The ladies are fighting… so is everyone else. Perhaps this time, for clarity.
Episode four and five, once again, hits us with the corporate-turned-pirate metaphors… the waters are muddled. Stede and Ed (back from the grave and ??? kinda ??? okay ??? Better than I would be after being knocked out for a day by anything tbh ??? ) have The Dinner Party From Hell with HERE and HERE. Mary Read and Anne Bonny’s sapphic enemies/romance is touching, if not somewhat off putting— these are after all, not a story about people who remain landlocked– so why the burgeoning reminder about what happens when one stays in a single place for too long? Still, if it means more from Minnie Driver, I’m all in!
Most of these two episodes deal with ‘is Ed redeemable?” and… I don’t know if this is done in a really great way. There’s a curse that also features a significant portion of episode five. Again, I think the show is hitting us pretty heavy with Stede might not be the best captain. There’s a lot of “does tit for tat behavior help you get over assault/violence” and quite frankly, I’m not sure the show is taking itself seriously enough to thread that needle. Still, I like the scenes with Fang and Ed sitting in the fishing boat– they feel more grounded, serious in a good way. The shift in narrative respect towards Izzy as a character is nice, too– and for all the ship-nanigans, it’s a bizarre-turned-sweet moment when he gets a sturdier replacement leg. Do I think Stede stealing a cursed jacket is funny? Absolutely. Do I think common sense would tell anyone not to touch it, murky waters about respecting beliefs or not? Yep. Perhaps the stronger, simpler message would have been this: if everyone on a ship is already dead, maybe it’s a job that’s come and passed already? Even if the dilapidated house isn’t haunted at the end of the block, you know, just to be safe from bed bugs and muggings, don’t go near it?
Meanwhile, I’d love to know what’s going on with Jim, Archie, and Olu? Romantically, sure, but also just… as people? Will Olu ever get more dialogue? He could/should be captain. If that’s what the show is striving for, perhaps it could do so faster. In a capsule length season, there’s less room for filler and missing the mark– here’s to hoping they don’t for the remaining 3-4 episodes coming up.
Editor’s note: So, did Buttons really turn into a bird? I would watch him as a seagull just vibing over the sea for an episode.
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