Black Sails 4.03.
Feb. 15th, 2017 04:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakWatched somewhat belatedly, due to RL business.
Berringer suffers the same fate as Ned Lowe in season 2: seemingly introduced as a new major villain, but killed off in the third episode of the season. Though the shocking death of the episode wasn't his; given Teach aka Blackbeard was killed by another governor (and in a different way), I hadn't expected him to bite the bullet, pardon the bad pun, this way and this early (I had considered they'd let Woode Rogers do the honors instead of what's his name, the historical one, since otherwise they'd have to introduce a(nother) new character in the last season, but I had expected this to happen later on). Anyway, Berringer's early demise, like Lowe's, works since both were mainly there as catalysts to push the regular characters into key actions; Lowe to bring Eleanor and Vane back together so that Eleanor's later decision re: Abigail later on would cut all the more deeply, and Berringer to alienate and endanger Max, triggering Eleanor's counter reaction on the one hand. On the other, also to set up the stage for Woode Rogers to cross the line into everyone else's moral shadiness. Well, to do so on screeen; as the Governor points out, he's done the whole going bloodthirsty for a loved one thing before in his backstory, and given the ongoing Flint/Rogers parallels, of course the man Rogers was avenging bloodily in said backstory was called Thomas (though a brother instead of a lover. In terms of the long term narrative, though, the crucial step over the line Rogers takes here isn't so much the keel-hauling of Blackbeard, gruesome as that was, but that it turns out he hadn't told Eleanor the complete truth about what his plan had been (i.e. he had told her he'd let Blackbeard & Co. chase him to lure him away, which he did, only he hadn't told Eleanor the main coal here was to capture and kill Blackbeard & Co.). Withholding information from your partner never ends well on this show.
(Btw: keelhauling (is that the right English term?) was the one Age of Sails atrocity the show hadn't done yet, so go figure it would happen in the last season.)
It's also important that the Governor did tell Berringer the plan re: Blackbeard, because they make related mistakes here. On Nassau ignores Eleanor's advice to deal with Silver discreetly and out of sight instead of engineering a big punishment showdown and thus creates his own doom. Woode Rogers successfully pulls off his daring gambit and trap for Blackbeard, Anne, Jack & Co. by making himself bait, essentially outpirating the pirates, but by choosing a cruel method to execute Teach, his victory turns hollow, and when Blackbeard still isn't dead after the third keel-hauling, he has to put him out of his misery with a gun shot. (BTW, I noticed that Third Soldier From The Right started to decapitate the dead Blackbeard when Rogers had left the deck, which is a nod to history, I suppose.)
Meanwhile, our gang on Nassau reunites in several steps - Madi finds out Silver's alive, Flint rescues Silver, and Billy shows up als the proverbial pirate ax machina to assure victory over Berringer. As Eleanor - who had listened to Max earlier - had seen this coming and commanded some of the soldiers plus Max plus Mrs. Hunter to barricade herself in the Fort with, it means we have now an interestingly fraught shake up: the pirates have reconquered Nassau, but their forces are guaranteed to split up again, not just because of the Billy-Flint shootout an episode earlier and the slaves not forgetting a part of the pirates was willing to see them dead, but because every single time pirates on the show were in control of Nassau, they were feuding with each other. Meanwhile, Woode Rogers has captured the main warship and thus can attack from the sea, but he doesn't have enough backup for an immediate attack, not least because the reinforcements Eleanor was supposed to bring can't arrive as long as she can't leave the island. While Eleanor in the Fort is in a position to threaten the town (and also for now safe from Avenge-Charles-Vane pirates), but otoh also was disgusted by Berringer and aware that yet another bloody reconquering at this point won't solve anything, either, and definitely won't bring her long time goal, Lawful Nassau.
What I hope for: Madi or Flint to be the one negotiating with Eleanor. Flint because their relationship always was interesting, and he's not likely to pull an OMG Charles Vane!!!! on her (or if he did, it would be extremely hypocritical, given that in season 2 he lectured her on being soft on Vane while he, Flint, was willing to sacrifice Gates for the cause), and Madi because they knew each other as girls, and with their relationships to Mr. Scott and positions as rulers in different ways this could be fascinating.
