This show was released weekly, 2 eps at a time, and it's now at least two weeks after the last two episodes went up so it looks like no spoilerfont is needed.

Right now he is Schrodinger's Lucius, but I *think* there may be hope for him--actually killing him would be a hard dark turn that it would be almost impossible for Ed to come back from, plus the island everyone else got marooned on isn't actually all that far from the ship, and we already know that Stede is within sight of the island, so in a 'verse where it's already established that oceangoing distances are kind of wibbly wobbly and it seems to be really really easy to scoot from one spot to another it seems plausible that someone's gonna be able to scoop him up before he sinks.

I've also seen an alternative theory that he clawed his way back up using all the barnacles he refused to scrape away as hand and footholds, and now he's hiding inside the walls like Bruno.

He really better not be irrevocably dead, is all.

In the cold light of day, I can see that there is a good possibility that Lucius makes it to the Island. One of the reasons I found it so upsetting was that it seemed like Blackbeard would just not come back from that. And mostly what I want is Blackbeard and Stede happy together!

Autocorrect wants Stede to be Steve as well!

One of the reasons I found it so upsetting was that it seemed like Blackbeard would just not come back from that.

Yeah--the show's made it so explicit how much Ed relies on that thin but very bright line--he'll maim, he'll torture, he'll set an entire ship on fire and row away, he'll have people killed on his orders, but since that night as a miserable tween he has never himself, with his own bare hands, ended anyone's life (which is a totally bullshit distinction, but that shabby compromise is all he's come up with in order to live with himself).

If Lucius is really dead, he's killed again, with his own two hands, very very deliberately. I don't see how the character or the narrative can recover from that.

So, Lucius is out there treading water and waiting for someone to turn up, or he's in the walls of the ship, maybe with Jim sneaking him a little hardtack and a cup of water through a broken board whenever they can get away with it. I think. I hope.

And mostly what I want is Blackbeard and Stede happy together!

Please? At least all the showrunners seem committed to the romance narrative and to rejecting all the queer trauma and suffering tropes, which would make it really really difficult for them to justify killing off a sweet snarky noodle like Lucius.

Blackbeard killing Lucius (or trying to kill him/thinking he's killed him) was the most upsetting thing about the finale, absolutely. Even if Lucius survives (and I do think he did, because the alternative is a lot darker than this show seems to want to be), the fact is that Blackbeard pushed him off the boat fully intending for him to die. Unless he also made sure there was a dinghy waiting there for Lucius to climb into, that is a really terrible thing he did, and one that Stede would find it extremely hard to forgive, regardless of whether or not the attempt was successful.

I have high confidence that Lucius is not dead, but also:

Even if Lucius survives (and I do think he did, because the alternative is a lot darker than this show seems to want to be), the fact is that Blackbeard pushed him off the boat fully intending for him to die. Unless he also made sure there was a dinghy waiting there for Lucius to climb into, that is a really terrible thing he did, and one that Stede would find it extremely hard to forgive, regardless of whether or not the attempt was successful.

Yes. I want to see this addressed (and not written off as yet another terrible-things-keep-happening-to-Lucius gag, because dear LORD hasn't that boy been through enough?)

(Mostly I just want S2 any way I can get it.)

Adding my yes to the pile--I don't think he's dead, but the attempt was a very real, very intentional crossing of the line Ed had never allowed himself to cross before, and it's got to be reckoned with. He never really reckoned with how he also came within a few inches of killing Stede (but not, thanks inadvertently to Lucius); they just mutually agreed to pretend it never happened, and as long as the terrible thing being planned doesn't happen after all, whether by counterplan or sheer blind accident, Ed just drops it down an oubliette and it's gone.

I really, really hope they address it.

Oh friends.

OH FRIENDS.

I watched the first couple eps of OFMD when they came out and then kinda drifted away because I never ever watch hardly anything anymore, and then the ENORMOUS AVALANCHE of slashy as fuck fan art broke through my consciousness, so I restarted from the beginning and

OH FRIENDS

I watched the entire damn series in a day, when I was supposed to be cleaning and cooking for passover. I haven't felt this gushy gooey tears of joy OMG it's so beautiful OMG it's so tragic tears of pain conflicted OMG ending they have to make it right, right, RIGHT Poor Lucius poor Stede poor Ed dammit Ed be better yay Olu yay Jim yay Olu-and-Jim let me grow up to be Jim's nana basically just plain joyously fannish about show in, shit, I dunno, years.

And then I came here and found exactly the kind of loving smart fandom I've also missed.

OH FRIENDS.

That was, indeed, a fuckery.

also, TOE TAP

Hi, beloved fellow amy! Isn't it wonderful?

YAYAYAYAY!

I don't think the fanart even counts as slashy if it's all actual text, maybe? My heart keeps growing many sizes just looking at little LGBTQ young'uns all over the internet freaking out with happiness that they were finally getting a show where it wasn't just teased and hinted at without becoming canon, where the showrunners didn't make barely-veiled promises and then shrug and say, "Oops, well, you've always got your fanfic, kids," where it was just matter-of-fact straight up the entire plot and driving force and reason the show even existed. They're so happy! I'm so happy for them! And also so happy that it's just so fucking great and heartfelt and deeply romantic and, while being queer as it can possibly be, also totally inclusively welcoming and open to absolutely anyone who wants to fall for it.