Roar Cat Reads

Tag: Eleanor Guthrie

  • Black Sails Season 3 Episode 1 Review – XIX

    Black Sails Season 3 Episode 1 Review – XIX

    Flint and his crew wage war against the world.  Eleanor receives an offer of clemency.  Vane objects to Rackham’s methods.  One of Nassau’s most notorious returns.

    (Summary provided by starz.com)

    BEST FLINT MOMENT

    “There will be no battle today.  Our disadvantage is too great.  But what price surrender? To beg forgiveness from a thing that took my woman from me?  My friend?  Murdered her, displayed her body for their amusement.  I can walk away from this fight if I just sign my name beneath a solemn oath never again to do violence against it.

    No.  Not after all it has taken from me.  Not after all it has taken from you.  I will do great violence against that thing.  They say they will pardon us all, but I say to offer to pardon something one fears is the act of a coward.  To offer them in volume suggests that their fear of us is becoming unmanageable, that we have shown them what we are capable of and it terrifies them.

    Do any of you want to surrender to men who fear you?  Lay down arms in a battle that we are winning?  Neither do I.  Fuck Benjamin Hornigold, his king, and their pardons.  This war isn’t nearly over.”

    In an episode dominated by Flint’s lack of emotion, here we see his disgust for England and “civilization” in full (the first time he shows an emotion is when he says ‘took my woman from me” and my heart died).  This is Flint at his most magnetic, convincing men to scorn pardons when just weeks (months?) earlier, Silver gave a speech convincing them that pardons were their best option.  And although Flint says this is for “all it has taken from you,” it is very clear that he’s rallying these men to fight for his revenge, his grief.  And they do.  Because he frames them as winners, and winners have no reason to forfeit.  He’s given them a vision of themselves that they want to hold on to.

    TODAY’S RUNNER UP

    Honestly, this episode felt very much like Flint & Everybody Else.  But amidst those clamoring for second billing, Silver probably wins out.  He’s both better and worse than we’ve ever seen him before.

    He’s settled into his role as quartermaster, comfortable offering Flint advice, conveying Flint’s orders with a positive spin (as he does with Dobbs), and shouting ship-speak to the crew.  But he’s also deeply possessed by a fear of other people’s perception of him.  This is because he now has a position he fears losing, but more than that, this is because he desperately doesn’t want to be known for his crippled leg.  He isn’t cleaning it properly, and he’s avoiding using crutches despite being told this might lead to his having more of his leg cut off.  The poor man is on a mission to prove that he’s more than his limitations, and this is a VERY different turn from the guy we first met who was happy to let you think he was more limited than he actually was.

    LOL MOMENT

    Anne sits beside Max in a bath and, after listening to the sounds of sex from the next room, dryly comments:

    “We got all the money in the world.  Maybe we could find a room that ain’t in the middle of a whorehouse.”

    WELL-FORMED THOUGHTS

    Flint’s got a death wish.  He’s always been recklessly violent, but he is no longer careful in the slightest.  In his first scene of the season, Flint strides into the city he’s sacking, walking directly at a man who tries to shoot him.  Flint doesn’t duck or pause; the only thing that saves him is pure dumb luck that the gun misfires and Flint can cut the man down.  Later, when he lists all the reasons they shouldn’t go onto the Bait Ship, he lets the wrong decision be made instead of sticking to his opinion.  And when Silver tries to send someone else before Flint for safety, Flint crosses over first with zero fucks as to what happens.

    When they find the marooned captain’s log scrawled with “we die alone” over and over again and it’s mentioned that he must have gone mad, it’s easy to draw a comparison to Flint.  This comparison is solidified when DeGroot says the storm Flint wants to sail into is a ship killer, and Flint replies, “Then he’d be mad to follow us in there,” (AKA I’m mad for going in there).

    Losing Miranda and losing his last connection to Thomas (in the form of his dream of a colonized Nassau) has utterly undone Flint.  He has a new purpose now – to take down England and see Nassau free of its influence – but he cares very little whether or not he lives to see it happen.

    Poor Silver has a big job ahead, saving Flint from himself.

    FRAGMENTED THOUGHTS

    • We meet Blackbeard for the first time!  He’s very composed, erudite, and ruthless.  But not ruthless like Ned Lowe in season 2, so I am HERE for it!

    “There is no forever.  Everything moves toward its end.”

    • This feels especially prescient now that we’ve passed the halfway point of the show.  In this episode, it really FEELS like everything is moving toward its end.  Eep!
    • Ninja!Flint OMG ❤
    • Yikes, Ninja!Flint has no emotions in his mission to avenge hanged pirates.  This particular magistrate is banking on the fact that Flint is a good man.  We know he is, so we expect him to either mete out a lesser punishment or at least show remorse for murdering him.  Nope!  This empty Flint murders both the magistrate and his wife, and when he hallucinates Miranda’s corpse as his victim instead, he just leaves the room, blank-faced as ever.
    • Billy is not very perceptive in this episode.  Silver can see that Flint has changed, but Billy is just like, “nah, it’s a mood.”  And later when on Ship Bait, Billy is all “why would they maroon their captain on a boat rather than an island?” while Flint is figuring everything out.  Billy, my man, step up!
    • It feels very odd to see Vane as Featherstone’s captain.  But I love this side of Vane, who both 1) refuses to let slaves die and 2) refuses to let the slaver ship escape.  Very clever move on his part to use the launches!
    • I really dislike Max in this episode.  The fake Eleanor trial is in poor taste, and it highlights the fact that Max panders to people rather than inspiring them.  She is okay with the status quo, so long as herself and those closest to her are treated well by it.  And later, when she says the iconic “In another time, another place, they would call me a queen,” I couldn’t help but notice that everything she lists as evidence are Eleanor’s accomplishments.  I wonder how much of this is something she realizes and fears?

    Mr. Scott:  You wanted to replace Eleanor.  She was the one Nassau relied upon to solve those problems no one else could or would.  I hope for all our sakes you are up to the task.

    • Anne is caught between Jack and Max.  Jack calls Max Anne’s “husband” and later Anne warns Max that she’s getting close to the one thing she promised never to do – make Anne choose between the two.
    • I ADORE the scene when Silver walks in on Flint while he’s asleep.  It belies the intimacy they now share, though Flint is very much keeping up some walls.  When Silver tries to use the power of emotional speechifying against Flint, he is Shut Down (for being a little too correct).  Silver is trying to step into his role as a partner, but Flint doesn’t want anyone that close after losing Miranda.

    Silver:  I understand this is all incredibly personal to you after the loss of Mrs. Barlow.
    Flint:  Now, wait a minute –
    Silver:  And I understand the burden of playing the role you currently play must be taking a toll even you cannot fully comprehend.
    Flint:  Stop.  Now you have wormed your way into the heads of the men out there, and they’ve granted you authority over them because of it.  But in my head, you are not welcome.

    • I REALLY wish we’d seen the meeting between Flint, Vane, and Jack right after season 2.
    • Vane is pissed at Jack for sending him after slaves to use in the fort.  I am baffled by this plotline?  After quite eloquently explaining how awful slavery is, Vane just…agrees?  Is the point of this supposed to be that our heroes can use slave labor so long as they feel badly about it?  Why not use the power of their names and start working themselves and inspiring their crews to join them?  I buy Jack thinking of this plan because he’s got enough white man privilege to blind himself to what he’s doing, but Vane?
    • Flint wants to avoid the ship bait, but Silver is in favor.  They’re in need of resupplying and there’s a storm coming.  Silver is annoyed that Flint thinks he made the wrong call and says, “How would you have argued [it]?” leading to another excellent Flint speech!

    “These days any man who can sew a black flag and get ten fools to follow him can take a prize.  They can take it because of the fear that I and men like me have instilled in their prey.  But they can’t do what I can do.  They’re not built for it.  And sooner or later, they’ll be exposed.  Any fool who followed Hallendale deserves whatever end they got in his company.  You were right – the war is getting more dangerous.  The strong among us must stand together and face it.  But the fools and the pretenders, they were were never truly among us to being with.  As their quartermaster, it’s your decision.  But that’s how I might’ve argued it to my men to avoid unnecessary delay.

    • UM, am I reading too much into Silver’s look when Flint says “the fools and pretenders were never truly among us to begin with”?  Does Silver feel like a pretender and fear that Flint sees him that way too?
    • Flint’s realization as to the purpose of the Bait Ship and his plan to evade capture is SUCH FAST THINKING.  Oh Captain, my captain.
    • Max wants to be a queen, and she knows that “when civilization returns, do you know what they will call me then?  The whore that lost everything.”  Her rags-to-riches story only exists outside of civilization and their status quo.

    Billy:  Whoever that is out there, he has us.
    Silver:  Bullshit.  That man [Flint] has a goddamned answer for everything.  He’s working on an answer for this.

    • Ooooh Silver, remember when you said, “I’m certain I won’t make the mistake you both [Billy and Gates] made.  I don’t believe in him.  To me, he is the means to securing a very valuable prize, no more, no less.”  Sure sounds like you believe in him now!
    • Ugh, Hornigold and Dufresne.  I hate them, but it’s not even an interesting kind of hate.  They just suck.
    • Just wanna draw attention to the fact that I already quoted Flint’s amazing anti-pardon speech at the very beginning of this post, and it’s worth reading again in the flow of the episode!  One thing I didn’t mention there – after calling Miranda his “woman,” he adds that she was his “friend.”  One term is for his men to understand, the other is his truth.  I love that he needs to say out loud who she was to him.
    • Woodes Rogers appears!  I like his introduction, mostly because he admires the way Eleanor gave her testimony in court.  And I like his honesty about his selfishness, how he wants to use her story to bolster his own.
    • My love for Eleanor only grows when Rogers tries to comfort her emotionally, and she’s all, “yeah, yeah, yeah, but let’s get down to practicalities” and then immediately tells him the one name he needs to worry about.
    • The first time I watched the series, I hated Eleanor and was so confused by her season 3 arc.  But we left her in season 2 with Vane confirming all her worst fears of pirates by murdering her father.  Last she heard, her plan with Flint was to partner with England to restore Nassau, so aligning herself with Rogers against the Dangerous Pirates (Vane) in order to restore a proper governor to New Providence Island is exactly in character for her.
    • So many soldiers!  So many ships!  oh no!

