Our Flag Means Death | 2x08 | Mermen | REACTION 

The most difficult thing I've had to edit. There is a lot of ugly crying. And I don't think I will ever recover. I have a LOT of opinions over this episode. I hope you all enjoy the reaction!

Found family is so important to me and Izzy deserved that. I met con 2 weeks ago at NYCC and i told him i was loving his found family journey this season and i couldnt wait to see what comes next. He spent so so long staying with fans and stayed an hour and a half past the con closing time to meet everyone. Truly will miss him in the show but i hope he still engages in fandom things :(

I hope at least that Con win an Emmy for this performance.

I’m absolutely destroyed by Izzy’s death. He had such an amazing arc this season. He’s the first pirate in this whole crew to die and it’s painful. I absolutely enjoyed this episode. I’ve read that this season has been wildly popular and successful so I hope we get a season 3. I enjoyed your reaction commentary to this episode and the whole season. What are we gonna watch next? Lol (Edit) As far as the English being dicks? No worries. I’m American. I’m afraid we’ve cornered that market, especially with last night’s devastation in Maine. The English are lovely!

I was hoping that if we lost Izzy, he would've been hurt while sacrificing himself for a member of the crew.

Izzy will be back in season 3 as a ghost haunting everyone. Right? RIGHT?!

The end left me wanting, and also just as heartbroken over Izzy as I was after Good Omens s2 if not more. And Ed and Stede could have stayed but they decided to leave their crew, their family behind...that felt really off. But i still wanna give Con, Rhys, Taika...really everybody their flowers. They sold their characters and they acted their asses off despite the rushed season. And I still want season 3

I really liked the finale. I feel like Izzy's fate was telegraphed throughout the season. He seemed to be on a 'making amends' tour with each character. Which is such a giveaway that they're marked for death. It was sad, but characters die, it doesn't undo their arc or their storylines. ❤

i’ve been worried about izzy dying since episode 6, so my stomach fucking *dropped* when he got shot because i knew what was coming. i have nothing against redemption arcs that end in death (my favorite game of all time literally has that as the main character’s storyline) but words cannot describe how fucking pissed i am at how they handled that with izzy. aside from all the other problems with it, i cannot fucking believe that not a single goddamn person in the writers room looked at that and said hey maybe we *shouldn’t* have the guy who tried to kill himself die as his final act of redemption. i’m sorry i’m being so negative, i genuinely did enjoy a lot of this season but. what the fuck.

It’s okay, you weren’t the only one ugly crying. the amount of times I screamed NO NO NO at the screen during that episode, I just absolutely speechless. I do get your anger, I do, and I share a lot of the same criticisms. They packed a lot into such a short episode, they couldn’t give Izzy’s moment some space to breathe. I think had this episode been split into 2 or 3 episodes we could have had some space to breathe and process. And we could have had the crew talking about how this affects them going forward. But on the other hand, I think the point they were trying to make with Izzy’s death, was to show that he finally understood that being a pirate isn’t about the personal glory, it’s about the family you find when the world has cast you out. The spirit of belonging to something greater than yourself will live on. He wasn’t afraid to die, and was content with the knowledge that the crew was safe and together. He was content with the knowledge that he found a part of himself he never knew he had because of this crew. And was content that Ed would be okay without him. That Ed can let go an move on. Find the happiness Izzy found, by letting ppl in. By embracing his family. I agree, this was not a well deserved death, but to quote Stede, “Life’s a dick”. We can’t have everything wrapped up in a neat little bow, shitty situations happen and we have to deal with them, learn from them, move on from them. That’s what Izzy’s spirit stands for. He’s their unicorn. Their guiding spirit. He thought he’d die alone, but instead died surrounded by the ppl he loved the most. I take comfort in that honestly. PLUS Buttons is a sea witch so who knows! Loved the reaction even if it was a lot of crying and anger. That’s what art does. Make you feel all kinds of things. If you feel so strongly about this finale, I’d love/hate to imagine your reaction to the supernatural finale. No other finale in history has ever made me as angry as that one. In comparison, Izzy’s death was way way more cathartic.

gonna try to work up the strength to watch this, so we can hurt in solidarity. for them to take a disabled suicidal queer man, show him acceptance and joy and community, only to kill him in the arms of the man he spent decades destroying himself for? no. just fucking no. the crew isnt Ed's family, they're Izzy's.

