alexwatchesshows

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Right, so I feel like a lot of people know about the taco bell / The terror smut fic events, but does anyone know why? I've managed to find some stuff on people just wanting to write short smut pics for fun/for the hell of it, but why the terror? And, most importantly, why taco bell? Someone help me I'm trying to make a presentation.

[alexwatchesshows]

shows I've enjoyed (October 2024)

The Black Sails E13 review will be here when it's ready.

The Terror (season 1): Yeah we all should have see this coming. Sad old men on boats, queer tragedy, a sense of helplessness, it's all there. This is becoming an obsession to rival Black Sails (ok maybe not quite, but still). To anyone who enjoys Black Sails or who generally exists on this planet, I'd highly recommend watching this.

Gravity Falls: I didn't get to watch much TV as a kid, so sometimes I feel like there's this whole world I missed out of. I definitely needed a break from more serious adult shows and this was just the thing: it was funny, exciting, and had moments of surprising emotional depth. Dipper is trans to me.

Queen Charlotte (Bridgerton): I watched all of Bridgerton last month and it was mostly mediocre in my opinion, but Queen Charlotte really stood out to me. It's portrayal of mental illness wasn't perfect, but there was a surprising amount of nuance and sensitivity. There were also some moments that made me laugh like no other show has in a long while.

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other shows I've enjoyed (September 2024)

This is now just my monthly way of saying sorry it's been so long since I last posted about Black Sails. I am working on it, I'm just very busy. In the meantime, here are a couple of shows that I've watched recently and enjoyed:

Interview With the Vampire: I can see why this fandom overlaps so much with the Black Sails fandom. It's something about messy, historical, slightly tragic gays that really gets to me. Also special mention to Queen of the Damned, which was not a particularly good film, but was very enjoyable in a trashy kind of way.

Sandman: I enjoyed the comics and this adaptation didn't disappoint. There were a few changes made to the story so it better fit a season format, but it overall worked pretty well and incorporated enough of the canon to make a really good adaptation as well as a great show in its own right.

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I'm telling my kids this was The Bad Batch

I did watch Despicable Me 4 this morning and I unironically loved it so much.

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other shows I've enjoyed

Given how long it's taking me to write each episode review (I am writing fairly consistently, they're just long), I thought I'd also do this somewhat regularly just to keep this account semi-active.

The Acolyte- I was shocked by how low some of the reviews of this show were. I loved it, and I need more pre-Phantom Menace content now.

The Mandalorian & The Book of Boba Fett- Top-notch found family content. I do wish that I'd known I was supposed to watch TBoBF between seasons 2 & 3 of The Mandalorian, as I would've been much less confused.

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❌"I've accidentally ended up in a polycule"❌ - boring - could happen to anyone - no mystery

✅"I'm in my Jack Rackham era"✅ - cool - takes some accountability - references history, encourages your acquaintences to learn new things - mysterious: it could mean you're going to sail the high seas as a pirate captain (maybe you are)

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Black Sails XII (S2E4) review

Before we actually get into the meat of this post, I feel the need to explain why there's such a big time gap between the last post and this. Honestly, I've just been swamped with uni. I've been writing this very gradually in bits and pieces so sorry if it feels a bit inconsistent. Hopefully I'll be writing more often during the summer.

Spoilers for up to and including E12.

"I want you to try to talk me out of it."- Thomas Hamilton

We start with Abigail Ashe alone in a cell. I don't have much to say about this starting scene other than that I just feel so awful for her. Looking at the mouldy food and still eating it was a particularly painful way of indicating just how desperate she was. Shockingly, Vane actually makes the situation somewhat better. I'm glad we didn't get another Max-esque storyline, which is a good indicator of the shift in the show's themes and tones, but also helps with the move towards portraying Vane as a more sympathetic character. Honestly, the whole Vane/Abigail dynamic is really interesting because they come from such different backgrounds but in some ways strike me as quite similar people, especially when Vane tells Abigail he cut Ned Low's head off and all she says is "good" (and she says it with such conviction)-- they're both people who've been through hell (for Vane this would have been much longer ago) and have found the strength to keep going, and I think they recognise that strength in each other. Then, on the other hand, there are the ways in which they are so obviously different from each other, to the level where it seems like they have difficulty even communicating, like when Vane is trying to ask if Peter Ashe would pay Abigail's ransom, and Abigail sees it as asking if her father loves her. Arguably this is not the point, as there are other reasons for paying the ransom (like maintaining a clean external image) and, notably, AA doesn't respond with something along the lines of "of course he loves me", but instead reassured Vane that "he'll pay what you ask", but still the fact that Vane didn't even think to frame his question in terms of love really reveals the isolation in which he must have grown up. There's also the moment when Vane asks if Abigail can write (I feel like we established that Vane is illiterate in a previous episode or maybe that's me remembering it from previous watches) and Abigail responding "of course", showing that not only does she have this skill that Vane doesn't but that, in the world that she comes from, it's inconceivable that someone wouldn't be literate. Honestly, I just really love this dynamic.