    Not done reliving the episode?  Listen to Daphne and Liz’s podcast at Fathoms Deep!

  • Black Sails Season 2 Episode 10 Review – XVIII

    Black Sails Season 2 Episode 10 Review – XVIII

    An unlikely ally comes to Flint’s aid.  Vane’s crew wants a change.  Silver makes a sacrifice.

    (Summary provided by starz.com)

    BEST FLINT MOMENT

    In the midst of escaping Charles Town, Flint stops to free some caged slaves who help him kill an attacker.

    I love this as Free the Slaves! Flint, but I like it even more for how it’s presented in context.  Flint is a revolutionary, and he’s more open to those society ostracizes than most white men, but he is still a man of his time.  He probably wouldn’t have gone out of his way to free those slaves if they hadn’t helped him.  It’s also worth mentioning that his strategic mind assumed they would cause further chaos and violence which would help Vane and himself escape.  BUT, I do think he recognizes the humanity and the shared Otherness of the slaves, and that this makes him pause for a crucial few seconds to free them and let them make of freedom what they can.

    Basically, I don’t want to give Flint TOO much credit, but also, it’s hella satisfying to watch.

    TODAY’S RUNNER UP

    For the first time ever, I have to give TWO characters this coveted position:  Vane and Silver.

    This is really the first time I whole-heartedly love Vane.  I liked him before, but was always wary of him.  Now that he sees the larger war and is able to put his personal squabbles with Flint to the side, he is electric!  THEY ARE SUCH A GOOD TEAM.  Their banter while sitting in chains!  The way they run together, fight together, escape together!  So good!

    But definitely my favorite Vane moment of this episode, the most Quintessential Vane Moment, is when, in the midst of the trial, he stands and starts addressing the crowd.  A stodgy dude in a white wig insists “It’s not your turn to talk” and Vane is all “Uh, Imma talk anyway, because I believe in claiming your own freedom and couldn’t care less about your ideas of order or law,” and I’m all <3.

    It felt like a disservice to ignore Silver, though, so he gets space here too!  Although honestly, I want to give this award specifically to Luke Arnold, who makes the most phenomenally painful expressions while having his leg pulverized and later cut off.  The agony he shows through expression and voice is doubly gut-wrenching because of how completely vulnerable he is in those moments.  You see his every emotion: his fear, his regret, his confusion.

    I didn’t realize until this watch through that he LET his leg be pulverized, knowing that the keys had been stolen back when he was dragged away from the Walrus crew, trusting that they would escape their chains and rescue him.  That is such an act of trust and camaraderie, and it is this first step toward community that you can see he immediately regrets.  I might be reading future plotlines into the present, but when he’s told, “The crew will look out for you, don’t worry about that,” his face flashes with this emotion of “but I don’t want that, I don’t want this.”  Oh, Silver!

    WELL-FORMED THOUGHTS

    I want to pause and take a moment to think through what Flint’s plan originally was, and how it has changed.  This is something that caused me a lot of confusion on my first time watching the show, especially with what happens in season 3, so I want to clarify as much as possible here at the center of it all.

    In 209, we learn that his plan was for Nassau to “return to colonial rule with existing power structure in place.”  The existing power structure is Eleanor, which is why he allied with her and supported her business endeavors.  He sought the Urca gold because he thought that would give her a secure financial base from which to work (and as backup in case their plan fell through and England retaliated).  But he did want colonial rule, a return to “legitimacy” to use Eleanor’s oft-repeated word.  He wants to remove the cloud of fear that hangs over everything, allowing pirates to become tradesmen, farmers, and soldiers.  With this plan, there will be compromises, but Flint believes they are worth making.

    In 210, everything has changed.  Despite the corruption in England that led to Thomas’s death and James and Miranda’s exile, Flint believed that there was still good in civilization.  This hope is personified in Peter Ashe.  Despite being an avid pirate-killer, Flint believes he can convince Ashe to see a bigger picture of humanity and hope that will influence a change in civilization.  But in Peter Ashe, Flint realizes that civilization doesn’t change, it just reveals deeper corruptions than previously imagined.

    When Miranda screams at Ashe for his actions in betraying her loved ones, he insists he betrayed them for the safety of his own family.  He says, and I think this is the crucial quote that changes Flint’s mind, “You wish to return to civilization, THAT is what civilization is.”  This is only confirmed when Miranda is shot for…being an unarmed woman moving toward an unarmed man, and to cover up the mess, an innocent Flint is tried for piracy to divert attention.  Civilization is, above all, concerned with appearances, and in order to uphold those appearances, all manner of evil is considered justified.

    Flint is done with this.  Fueled by personal pain, he has no more interest in helping Nassau return to colonial rule.  He wants nothing more to do with England or legitimacy.  I’m not sure if he has a vision of what he WANTS for Nassau yet, but he definitely has a vision of what he does NOT want.  Thanks to Colonel Rhett’s 208 statement that “the moment you stop fearing [piracy], it loses all its power,” Flint knows the way forward.  Make Nassau powerful by making England very, very afraid.

    FRAGMENTED THOUGHTS

    • POOR ABIGAIL.  Nowhere is safe for her, no one is safe for her, what a horrible way to come into adulthood.  Although the repeated piano note hints at the ways in which the actions of this season have broken her, she shows that she is still fierce in her confrontation of her father’s hypocrisy.  I love her!
    • I think I solved the mystery of how Billy was changed by torture (my question from 207)!  Silver thinks they’re going to be okay, but Billy points out all the ways in which Vane and his men could still double-cross and kill them.  Silver responds, “Well, that was dark,” and THAT’S IT.  Billy now sees the worst in people.  His innocence is gone.
    • When Flint is shown on display for the people of Charles Town, my first thought was “God, his boots are sexy.”
    • Ashe is awful because while he’s hurting you, he asks for your forgiveness.  Then maybe he’ll hurt you a little less and in private, but you’re still definitely gonna be killed.

    Ashe:  Let her go to her rest peacefully.  You cannot tell me that isn’t what she would have wanted.
    Flint:  She was clear about what she wanted, and I don’t think it had anything to do with begging your forgiveness.  What she wanted was the truth to be known.  What was the truth of it, my lord?  Why did you betray those closest to you all those years ago?  Was it really so small and vile as a bribe?  The promise of lording over other men in this place?  Or were you simply too weak to say no?  Too cowardly to do the harder thing and preserve your decency?  Tell me it was the latter.  Tell me this is all happening because of your cowardice.  I could accept that.  I might forgive that.

    • Flint is asking Ashe to do the exact thing Ashe suggested he do in 209: make yourself weak so that I might forgive you.  But while Flint was willing to submit himself to that humiliation, Ashe cannot.  Which only goes to show how weak he really is.
    • I honestly cannot handle the desecration of Miranda’s corpse.  It is this moment that I return to when the sacking of Charles Town feels excessive, because THERE ARE NO INNOCENTS.  I hate everyone in that crowd.
    • While Featherstone tells the story of a Spaniard named Vasquez, Jack and Anne finish their conversation from 209.  Anne has done some significant soul-searching, and she now knows who she is and what she wants from Jack, who is super grateful to know that she wants anything from him at all.

    Anne:  You saved me from something awful, Jack, and I owe you my life for it.  Maybe there’s some part of that you just can’t owe.
    Jack:  But you can owe it to Max?
    Anne:  I don’t feel that way with her.  I was in every tavern in that town trying to find us spies, build out this thing we started.  And every time I said my name, they knew my name.  The first thing they said every time was your name, like we was two halves of the same thing.  I can’t be your wife, Jack, but you and I are gonna be partners till they put us in the fucking ground.

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    • It’s super emotional when Vane’s quartermaster takes Silver and all the Walrus men stand and fight for him.  He is loved!  He is wanted!
    • When Flint is on trial, the purposefully limited way that Civilization views those they have Othered is put on display.  The prosecutor says Flint’s actions were “with malice and without regret,” when we know that he is eaten up with regret!  But no one wants to take the time to know Flint the Person – this mob just wants to judge him as Flint the Pirate, which leads to one of the best quotes in the whole damn show!

    Prosecutor:  Will you say nothing in your own defense?  You see?  These crimes are so vile that even their perpetrator is struck dumb when given a chance to speak.
    Flint:  I have one regret.  I regret ever coming to this place with the assumption that a reconciliation could be found, that reason could be a bridge between us.  Everyone is a monster to someone.  Since you are so convinced that I am yours, I will be it.

    • And then Vane appears!!  With Abigail’s testimony, which is hella embarrassing for Ashe, but not dangerous because the prosecutor admits that the jury is rigged.  Because this is Civilization and “law.”
    • I like the touch that when the prosecutor says Flint’s associate will be hung right beside him, referring to Vane, the camera cuts to Nassau where an effigy of Eleanor is hung.  Flint’s true associate!  ❤
    • Max is buying up Nassau.  She’s such an interesting character.  She is self-protective in the way that both Silver and Vane are, though more like Vane since she has Her People that she protects as well.  But I just don’t really admire characters like this.  When confronted with the fact that her bringing the Urca gold into Nassau will cause chaos, she is silent.  Does she not care?  Or does she think she can manage it?
    • Vincent believes Silver is still a survivor at the cost of everyone else, having said that “you have no real connection to this crew.”  Silver proves him wrong, but his choice to protect his crew results in Vincent’s death.  God, there are no easy choices in this show.
    • The conversation between Flint and Vane is one of my favorite things in the whole world!  I would NEVER have anticipated feeling this strongly about a F/V team up, which just goes to show that these showrunners are geniuses and I trust them entirely.

