Black Sails 3.06
Feb. 28th, 2016 11:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which there's a lot of meta about the power of storytelling in between plotting, and I continue to adore this show.
Especially since everyone continues to have their agendas instead of being props to someone else's prop. Case in point: the Maroons, specifically, Madi and her father, Mr. Scott. Now, a lesser show would have left the last scene between them out and thus entirely changed the implication and the story. The previous scenes had Madi and Silver getting to know each other a little, and as Silver, away from Flint and the Walrus crew, is forced to admit just how badly the loss of his leg and resulting unhealed stump hurts and, more importantly, just how scary it is to insert yourself into Flint's mind, all of this is about Silver's character (showing the audience what his current state of mind and emotion is, setting up a new relationship for him), not so much about Madi's. So far, so standard regular male character and new female possible love interest. And then we get that scene between Madi and her father, and wow. Because her reaction to all of this isn't "Dad, I think I could be into this guy", it's "I think we may have made a terrible mistake making that alliance with the pirates because this Flint-Silver combination it sort of rests on is volatile as hell"; who she's concerned about isn't Silver (though that may come in the future), it's her people (meaning her mother raising her with responsibility really paid off). And then our Mr. Scott makes the scene even better by informing her that while the Flint-Silver tandem are necessary allies now (and preferably together, not apart), in the end the pirates will be the enemy, too. (Mr. Scott being entirely aware that in his world, white people will eventually screw you over, no matter what they promise: am so there for that. Remember his rather recent experience when Richard Guthrie handed him over to a slaver?) So best study them and their current opponent now to understand how to fight them. Which Madi takes to heart, and the episode doesn't end with her and Silver but with her starting to read Woode Rogers' book. Which makes me not only happy on account of establishing Madi as her own character with her own goals, but as it happens does do good groundwork for making me root later for a Madi/Silver relationship. Given who he's developing into, any person, male or female, who has a relationship with him better a) not be too easily swayed by him, and b) have her own agenda going.
Speaking of Woode Rogers' book: Jack using his own gift of gab to insult Rogers as a writer (seriously, there are few worse things you can tell an author than to say you didn't finish his book, and then to proceed to sum up the content in a few pithy sentences, thus proving you did actually have a look and thus are making an informed judgment) was hilarious. However, going by a brief look online, my reaction to Jack's larger plot in this episode was distinctly different from the rest of the fandom, which is calling it a crowning moment and goes hell yeah. Because I was entirely with Max: Jack, what have you done?!? Bring down hell on Nassau (either by the Spanish or by the pirates) just because his ego can't take the idea of Rogers succeeding where he hadn't, and because he so desperately wants to make it into the history books: the pettiness is really breathtaking. At least Flint has the excuse of being fucked up beyond belief, but Jack usually has it all together. So: am definitely Team Lawful Nassau again (currently consisting of Eleanor, Max and Rogers), because not only does Rogers' current goal have a far lesser death count for the general population, he's also not motivated by pure ego.
Meanwhile chez Blackbeard: dear scriptwriters, I love and adore your show, but giving Blackbeard Tony Stark's shrapnel moving towards his heart really nearly yanked me out of the story in inappropriate amusement. Just his bad luck he's not an engineer, I suppose, otherwise he could solve his problem in a cave (tm).
More seriously, I was wondering how they would resolve this Flint versus Blackbeard situation. I suppose they could have killed him ahistorically (they did with Ned Lowe) by letting Flint win the duel, but it wouldn't have felt narratively satisfying since Blackbeard and Flint never shared scenes before this episode. Otoh, Blackbeard had no motive to spare Flint. So I was really curious, and got more so when the scene made it clear that Charles Vane pointing out earlier that Flint after weeks of dehydration and starving was hardly in top physical form which he needed to be to take on Edward Teach was actually going by the logical conclusion (i.e. Flint losing the fight). Otoh, Flint, though a good physical fighter, has always won when he did by getting into people's head (all the way back n the pilot, yes, he defeated Singleton in combat, but would still have lost if not for inventing that story about the page and making Billy confirm it), and that's what he did again earlier in his duel preceding conversation with Vane. (It helps that the previous episode had established Vane is secretly torn about leaving Nassau behind, of course.) And thus Vane ends up on Team Flint, Blackbeard goes off to live longer (whether or not he meets his historical fate), and everyone now needs to find Anne Bonny and her and Jack's share of the treasure, bringing the various plot threads together.
Trivia: so the maid is called Mrs. Hudson - if they mentioned it before, I forgot or didn't hear it - and in her flashback we meet Spanish Intelligence guy likely to show up later.
In conclusion: Mr. Scott's speech about every story needing its villain, and who is made into the villain being crucial, at the episode's bookend is the counterpoint to the Woode Rogers-Jack Rackham and Max-Jack conversations about creating stories as a way to determine them. The show itself keeps pointing out that who the villain and who the hero is keeps shifting and is entirely subjective (leaving aside characters like Ned Lowe or Alfred Hamilton who only show up briefly and are unquestionable villains), and how who and how a story is told is the biggest power of all. It's the kind of self reflective storytelling you can only pull off when your story is really good, which this one is.