While he may be able to secure a ransom for AA, Vane is otherwise in deep shit. He knows that Flint knows exactly where to place his ship to take advantage of the otherwise very secure fort, and he doesn't know how he worked that out. Of course, it's possible, given Gates' and Hornigold's relationship, that Flint could have known that already, but he isn't exactly wrong in guessing that there's something else going on. This situation really emphasises the fact that, although the fort's main strength (and purpose) is that it's difficult to break into, this strength also leads to a level of isolation when it comes to getting information in and out. Ultimately, there's no way for Vane to know for sure who's allied with Flint, and he's not exactly wrong in suspecting Eleanor and so, the Eleanor/Vane relationship gets (somehow) even messier! Honestly, say what you want about Eleanor, but she's good at getting what she wants. Somehow, she's managed to convince both Vane and Flint that she's on their sides and I'm honestly not sure whether she knows what side she's on but she's decided she wants strong allies either way and boy has she got them. This doesn't make anything better for Vane, though, and we know by now that he isn't exactly the negotiating type, so his threat to destroy all the ships in the harbour, while not exactly smart, is quite possibly entirely genuine. Actually, that threat pretty much sums up Vane's approach to tactics and negotiation: not nuanced, not necessarily too smart, but definitely effective in sending a message.

Flint, meanwhile is taking a slightly more tactical approach to things. Sure, he still wants to destroy Vane through pretty much any means possible, but he is at least a bit worried about what the destruction of the fort would mean. He knows, as we as the audience are slowly learning, that, as a "pirate republic", Nassau is constantly vulnerable to any forces of any empire that should choose to attack it and claim the territory as its own and he is also aware that there is a nearby British warship posing a very real threat to them. Eleanor, whose main interest at the moment seems to be the survival of an independent Nassau, preferably with her in a position of power, isn't thrilled with this idea, but she's evidently having difficulty convincing Flint that this reluctance doesn't come from her feelings for Vane, so he remains dedicated to doing whatever he must to get Vane out of the fort.

Through this dilemma (getting Vane out of the fort vs. preserving the fort) we get a bit of insight into how Flint sees himself as he turns to Silver for support (always a mistake). Silver has been sitting in the background for all of the discussions but not saying anything, which pretty much sums up his role in the plot at this point. He's accepted his role as Flint's right-hand man: managing other people & tasks for him as a kind of go-between, but now Flint is drawing him more into his confidence, asking if the pirates of Nassau "see [him] as the villain" in the conflict between him and Vane. We've seen bits of this heroes/villains mentality from him before (especially when you replace "villain" with monster") in his vision of him as a king and saviour of Nassau, driving it to become something greater that he will be admired and thanked for, opposing the portrayal of pirates as the enemies of England and how he became a monster to them. Silver is not the person to consult on this inner conflict, though. He initially seems to see this as a "are you with me or against me?" type question, reassuring Flint that, for as long as he remains Silver's best chance of getting his share of the gold, he'll stand by him. For Flint, however, who has just opened voiced his biggest insecurity to Silver, this was not the answer he was looking for. Oh, miscommunication, my old enemy. In light of this, I see his response of "it must be awful being you" as one of genuine bafflement at the difference between his and Flint's views of the world, less as one designed to mock/belittle Flint, which is probably how Flint takes it. These two are going to destroy each other.

Still, Silver goes to Nassau to do Flint's bidding and discovers none other than our good friend Billy Bones. We don't really get much of this so I don't have much to say other than that my heart broke for him when he asked for Gates. Nobody in this show can have a healthy father figure.

Eleanor, meanwhile, is doing all she can to stop Flint from firing on the fort, and decides that Miranda is her only option. Miranda, however, knows Flint better than Eleanor, and knows that no one can make him see reason when he's this focussed on something. Still, Eleanor pushes her and eventually crosses some kind of line, resulting in Miranda calling her out on how she has, up until this point "encouraged" Flint's violence. This is an interesting way to view Flint-- as if his violence is almost a separate being inside of him-- like Admiral Hennesy referred to his "darkness"-- that has grown over the course of his time in Nassau. It also sheds some light on Miranda's desire to leave Nassau-- it's not just that she's dissatisfied with her life on the island, but that she might be concerned for what it's turning Flint into. Now, on top of this reminder of how much the two of them have changed, there is a reminder of their old life-- mentioned by Pastor Lambrick in another one of his bitching sessions-- Abigail Ashe.

While most of the others are fighting over the future of Nassau, Jack, Anne, and Max are embroiled in some next-level relationship drama. At the beginning of the episode, we see Anne lying between the two, leaning on Jack, which pretty much shows their dynamic at that point-- Anne is torn between the two of them, but still feels closer to/safer with Jack. Jack, meanwhile, remains wary of Max, more so after he sees her teach Idelle how to seduce Featherstone, which is both a hilarious scene and one that shows quite how skilled Max is at manipulating people. I'm not saying that she's manipulating Anne, but Jack's not necessarily wrong in his concern that she could if she wanted to. Max seems to be operating under the assumption that Anne will have to make a choice between her and Jack and that, if such a choice were presented, that she'd stand a chance, but Anne's reassurance to Jack that "there ain't shit [Max] can do to get between [them]". Jack, reasonably, isn't feeling great about his whole situation, but Anne is very firm in her assertion that, compared to what she has done for Jack in the past, this is nothing and maybe he should just put up with it. To soften that blow, something finally goes right for Jack and he gets not just a ship and crew, but his much-desired position as captain. You win some, you lose some, I guess.

This is a big episode for the flashbacks. We transition to the first flashback with a ticking clock, which is important for later episodes, just trust me on this. Shit is going down in the Hamilton household, but James and Miranda are in the clear for now. Instead, a new horrible father figure arrives on the scene. As Thomas introduces him, he is all his titles before he is Thomas' father, and it's clear from the beginning that they can expect no support from him and Thomas, the man that he is, decides that this is the perfect time to introduce another, significantly more controversial element to his and James' plan for dealing with the pirates of Nassau: the pardon. Both men know how dangerous this suggestion could be in light of England's war with Spain, which is why Thomas asks for James to talk him out of it, and why James tries his very best to do just that, appealing to both his authority as liason to the admiralty and his friendship with Thomas, but ultimately failing to convince him.