    Flint:  What the fuck are you doing here?
    Vane:  Came to take your ship.  Stayed to get you out of all this.  Figured if anyone was going to make a trophy of you, it really ought to be me.
    Flint:  So this is your plan?  Walk in here and read a girl’s diary?
    Vane:  More or less.
    Flint:  I see.  So now you have everyone’s eyes where you want them, on the two of us, what happens next?  When it happens, once I’m free, whenever it is, you won’t want to get in my way.
    Vane:  When it happens, we will be moving to the jetty and out of this place.  Didn’t come all this way to have them kill you steps from the gallows.
    Flint:  They’re all trying so hard to convince themselves that they have nothing to be afraid of.  How is running going to change that?
    Vane:  What do you suggest?
    Flint:  That we remind them that they were right to be afraid.

    • LOL, could Flint have said anything that would turn Vane on more?  It’s so fascinating to see how they’ve come from opposite sides and met in the middle.  Vane, who gloried in strength and selfishness has opened up to the big picture and a grander purpose.  Flint, who gloried in self-sacrifice and ultimate good, has narrowed to a place of violence and vengeance.  Here in this space, they are the same.
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    • “Her word will be the last word for this place.”  I LOVE that Flint so obviously wants Miranda to be avenged for Miranda’s sake, and not for his.  It is fitting that Ashe lives long enough to know that his decision to frame Flint resulted in the destruction of the city that he received for betraying Flint in the first place.
    • Flint and Vane fighting together, shackled, carrying pistols and swords, is super super sexy.  I am so excited about townspeople getting blown up.  I am THRILLED when the Man O’ War destroys Colonel Rhett.  This episode is one long forced self-observation that, oh yes, I have quite a bit of darkness in me too.
    • Earlier in the episode, Vane said “men of Nassau” instead of separating men by Walrus or Ranger crew members.  Here at the end, Flint repeats the same theme, insisting that “I know what happened and I don’t care,” because this is now pirates vs. civilization, full stop.  The fact that he trusts Vane to keep his men in order because he knows Vane shares his vision is Doing Things To My Heart.
    • Silver wakens in Flint’s room, looking super uneasy about a lack of leg and what has happened, which is that he’s now quartermaster!  Flint is adorably pleased by this.  But then there’s a huge emotional turn when Silver admits what happened with the Urca gold, and I find it interesting that Silver’s first act as quartermaster to “his” crew is to sell out his dead partner.  Survivalist Silver is still VERY much alive and kicking.
    • The Walrus is back!!
    • “Would you like to see something shiny?”

    Not done reliving the episode?  Listen to Daphne and Liz’s podcast at Fathoms Deep!

  • Black Sails Season 2 Episode 9 Review – XVII

    Black Sails Season 2 Episode 9 Review – XVII

    Flint and Miranda confront their past.  Bonny declares her intents to Rackham.  Vane takes a massive prize.  Eleanor declares war.

    (Summary provided by starz.com)

    BEST FLINT MOMENT

    This is another excellent Flint episode where literally everything he does is phenomenal, but the scene that always stands out to me is when he agrees to Peter’s plan and consents to being publicly humiliated for the sake of Nassau/Thomas’s dream.

    Peter:  There are men in Whitehall who could potentially find a proposal such as yours to be plausible…but there are other men who will oppose it categorically for the same reason all men refuse to do the things they should.  Pride.
    James:  You think they’re too proud to put pardons on the table?
    Peter:  I think they fear you.  And to capitulate to something one fears is a humiliation that powerful men cannot accept.  If we are to persuade them to ally with you, then we have to completely redefine their understanding of who you are, what you are.
    James:  How do you propose we do that?
    Peter:  With the truth…You will stand up, and you will tell your story…You will reveal everything.  And when you do, Captain Flint will be unmasked, the monster slain.  And in his place will stand before all the world a flawed man, a man that England can relate to and offer its forgiveness.

    We KNOW that Flint cares desperately about how people view him.  And we KNOW that Flint wants England to apologize to him, that he finds the idea of apologizing to England intolerable.  So when Peter suggests that he publicly expose himself, his love for Thomas, his murders and great deeds, that he apologize for everything to men who want to see him look small…it is astounding that he agrees.  It is astounding that as he stands to think, he smiles before agreeing.  What is going on through his mind?  Is it ironic, because he was prepared for a battle, but he got this instead?  Is it relief, because he will finally tell the full truth?  Or is it simply joy, knowing that at the end of a long road, he has finally found a solution that will bring Thomas’s dream into reality?

    WHATEVER IT IS, I LOVE HIM.  He’s so brave in this moment.  Braver even than when he’s fighting.

    TODAY’S RUNNER UP

    Miranda!  Oh, God, Miranda.  She is phenomenal in this episode.  She notices the clock and fears what it means, but she keeps it inside because she doesn’t want to disturb the plan.  When it becomes clear that the man who betrayed them is asking Flint to humiliate himself without the decency of offering the humiliation of his own sins in turn, she is DONE.  Her disgust, her utter contempt for him is astounding.  We’ve seen her become angry with Flint before, but this is her whole inner world being revealed.  All the pain and fury and unfairness that she’s kept locked up…she’s finally letting it out.  And they kill her for it.

    Miranda:  You destroyed our lives!  You caused our exile!  Thomas died in a cold, dark place–
    Peter:  What more do you want from me?
    Miranda:  What do I want?  I want to see this whole goddamn city, this city that you purchased with our misery, burn!  I want to see you hanged on the very gallows you’ve used to hang men for crimes far slighter than this.  I want to see that noose around your neck and I want to pull the fucking lever with my own two hands!

    RIP Miranda.  I loved you!

    WELL-FORMED THOUGHTS

    “When I first met Mr. Gates and he asked me my name, I feared the man I was about to create.  I feared that someone born of such dark things would consume me were I not careful, and I was determined only to wear him for a while and then dispose of him when his purpose was complete.  Am I ready to let him go?  Truth is every day I’ve worn that name I’ve hated him a little more. I’ve been ready to return him to the sea for a long time.”

    The cognitive dissonance that is being James McGraw/James Flint.  This revelation, that he hated being Captain Flint, is a gut-punch, even though we saw the first hints of it in his conversation with Silver about whether he was viewed as a villain.  But this depth of self-hatred?  WOW, it is horrible.

    It must be agonizing to feed the darkest parts of yourself (we know James McGraw had a violence in him that was “darker and wilder” than other men’s), to intentionally develop that darkness when every other part of you wants to stop.  It must be confusing to fear being consumed by that darkness while also loving what that darkness makes you capable of doing, to hate yourself for loving it.

    James McGraw:  the most tragic figure in all existence, about to become even more tragic.

    FRAGMENTED THOUGHTS

    • Poor Eleanor.  It must be awful to grieve a confusing loss AND put up with people who are Performing Grief in order to impress you or size up your strength.  Even more awful when the woman you used to love pretends to understand, but she’s just sizing you up too.
    • How unbelievably sexy is it that Flint became captain of a pirate crew in less than four months?  How perfect it is that he became captain by “being someone worth listening to”?
    • How unbelievably weird is it to see Flint as the calming influence?? His hand on Miranda’s back.  

    “We were angry.  We allowed that anger to drive us to a dark deed.  But I ask you not to judge me by that one deed.  Judge me by the ends that I have come here in service of.”

    • James’s acceptance of his sins but request to be viewed as more than them reminds me of Eleanor’s statement in 208: “I have done what I’ve done and I will live with it.  But do not for a moment believe that that defines me.”  They really are so similar.
    • Billy saying “You’re all good people” to his crew is HILARIOUS (but no LOL section for this episode because NO ONE DESERVES TO LAUGH after Miranda’s murder.
    • The hope that shines in Flint’s eyes when Peter first entertains their plan – OH it’s painful now.
    • RIP Randall.    This is the second time the Ranger crew has boarded a ship by water just this season.  Someone really should be keeping better tabs on them.
    • BILLY VS. VANE, wow!!
    • Silver is so good at producing solutions out of impossible situations.  When Vincent asks if Silver is saving the two of them or the whole crew, Silver doesn’t answer.  He doesn’t know either.
    • Eleanor’s emphatic assertion that she’s not a pirate felt jarring to me at first. But Vane confirmed her worst fears that pirates, no matter how much they say they love you, will murder your father if you take something valuable from them.  BRB CRYING FOREVER.  Of course she wants to eradicate piracy with a vengeance.
    • Anne comes back just in the nick of time, because Jack and Featherstone would literally be dead without her.  Her reunion with Jack is lovely.  She apologizes, and he looks so scared to approach her too quickly, unsure of who she is and where he stands with her.
    • It’s very satisfying that as Max, Jack, and Featherstone hesitate, Anne is the one to set their pursuit of the Urca gold in motion.  She’s found herself, and therefore her confidence.
    • The conversation between Vane and Billy is lovely.  Shockingly sad to hear him call Billy “Mr. Gates’s boy,” and shockingly perfect to hear that Vane recognizes Billy’s “proper pirate”ness and has long wanted him on his own crew.
    • Silver is helping Flint’s crew survive, Billy is convincing Vane to help Flint.  We might as well rename the show Black Sails: the Story of a Bunch of People Who Hate Flint But Find Themselves Helping Him Regardless
    • It’s ironic that the story Peter wants Flint to tell Whitehall, the true story, is one that made us as viewers see him as Bigger and More, but it’s a story that will make Asshole London think of him as small.
    • Am I reading too much into the fact that an angry woman gets killed for speaking her mind in a world that values submissive, supportive women?  Feels a little on the nose to me.  I see what you’re doing, showrunners!
    • I don’t like Peter, but I do think his plan is genuine.  I think he regrets his past actions and has convinced himself that it was his only choice (“a hard choice”).  I think he does still want the redemption of Nassau and will work with James and Miranda to accomplish it, even if his plan keeps himself above questioning while submitting James to humiliation.  The Turning Point when he becomes a villain is when Miranda is murdered and his solution to this is to publicly try and hang Flint.

