE pirate incarnate - he doesn’t fit. He’s done his job, he kept piracy alive for his entire life, he kept the man he loves alive as best as he could, he came full circle to realising that there was joy and beauty to be found. But he doesn’t want to fish, he fucking hates fishing, an inn sounds even worse. He is piracy, it’s all of him. He was done. Izzy Hands’ death is a call to everyone that the days of piracy are over, that they should remember him as someone who kept it going, who did his best with the resources he had, who died a pirate’s death exactly as he wanted.
Season 2 was painfully rushed. I didn’t wanna admit that fault, but it REALLY damaged the quality of the show. Part of what made S1 so great was watching the slow and steady character development and story arcs. We developed attachments to the characters because we saw them go through everything leading up to the end.
This entire season has had abrupt changes in character development (especially with Izzy. I love that they made him more human, but he went from masochistically devoted to Edward to terrified of Edward all within the span of a time jump we didn’t even see.)
Ed and Stede’s relationship shifts way too abruptly. And I know them taking it fast is part of their arc, but it still felt like they were just trying to move from arc to arc within the span of one episode each.
I also hate how none of the sideplots really tie into the story on a deeper level. (They have amazing parallels to S1, but aren’t great plot-wise.) Not to mention they almost completely abandoning the relationship they built between Olu and Jim. (I love the polyamory aspect, don’t get me wrong. And I love that they don’t blatantly explain the polyamory / tokenize it. But, the way Jim was willing to just give away Olu to Zheng in episode seven, even if they and Archie couldn’t go with him, made me upset. Not to mention that at times, it feels more like they’re trying to write off Jim and Olu as fwb, but that may just be me. And the two of them didn’t get a lot of screen time in general compared to season 1.)
The parallels to season 1 and overall symbolism were amazing, and I do still like this season overall. But it really is heartbreaking how Max sacrificed the show’s quality all for the sake of profit. I know David could have done much better with more resources.
The main reason this upsets me so much is because not only does it hurt on a personal level (damaging the quality of my comfort media), but it’s also the perfect representation of how streaming is KILLING the quality of TV. S1 was a masterpiece. The whole show is a masterpiece. But TV productions can only work with so much. And streaming services aren’t willing to accommodate to the demands necessary to make real art.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk. Be gay, do piracy 🏴☠️🍊🧜♂️(for legal reasons, don’t actually do piracy)
the inn is gonna be called the Unicorn though, right? the Unicorn Inn. izzy’s out front, keeping watch. got his eye on the sea. standing guard over the life ed wants to make for himself, instead of standing between ed and the life he wants. standing for safety and belonging. the Unicorn.🦄🦄🦄
Conversely, they’re going to carve a wooden Izzy to be the new figurehead of the Revenge, yeah?
Enikő Katalin Eged (Hungarian, b. 1992, Budapest, Hungary) - 1: Untitled 2: I don’t want to fight anymore, 2022 3: Imaginary Horses, 2022, Graphic Arts