Been catching up on the reactions and been enjoying your reations to the show. I can't say I'm surprised about Izzy here, he was telegraphed to die since s1(he did say Death was his only idea of retirement), it sucks it wasn't some grandiose way but his death does kinda signal the start of the death of piracy and it kinda fits that in this crazy wacky series, one thing is clear and thats that the smallest things sometimes boom you outta nowhere. It sucks cuz I really learned to love Izzy over this season, but it feels like his death was the natural conclusion of his character. I hope if we get a season 3 we get Force Ghost Izzy since Buttons showed that Magic is possible in this universe. S3 though having the pirates band together to fuck up the English is a fucking awesome idea though. Con was really fantastic and while this season was rushed as heck, I really enjoyed this season a lot and hope we get s3 to close out the story and hopefully let the, get their revenge proper.

Out of EVERYONE in the crew, they HAD to pick Izzy for this… I’m devastated, couldn’t they just skip killing off anyone in the crew? because I really don’t want anyone to truly die, each and every single one in the crew are too colorful (in a sence of personality) and so full of life, no one deserves this! We’re truly gonna miss Izzy so so much! He is also my one of my most fav characters in this show 🙏🏻🖤 “f***ing twats!” ~Israel Hands. 2022-2023💕

ughh i fuckin hope Con gets back season 3 even if a dream sequence or memory flashback or some shit

I didn’t plan on crying through my lunch break but here I am.

I think it was too full of tropes. Izzy's death was too obvious. Also he tells Ed how he's with his family, they love him.. that scene BTW was so brilliant and great acting, but then Ed and Stede just leave their family. I didn't like that ending, but I suppose if there isn't a third season it has left it with closure. I did adore Lucius and Pete getting married, aaww.

I'm feeling EVERYTHING you're saying rn

i cant watch this again right now😫

I can't bring myself to watch this or the episode. Disgust is probably the best word for what I feel. David has spoken so much about how harmful queerbaiting and burying your gays is, and now... It's not just that Izzy is disabled and an elder queer, it's that those things were an integral part of his character arc. What we're left with now is a message of abuse victims deserving to die to give their abusers emotional catharsis. I feel betrayed. I feel stupid, for not realizing an able-bodied straight white man would not deliver us a story about queer joy and community. Oh, and as a final fuck you they buried the disabled man without his prosthetic leg which is a fucking part of him. Hell, even the gentlebeard stuff was poorly written. I find myself hating Stede and Ed for remaining selfish and immature.

I had the exact same reaction to Izzy ❤

Also just the trauma this has caused to all my friends and even strangers is too much for me to come back to. Season 3 is out for me. I'm grieving. I've lost every member of my immediate family besides my little sister and this was cruel.

This episode is very beautiful. ❤

You were the first person I thought of when I watched the episode this morning. I sobbed for a good hour. I understand DJenks logic, but it isn’t necessary to kill off a mentor to allow the heroes to move forward: particularly one who just *survived an attempted final self-harm*!🫥 I truly hope that Con will still do conventions with the rest of our crew - they all seem to truly love each other, & he *has* to know how much we, the fans, adore him. I do believe that DJenks truly adores Con, and I hope that they get to work together on another project, particularly if they can work with some of the other cast members, who also seem to love Con. *sigh* THANK YOU for being someone who I knew would feel as strongly about this as I do. 💜

It's a once again bitter victory to be saved by my own queer pessimism rather than hope. I enjoyed but stayed emotionally at arms length because of little red flags and bad past experiences. And I get rewarded for that. Maybe fitting that you can now argue that S1 Izzy was distrust vulnerability. Saved me alright.