Especially since everyone continues to have their agendas instead of being props to someone else's prop. Case in point: the Maroons, specifically, Madi and her father, Mr. Scott. Now, a lesser show would have left the last scene between them out and thus entirely changed the implication and the story. The previous scenes had Madi and Silver getting to know each other a little, and as Silver, away from Flint and the Walrus crew, is forced to admit just how badly the loss of his leg and resulting unhealed stump hurts and, more importantly, just how scary it is to insert yourself into Flint's mind, all of this is about Silver's character (showing the audience what his current state of mind and emotion is, setting up a new relationship for him), not so much about Madi's. So far, so standard regular male character and new female possible love interest. And then we get that scene between Madi and her father, and wow. Because her reaction to all of this isn't "Dad, I think I could be into this guy", it's "I think we may have made a terrible mistake making that alliance with the pirates because this Flint-Silver combination it sort of rests on is volatile as hell"; who she's concerned about isn't Silver (though that may come in the future), it's her people (meaning her mother raising her with responsibility really paid off). And then our Mr. Scott makes the scene even better by informing her that while the Flint-Silver tandem are necessary allies now (and preferably together, not apart), in the end the pirates will be the enemy, too. (Mr. Scott being entirely aware that in his world, white people will eventually screw you over, no matter what they promise: am so there for that. Remember his rather recent experience when Richard Guthrie handed him over to a slaver?) So best study them and their current opponent now to understand how to fight them. Which Madi takes to heart, and the episode doesn't end with her and Silver but with her starting to read Woode Rogers' book. Which makes me not only happy on account of establishing Madi as her own character with her own goals, but as it happens does do good groundwork for making me root later for a Madi/Silver relationship. Given who he's developing into, any person, male or female, who has a relationship with him better a) not be too easily swayed by him, and b) have her own agenda going.
Speaking of Woode Rogers' book: Jack using his own gift of gab to insult Rogers as a writer (seriously, there are few worse things you can tell an author than to say you didn't finish his book, and then to proceed to sum up the content in a few pithy sentences, thus proving you did actually have a look and thus are making an informed judgment) was hilarious. However, going by a brief look online, my reaction to Jack's larger plot in this episode was distinctly different from the rest of the fandom, which is calling it a crowning moment and goes hell yeah. Because I was entirely with Max: Jack, what have you done?!? Bring down hell on Nassau (either by the Spanish or by the pirates) just because his ego can't take the idea of Rogers succeeding where he hadn't, and because he so desperately wants to make it into the history books: the pettiness is really breathtaking. At least Flint has the excuse of being fucked up beyond belief, but Jack usually has it all together. So: am definitely Team Lawful Nassau again (currently consisting of Eleanor, Max and Rogers), because not only does Rogers' current goal have a far lesser death count for the general population, he's also not motivated by pure ego.
Meanwhile chez Blackbeard: dear scriptwriters, I love and adore your show, but giving Blackbeard Tony Stark's shrapnel moving towards his heart really nearly yanked me out of the story in inappropriate amusement. Just his bad luck he's not an engineer, I suppose, otherwise he could solve his problem in a cave (tm).
More seriously, I was wondering how they would resolve this Flint versus Blackbeard situation. I suppose they could have killed him ahistorically (they did with Ned Lowe) by letting Flint win the duel, but it wouldn't have felt narratively satisfying since Blackbeard and Flint never shared scenes before this episode. Otoh, Blackbeard had no motive to spare Flint. So I was really curious, and got more so when the scene made it clear that Charles Vane pointing out earlier that Flint after weeks of dehydration and starving was hardly in top physical form which he needed to be to take on Edward Teach was actually going by the logical conclusion (i.e. Flint losing the fight). Otoh, Flint, though a good physical fighter, has always won when he did by getting into people's head (all the way back n the pilot, yes, he defeated Singleton in combat, but would still have lost if not for inventing that story about the page and making Billy confirm it), and that's what he did again earlier in his duel preceding conversation with Vane. (It helps that the previous episode had established Vane is secretly torn about leaving Nassau behind, of course.) And thus Vane ends up on Team Flint, Blackbeard goes off to live longer (whether or not he meets his historical fate), and everyone now needs to find Anne Bonny and her and Jack's share of the treasure, bringing the various plot threads together.
Trivia: so the maid is called Mrs. Hudson - if they mentioned it before, I forgot or didn't hear it - and in her flashback we meet Spanish Intelligence guy likely to show up later.
In conclusion: Mr. Scott's speech about every story needing its villain, and who is made into the villain being crucial, at the episode's bookend is the counterpoint to the Woode Rogers-Jack Rackham and Max-Jack conversations about creating stories as a way to determine them. The show itself keeps pointing out that who the villain and who the hero is keeps shifting and is entirely subjective (leaving aside characters like Ned Lowe or Alfred Hamilton who only show up briefly and are unquestionable villains), and how who and how a story is told is the biggest power of all. It's the kind of self reflective storytelling you can only pull off when your story is really good, which this one is.