    “You wish to return to civilization, THAT is what civilization is.”

    • Major props to Vane for seeing the bigger picture so quickly.  He trusted Billy’s experience, and when it was substantiated, he realized that his only option is to do a 180 and rescue Flint.  This Vane is so much more interesting than selfish “show me my future in this room” Vane.

    “Nassau is strongest when she is feared.  And if what promises to happen here tomorrow actually happens, a trophy made of one of her most notorious captains, she may never be feared again.  So I suggest we do something about this.  I suggest we get him the hell out of there.”

    Not done reliving the episode?  Listen to Daphne and Liz’s podcast at Fathoms Deep!

  • Black Sails Season 2 Episode 8 Review – XVI

    Black Sails Season 2 Episode 8 Review – XVI

    Flint and Miranda prepare for the worst.  Silver has his eyes opened.  Eleanor discovers Max’s secret.  Vane makes his move.

    (Summary provided by starz.com)

    BEST FLINT MOMENT

    It is so lovely to see Flint confiding in Miranda, being vulnerable with her and admitting that 1) his decade-long plan might have served to make him into a man that cannot pull off his new plan, and 2) he has done unforgivable things along the way.  Watching them talk about who they were, who they have become, and reassuring each other that they love each other still IS SO GREAT.  They see each other and are seen!!

    Miranda:  It’s like some sort of clock that’s finally struck its chime and woken me from this dream we’ve been living, reminded me how many years separate me from a world I still think of as home.  How unrecognizable the woman I am now would be to the woman I was then.
    Flint:  I recognize you.  Do you recognize me?
    Miranda:  Yes.
    Flint:  So that’s in our favor.

    JAMES AND MIRANDA (WITH THE GHOST OF THOMAS’S DREAM) AGAINST THE WORLD!!

    TODAY’S RUNNER UP

    Silver!  Our boy is getting his first taste of power.  Mr. Scott sees his ability to tell a story as a power that possibly equals Flint’s, but later we see his power goes beyond that.  Vincent kills his partner at a Look from Silver, though he (and other Walrus men) won’t obey Flint until Silver explains why.  When pressed, Vincent says he thinks Silver gives a shit about his interests, which is funny because we know he definitely does not.

    Silver is thrown by this admission, and it’s hard to see what he’s thinking.  Does this realization mean that Silver sees power in pretending to care for a crew (it’s possible to be liked and feared), or does being treated as a caring person inspire him to become caring?

    His character arc is going to be thrown for a major loop in a couple episodes, but it’s fascinating to think where he might have gone had that not happened.  Based on this episode, I think he might have gone quite dark.

    LOL MOMENT

    Featherstone:  We leave the bulk of the coin in the trench, keep the location secret, and rotate men in watches to keep it under guard.
    Max:  Your answer as where to secure five million pieces of eight is to dig a hole?

    That’s a nice little dig at pirate mythology.  

    WELL-FORMED THOUGHTS

    Thanks to Abigail’s voiceovers, we get quite a lot of philosophy to chew on.  I’m especially interested in her view of pirates as performers, especially her initial view of Flint as the puppet master of this theater/illusion.

    “My father told me about these men, about their natures, so I know that any appearance of civility from them is but a glimpse of the men they once were.  A ghost that shows itself only while the darker things that now govern their souls lays dormant.  Though I’m forced to wonder if this illusion is no accident at all, but theater for my benefit, orchestrated by someone so awful, even monsters such as these have no choice but to dance to the tune he plays for them.  Which leads me to the one thought I find most frightening and most difficult to dismiss.  What happens if that man decides the theater no longer serves his purposes and lets the monsters loose?”

    It is ironic that while Abigail fears these are monsters masquerading as good men, Flint is talking with Miranda, worried that him being a good man masquerading as a monster will be his undoing.

    The truth is more complicated than that, which Flint’s conversations with Miranda bear out.  James is a good man, and he has done monstrous things.  Miranda is the woman she always was, and she encouraged the murderous impulses of her friend to arrange the murder of two people.  Billy is cute, sympathetic, and righteous, and we learn that he’s a murderer.  The very thing that convinces Abigail that these are normal men (the death of their brother) was actually murder.

    This is my favorite thing about this show – the unwavering assertion that humans are simultaneously good andmonstrous.  We are all sinners and saints.  We are good and we are ruthless, we create illusions of ourselves, we play up one side of ourself in a certain situation and another side at a different time.  Certain people bring out certain aspects of ourselves that we might never have expected.  We are complex creatures, and like Abigail, Black Sails encourages us to see beyond a black and white view of humanity.

    FRAGMENTED THOUGHTS

    • It’s honestly amazing that Abigail’s opinion of pirates changes at all, considering the stories she was raised on and the fact that her first experience of pirates was of Ned Lowe.  Her willingness to be open-minded and challenge her assumptions is so praiseworthy.
    • I love that Flint is proud of Abigail for enduring what she’s gone through.  One of his best qualities is his ability to see the strength of the women around him.
    • On the other hand, Jack is really rather sexist in this episode.  He’s worried for Vane and blaming it on Eleanor, he’s mad about the situation with Anne, but I don’t care.  I don’t like the two comments he makes.  You’re better than this, Jack!

    “For so many years, I knew her.  Perhaps the only one who truly knew her. But for weeks, with everything we’ve been through, everything she’s done, she’s a fucking mystery to me.  So now I realize two things are possible: one, something has changed within her, something so significant that she’s turned into someone I barely recognize.  Or two, it was a fantasy that I ever knew her at all.”

    • I like the show’s acknowledgment that when one person (Anne) goes through an identity crisis, everyone around them must readjust to the new person before them.
    • Miss Mapleton is spying on Max for Eleanor!  It’s interesting that she supports the plan to make Nassau reputable.  I think of that as the Good Guy plan, and Miss Mapleton as a Bad Guy.  But of course this show is more complicated than that!
    • Silver is making up stories about his past – “five years ago I worked on a merchant ship” – but Billy and Mr. Scott acknowledge that the power lies in the telling of the story, not in the truth of the story.  THAT’S going to continue to be relevant.
    • Silver is pissed to be working with incompetents, and he sounds legitimately scary when confronting Nicholas.  I’m not surprised Vincent thought it within the realm of possibility that Silver would want him to kill his brother.
    • Billy and Abigail make eyes at each other, and I’m pretty sure this is the only time we get any kind of hint as to Billy’s sexuality (though let’s be honest, while her looks were Interested, he mostly seemed confused).
    • It’s heartbreaking to watch Flint realize that he spent the last decade preparing for a battle, not diplomacy.  He’s worried that he became Flint for nothing, that the furious pirate captain he became to save Nassau will now be an impediment to his goals.  The doubt and potential guilt he must feel, retracing every decision he made over the past TEN YEARS is overwhelming.  Especially when on top of his fear of Peter Ashes’s judgment is the fact that he judges himself for some of his actions.

    Flint:  Something else lies at the end of this road: judgment.  Not of Nassau, but of me and the man that I’ve become.  This entire endeavor hangs in the balance of that judgment.
    Miranda:  You can defend that man.  There are good arguments in defense of him.
    Flint:  For some of his deeds, perhaps for most of them.  But there are some things that Captain Flint has done that cannot be defended.

    • Good show writing, that just as Flint is confronting the reality of his persona and the actions he does to protect it, Silver finds himself in a similar position (while wearing black, uh oh).
    • Eleanor is anti-Urca gold if Max is in position of it.  I’m not sure what the difference is between this vs. Flint’s crew bringing it in?  It was already established that forming a Pirate Bank was going to be a tough sell if possible at all.

    “I have done what I’ve done and I will live with it.  But do not for a moment believe that that defines me.”

    • Eleanor’s quote above strikes me as a much more mature variation of Silver’s season 1 advice (to her!) that “Guilt is natural.  It also goes away if you let it.”
    • The Maria Aleyne mystery is solved!  WOW, do I love Miranda insisting that she is just as guilty, if not more, of the murder of Alfred Hamilton and his wife.  “If you’re going to face judgment behind those walls, then so should I.”  They are both so brave, owning up to their past actions and willing to face whatever consequences might result.  And I get that this is, like, catering to the lowest standard, but I really admire Flint for letting Miranda join him and carry her own responsibility alongside him.  None of this “I’ll save you even if you don’t want me to” nonsense.

    “He made these people unafraid.  Everyone realized, the moment you stop fearing it, it loses all it’s power.”

    • Whoops, Colonel Rhett, I think you put an idea in Flint’s mind!
    • When Flint is getting beat, he doesn’t fight back (“what happens if they shoot at us?” “duck”).  Abigail lies, saying she remembers James in order to protect him. That girl!  I like her so much!
    • The fact that Peter admits Flint and Miranda into his house after the shock of realizing that Flint is James shows that someone who knows James’s backstory would go, “Okay, that’s reasonable” about his actions as a pirate captain.
    • Vane killed Daddy Guthrie.  Not just killed, but crucified.  Ugh, Vane, there are better ways to deal with your heartbreak.  And really, Vane’s note about being free and keeping Nassau free?  Why would Eleanor’s betrayal suddenly inspire him to care about the bigger picture?
    • Upon further thought, maybe Vane killed Eleanor’s dad knowing that she would never forgive him for it.  Maybe he knew his weakness for her, and this was the only way he could think to stop their cycle of returning to each other and hurting each other.  But still, CRUCIFIXION IS TOO FAR.
    • But props to him for saying in his note, “I don’t know you too well” about Eleanor.  Fucking finally.
    • Although his ship is in Nassau’s harbor, Vane and his men are hiding in the reeds of Charles Town because…teleportation?  Oh well, let’s find out what they do there in the next episode!

