Black Sails 2.07
Mar. 9th, 2015 09:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakAnd again I had an "I knew it" moment, only this time followed up with "but it still caught me by surprise".
What I had predicted last week was John Silver (always open about the treasure being his reason for supporting Flint) would try to find another crew to get it via Max, since Flint's reaction last week to the "gold or politics" dilemma and his less than reassuring "you have my word" made it clear to all but the naive that at this point if he had to choose which to prioritize, it would be the political gamble. What I hadn't seen coming, otoh, was that Silver would first bamboozle Flint into believing the gold wasn't there anymore, removed by the Spanish, and then team up with Max again to get a crew in order to retrieve it. He's definitely growing into his Treasure Island self, young John Silver is. That was awesome. Well, not for Flint, obviously, but on that count, he had it coming. (BTW like Silver, when the two guards showed up I at first thought "this is mighty convenient for Flint as a resolution to his dilemma, did he arrange this?, but unlike Silver I'm no devious enough for the second "hang on, this is a great idea for me" thought.) The other scene where you can see how Silver has grown from the young newbie who alienated the crew with his bad cooking early last season is where he actually pulls off convincing them that despite the lack of Spanish treasure, they need to go with Flint over Honigold as Captain by the power of rethoric and grown understanding of emotional buttons to push. (That he manages to both fulfill Flint's commission and pursue his own hidden agenda is an additional bonus.)
Now, since Max has just given a distraught Anne new purpose by saying she wants to branch out and needs a partner with seafaring experience, and since there are a few crewmen looking for a new ship around, it's actually up for debate whether Team Urca Gold will be using Jack's ship (as I had thought last week) or another with Anne in it, but I think they might pool their resources, though I have a hard time seeing Anne trusting or forgiving Jack any time soon. BTW, the whole scenes with Anne's shattered sense of self, not just because of Jack but because she's defined herself one way since she's been 13 (on screen backstory = always welcome) were very well played. Otoh I also appreciated that the prostitutes in the brothel didn't simply let Charlotte's murder go (Flint's dead crewman was another matter, but Charlotte was one of theirs), and pointed out to Max that while they're prepared for clients turning violent and know how to protect themselves in that case, they can't protect themselves from Anne running rampage. I've said before and will say again this show is great in presenting ship crews not as brainless followers who simply do what either the Captain or the designated villalin say but people who can make up their own minds and can change them, too, if the circumstances change, and I doubly appreciate that prostitutes other than Max (who's a main character and thus always written as having her own mind) are now being written this way as well.
(Sidenote: Max saying that when she was gangraped on the beach last season no one else helped her, but Anne did, again points out Max has a very good reason to be loyal to Anne.)
Eleanor manages to get Abigail out - after it's clear Miranda had the right idea in pointing out Abigail needs a reason to trust them, and since she's the only one Abigail actually knows it's best for her to be around - but not before Charles Vane, at the last minute, catches up with her, conveniently for Eleanor's health separated by an iron door. This is presumably the end of the Eleanor/Vane relationship, and again, the show is great in getting across both point of views. When Vane says "there's no one you won't betray", he ignores that Eleanor has actually been consistent throughout - she's always picked Team A More Stable Nassau With Regular Business (which usually but not always translates into Team Flint). Given that building up her enterprise has been Eleanor's life's work, this makes complete sense. Otoh Vane has been crazily in love with her throughout, he did kill Lowe for her, he did put his emotion for her above his men's warnings, and it's hard to see how he can maintain his authority now which means Eleanor effectively took command from him for second time, so from his pov, this was the most devastating betrayal possible.
Speaking of betrayal: show, I'm not happy you're making Dufresne into the bad guy here. I like Dufresne, who had a great arc in the later half of s1 and has been little more than a background figure after the first two episodes of season 2. I mean, it's clear why this happens - by letting Dufresne go for the pardons option, even though that implicitly means leaving the majority of the men to their fates, Billy's constrasting behaviour - supporting Flint despite his personal reasons to resent him for the greater good and because it's the option Billy things will keep most of the men alive - shines all the more brightly, but like I said: not a fan of tearing Dufresne down in order to do so.
Incidentally: I think I can now see where the Flint/Billy shippers are coming from. It's not my ship, but Billy certainly qualifies as an idealist in the Thomas Hamilton vein, and he's now given Flint more than enough reason to be sincerely impressed. Also, for what it's worth: Billy Bones has ended up with Flint's damm map at the start of Treasure Island, which implies a position of trust.