Im really conflicted about this ending. I thought with what you said about a character arc that it was pretty much inevitable... still hurt and self sacrifice would be better. I liked the show of respect from the crew. Potentially Izzy had pulled the darker element he'd seen in Ed to the forefront and that obviously backfired with Ed's heartbreak. I don't know how they're gonna move forward season 3. Stede and Ed will have their inn and Izzie's dead... will Zheng be the equivalent of Ed and Stede now? Because we need the resolution between the Pirates and the Brits, which i thought we'd get before Ed and Stede settled. I'm so confused right now. I'm not sure what I thought I'd feel at the end of this episode but it's not what I'm feeling now.

I’m sorry, but I just don’t understand some of these reactions, especially the ones people are having on Twitter. People are being incredibly disrespectful to real people over the death of a fictional man. I loved Izzy, related to him and all. I’m a disabled suic*de survivor myself. I see a lot of people feeling personally attacked by the creator’s decision to kill off this character, and I think it’s very unhealthy. We don’t know the creator, the actors, or the characters because they aren’t real. Now, I’ve been extremely attached to characters in the past…. But I’d never lose friends, tell someone to fuck off, or be genuinely angry at a real human being for killing off their own character. Criticism is cool, but being a bastard isn’t, which the majority of the people “criticizing” Izzy’s death on Twitter are. It’s just gross and goes against both the message of the show and the message of the character! Kindness to our fellow humans should come first above all else. Now, this next part is just pure opinion and not as serious as what I said earlier, but I’m actually really glad he didn’t die sacrificing himself. In real life death just… happens unexpectedly. It’s sad, but that’s life. I’m glad he died finally loving and being loved-to me it was just bittersweet.

FUCK NO OH NO OH DEAR LORD, NO

I been thinking of you since I watched the episode. Hope you're doing ok and get to take a good rest after this ❤

My immediate reaction to that beginning was that it felt more like a tourist ad for New Zealand than the ad he actually did (with Jackie, from wwdits(2014)! 😁), too 😅 If you'd told me a year and a half ago that I'd cry at Izzy dying, I'd have laughed in your face. I think it made sense for him to die, considering he was the new unicorn, what happened to the old one and all of the parallels this season. I think that cutting back the number of episodes was the biggest reason for how quickly we moved on from that, too. Absolutely Max's fault. And in regards to the crew not being that sad it was probably quite shocking for them, as they barely had a chance to realize he was shot before we lost him. I believe David Jenkins mentioned something on xitter (?) that implied he could bring back anyone he wanted and with Buttons showing up who knows, but the only way to find out would be to get a new season. Overall I loved the finale and the season, but you can definitely tell they hadn't planned the story as 8 episodes, which is a shame, it definitely needed some more breathing room in places and we were robbed of that. 💜🏳️‍🌈🏴‍☠️

I like that Ed and Stede chose to live by Izzy's grave, i think it's sweet. Plus i think a land burial is usually reserved for captains; i think it's a way of honoring izzy. His death didn't bother me as much, i thought it was a lovely scene, but i understand the sadness for sure. Take solace that the season ends with him and a sea witch? Who knows what kind of magic can happen.

The way Izzy was killed in the show was ridiculous. He was killed by a main bad guy that we won’t even see again in the show again it was ridiculous and he didn’t even kill the main antagonist off.

They made Izzy apologize for the past with Ed, when he was being tortured by the guy weeks ago, when he was losing a member to protect the crew I can't accept this, I can accept death, but apologizing to Ed is inconceivable, Ed gave Izzy a gun to kill herself and I have to hear Izzy apologize, you're telling me that Izzy spent decades forcing Ed to be Blackbeard ? Look, Ed, Blackbeard and Kraken are the same person, Ed doesn't lose consciousness and something else takes over, it was Ed who did all the shit in episodes 1-3, Ed was destructive and terrible to people but still forgiven with a snap of the fingers, which we cannot accept All I have to say about Stede is that he won't be happy on land, but who cares, he and Ed magically worked it out

honestly i have no idea how to feel about the end of this episode. the tone was so fucking WEIRD. like it feels like they had an hour's worth of story planned and had to cut it down to 30 minutes. i'm not disappointed, exactly, but i wish they'd had the time and money to give us a little room to breathe.