    Not done reliving the episode?  Listen to Daphne and Liz’s podcast at Fathoms Deep!

  • Black Sails Season 2 Episode 7 Review – XV

    Black Sails Season 2 Episode 7 Review – XV

    Max cleans up after a massacre.  News from the outside world changes everything for Flint and Silver.  Eleanor risks her life for the sake of her future.  Bonny faces a crossroads.  Dufresne pushes Billy to act.

    (Summary provided by starz.com

    BEST FLINT MOMENT

    This episode isn’t really about Flint, and I almost despaired of finding a Best Flint Moment.  But then Abigail arrives in the tavern, and FLINT’S FACE as he sees her, sees his past, sees his future.  He takes off his sword and tells her not to be frightened in the gentlest voice we’ve heard from him (since London flashbacks).

    Abigail:  You’re Captain Flint?
    Flint:  My name is James.  James McGraw.

    Reader, I actually gasped and tears sprang to my eyes.  Oh, JAMES.

    TODAY’S RUNNER UP

    This is SUCH a good episode for Eleanor and Billy and Max, but I have to give the award to Anne!  We get her backstory this episode, and wow is it painful.

    “I was married to a man once.  Rotten fuck raised his hands at me, burned me, shared me with his men.  I didn’t know any different, didn’t know I could do anything about it.  Even if I had, I wouldn’t have thought I had it in me.  One day, we were in a tavern.  He was hurting me, and a man saw it.  He walked over and he slit his throat.  That was Jack.  I was thirteen.  I always thought he saved me from something, always been so fucking grateful.

    Now I wonder maybe Jack took me from something that I was supposed to figure my own way out of.  Maybe he took away the chance to get strong enough to save myself, to grow up.  Instead I went with him, did what he did, did what the others did.  Thought I’d become one of them.  If I’m not what I was when I was born, and I ain’t what I’ve become instead, what the fuck am I?”

    Oh, ANNE.  She’s going through a serious identity crisis after Jack’s betrayal.  It’s telling and heartbreaking that she doesn’t ask “who the fuck am I?” but “what the fuck am I?”

    After Jack saved her from her abusive husband, she remade herself in his image.  That has fallen apart, so now she tries to remake herself in Max’s image in an ill-fitting dress with a paid customer.  When that too falls apart, Anne collapses outside, where Max finds and hugs her.

    Who is Anne?  By episode’s end, Max has offered her new purpose as “a partner with knowledge of the sea” in Max’s expanding ambitions.  Sounds like a person somewhere in between Jack and Max…which could just be Anne.

    LOL MOMENT

    It’s not really hilarious, but I did think it amusing that after Flint viciously insults Silver, he’s surprised that Silver doesn’t want to stay and brainstorm together.

    Silver:  Oh please, don’t try to convince me to do it for the sake of their futures.
    Flint:  For the sake of your own.  Those men listen to you.  They give a shit about what you have to say.  What you think, what you want them to think.  Where else in the world is that true?  Where else would you wake up in the morning and matter? … Don’t you want to discuss how you’ll approach them?
    Silver:  I know what I’m doing.

    Okay, it’s not really that funny.  But that IS AN EXCELLENT QUOTE that deserves it’s own space.

    FRAGMENTED THOUGHTS

    Eleanor:  Things have changed.  Things are changing as we speak tonight.

    • LOL, this is a great description of EVERY EPISODE, Eleanor.
    • When Eleanor says Flint is a “good man” I felt a serious callback to James defending Thomas.  They are such good partners to each other (which is only further demonstrated as the episode goes on)!
    • Speaking of partners, Billy and Flint are very partner-y this episode, and I love it!  I liked their mundane conversations about crew votes and potential quartermasters.  I liked their tense conversations about whether or not Flint tried to save Billy or tried to kill him.  Although not as powerful a partnership as Flint/Silver, MAN, could they be effective if they were on the same side more often.
    • True love is saving your murderess lover’s hat from the flames because you know it makes her feel safe!  (Continuing from last episode, I am really feeling the Max/Anne love now.)
    • Max is such a good leader, defending Anne but making sure the girls in the brothel feel safe and understood.
    • The gold is gone, so support for Hornigold is gone!  Silver is pissed at Flint, accusing him of making it disappear. Silver is ready to leave him, but later we learn that it’s all a lie orchestrated by Silver.  Which makes me think – is he helping Flint while helping himself?  Is that intentional on his part or I am reading too much into their relationship at this point?
    • Love that Flint dismisses his quartermaster (Dufresne) to talk to Silver.  Shows how much he’s already relying on him!
    • Silver is pissed that Flint knows him so deeply, knows his need for importance and relevance.  I love that despite this frustration, he goes and does exactly what Flint asks of him – speaks to the men brilliantly and convincingly.  Silver is a phenomenal orator, and this is maybe one of his best speeches in the whole show.

    “I was going to walk away from all you people and never look back.  I mean it.  That money was license for me to leave all of this and all of you behind, and any of you who says he didn’t at least consider doing the same is a lying sack of shit.  Truth is, there’s only one kind of person who’d want to do what we do if there was an easier way to survive.  And because I don’t believe there is a rotten, murdering fuck amongst you, I don’t imagine I’m alone in having taken some comfort in the idea of all of this coming to an end.

    But now no gold.  We’re back to the same two choices we’ve known our entire lives: toil for another man’s benefit or steal for our own.  Unless Captain Flint just showed us a third way.  Reconciliation.  Pardons.  And not because we need to apologize for what we’ve done.  Not because we’ve got any desire to go back to where we came from, but because maybe with a little help this place could be the reason we never have to do either again.”

    • The reality of the brothel in Nassau is something that I just kind of choke down and accept, so I am really surprised that I genuinely LIKE Jacob and his “wooing” of Anne.  It makes me think a little further that…perhaps the only way men like Jacob can meet women and have actual relationships is via the brothel.  Are there eligible women elsewhere?  I assume inland ladies are in a class above and therefore not available.  After all, Logan was in love with Charlotte (whether she reciprocated is debatable).
    • The MUSIC while Anne is with Jacob is so good, so haunting!  The music is also so good when Silver is telling Max about the gold.  AHH!

    Abigail: [My father] left me behind.  He said Charles Town was far too coarse and violent a place to bring a child into.  But you seem a formidable woman, ma’am.  Perhaps it was exposure to the challenges of this place that made you the person you are.
    Eleanor:  I suppose that’s one way to look at it.

    • Growing up in Nassau made Eleanor into a strong businesswoman, but it also made her into a woman who can betray the people she loves.
    • As evidenced by past reviews, I’ve fallen pretty firmly into the “Eleanor and Vane are not good for each other (although they do have spectacular sex)” camp, but the scene at the gate is genuinely heartbreaking.  Vane thinks he has given and given to her without receiving anything from her, and Eleanor doesn’t believe that the things he does for her are actually for HER.  They fundamentally misunderstand each other, and this betrayal is the last straw.
    • Billy is so good in this episode, playing Dufresne and revealing corruptible crew members to the rest of the Walrus men.

    Billy:  Have you ever been tortured?  Suffered pain applied by men who saw you as less than a man?  Saw you as an animal?  Cause it isn’t the pain they’re inflicting that’s the most frightening part of it.  It isn’t the fear of future pain.  It’s the knowledge that even when the pain stops, even if they were to let you go, that they’ve changed you.  That pain, that fear, that despair has made you someone else, someone you barely recognize, against your will.

    I said what I had to say to get out of that place, but I have no intention of honoring their offer.  I would fight to the death to ensure not a single one of my brothers ever has to face what I faced.

    • How has Billy fundamentally changed?  I think this speech makes more sense in light of his season 4 experience, but he’s saying he’s changed now.  How?  Because now he will side with a man he despises and distrusts for the greater good?  I dunno, I still see him as fundamentally loyal.  What am I missing?
    • Sometimes all you need is the hug of a parental figure, whether that’s Abigail with Miranda or Eleanor with Daddy Guthrie.
    • I love that they leave what happened between Billy and Flint ambiguous.  What we believe (did Flint try to save him? try to kill him?) says a lot about us as viewers and how we read people.  It is, in fact, a hint of the same theme we’ll get in the series finale!
    • Every time I see Eme, I’m so happy that she’s found paid work!
    • Dufresne and Hornigold team up and I’m bored about it.
    • Eleanor and Flint team up and I LOVE IT.  It’s so satisfying to see them rest together for a moment, happy in the fact that “If you and I aren’t careful, we might actually see this thing through.”  I love that Eleanor shares her fears about Vane’s safety with Flint, and that he doesn’t condescend to her by offering her false hope.
    • These two are so similar, willing to sacrifice any relationship for the sake of The Mission.
    • We end with the big reveal that Silver is a lying liar who lies.  He just wants his gold, and MAX’S FACE as she learns about it.  She’s trying so hard to contain her excitement, but I’m so excited for her!  But we know what happens when people go up against Flint, so…how will this play out for them??

    Not done reliving the episode?  Listen to Daphne and Liz’s podcast at Fathoms Deep!

  • Black Sails Season 2 Episode 6 Review – XIV

    Black Sails Season 2 Episode 6 Review – XIV

    Eleanor brokers a peace.  Rackham learns the hard way.  Flint breaks a promise. Bonny loses control.

    (Summary provided by starz.com)

    BEST FLINT MOMENT

    Daddy Guthrie:  These two plans mutually exclude each other.
    Flint:  I will make it work.
    DG:  How could you possibly?
    Flint:  I don’t know.  Yet.

    Flint is a realist because he forces reality to bow to his whims.  Why doesn’t everyone just accept this immediately??