Then, Alfred Hamilton comes onto the scene. I think we could all see this kind of pushback against James & Thomas' plan coming at some point, but with Alfred Hamilton, it's personal, and he's cruel about it in a way that only someone who knows Thomas (and Miranda, to a lesser extent) could be. He consistently, almost doggedly, ignores Thomas' arguments, regardless of how convincing they are, and instead turns to James as an apparent voice of reason. It reminds me of how parents (and this is definitely vague and not at all from personal experience) compare their kids to one of their friends/peers to emphasise their failings, never saying but always suggesting that they'd rather have said peer as a child. But James is having absolutely none of this. If anything, hearing Alfred Hamilton belittle Thomas and mock Miranda is what pushes him to speak out, and boy does he speak out. He supports the pardons ("I found his argument to be persuasive"), Thomas' morals-- which Alfred Hamilton highlighted as a weakness of his son, as if he was too soft ("I find his intent to be good and true"), reveals Alfred Hamilton's lack of morals to be a weakness in his view ("I find [your intent] to be wanting"), and then kicks a fucking lord out of his own house. You can definitely see how this man ended up becoming one of the most powerful pirate captains of Nassau. But, in that moment of bravery, he's put himself (and Miranda, more so than she already was) "in the line of fire". Throughout the flashbacks, we've been told again and again how powerful Alfred Hamilton is and now James has made an enemy of him. I can't see how this could end well, but, in that moment, James doesn't care. In that moment, regardless of how much danger he may personally be in, his immediate instinct is to reassure Thomas, telling him that "[he's] a good man, [and] more people should say that, and someone should be willing to defend it". You can see how much it means for both of them. I doubt Thomas has ever had anyone stand up for him like that, with the way we've just seen his father treat him, and I'm not sure whether James has ever had anyone/anything to fight for in the way he's currently fighting for Thomas and his plan for Nassau. As the scene ends they both have tears in their eyes and so do I.

Now, in a break from my usual format, we're going back to Nassau for the ending scene because this really needs to be at the end of my review. It's always jarring to see the change from McGraw to Flint, the reminder of some disaster that we're yet to see. Flint and Mr Scott are talking about their memories of Nassau and Flint recognises Mr Scott's role in both Richard and Eleanor Guthrie's (he's possibly the first one in the show so far to do so) and actually asks for his advice (again, something that we don't see either of the Guthries do). Mr Scott, in his infinite wisdom, advises against Flint's ultimate goal of achieving complete control over Nassau, but this is probably the last piece of advice that Flint's going to listen to, and, instead, the word we end the episode on is "fire".

[alexwatchesshows]

was not expecting to get emotional at the end of return of the jedi, but here we are.

[alexwatchesshows]

update: I'm still doing this

Hey all, just thought I'd drop in to give a little update given that it's been more than a month (possibly more than 2) since my last post. I promise that I'm still alive and well and actively working on my Black Sails S2E4 post. It's just taking a while because I've been very busy with uni and other life stuff.

As I work on my analytical TV reviews, I also like to watch some shows and films for fun. 2 that I've particularly enjoyed recently have been Nimona and The Bad Batch (Star Wars).

You can also see my pinned post for other socials where I may or may not be more active. Please stick with me-- I promise I'm not deserting this account, it's just tricky to write 2000+ word episode reviews on top of my actual 2000 word essays for my degree.

[alexwatchesshows]

Black Sails XI (S2E3) review

Spoilers for up to and including E11.

"You'll either be the death of each other or we'll all end up working for you someday."- Charles Vane

Finally the end of Ned Low, thank fucking god. Vane's reasoning for the whole endeavour is a little all over the place. Max isn't exactly wrong in calling him out on being motivated by his feelings by Eleanor and using the "prize" to explain his moves to his men. I also get the sense that neither of those are what he uses to justify the efforts he went through to himself, though. There was something about Ned Low that felt a little like Charles Vane going completely off the rails and seeing his worst aspects reflected back couldn't have been fun. Still, maybe he's more at peace with his feelings for Eleanor than he normally seems, as he doesn't accept Max's offer of teaching how to stop caring about her (it would be interesting to know what exactly Max would have said if he'd said yes, though). Speaking of Low being Vane's worst traits reflected back at him, that whole interaction between them is unhinged. Low wants a partnership with Vane, as he can only see and appreciate the physical power that Vane holds in having control of the fort, a crew and being a strong fighter himself, and not the type of tactical, political power that Eleanor holds, and thinks that with the might of the two of them combined they'd have no issues whatsoever. Normally this would sound like Vane's kind of reasoning, but, whether it's because of his feelings for Eleanor or him maturing in his reasoning, he doesn't take him up on the offer. Instead, we get an absolutely feral fight between the two of them, which really emphasises the "two sides of the same coin" thing, alongside Vane's crew swimming up to Low's ship with fucking knives in their mouths and then killing the rest of his crew. Honestly, by the time Low's head ends up on a pike in the middle of Nassau, I'm not sure whether Vane was a better option.

Whatever it means for Nassau, Vane killing Low definitely gets him back in Eleanor's good books (jesus christ those two just keep making each other worse). I love that he still insists to Eleanor that he didn't kill Low for her. I'm not even sure what he was trying to achieve by telling her that, regardless of what his intentions were. Honestly, maybe he's just a man. And he has Abigail Ashe now. Great.