I know they plan to bring him back as a ghost but that's kinda worse. Adding insult to injury. David Jenkins said he was not going to kill anyone important and I trusted him. Oh well. Hearing about how he treated Con makes it worse.

I'm really sorry. I felt 100% sure they weren't going to do it and I was shocked when they did. I've never been an Izzy enjoyer and even I was upset by it

I know, it’s ok to say the ending was a shit ending. I think Izzy’s character deserved SO much more of a sacrifice. I think he should have sacrificed himself saving Stede. I think the show was rushing itself due to only having 8 25 min episodes instead of 10 30 minute episodes like last season. The director wants another season, so it’s not the series finally (thank GOD for that). And…maaaayyyybeeee Izzy is in the middle realm like Ed! Where he’s both alive and dead? Eh? Eh? I mean Ed got a second chance maybe Izzy can come back? Please? 🙏

ALSO (sorry) Izzy said the crew loved Ed...did they??? Who do you think they loved more? Ed or Izzy? Stede or Izzy even??? Tbh I have mixed feelings about Ed since he made Fang kill his dog.

you know that i’ve been a mess since this episode aired… just…,.. a mess.. it was obvious but like… so painful. i love that they finished with ed and stede together because if i had to do another cliffhanger… but still i can only think of Him… i’m in mourning and am sure we’ll shortly see an influx of “in memory of” art of izzy.. just. i’m GDHFJFJFJJF fuck!!!! :( seeing ed cry about him and showing the most care towards izzy we’ve ever seen him show.. hurts… knowing that izzy is just so tired and is ready to die because he knows ed will be okay now… god…. admitting he was selfish and apologizing…. ohhhh my fucking god.. annoyed by ed’s lack of apology but i like to think it’s due to budget and time cuts and not because that’s how they wish to characterize him as someone who still can’t admit his wrongdoings even to his closest friend on his deathbed. i’m such a mess omg… on a lighter note i love zheng yi sao and ruibo qian’s expressions are incredible, she makes me cry omg she’s so good… anyways fingers crossed izzy comes back to haunt ed next season and that ed sees him in his dreams and nightmares and finds that he’s been forever affected by him for better or worse… pls i’m going delulu thinking we might see him again i love him so much

I understand your heartbreak and anger. Personally, he wasn’t my favorite but I loved the character development Izzy was going through and his death was uncalled for, or too early. If he was going to die it should have been done AFTER the development was at a point where we were all used to it as much as we were used to how he was in season 1. I didn’t cry cause I wasn’t as strongly attached, but yeah, he really did deserve better. With better writing material, like seriously 🤦🏾‍♀️

I hate how upset this is making people. And I hate how people are getting mocked for it.

❤

i've more or less made peace with this episode, but the thing that does still really bother me is what dealt the fatal blow. i mean ed survived massive head trauma and a (probably multi-day) coma with no long-term ill effects, and both he and stede have been stabbed multiple times. hell, even izzy JUST survived an amputation where, as far as i can tell, nobody put a tourniquet on him until AFTER the leg was off. (you can argue that this might've made it harder for him to survive further blood loss so soon, but still!) but some asshole prince fires without looking and manages to kill izzy??? crushing. i'm kinda glad they didn't do the big heroic sacrifice, but....damn, man. i'd have appreciated something a little more, like. thematically-appropriate?

Decided to watch this on my lunch break at work which was NOT a good idea lol. I am desperately holding onto the hope that Buttons is a witch and will come back and ressurect Izzy nedt season cause I need the delusion so i don't cry all night