    TODAY’S RUNNER UP

    Jack!  I’m still mad about him betraying Anne, but it soothes my soul to know that he is aware of just how devastating that was.  He clings to his captaincy partly out of his own pride, but it’s mostly because he knows he MUST fulfill his promise to Anne.  He has to succeed so that he can bring her onto the crew and so that his betrayal will not be for nothing.

    And boy howdy.  He’s adorably self-conscious around Captain Harcourt, which gets him taken advantage of in negotiations.  It’s looking bad, but then Jack wins twice through smart thinking.  He would have lost the hand-to-hand combat if he hadn’t held Harcourt’s shirt open to make him bleed out faster.  And then the BRILLIANT manipulation that gets the prize crew to side with his against Harcourt’s crew.  Jack’s got just enough brawn to defend his incredible brain.

    NOW GO BACK TO ANNE AND MAKE THINGS RIGHT.

    LOL MOMENT

    Harcourt:  Captain Linus Harcourt of the Goliath.
    Jack:  Your ship is named after the greatest disappointment in the history of warfare?
    Harcourt:  They like how it sounds.

    WELL-FORMED THOUGHTS

    Anne is the new Flint.  She murders innocent people, and yet all I want to do is give her a hug.  And Max is the new Silver, immediately defending her despite dangerous consequences.

    I think this is the first episode in which Max begins to really love Anne.  Until now it was one-sided, beginning when Anne saw herself in Max’s sexual abuse.  But now Max sees herself in Anne’s loss of status, and their love equalizes.  And wow, when Max decides to love someone, she goes ALL IN.  She was ready to leave everything behind to run away with Eleanor, and now she’s willing to step between Anne and the consequences of two murders.

    Idelle:  She’s gone fucking mad over it.
    Max:  Idelle, how would you feel if the one man you thought would never betray you did?  If he purchased for himself a future through that betrayal?  If you were told by a world full of men that that betrayal confirmed for them that they were right to see you as a monster to be shunned.  She’s not mad.  She is adrift, alone in the most terrifying way.  What she will do next, I do not know.  But I refuse to proclaim myself to be yet another one of her enemies by acting like I have something to fear from her.

    FRAGMENTED THOUGHTS

    blacksails-2060203
    • EXCELLENT opening of Flint and Vane rolling around: first heard, then seen through the rafters, then up close and personal.  And Eleanor stopping their fight by firing a shotgun!  Love how this “epic” fight immediately portrays them as naughty schoolboys.
    • Vane wants Eleanor to choose him over Flint.  He keeps seeing it as a battle of wills, but it’s a battle of ideals, and his don’t match hers.
    • Eleanor asks Flint to do the impossible (convince his men to do the exact opposite of what he most recently convinced them to do), knowing he can do it.  She trusts that he trusts her.  THIS is what a partnership built on mutual understanding looks like.  Sorry Vane, you don’t have this with Eleanor.
    • I adore the unspoken conversation between Flint and Miranda in which she insists on being included and he concedes.  It’s even better when the conversation becomes spoken.

    Miranda:  You and Peter weren’t the only ones committed to seeing Nassau set aright.  You aren’t the only one who paid a heavy toll toward that end.  I stood aside too long.  If you and I are to be partners, we ought to be partners.
    Flint:  Very well.

    • Flint has honest to God Heart Eyes as Miranda refuses to exit the narrative and instead knows and asserts her value.  I DO TOO.
    • Funny how RIGHT when Miranda and Flint agree to be partners, Silver shows up.  
    • Anne is in such a dark place in this episode and I feel so badly for her.  Her whole world is falling apart around her, and she doesn’t know how to handle anything.  I hate that she killed Charlotte, but honestly, Logan was a massive asshole to her.  Not that that excuses murder.  I GUESS.

    Anne:  You want me to believe you won’t betray your men?  Your friends?  All men betray when it suits them.

    • Billy is back, and everyone wants to know if Flint tried to kill him.  Billy keeps defending Flint despite not trusting him.  He is increasingly resentful of how much he needs this man who does despicable things.
    • Hornigold calls for a vote to make him captain instead of Flint, and come on.  Does anyone for a moment believe a man like Hornigold could overthrow Flint?  No wonder Flint is so busy “seeming unconcerned” LOL.
    • When Eleanor tries to manipulate Vane, what does she say first?  “You were right about me.  I am like you.”  MM HM.  It reveals how much she knows him while simultaneously revealing how little.  He isn’t going to change his entire outlook on life just because she asks him to.  And neither is she.  It’s funny to think back to how much I rooted for their relationship during the first watch through, and how I now see how obviously mismatched they are.
    • Silver and Flint are at their best when they are totally honest with each other about their motives and mixed loyalties.  Silver offers that to Flint, but they both know Flint is not answering honestly.  Their partnership is still uneven.

    Silver:  There is one particular vote I’m having some trouble with.
    Flint:  Whose vote is that?
    Silver:  Mine.
    …
    Flint:  The gold is still a priority.  There’s been no change in that.  You have my word.
    Silver:  That’s all I needed to hear!  I should get to work.

    • Silver is impressed by how far Max has risen in status since last they interacted, but unsurprised.  They immediately solve the problem of Logan & Charlotte – they should work together more often!
    • Eleanor goes to free Abigail, and I’m reminded of how often this show passes the Bechdel test and how happy that makes me.  But we don’t know what will happen to them until the next episode!

    HERE’S ONE MORE BECAUSE THEY ARE PARTNERS AND I LOVE IT.

    Not done reliving the episode?  Listen to Daphne and Liz’s podcast at Fathoms Deep!

  • Black Sails Season 2 Episode 5 Review – XIII

    Black Sails Season 2 Episode 5 Review – XIII

    Miranda embarks on a journey to save the island.  Eleanor opens old wounds.  Rackham sniffs around a big secret.  Vane must take matters into his own hands.

    (Summary provided by starz.com)

    BEST FLINT MOMENT

    How can I choose?  Is it his shocked face when Thomas moves to kiss him?  The montage of his private interactions with Thomas in which he is oh so soft and vulnerable?  Or is it the palpable grief with which he touches the inscription “My truest love, know no shame” in the present day?

    Trick question, it’s EVERYTHING.

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    TODAY’S RUNNER UP

    Miranda!  She is phenomenal in this episode.  We’ve been seeing her take more and more of an active role in the events of Nassau as the show goes on, and I am here for it!  In the flashbacks we see her desperately trying to tell Thomas and James that their plan will end in ruin.  She is ignored but proven right.  Then in the present day she decides to try again.  She sees that Flint has gone beyond their original dream, so she leaves the house to go into Nassau (so great to see her there!) and confront Flint.  This time he listens to her, and we will see what happens as a result.

    LOL MOMENT

    Jack, Anne, and Max’s threesome is interrupted by the fort being attacked, and Jack’s response is, “It would appear we lost track of time.”  LOL.

    WELL-FORMED THOUGHTS

    Are you kidding?  How can I have well-formed thoughts about this episode when my emotions haven’t stopped shrieking?

    Instead of finding something intelligent to say, I’d rather share this GORGEOUSLY PAINFUL short James/Thomas fanvid.  Prepare for your heart to be shattered all over again.

    FRAGMENTED THOUGHTS

    • The placement of Miranda’s thumb is beautifully subtle, and my God, how it drastically changes Thomas’s inscription!  Watching this episode a second time, it is so sad to see Miranda sitting by a rain-spattered window looking at the book that her husband has dedicated to James, his “truest love.”  I know that the three of them have a no-shame policy and an open relationship, but it has to hurt to know that Thomas’s and James’s connection was deeper than hers.
    • Silver is using all of his Storytelling Powers, but Billy is unmoved.  Did Silver really think that he could convince Billy to pity Flint re: Gates’ murder?  Luckily, Silver always has a backup plan, and Billy realizes he is in chains.
    • When James returns from Nassau, he is so eager to enter the house and see Thomas again.  And Thomas’s heart eyes from across the room!  Oh man, the CHEMISTRY between the two of them as they stand beside each other and share the same dream.

    “Three months…feels like twice as long.”

    • James’s role has changed.  Instead of countering Thomas’s position and revealing weaknesses, he is totally on board with pardoning the pirates and will do his part to get the British Navy’s support.  Miranda tries to separate them and talk sense into James, unable to understand why he would risk so much for some pirates.  What she doesn’t realize is that James has a personal stake in the matter now.  He’s seen the freedom in Nassau and realized that the three of them could live there without fear of discovery and punishment for their relationship.  Oh, JAMES.  Oh, MIRANDA.  Oh, THOMAS.  This is all agonizing.

    “We all have the same swords out there, we all have the same guns.  But great art has felled empires – therein lies the difference.”

    • Jack knows the importance of art, even if his pickiness is driving Charlotte the Artist crazy.  He’s also very pragmatic.  While his island is being blown apart, he sees an opportunity to get some planning done.

    Jack re: Vane

    “Given the choice between capitulation and survival, I don’t imagine that to be a choice for him at all.”

    UM.

    • I love Vane for ensuring that Abigail remains safe and untouched when he leaves the fort.
    • Daddy Guthrie is making a play to come back to power.  I really feel for Eleanor, because like her, I sense that he’s skeezy but I can’t quite pinpoint why.
    • Flashback to everything falling to shit.  I kind of hate Hennessey for letting James go on about his plan when he knew the whole time that Lord Hamilton was waiting for them.  I definitely hate him for how he talks about James’s relationship with Thomas, saying things like “flaws, weaknesses,” “but not this, it is too profane,” “this is your end,” and “be grateful it’s not on the gallows.”  UGH, this from the man James considers his father-figure!

    “He told me what you did after he invited you into his home, trusted you to assist his son and daughter, and you flagrantly violated his trust.”

    • James’s face and voice as he realizes he has been discharged from service and exiled from London, knowing that everything has been taken from him.  Including Thomas, who has already been taken to Bethlam before James can return to the house.  They never got to say goodbye!!