One upside of the whole Vane/Low/Eleanor debacle is that, as a favour to Max, Vane publicly forgives Anne and Jack. He didn't even seem that bothered by what they'd done to his crew so he was either a) faking nonchalance so they don't know they've gotten to him, b) only pretending to be mad at them because condoning killing your crew isn't a good look, or c) he is literally incapable of holding one opinion or feeling for more than a week. Honestly, I'm leaning towards c, given what we've seen so far, although he does make sure Jack and Anne know that he's only forgiving them as a favour to her, I guess just to keep us all guessing.

Regardless of their career prospects, all is not well between Jack and Anne (but, honestly, when is it ever). Anne is spending more and more time with Max and, as a result, less time with Jack. In return, Jack is going out looking for a crew (albeit unsuccessfully, prior to Vane's intervention) without Anne. Despite this, they actually end up communicating (a rare win)! Anne knows that Max might be manipulating her, Jack knows that Anne can't help her feelings for Max (and is shockingly relaxed about the whole situation), and Anne decides that the solution to this whole dilemma is for them to all sleep together, and, honestly, it seems to work? Good for them. It's also worth noting that this is the first time that Anne is actually undressed around Max, and honestly the connotations of Jack being the only one she feels safe around are both heartbreaking and heartwarming. What a trio, I'm sure nothing will ever go wrong with this.

Meanwhile, over on the Walrus, an equally complicated partnership seems to be forming between Silver and Flint. Dufresne is still quartermaster, which is honestly a very smart and Flint-like move, both in the "keep your friends close and your enemies closer" sense and also because Dufresne did actually make a decent quartermaster, but Silver now holds equal, if not greater, power with the crew. His reports have continued and, as the whole crew now joing in with the foot stomping thing, we can see that, as he predicted, him and his reports are now both needed and appreciated. He's no longer just talking to the crew about the crew, though-- he's also passing down messages from Flint. Against all odds, he's managed to make himself valuable to both crew and captain. In this sense, he definitely holds more power than Dufresne, and is possibly heading towards rivalling Flint. For Flint, all this change is something that he knows he'll have to explain to Eleanor, and, as Dufresne points out, he'll have to, one way or another, justify Gates' death, whether he tells the truth or not. What Flint doesn't expect, however, are the changes that have happened in Nassau since he left (he still references Hornigold controlling the fort, taking for an unchangable fact, as it has likely been the case since he came to Nassau).

We also see that Miranda has not been idle since Flint left (good for her). She seems to have given up on any hopes of getting out of Nassau for the time being and has instead turned to the inner islanders for some level of community. This, of course, is something that Eleanor knows and wants to exploit. Look, I really want to like Eleanor as a character, but it's hard. She starts her conversation with Miranda by implying that she is unremarkable, and that Flint doesn't see her as important, then tries to leverage Miranda's relationships with the inner islanders, then starts questioning Flint and Miranda's relationship. Like Pastor Lambrick, she assumes that Flint and Miranda must hold some kind of leverage over each other that forms the basis for their relationship. Unlike Lambrick, however, she doesn't assume that Miranda is a passive victim in this situation. Somehow, people seem to be incapable of believing that Flint and Miranda just care for each other, or whatever more complicated variation of that that we're slowly learning about through the flashbacks. For her part, Miranda lends weight to the suggestion that it is their shared past that brings her and Flint together. As she tells Eleanor, we, as the audience, and the pirates on Nassau "perceive the effects of Captain Flint's demons, echoes of their voices [but she] know[s] their names. [She] was there when they were born" and, as a result, she knows more of Flint than Eleanor could even understand. Eleanor, after all, doesn't even seem to recognise who Miranda is talking about when she first refers to Flint as James, and apparently has no idea of what his past (the past that we are starting to learn about) might include. So, Eleanor leaves the interaction with very little gained in terms of political power, but potentially more knowledge of Flint (insofar as knowing that there's stuff she doesn't know can be counted as knowledge) and, as Flint arrives in Nassau, she's about to learn a whole lot more.

Flint now trusts Silver enough to make choose him to acompany him into Nassau to get provisions. Almost immediately, they notice that things have changed as Hornigold's flag is now on the beach, but, at least from my perspective, very little of Nassau itself has changed. We are reminded of just how much has happened since they left when Flint arrives to Eleanor looking for a new bodyguard (the Walrus crew were away for more or less the whole Ned Low situation). Honestly, as this series continues, the Eleanor/Flint dynamic really grows on me, and I love that hug between them. They (at least to an extent) trust each other and were evidently worried about each other as they were managing their respective crises, but neither of them is entirely happy with how those crises were managed. Flint is just generally bitter about anything that Vane does (and vice versa) because of the rivalry they just keep up because they can. Eleanor tries to convince Flint that he's being a little bit dramatic about the whole thing, but, as we all know by now, once Flint's made his mind up about something, nobody can convince him to change it. I can sympathise much more with Eleanor's concern about Flint's story-- I don't doubt that she knew he could be violent (he is a pirate captain after all), but murdering his second in command and best friend to pursue a course of action that was evidently a bad idea to begin with is a new level even for Flint. Even turning her use of "what was necessary" back on her doesn't reassure her or convince her that it was the only reasonable course of action, and, even by the end of the conversation, she still seams much more wary of Flint than she was when they were first reunited, a wariness that remains when she later tries to confront Mr Scott about him. She sees that "something is different about [Flint]" from when they last talked and, in all fairness, killing his best friend, surviving a mutiny and a shipwreak and then retaking his position as captain really has taken a toll on him. Flint is, somehow, even less trusting, and even more haunted. Eleanor also tries to talk to Flint about Miranda, but, as we've seen before, getting this man to open up about his past is basically impossible.

