Black Sails 3.05
Feb. 21st, 2016 03:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which there's a reunion between Eleanor and her ex (no, the other one), and Flint and his will to live, and this show continues to have my increasingly fervent love for the way it keeps adding on layers and humanity.
Case in point: Charles Vane and the Spanish seaman. Given that ever since Woodes Rogers mentioned he's on a time table due to the Spanish I've been wondering whether the Spanish (who still want their gold back) are eventually going to replace the British navy as the seasonal antagonist, and given that Spain is the traditional boo-hiss one dimensional antagonist in any number of British or American media set before either the French or the Germans can take over the position, I was very pleased indeed when the show took the time for this scene. Which manages not only to humanize the Spanish, but also gets across that never mind the nationality, who has the power and who doesn't is all about money in the end.
In fact, I would argue this season is the first which (as of yet) doesn't have any one dimensional villain at all, even in a minor capacity. Season 1 and 2 - in which the biggest conflicts were of course between our regulars themselves - nonetheless presented sadistic pirates for Vane to fight with and triumph over (which, since Vane early on was presented as scarily brutal, was establishing he's not the worst), but no successor to Ned Lowe has shown up this season. S2 had the British establishment as embodied by Alfred Hamilton and the Navy Admirals ruin Thomas, James' and Miranda's lives and threw in Peter Ashe as a traitor for good measure. But s3 so far has time for everyone's pov. Woodes Rogers may be ruining our protagonists' plans, but he is sympathetic. The Maroon island is led by a Queen whose concern for her people, setting her temporarily at odds with the Walrus crew, but her agenda is presented as valid and understandable.
Speaking of the Queen (I want a name, show, please), I loved that the show took the time to give her scenes with Mr. Scott and Mr. Scott a scene with Madi, showing us what their family dynamic is like, and that last season we had had some quiet scenes between Mr. Scott and Flint so that Flint getting the backstory from Mr. Scott feels plausible instead of just being there for the necessary exposition. And of course that the last say indeed is the Queen's, not Mr. Scott's.
Head!Miranda tells Flint, still in "does my life have a remaining point? Why shouldn't I die now?" depression, that he's not alone even if he can't still can't see it, and Flint wakes up to stare at Billy and Silver at the same time, just so the show can mess with two sets of shippers at once. :) On a more serious note, Flint's "I'll try to convince the Queen, but if that doesn't work, which I expect it won't, I'll totally take her hostage and commit heroic suicide in order to save the crew" was the logical follow-up to what he told Silver last episode, that he wonders whether it wasn't the time to let Captain Flint die, and just in case we haven't been paying attention, in his chat with Mr. Scott Flint talks about Scott having been two different men for years. Obvious parallel to Flint, who was a creation of James McGraw, is obvious. He's been trying to BE Flint, nothing but Flint with no McGraw left after Miranda died, and that didn't work; but killing off Flint at this point could only be accomplished by physical death, because the Flint persona is too engrained to leave it behind, either. At which point our antihero gets a pep up speech from John Silver which basically goes "you made me change into someone who cares about the crew and you, you're a Machiavellian bastard supreme if you want to, so stop it with the suicide intentions and employ that skill on these people already!", and I continue to adore their dynamic as Flint actually listens (again), leaves the dagger of hostage taking and suicide intentions behind and tops Mr. Scott's entirely reasonable idea of former slaves - pirates cooperation (pirates take over supplying the Maroon island with goods, Maroon island becomes base of operations instead of Nassau) with an insane plan to take back Nassau by organizing a slave revolt in the West Indies. It says something about Toby Stephens' actorly skills that I believe the Queen, established as a cautious woman, actually signs on to this, because damm. If the man wants to be convincing, he's CONVINCING. And of course there is such a lot of suffering he can draw on among the former and present slaves.
(No way this can end well for the past and present slaves. As Billy reminded us last episode, while the Walrus crew may have liberated some slaves when it was convenient from them - i.e. when they needed allies in the other ship -, they sold others. And as this episode points out in more than one plot line, in the end, it's all about profit. Flint may be able to make some pirates ally with slaves to fight the British navy. But what do you want to bet that sooner or later, some among that bunch will want even more profit by selling their allies?)
Max, who as we learned two eps ago started out as a slave girl and who has no intention of ever being powerless and on the outside again, tries to buy a place in Woodes Rogers' new council for the island, after riveting scene with Eleanor which makes me wonder whether the ex Eleanor is surely destined to have hate sex with this season won't be Vane but Max. Seriously though, that was a great scene, not least because it wasn't just about two exes meeting but also the present and former queens of Nassau, with Eleanor intending to be the future one again and Max not willing to go back to just getting scrapes from the table. Do we believe them that they didn't betray each other to death in last season's finale? Hm. I could see it going either way. Anyway, given that the maid's intel ensures that Rogers won't be able to use Max' massive bribe in the way it was intended, I'm not sure Max will get that cherished place on the council, but then again, Rogers is far from stupid, and he may give it to her anyway because of the power she represents in Nassau. We'll see.
Eleanor's love life, which already is complicated (it did not escape my attention that in addition to the Max meeting, the show gave both her and Vane a scene each in which they unconvincingly deny thinking about the respective other to their present company), gets even more so as she and Rogers almost kiss only to be interrupted by Eleanor's maid who as it turns out didn't listen to them last episode for gossip or voyeuristic reasons but because she's paid by the Spanish secret service to keep tabs on Rogers. This, I had not expected (the confession, not the almost kiss, which was so in the cards), and it reminds us that Anne and Jack still have their share of the treasure, and that Rogers must return it all. And guess who is still plagued by wanting to make his name issues and about to return to Nassau? Head. Desk. Anne, you should have hit him over the head and dragged him the rest of the way along with the jewelry.