What I had predicted last week was John Silver (always open about the treasure being his reason for supporting Flint) would try to find another crew to get it via Max, since Flint's reaction last week to the "gold or politics" dilemma and his less than reassuring "you have my word" made it clear to all but the naive that at this point if he had to choose which to prioritize, it would be the political gamble. What I hadn't seen coming, otoh, was that Silver would first bamboozle Flint into believing the gold wasn't there anymore, removed by the Spanish, and then team up with Max again to get a crew in order to retrieve it. He's definitely growing into his Treasure Island self, young John Silver is. That was awesome. Well, not for Flint, obviously, but on that count, he had it coming. (BTW like Silver, when the two guards showed up I at first thought "this is mighty convenient for Flint as a resolution to his dilemma, did he arrange this?, but unlike Silver I'm no devious enough for the second "hang on, this is a great idea for me" thought.) The other scene where you can see how Silver has grown from the young newbie who alienated the crew with his bad cooking early last season is where he actually pulls off convincing them that despite the lack of Spanish treasure, they need to go with Flint over Honigold as Captain by the power of rethoric and grown understanding of emotional buttons to push. (That he manages to both fulfill Flint's commission and pursue his own hidden agenda is an additional bonus.)
Now, since Max has just given a distraught Anne new purpose by saying she wants to branch out and needs a partner with seafaring experience, and since there are a few crewmen looking for a new ship around, it's actually up for debate whether Team Urca Gold will be using Jack's ship (as I had thought last week) or another with Anne in it, but I think they might pool their resources, though I have a hard time seeing Anne trusting or forgiving Jack any time soon. BTW, the whole scenes with Anne's shattered sense of self, not just because of Jack but because she's defined herself one way since she's been 13 (on screen backstory = always welcome) were very well played. Otoh I also appreciated that the prostitutes in the brothel didn't simply let Charlotte's murder go (Flint's dead crewman was another matter, but Charlotte was one of theirs), and pointed out to Max that while they're prepared for clients turning violent and know how to protect themselves in that case, they can't protect themselves from Anne running rampage. I've said before and will say again this show is great in presenting ship crews not as brainless followers who simply do what either the Captain or the designated villalin say but people who can make up their own minds and can change them, too, if the circumstances change, and I doubly appreciate that prostitutes other than Max (who's a main character and thus always written as having her own mind) are now being written this way as well.
(Sidenote: Max saying that when she was gangraped on the beach last season no one else helped her, but Anne did, again points out Max has a very good reason to be loyal to Anne.)
Eleanor manages to get Abigail out - after it's clear Miranda had the right idea in pointing out Abigail needs a reason to trust them, and since she's the only one Abigail actually knows it's best for her to be around - but not before Charles Vane, at the last minute, catches up with her, conveniently for Eleanor's health separated by an iron door. This is presumably the end of the Eleanor/Vane relationship, and again, the show is great in getting across both point of views. When Vane says "there's no one you won't betray", he ignores that Eleanor has actually been consistent throughout - she's always picked Team A More Stable Nassau With Regular Business (which usually but not always translates into Team Flint). Given that building up her enterprise has been Eleanor's life's work, this makes complete sense. Otoh Vane has been crazily in love with her throughout, he did kill Lowe for her, he did put his emotion for her above his men's warnings, and it's hard to see how he can maintain his authority now which means Eleanor effectively took command from him for second time, so from his pov, this was the most devastating betrayal possible.
Speaking of betrayal: show, I'm not happy you're making Dufresne into the bad guy here. I like Dufresne, who had a great arc in the later half of s1 and has been little more than a background figure after the first two episodes of season 2. I mean, it's clear why this happens - by letting Dufresne go for the pardons option, even though that implicitly means leaving the majority of the men to their fates, Billy's constrasting behaviour - supporting Flint despite his personal reasons to resent him for the greater good and because it's the option Billy things will keep most of the men alive - shines all the more brightly, but like I said: not a fan of tearing Dufresne down in order to do so.
Incidentally: I think I can now see where the Flint/Billy shippers are coming from. It's not my ship, but Billy certainly qualifies as an idealist in the Thomas Hamilton vein, and he's now given Flint more than enough reason to be sincerely impressed. Also, for what it's worth: Billy Bones has ended up with Flint's damm map at the start of Treasure Island, which implies a position of trust.