While Flint and Eleanor are discussing Gates' death, Hornigold and Silver are having a very similar conversation. Hornigold points out, not incorrectly, that Flint seems to be very good at getting rid of anyone who gets even remotely close to him, but Silver is unbothered. Despite his growing connection to the crew, he still argues that he's only in this whole thing for the money, and that, so long as he doesn't start to believe in Flint, he's safe.

Despite Eleanor's reassurances, when he and Silver reunite, Flint's still pretty mad about Vane holding the fort. Even Silver tries to talk him down, trying to remind him of the irreversable changes he could bring about by directly confronting Vane and so obviously aligning himself with Hornigold. Really, when Silver tells you you're going too far, you should know there's a problem, but Flint decides to go ahead and make another one of his speeches. Ending the episode on "I will rain holy hell down upon him" can't be a good sign, can it?

Then there are the London flashbacks. James and Thomas are getting close and are working better and better on trying to resolve the Nassau problem. Meanwhile, things are developing between James and Miranda. It almost looks like the backstory that Richard Guthrie gave is coming to fruition, but, while the actions by themselves match up with his story, the attitudes of the three of them don't. When the three of them are in a room together at the beginning of the episode, it doesn't seem like James and Miranda are somehow keeping secrets or even considering anything like that. Instead, we see the easy companionship between Miranda and Thomas that they are both inviting James into, in this case, through books. It's worth noting that Don Quixote, the book that Miranda gives James, saying that it might help him manage Thomas, is about a man who goes mad and decides he's a knight on a mission to vanquish some vague evil (this is a massive oversimplification, but I read it a while ago and can't remember a whole lot). Essentially, I think Miranda is joking that Thomas will fight for what he thinks is right, regardless of whether it's achievable or what other people think is happening. Given the nature of their relationship, I don't think she's maliciously implying that he's wrong/mad, more just affectionately teasing him about his "impossible" mission. It's also a sweet but also painful parallel to Flint saving La Galatea (another book by Cervantes) for Miranda. They just really love to draw comparisons between those two time periods just to make us hurt, don't they?

We then get a little bit of just James and Miranda. To be honest, I'm not sure how I feel about this whole scene (for now I'm shutting off the gay part of my brain that short circuitted seeing shirtless McGraw). On the one hand, Miranda, as a woman, seeking out a relationship and taking that initiative is subversive, and, especially given the historical context of this show, it doesn't have the same dynamic as it would if a man sought out a woman's house and showed up unannounced, but there's also the class element to the power dynamic. As someone from a working class background, whose career is more or less dependent on being on good terms with the aristocracy, McGraw doesn't necessarily hold all the power in this situation, and Miranda showing up at his place without warning could actually put him at a very real risk. There are always two sides to a situation, and Miranda isn't wrong when she tries to convince James that "there is an inverse relationship between the degree of one's happiness and the concer one suffers for what the neighbours think", and making him aware of the less traditional relationship structures that can exist with the consent of all parties is well-intentioned and has the potential to be a really valuable thing for James, but what she doesn't fully recognise is that, while she and Thomas are okay with rumours, as they can ignore them, James has every reason to be more wary. Ultimately, quietly taking Miranda back to her house was probably the most tactful response to this situation. During this, Miranda takes the opportunity to read him like a fucking book. I don't have a neat way to integrate all these quotes but I feel like they need to be included: "I imagine there are two kinds of men who make their life at sea. Those whose sense of duty forces them to leave any snese of permenance or identity behind them and those for whom that is the attraction"; "I think you're someone who's very good at managing how you're perceived and perhaps getting what you want without anyone ever knowing that you did it or perhaps even if it ever happened". Like, damn, she can just read him like that. It also emphasises a number of similarities between James as McGraw and James as Captain Flint, suggesting that maybe he hasn't fundamentally changed as a person in the years between these two plotlines, but more that different situations have brought different aspects of his personality out. Ultimately, Miranda does seem to figure out the source of James' reluctance to enter into any kind of relationship with her (once they'd both established that Thomas is okay with it), that "[he's] more concerned with whether or not people talk about what [Miranda and James] are doing behind closed doors than with what [they] actually are doing", even if she maybe can't fully grasp the reason behind him feeling this way. Then there's the kiss, suggesting the beginning of their relationship. As I wrote earlier, the external situation seems to be set up as what Richard Guthrie recounted, but what the characters themselves have said doesn't match up-- especially the care that both James and Miranda have for Thomas, and his acceptance of any kind of relationship they might have.

But clearly something happened, as we now see Flint and Miranda in Nassau. Although Miranda has now found some kind of community among the inner islanders, it's a big difference from what we see of her life in London.

Then there's the inscription in the book Flint leaves for her. It's so soft and intimate, and yet it also reminds us of their fight in season one. Miranda is happier, but Flint wouldn't get them out of Nassau, and now Miranda is building a kind of life wihout him, much like he did with his life as a pirate.

We can see the beginning and the end now, but not how the two link up.

[alexwatchesshows]

So, I'm watching Black Sails with some friends starting tomorrow (this has no bearing on my rewatch and reviews for this acc) and I wanted to make a Black sails bingo that could be used for each episode. It would include things like "fuck you Jack" and "Flint gets covered in blood". Has anyone got any other ideas for things I could include?

I'll post the final version if I can piece one together.

[alexwatchesshows]

Black Sails X review (S2E2)

Spoilers for up to and including E10.

"Strange pairs, Lieutenant, they can achieve the most unexpected things."- Thomas Hamilton

Billy's back! I mean, he's being tortured, but he is still technically back. Unfortunately, because my brain only ever wants to cause me pain, my first thought was of what he's going to go through when he finds out Gates is dead.