    James:  I’m not leaving.  I’m going to get him out of there.
    Miranda:  You can’t.
    James:  Watch me.

    • James’s Flint voice makes its first appearance.  Hello darkness, my old friend. *weeping*
    • Now I remember why it took me a while to like the adorable Featherstone – his introduction occurs when he forces Jack to decide between Anne and Max!  I’m firmly empathizing with Anne here – despite the logic of Jack’s long term plan, it absolutely feels like a betrayal.

    Billy:  You thought Flint killed me, then Gates, and you queued up to be next to fill the post?
    Silver:  I’m certain I won’t make the mistake you both made.  I don’t believe in him.  To me, he is the means to securing a very valuable prize, no more, no less.

    • BILLY WAS THE ONE TO PUT THIS THOUGHT IN SILVER’S MIND??  WOW.  Wait, why am I surprised by this?  Billy is always the one placing thoughts in Silver’s mind.
    • Much like the appearance of Flint in McGraw, here we get the first appearance of (Long) John Silver when he casually threatens Billy’s life.  But Randall is there with a quick reminder, “We like him too.”
    • I’m really not a fan of men who ignore other people’s pain (like, their children’s pain) because theirs is just “Too Much”.  Poor Eleanor.
    • Love that Eleanor kicks everyone out of the tavern when Miranda says she and Flint need privacy.

    Flint:  I think that I’ve made my intentions very clear.
    Miranda:  No.  You’ve been anything but clear!  You say you fight for the sake of Nassau, for the sake of your men, for the sake of Thomas and his memory.  But the truth of the matter is, it isn’t for any of those things.
    Flint:  What the fuck do you think I am fighting for?
    Miranda:  I think you are fighting for the sake of fighting.  Because it’s the only state in which you can function.  The only way to keep that voice in your head from driving you mad.
    Flint:  What are you talking about?  What voice?
    Miranda:  The one telling you to be ashamed of yourself for having loved him.  You were told that it was shameful, and part of you believed it.  Thomas was my husband.  I loved him and he loved me, but what he shared with you…it was entirely something else.  It’s time you allowed yourself to accept that.
    Flint:  The only thing I am ashamed of is that I didn’t do something to save him when we had the chance.  That instead I listened to you.

    • Oh, my HEART.  There it all is.  There’s the reason behind their bad sex and Flint’s passive-aggressive leaving all the time.  He resents Miranda for convincing him not to attempt to rescue Thomas (and as much as I would have loved to see that, I do think she’s correct that it would not have worked and would only have made things worse).  But more importantly, James hates himself.  His whole Flint persona is a mixture of attempting to bring about Thomas’s dream (I do think that is partly his motivation) and masochism toward himself, forcing himself to do horrible things because he believes he is a horrible person.
    • But Thomas reminds him, “Know no shame.”
    • Excuse me, I’m weeping again.
    • THAT MONTAGE.  Tears tears tears.  Where is the good fanfiction of this time between James and Thomas?  Recommendations very much appreciated!
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    They’re so peaceful and happy!!  Boyfriends reading books to each other in bed!!  AUGH.

    Not done reliving the episode?  Listen to Daphne and Liz’s podcast at Fathoms Deep!

  • Black Sails Season 2 Episode 4 Review – XII

    Black Sails Season 2 Episode 4 Review – XII

    Flint threatens Vane.  Eleanor chooses a side.  Rackham learns what Max is capable of.  Silver reunites with an old friend.

    (Summary provided by starz.com)

    BEST FLINT MOMENT

    “People can say what they want about you, but you’re a good man.  More people should say that, and someone should be willing to defend it.”

    I’M FOREVER SCREAMING INTO THE SUN, byyyyye.

    TODAY’S RUNNER UP

    Thomas!  He is, I believe, the best example of a “good person” we’ve had on this show.  He is so driven by his beliefs in the inherent goodness of humanity that he refuses to take an easier path to success despite knowing his ideals could potentially cause himself and his loved ones great harm.  For the previous three episodes, he was mostly an affable man, inspiring but kind of soft.  When he confronts his father, however, he is STEEL.

    Reader, I love him.

    LOL MOMENT

    Everything about Max’s description about the difference between fucking and seduction is comedy gold, from her earnest delivery to Idelle’s confused assurance to Jack’s certainty in the world crumbling around him.

    WELL-FORMED THOUGHTS

    In this episode, we get two people caught in the middle of a messy situation.  Eleanor must decide whether to side with her partner (Flint) or the safest/smartest option (Vane), and in flashback, James must decide whether to side with his partner (Thomas) or the safest/smartest option (Lord Hamilton).

    Eleanor does her best to reconcile the two warring pirate captains, to no avail.  It is really wrenching to see her real fear at the possibility of a destabilized fort opening Nassau to another Spanish attack.  She knows that Flint knows it is a dangerous move, but she can’t convince him to change, so she sides with Vane.

    James spends the entire episode counseling Thomas to abandon his plan to pardon the pirates, both for communal and personal reasons.  He’s genuinely frightened of what may happen to Thomas if he were branded a coward for suggesting forgiveness for traitors.  But when it comes down to it, and he SEES someone attacking Thomas in just the way he feared, James stands (literally, oh my heart) and sides with his partner despite knowing it is not the safe or smart option.

    It is parallel storylines like these that make me really adore Black Sails.  We get to see two people making opposite decisions, but we feel for both of them.  There is clearly no easy answer for either of them, and though we might wish they chose differently, we cannot blame them for their decision.

    FRAGMENTED THOUGHTS

    • Abigail!  Vane is shit for leaving her only maggoty bread, but she is awesome for eating it after only a moment’s hesitation.  Vane continues to show that he does not know the meaning of “good host” when he says, “My name is Charles Vane, and you are now my guest.  As such, no harm will come to you so long as you do exactly as I say.”  Um, OKAY, Charles.  Although it is rather lovely when they bond the tiniest bit over their shared satisfaction that Ned Lowe’s head is on a pike.
    • Anne, Jack, and Max wake in a pile, but Anne is snuggled up close to Jack.  She makes her alliance to Jack very clear throughout the episode, and I love her self-awareness that she needs him with her in the bedroom because her mind isn’t clear there. She’s exploring a new part of her sexuality, and it scares her. She wants her partner there with her, and god bless Jack for supporting her.

    Anne:  I’ve put a lot of bodies in the ground for you, haven’t I?
    Jack:  Excuse me?
    Anne:  Watched your back.  Cleaned up your messes.  Carried out your plans.  I didn’t always understand, didn’t always agree, but I did it.  Some fucked-up, awful shit ’cause I knew you needed it done.  I don’t think the night you had last night comes even close to something to bitch about.
    Jack:  I know you know this is significantly more complicated than the quantity of tits I have access to at any given moment.
    Anne:  I know she’s dangerous, especially to me.  I ain’t in my right head about her.  She knows it.  And it ain’t hard to imagine her intent is to play us off one against the other.  But I’m asking you to do this for me. I’m asking you to watch my back on the other side of that door.  ‘Cause I know as long as you are, there ain’t shit she can do to get between us.

    • Is this the first time we see Eleanor on a ship?  I love Flint’s ingrained manners when he stands as she enters, and even more I love that he insists on talking alone with her.  I am in love with watching a young woman and an older man going head to head with equal respect and frustration.
    • This scene between Flint and Silver is FORMATIVE.  It’s the first time Flint is the tiniest bit vulnerable with Silver, and it’s therefore the first time Silver sees beneath Flint’s aggressively brilliant exterior.

    Silver:  It’s possible this has nothing to do with the fort, nor with Vane.  Perhaps it’s just them expressing their opinion about you.
    Flint:  So you think that they see me as the villain in this particular story?
    Silver:  I think that would explain their decision, yes.
    Flint:  And you?  What do you think?  You see me as the villain here?
    Silver:  I see you as the agent most likely of securing my share of the gold on that beach.  As long as that remains true, I am not bothered in the least by whatever labels anyone decides to affix to you.  Why?  What do you think about it?
    Flint:  I’m sorry?
    Silver:  It bothers you, doesn’t it?  What they think.  With the things you’ve done–My God, it must be awful being you.

    • This scene is even more heartbreaking after Flint’s explosive defense of Thomas:  “People can say what they want about you, but you’re a good man.  More people should say that, and someone should be willing to defend it.”  Silver has been Flint’s defender, so it makes sense that Flint wants Silver to also see the good motives beneath his actions.  But that is not what drives Silver to support Flint – it’s his honest using of Flint to get the Urca gold.  It is so painful to watch Flint realize Silver is not that person for him.
    • It’s hard for me to completely understand just how dangerous Thomas’s idea was for its time and place.  I need to learn more about British empire culture/politics.
    • Billy is back in our story, and looking real rough!  It’s all kinds of heartbreaking that his first words are “Get Gates.”
    • Miranda blowing up at Eleanor is very illuminating.  Miranda has definitely lost her passion for Nassau, because all she sees is the place that cost her everything, and keeps costing her (in encouraging Flint’s violence and leading him further from the man she knew).  Which is why it’s so great to see her mind formulating plans when she learns from Pastor Lambrick that Abigail Ashe is in town.  Perhaps there’s a way for her to put an end to all of this AND honor Thomas and Flint’s plans.
    • Max is so fascinating.  She’s definitely out of sorts now that Anne has brought Jack into their bed.  I still don’t think Max loves Anne, and this is more fear of losing her power and influence.  She tries to intimidate Jack (who is entirely confident in his relationship with Anne – awww), and when that doesn’t work, she bribes him with Featherstone and a crew.  She’s a very smart woman, and I respect her, but I don’t really LIKE her for it just yet.
    • And then that pivotal flashback scene!!  It is perfection.  Thomas’s father is immediately dislikable, Thomas is glowing with passion and certainty, Miranda and James are trying to stay out of it UNTIL.