Berringer suffers the same fate as Ned Lowe in season 2: seemingly introduced as a new major villain, but killed off in the third episode of the season. Though the shocking death of the episode wasn't his; given Teach aka Blackbeard was killed by another governor (and in a different way), I hadn't expected him to bite the bullet, pardon the bad pun, this way and this early (I had considered they'd let Woode Rogers do the honors instead of what's his name, the historical one, since otherwise they'd have to introduce a(nother) new character in the last season, but I had expected this to happen later on). Anyway, Berringer's early demise, like Lowe's, works since both were mainly there as catalysts to push the regular characters into key actions; Lowe to bring Eleanor and Vane back together so that Eleanor's later decision re: Abigail later on would cut all the more deeply, and Berringer to alienate and endanger Max, triggering Eleanor's counter reaction on the one hand. On the other, also to set up the stage for Woode Rogers to cross the line into everyone else's moral shadiness. Well, to do so on screeen; as the Governor points out, he's done the whole going bloodthirsty for a loved one thing before in his backstory, and given the ongoing Flint/Rogers parallels, of course the man Rogers was avenging bloodily in said backstory was called Thomas (though a brother instead of a lover. In terms of the long term narrative, though, the crucial step over the line Rogers takes here isn't so much the keel-hauling of Blackbeard, gruesome as that was, but that it turns out he hadn't told Eleanor the complete truth about what his plan had been (i.e. he had told her he'd let Blackbeard & Co. chase him to lure him away, which he did, only he hadn't told Eleanor the main coal here was to capture and kill Blackbeard & Co.). Withholding information from your partner never ends well on this show.
(Btw: keelhauling (is that the right English term?) was the one Age of Sails atrocity the show hadn't done yet, so go figure it would happen in the last season.)
It's also important that the Governor did tell Berringer the plan re: Blackbeard, because they make related mistakes here. On Nassau ignores Eleanor's advice to deal with Silver discreetly and out of sight instead of engineering a big punishment showdown and thus creates his own doom. Woode Rogers successfully pulls off his daring gambit and trap for Blackbeard, Anne, Jack & Co. by making himself bait, essentially outpirating the pirates, but by choosing a cruel method to execute Teach, his victory turns hollow, and when Blackbeard still isn't dead after the third keel-hauling, he has to put him out of his misery with a gun shot. (BTW, I noticed that Third Soldier From The Right started to decapitate the dead Blackbeard when Rogers had left the deck, which is a nod to history, I suppose.)
Meanwhile, our gang on Nassau reunites in several steps - Madi finds out Silver's alive, Flint rescues Silver, and Billy shows up als the proverbial pirate ax machina to assure victory over Berringer. As Eleanor - who had listened to Max earlier - had seen this coming and commanded some of the soldiers plus Max plus Mrs. Hunter to barricade herself in the Fort with, it means we have now an interestingly fraught shake up: the pirates have reconquered Nassau, but their forces are guaranteed to split up again, not just because of the Billy-Flint shootout an episode earlier and the slaves not forgetting a part of the pirates was willing to see them dead, but because every single time pirates on the show were in control of Nassau, they were feuding with each other. Meanwhile, Woode Rogers has captured the main warship and thus can attack from the sea, but he doesn't have enough backup for an immediate attack, not least because the reinforcements Eleanor was supposed to bring can't arrive as long as she can't leave the island. While Eleanor in the Fort is in a position to threaten the town (and also for now safe from Avenge-Charles-Vane pirates), but otoh also was disgusted by Berringer and aware that yet another bloody reconquering at this point won't solve anything, either, and definitely won't bring her long time goal, Lawful Nassau.
What I hope for: Madi or Flint to be the one negotiating with Eleanor. Flint because their relationship always was interesting, and he's not likely to pull an OMG Charles Vane!!!! on her (or if he did, it would be extremely hypocritical, given that in season 2 he lectured her on being soft on Vane while he, Flint, was willing to sacrifice Gates for the cause), and Madi because they knew each other as girls, and with their relationships to Mr. Scott and positions as rulers in different ways this could be fascinating.