We go from that awful biblical torture, to Thomas Hamilton reading the Bible (I want to say Genesis, but I truly know so little about it), and I'll get to the flashbacks later but the way the camera pans over to Flint as Thomas reads "it is not good that he is alone" just breaks my heart.

Anyway, first to Nassau, where shit's getting real. Ned Low's quartermaster is mad at him because he did massively fuck up with the blood on the crates and all that, but Low's violent, vulgar humour and whatever the hell that personality is has somehow won over his men. It's a bit like the season 1 Flint/Gates dynamic, in that Low has convinced his men to go along with his bullshit under the promise of some kind of passive payout, while painting the logical quartermaster as some kind of villains for pointing out flaws in the plan. In this situation, however, the captain seems to be completely irredemable and his plan for massive riches is to endanger and exploit a teenage girl. It's a much harder sell for the audience than attacking an empire. Missing the support of his crew, Meeks seeks support from Eleanor, who is less than happy about her reputation as someone who "(deposes) captains", given what it did to her the last time she did it. I mean, as it was with Vane, it would probably be a good idea to get rid of Low, just on the basis of him being kind of evil and also a massive dickhead, but, again, looking at where Vane is now, I can see why she wouldn't want to risk it. Speaking of Vane, he has somehow been talked into attending the consortium meetings, even if all he does during them is smoke and look general detached from everything. Baby steps, I guess.

Vane's attendence is the only thing that's going well for Eleanor and the consortium, though. The whole shipping plan that was presented as the solution to everything last season is barely working, and, even worse for Eleanor, it's her family name that's the problem. Vane's reputation is proving useful, but, as he (at least feels that he) holds all the power, it's down to him to decide whether Eleanor and her consortium can coninue to hold any power in Nassau, which is not ideal, because he's unreliable at best. Still, he's not entirely wrong when he refers to Eleanor as "a tyrant too weak to enforce her own tyranny". It's a harsh interpretation, sure, but it's not necessarily fully incorrect. Maybe it's this accusation of weakness that pushes her to take a harder stance with Ned Low. That was probably a bad place to start, though, because that man does not care about anything and angering him only results in further violence. Like, a lot of violence.

This level of violence is probably what causes Eleanor to relent and go to Vane for help. She knows that she can't appeal to him with her power, as he's already expressed his disdain for her "tyranny", so she appeals to his "concern" for her. Honestly, these two just keep making each other worse, but maybe if Ned Low's downfall can be brought about as a result of their dysfunctional relationship, maybe it's worth it. And then there's the "prize" Eleanor mentions. Poor Abigail Ashe.

And while violent shit is going down at Eleanor's bar thing, soft, romantic shit is going down at the brothel. I love this plotline so much-- the way it shows Anne slowly coming to terms with her sexuality and processing what it means for her and Jack is just so well-done in all its complexity and,,, emotion. Oh god I love them all so much. This is also possibly the first relationship in the show that is portrayed in a genuinely romantic way, and it's a sapphic relationship, which is one of the many reasons I love this show. It would also have been so easy to just take this whole Anne/Max/Jack dynamic and just put Jack in the role of jealous boyfriend and portray Anne and Max's relationship as just cheating, but my beloved Black Sails had better plans than that. Instead, we show Anne's internal conflict between her feelings for Jack and what she feels she owes him and her feelings for Max-- ones she probably hasn't let herself acknowledge before. Similarly, we all know by now that Jack isn't the kind of person to cause a massive scene and confront the other two, nor does he necessarily even want to. Instead, he just turns up to talk about his business plans. I mean, those are some good ideas, but there's a time and a place. They could also have had Jack go down the route of just completely ignoring the relationship, diminishing the importance/significance of sapphic relationships, but instead we get his wonderful reaction: "Darling, I can understand why you wouldn't want to tell me about this, but please know that all I have ever wanted is for you to be happy. Come to bed when you're through." Just everything about it, from the tenderness of the darling, to the acknowledgement of the conflict Anne must be feeling, and the way his love for her just radiates off him. I don't think I've ever loved Jack (or Anne for that matter) as much as in this moment.

Now to the Walrus crew (technically not on the Walrus but I can't be asked to differentiate at this point). Our unlikely couple are finally getting their shit together and making each other worse. Silver is still asserting that he does not want to be a pirate, and is simply sticking with the crew for the sake of Flint's get rich quick scheme. Flint is so committed to being a pirate that he's going to take down the british empire... somehow. These two are obviously going to work so well together. Both of them are using manipulation as their tactic of choice, but on different levels. Flint knows what he wants and goes directly for leadership. He starts with a slightly misguided attempt at small talk about books with Dufresne (he's so me fr), then turns the conversation into a confession, as if he believes that he can convince Dufresne that he's really really sorry and then Dufresne will just let him be captain again. Don't get me wrong, I do believe Flint when he says the guilt is killing him, but I just don't thing D is the best audience for this. Flint also knows this, as he (maybe) goes for a different tactic. It's never made explicit whether Flint meant to deceive or advise Dufresne. I'm sure his intentions weren't purely to help Dufresne, but he might have genuinely been advising Dufresne for the reasons he believed-- that if Dufresne had successfully taken a prize, his position would have been much more secure. I think it's much like the scene with Billy, neither we nor, possibly, Flint, know what his intentions were. Either way, Dufresne goes ahead with Flint's idea, one that De Groot approves of from a sailing perspective, which really says something about Flint's talent not just as a leader of men, but as a sailor. It really makes you think about what would have happened had he not had to leave London for whatever those reasons were.