In conclusion: the fact that I must wait for an entire week until I can watch the next episode becomes more and more tormenting. Keep it up, show, keep it up!
Case in point: Charles Vane and the Spanish seaman. Given that ever since Woodes Rogers mentioned he's on a time table due to the Spanish I've been wondering whether the Spanish (who still want their gold back) are eventually going to replace the British navy as the seasonal antagonist, and given that Spain is the traditional boo-hiss one dimensional antagonist in any number of British or American media set before either the French or the Germans can take over the position, I was very pleased indeed when the show took the time for this scene. Which manages not only to humanize the Spanish, but also gets across that never mind the nationality, who has the power and who doesn't is all about money in the end.
In fact, I would argue this season is the first which (as of yet) doesn't have any one dimensional villain at all, even in a minor capacity. Season 1 and 2 - in which the biggest conflicts were of course between our regulars themselves - nonetheless presented sadistic pirates for Vane to fight with and triumph over (which, since Vane early on was presented as scarily brutal, was establishing he's not the worst), but no successor to Ned Lowe has shown up this season. S2 had the British establishment as embodied by Alfred Hamilton and the Navy Admirals ruin Thomas, James' and Miranda's lives and threw in Peter Ashe as a traitor for good measure. But s3 so far has time for everyone's pov. Woodes Rogers may be ruining our protagonists' plans, but he is sympathetic. The Maroon island is led by a Queen whose concern for her people, setting her temporarily at odds with the Walrus crew, but her agenda is presented as valid and understandable.
Speaking of the Queen (I want a name, show, please), I loved that the show took the time to give her scenes with Mr. Scott and Mr. Scott a scene with Madi, showing us what their family dynamic is like, and that last season we had had some quiet scenes between Mr. Scott and Flint so that Flint getting the backstory from Mr. Scott feels plausible instead of just being there for the necessary exposition. And of course that the last say indeed is the Queen's, not Mr. Scott's.
Head!Miranda tells Flint, still in "does my life have a remaining point? Why shouldn't I die now?" depression, that he's not alone even if he can't still can't see it, and Flint wakes up to stare at Billy and Silver at the same time, just so the show can mess with two sets of shippers at once. :) On a more serious note, Flint's "I'll try to convince the Queen, but if that doesn't work, which I expect it won't, I'll totally take her hostage and commit heroic suicide in order to save the crew" was the logical follow-up to what he told Silver last episode, that he wonders whether it wasn't the time to let Captain Flint die, and just in case we haven't been paying attention, in his chat with Mr. Scott Flint talks about Scott having been two different men for years. Obvious parallel to Flint, who was a creation of James McGraw, is obvious. He's been trying to BE Flint, nothing but Flint with no McGraw left after Miranda died, and that didn't work; but killing off Flint at this point could only be accomplished by physical death, because the Flint persona is too engrained to leave it behind, either. At which point our antihero gets a pep up speech from John Silver which basically goes "you made me change into someone who cares about the crew and you, you're a Machiavellian bastard supreme if you want to, so stop it with the suicide intentions and employ that skill on these people already!", and I continue to adore their dynamic as Flint actually listens (again), leaves the dagger of hostage taking and suicide intentions behind and tops Mr. Scott's entirely reasonable idea of former slaves - pirates cooperation (pirates take over supplying the Maroon island with goods, Maroon island becomes base of operations instead of Nassau) with an insane plan to take back Nassau by organizing a slave revolt in the West Indies. It says something about Toby Stephens' actorly skills that I believe the Queen, established as a cautious woman, actually signs on to this, because damm. If the man wants to be convincing, he's CONVINCING. And of course there is such a lot of suffering he can draw on among the former and present slaves.
(No way this can end well for the past and present slaves. As Billy reminded us last episode, while the Walrus crew may have liberated some slaves when it was convenient from them - i.e. when they needed allies in the other ship -, they sold others. And as this episode points out in more than one plot line, in the end, it's all about profit. Flint may be able to make some pirates ally with slaves to fight the British navy. But what do you want to bet that sooner or later, some among that bunch will want even more profit by selling their allies?)
Max, who as we learned two eps ago started out as a slave girl and who has no intention of ever being powerless and on the outside again, tries to buy a place in Woodes Rogers' new council for the island, after riveting scene with Eleanor which makes me wonder whether the ex Eleanor is surely destined to have hate sex with this season won't be Vane but Max. Seriously though, that was a great scene, not least because it wasn't just about two exes meeting but also the present and former queens of Nassau, with Eleanor intending to be the future one again and Max not willing to go back to just getting scrapes from the table. Do we believe them that they didn't betray each other to death in last season's finale? Hm. I could see it going either way. Anyway, given that the maid's intel ensures that Rogers won't be able to use Max' massive bribe in the way it was intended, I'm not sure Max will get that cherished place on the council, but then again, Rogers is far from stupid, and he may give it to her anyway because of the power she represents in Nassau. We'll see.
Eleanor's love life, which already is complicated (it did not escape my attention that in addition to the Max meeting, the show gave both her and Vane a scene each in which they unconvincingly deny thinking about the respective other to their present company), gets even more so as she and Rogers almost kiss only to be interrupted by Eleanor's maid who as it turns out didn't listen to them last episode for gossip or voyeuristic reasons but because she's paid by the Spanish secret service to keep tabs on Rogers. This, I had not expected (the confession, not the almost kiss, which was so in the cards), and it reminds us that Anne and Jack still have their share of the treasure, and that Rogers must return it all. And guess who is still plagued by wanting to make his name issues and about to return to Nassau? Head. Desk. Anne, you should have hit him over the head and dragged him the rest of the way along with the jewelry.
In conclusion: the fact that I must wait for an entire week until I can watch the next episode becomes more and more tormenting. Keep it up, show, keep it up!
