the Dalaverse

A few notes about the ending, in which spoilers abound.

--It makes perfect sense to me that Jack and Barbossa/the Pearl will meet up at some point during the credit roll. Barbossa was also going after the Fountain of Youth, and Jack now has his charts; I find it hard to believe Jack could make it all the way to Florida in that little dinghy, and Barbossa now has his ship (and a crew of men who are amenable to Jack, if not entirely loyal - I happen to believe Cotton and Marty at least are just going with the flow and biding their time). As for why Gibbs remains in Tortuga, well, maybe he's just not interested in staying the same age forever - he's got better things to do. They'll be back for him before you can say "man overboard."

--Re: Davy Jones, the bucket, and the possibility of Will setting foot on water on land - I'm willing to interpret the terms of the curse/binding to the Dutchman in a variety of ways, but I must say that I think this rule is pretty much set in stone. Jones isn't really on land, after all: he's on a sandbar which will be covered by the ocean again (and he's still required to be in the bucket). I think that's about as far as Will could go to bend the rule.

--Re: Elizabeth on the island: I don't see any reason in the text or in logic that suggests she stays on that island for an extended period of time, unless there's a village on the other side of the hill. She's going to have to find some means of supporting herself and her child; she isn't the wealthy governor's daughter anymore. And she can't do that on a godforsaken spit of land. Makes sense that she would go to sea again, considering she hasn't reliquished either her ship or her kingship; the kid complicates things but not overmuch. Or there are may be other possibilities open to her. Yes, it's difficult to raise a child alone in the eighteenth century, but it's not impossible, especially for a woman with Elizabeth's intelligence. And if you add in help from the other characters in the film, she can make quite a go of it. In any case, I don't see it as an anti-feminist, barefoot-and-pregnant tragedy in the least. Marriage hasn't taken away all the other things she is. As for the vow of chastity that supposedly releases Will from his post, it didn't specifically make it into the final cut, so I don't consider it canon. But even so, come on - do you really think Will would expect his wife to remain faithful (in any of various interpretations of that concept) without being so himself? That would be entirely out of character for both of them. So there's no inequality there either.

--James' death has the easiest out ever. I'm just sayin'.