As Dufresne's mission to capture a merchant ship goes on, it becomes harder to believe that Flint has the crew's best interests at heart. He narrates the whole thing to Silver and clearly knows what Dufresne should be doing, but makes no effor to advise him on this. As a result, the attack quickly goes downhill. Dufresne also runs into another problem-- aside from his lack of experience-- which is that he doesn't have Flint's notoriety and nor does he have the charisma to make up for it. It's probably this that tips the merchant captain off and gives him the confidence to call for his crew to resist. Then Dufresne's lack of experience also comes through as he doesn't know how to handle the crew in such a situation. Controlling a crew under fortunate circumstances is one thing, but, as we've seen with Flint, retaining their loyalty under hardship and chaos is something else entirely. Dufresne took control of the Walrus crew after a patch of difficulty under Flint, then found fortune under his time as leader but, as soon as he has to deal with something like this, he crumbles. As Mr Logan points out "no one is in fucking charge" on the ship-- Dufresne is too stubborn to give up on a mission that the rest of the crew have lost faith in, De Groot, voice of wisdom though he may be, doesn't hold much authority as a leader, and Flint is still disgraced. Ultimately, Flint is essentially decided as the best option, helped by his willingness to immediately order an effective retreat. Then he heads off to the captain's quarters with all the confidence in the world. The vote hasn't even happened yet, but he knows how to lead well enough to know exactly what he's just done.

At the end of the day, he's still nice to Dufresne, reassuring him that the vote was close-- Flint isn't the type to gloat, at least not in such an over way, and Dufresne could still be a powerful ally. And, most importantly, Flint has a new jacket.

Silver, meanwhile, is taking a different approach to winning back his position on the crew. Honestly, this showcases what I love about S1/2 Silver: he's scrappy. He's not necessarily inherently a team player, but he knows how to work with and against people to ensure his own survival, and, unlike (sorry) Flint, he does it in such an entertaining way that he also ensures that he's well-liked. Flint, god bless his autistic heart, has absolutely no idea what the hell Silver is playing at, and Silver gives him some kind of story about his past. Now, given Silver's track record of lying his ass off, we have no idea whether or not this is true, but, regardless, it's the only insight we've got into his life pre-merchant vessel. Honestly, it doesn't tell us a whole lot that we don't know-- well-off men were rarely conscripted onto merchant vessels as crew members-- but it still fleshes out the sense of powerlessness and potential tragedy in Silver's past. Either way, as the days go by, Silver's ploy of playing the men off against each other starts yielding some results, and, as Flint-- who he has formed an uneasy alliance with-- comes back into power, his survival becomes almost guaranteed.

And now we get more London flashabcks, i.e. backstory of Flint's previous unlikely partnership. In this partnership, however, Flint/McGraw is the realist, and Thomas is the dreamer. He's the one who tells McGraw that, in approaching Nassau, he should forget the pirates. Sure, he's not necessarily wrong in framing piracy as a symptom of a wider issue, but very few men, let alone members of the nobility, would have had the optimism and insight to take that approach. McGraw still tries to point out the flaws in the rest of the plan, listing the extensive resources that would be needed to establish stability on Nassau, and still Thomas is unfazed. I'm not sure whether he's being incredily smart or incredibly stupid about this, but honestly I support him.

Then we get a little insight into the other side of McGraw's life-- his relationships within the navy. It's clear that Admiral Hennesy holds him in some regard, and sees his potential (honestly, he's giving father-figure vibes in this scene, not necessarily good ones though), but, because of his class status, his peers don't hold him in that level of regard. This is yet another problem with the empire/civilisation that we haven't explored much yet, but classism is clearly a massive problem in both James' life and British society as a whole. Then, as the taunting continues, we see what we recognise as Flint's kind of passion and violence arise in McGraw, and a fight breaks out. Hell, he even looks more like the man we know as Flint as he gets roughed up and even gets some blood on him (a key aspect of Flint's appearance). I don't blame him for reacting, but Hennesy isn't wrong when he expresses about "the thing that arises in (James) when passions are aroused [where] ... good sense escaped [him]", and what it could become when "exposed to extremes", which we have already seen with Gates, and which I can't help but think is going to make some kind of comeback in episodes to come.

[alexwatchesshows]

I'm watching 1.7 and the break in Flint's voice when Gates is questioning him in the stable and he's like "I'm trying to answer the question" is devastating. The facial acting that Toby is doing here is like, he does great body language here and the trembling voice and nervous swallowing and darting eyes, you can see him trying to stave off some kind of extreme anxiety attack. Because. Like. God the flashbacks he must be having to London and Hennessey and Alfred Hamilton. Anyway, what he is saying just gets more and more desperate throughout the exchange, but legit he is trying to level with Gates the only way that he can in this moment. There is no version of Flint right now who could tell the whole truth, bc of his background, bc of the trauma, bc of what happened last time he trusted someone like that. So when we see what appears to be a mental BREAK, and he tells Gates his vision of sequestering a portion of the Urca gold for the future of Nassau and their men, that's him trying to explain his motivation the best way he can.

And the worst part is, he just sounds crazy and meglomaniacal and Machiavellian and DERANGED. It's exactly the wrong thing to say to Gates at that moment, they have already broken apart, it's too little too late, it's ten years too late!! Gates is hearing a lying maniac being conniving and cold and awful about Billy. But tbh, when I hear Flint say "He fell. Why? What do you think happened?" I just hear someone that WE KNOW doesn't know in his heart of hearts WHAT HE DID, WHAT HAPPENED, and he just... it would be easier if someone just told him.