    James:  I support it.  I found his argument persuasive.  I find his intent to be good and true, and I find yours wanting, sir.  I will be relaying my findings to Admiral Hennessey in short order.  And now I think it’s time you left, sir.
    Thomas:  Did you just ask my father to leave his own house?  Right now he will be dispatching messages to the Sea Lords, the Southern Secretary, his friends in the Privy Council.  He will stop at nothing to ensure that this plan never sees the light of day, and now you’re in the line of fire.
    James:  People can say what they like about you, but you’re a good man.  More people should say that.  And someone should be willing to defend it.

    • Mr. Scott tries to convince Flint not to attack the fort.  Flint gives Mr. Scott the due he deserves by acknowledging the Mr. Scott’s invaluable role behind the Guthries.  Mr. Scott gives excellent advice, but to no avail.
    • Once again, Flint makes a decision that I disapprove of, but he’s so conflicted about it that all of my emotions are only for him.
    Worst dinner party ever.

    Not done reliving the episode?  Listen to Daphne and Liz’s podcast at Fathoms Deep!

  • Black Sails Season 1 Episode 7 Review – VII

    Black Sails Season 1 Episode 7 Review – VII

    Flint tells Gates the truth.  Randall puts Silver in a bind.  Eleanor suffers a loss.  Max comes to Rackham’s aid.  Vane enters the fight of his life.

    (Summary provided by starz.com)

    BEST FLINT MOMENT

    This whole episode is Best Flint Moment!!  I’m going to discuss what we learn about Flint in more depth in the Well-Formed Thoughts section, but his conversation with Miranda deserves to be here.  He is at his most vulnerable with Miranda (consider this scene compared to his tightly-wound conversation with Gates), and it’s beautiful to watch him fall apart.  

    Flint:  What was your intent?  What was it?  To destroy everything we have tried to build here for the last ten years?  Or was it just to embarrass me?
    Miranda:  To show you a way out of all this.  To free you.
    F:  A way out?  Have you no memory of how we got in?  Of what they took from us?
    M:  What does it matter now?
    F:  What does it matter?  (Sidenote, HIS FACE HERE)
    M:  What does it matter what happened then if we have no life now?  Because there is no life here, there is no joy here, there is no love here.
    F:  WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?  What do you think I’m out there fighting for but to make all those things possible here?
    M:  You’ll fight a war so we can make a life?
    F:  You don’t get one without the other, my sweet.
    M:  No.  You’re wrong.  I sent that letter to show you that you’re wrong.  There is a life in Boston.  There is joy there, and music, and peace.  The door is open.  I’ve opened it for you, and it requires no war, no blood, and no sacrifice.
    F:  It requires an intolerable sacrifice!
    M:  To accept a pardon?
    F:  To apologize!
    M:  Apologize?  Who will you be apologizing to?
    F:  TO ENGLAND.  They took everything from us, and then they call ME a monster?  The moment I sign that pardon, the moment I ask for one, I proclaim that they were right.  This ends when I grant them MY forgiveness, not the other way around.
    M:  This path you’re on, it doesn’t lead where you think it does.  If he were here, he’d agree with me.

    Oh my GOD, this scene is devastating.  It was beautiful the first time I saw it, intriguing with all my confusion, but now that I know what Flint is talking about, WOW.  Wow wow wow.

    Wow.

    TODAY’S RUNNER UP

    Silver!  From his reunion with Flint (coughing to Eleanor to remind her to be his defender) throughout his almost-accusal by Randall, he is scrambling to stay alive.  I continue to enjoy his unsuccessful attempts to charm Randall, and it is very telling that it is only when Silver is vulnerable, honest, and thinking of someone else’s benefit that Randall sides with Silver and takes back his accusation.  This is Silver’s first opportunity to grow past his compulsive selfishness!

    LOL MOMENT

    Definitely Silver’s wondering aloud at whether Randall is a half-wit or a genius, only to be answered with…a massive fart.  LOL, Randall.  I love you.

    WELL-FORMED THOUGHTS

    We get so much good Flint material here, both in revelations as to his motivations and in revealing his vulnerabilities.  In three scenes (with Gates, Miranda, and Eleanor), we see him searching for a partner who shares his vision.

    First, with Gates:

    Flint has kept many secrets from Gates, and now that Billy is a casualty of those secrets, Gates is done.  It’s telling that for as close of friends as they seem, Flint hasn’t told Gates much of his story.  In a last ditch attempt to win Gates to his vision, Flint tells him of his plan to sequester part of the Urca gold so that Nassau can be stable.

    Flint:  I’m quite serious.  Who loses?  Absent their worst instincts: their pride, their greed, their suspicion, in the light of pure reason, who says no to this?  They’ll be rich men in a safe place rather than dead thieves on a long rope.

    But it’s too late.  Flint opening up about a piece of his grander plan is just one more secret Gates doesn’t want to hear.

    BlackSails-107_1134

    Second, with Miranda:

    I quoted the whole scene above, and I love it all.  Contrasted with Gates, Miranda KNOWS all of Flint’s plan (though we still don’t), and apparently shared it at one time.  The fact that she has given it up and wants to move with him to Boston is therefore a much bigger betrayal.  While Miranda has emotionally moved on to the point that she can say, “What does it matter?”, Flint is still living in the trauma of what happened ten years ago.  This too feels like abandonment and betrayal to him.  Flint is overwhelmed by all this, so he goes to the tavern to get drunk.  It is there that he finds a new visionary partner.

    BlackSails-107_2001

    Lastly, with Eleanor:

    These two betrayals by his closest friends has led Flint to doubt himself, and it must be bad because he opens up about it with Eleanor.

    Flint:  Tell me we’re not crazy, you and I.
    Eleanor:  Crazy?
    Flint:  To put ourselves through all of this, when the outcome’s so uncertain.
    Eleanor:  The outcome is only uncertain for those who disbelieve.  I believe in this place, and I believe if there’s anyone who can do what’s necessary to make it something better, it’s you.

    This is exactly what Flint needs to hear.  He needs someone to believe in him and to stand beside him.  His reliance upon a partner is his greatest weakness and greatest strength, and I’m so excited to watch the series while tracking Flint’s highs and lows as compared to the state of his partnerships.

    BlackSails-107_2635

    FRAGMENTED THOUGHTS

    • So far we have seen people question Flint’s loyalty (as it pertains to his crew), but he’s clearly VERY loyal to Miranda at least.  He consistently defends her against those who want her to answer for her letter.  She wasn’t wrong in a previous episode when she assured Lambrick that Flint would never hurt her.
    • My favorite sex scenes in this show are the ones with really bad sex!  Love the mundane relationship sex between Anne and Jack, who can’t keep it up because he’s busy worrying and thinking.
    • Dufresne was elected quartermaster by the crew, and it was so cute watching Gates and Flint giggle together about Dufresne “chewing a man’s throat out.”
    • Mr. Scott and Eleanor reuniting was bittersweet.  Eleanor is so self-focused on what seems like his betrayal that she doesn’t even show concern that he was sold as a slave.  When he points out his true relationship to her family, she is touched.  So much so that she manages to free all of the slaves from the Andromache and find them paid work.  Yay Eleanor!  It is tragic that now, when they best understand and support each other, they must part ways.  Eleanor is pissed, but I think Mr. Scott is right.  They can’t sustain this healthy relationship if they continue to work together.
    • Flint does NOT handle being accused by Gates very well.  It was totally uncalled for when he, in turn, accused Gates of being a bad father to Billy.  It was a low blow to hurt Gates, though I also think he was displacing the blame he feels himself.
    • Flint really is shocked that his crew would think he sees them as expendable.  This makes what will happen in the next episode extra heartbreaking.
    • Also re: Flint’s lack of self-awareness, he extols “the light of pure reason” with Gates, but his conversation with Miranda reveals that he operates almost entirely upon emotion.  I don’t think he realizes that about himself.
    • Flint kisses Eleanor on the forehead, just like he did to Miranda a couple episodes ago.  Hm!
    • Um, also, while Flint is being accused of keeping secrets “for the good of the crew,” Dufresne, DeGroot, and Other Guy are doing the exact same thing!  They know that if they brought Silver before the crew, he would be hung and the Urca location would be lost.  So instead they act alone!  Which is, I think, the right decision.  So why are they all so hard on Flint?  Because they don’t trust him.  😦  TRUST HIM, YOU FOOLS.
    • Jack is really bad at running a brothel, so Max steps in to show him how it’s done.  While this ought to feel empowering and awesome, I don’t love how she goes about it.  In an attempt to distance herself from her past and her shame, Max 1) slaps a coworker and 2) says, “In my experience, if you do not discipline a whore she will always take advantage.”  Which is just…very dehumanizing?  I’m all for Max rising in station, but I don’t love that it comes at the expense of others.
    • There’s a mutiny against Flint, not just to oust him as captain, but to kill him!!  NOOO.
    • Finally, Vane!  This episode gives us a fascinating glimpse into his past, and while I don’t fully understand it, it’s clear that he’s conquered his demons and literally risen from the grave a stronger man.  It was bizarre to see him stutter and avoid eye contact, and I love the vulnerability that returning to the place where he was a child slave brought out of him.
    • This is the first we see of Vane’s lack of self-preservation in the face of a cause he believes in.  Even when the slave master knows Vane was a slave, he gives him the men Vane needs to take Nassau.  This could be enough, but a “good” slave master is still a slave master to Vane, so he gives a rousing speech of freedom to the men and is “killed” as a result.  But not for long.
    BlackSails-107_3050
    He looks really good for a recently dead guy.

    Every episode is stronger than the one before it, but this is where I get REALLY emotionally involved in this show.  It’s full-blown obsession from here on out, and I can’t WAIT to rewatch it all again, though hopefully at a slower pace than my first time through!

    Not done reliving the episode?  Listen to Daphne and Liz’s podcast at Fathoms Deep!