I know we joke about Flint being full of SHIT, and he is in MUCH of the show, he does SO MUCH LYING. But this entire exchange doesn't feel like that. It feels like he's cracking and reaching and grasping and trying. And he has no earthly idea what path he would even take to get Gates back on side.

Gates says, "This is what we do. You orate and you dissemble and I look the other way..."

And the saddest fucking part, the most tragic of the tragedy is that HE'S NOT WRONG. That is what they do!! and it's. It's over! It's too much!

But poor fucking Captain, he just... He doesn't know how else to be.

And with regard to SilverFlint, and their arc... I've been thinking this go round about why it's different from Flint's relationship with Miranda or with Gates or with anyone...

And, well... It really is just a case of finding deep understanding from a person you never expected, isn't it?

At first it is extremely begrudging, because he doesn't have another choice, unwilling allies due to strife. But eventually it does becomes voluntary.

At its core, I think the reason that relationship is different, is because that becomes clear to Flint over time, and then he is able to offer up all the sides of himself to be further collated and understood.

And then faster than the speed of fucking light we get to 3.10 and 4.9: "You asked me where I began, and I felt that you were entitled to an answer. To the truth." and "I cannot do it without you." Silver says, "We might be friends by then" and by fuckin god they ARE. "As my partner as my friend" and "You know of me all I can bear to be known. All that is relevant to be known. That is to say, you know my genuine friendship and loyalty." So, what I've been circling is... sitting down in the woods and just telling Silver everything that happened in London is exactly what he can't do with Gates in 1.7 :////

[alexwatchesshows]

Disovered you thanks to Black Sails post. Love it <3 2 shows I will recommend to add for future polls. Galavant - comedy musical - 18 eps total Wynonna Earp - think Supernatural but with badass ladies instead - 49 ep total

Tsym! I'm still surprised that there are people reading my posts lmao.

I haven't watched either of those shows but they both sound great. I like to watch shows at least once before covering them on this account as a) it gives me a chance to see if I think I can write enough about them/if I want to write about them and b) I can just enjoy my first watch without thinking about what I'm going to write about it. I've added them both to my to-watch list and, once I've watched them once, I'll add them to future polls.

Thanks so much for the recommendations :)

[alexwatchesshows]

Black Sails IX (S2E1) review

Spoilers for up to and including E9.

"Great men are made great by one thing and one thing only— the relentless pursuit of a better world. They don't give up that pursuit; they don't know how, and that's what makes them invincible"- Miranda Hamilton/Barlow

We start with a cold open, much like the beginning of E1, with a pirate crew boarding a merchant ship. The captain of the merchant ship is a bit of a pirate stan, and also basically runs us through all the stuff we thought we'd learnt about pirates in S1: "these are men not monsters", fear is only used as a tool for surrender, if they surrender easily they shouldn't be hurt, etc. Basically all the stuff that proved that pirates were just men forced into a violent job and further demonised by "civilisation"'s propaganda. Then that's all turned on its head by Ned Low. To be honest, I don't like Ned Low (obviously not as a person, but even as a character), he does nothing for me. I guess he's useful to add some complexity to the whole pirates thing, but inherently bad/evil characters do very little for me personally. Then we get a little hint of plot with Abigail Ashe, a girl presumably of the british upper class, who was drugged and kept on board the merchant vessel. Nothing's come of that yet, though.

Then Ned Low heads off to Nassau, which could honestly already do with less of whatever the hell he's trying to sell. I feel like Ned Low would be a customer service worker's nightmare. He gets fined for blood-soaked property, then goes to flirt with Eleanor to get a refund or whatever. Eleanor, meanwhile, is a bit done with men. Vane seems to be loving the idea of having control of the fort and, therefore, Nassau, but, as we saw with his crew in S1, he can't actually be bothered to do anything to, you know, control it. He's got his power and now he's happy to let the world fall apart around him. Then he goes on a random rant comparing himself to Eleanor and just making a bunch of assumptions that don't necessarily ring true. Eleanor is not having a good day with men imposing their emotions/experiences on her, so it tracks that when Ned Low comes and tries to do basically the exact same thing she tells him to leave. I've never loved her more.

Over in the brothel, Jack is having a shit time of it. The one thing he truly cares about is his name, and Vane has well and truly ruined that for him. Anne is sympathetic, but unfortunately the only form of comfort she knows how to offer is murder, which wouldn't really work in these circumstances. It probably also doesn't help that it was partially her murdering that got Jack into his current situation. Max tries to smooth things over with both of them, which doesn't really work to begin with, and is definitely worsened by her just fully owning up to selling leads without Jack or Anne's knowledge (even if her reasoning was sound), then we get that scene with Max and Anne. We had hints of this coming up, and anyone who knows much about Anne Bonny as a historical figure knows that she wasn't straight, but I didn't fully expect this specific relationship. I also didn't fully trust Black Sails to do such beautiful queer representation (the only previous sapphic relationship felt very directed towards the male gaze and generally pretty awkward, not quite forced, but it didn't feel natural like this did). This, though, is emotional and beautiful and soft. The way Anne goes from holding the knife to Max's throat to dropping it as the kiss goes on, the way Max doesn't seem worried by Anne's holding the knife. This is quite possibly the most romantic show of intimacy on the show so far.

The main focus of this episode, though, was the Walrus crew and their attack on the Spanish warship. Flint looks like he's had a haircut, which is a very relatable way of responding to his life falling apart, but is also unlikely given that this picks up right where season 1 left off, so it's probably just the good old nearly drowning treatment. Silver still calls him captain, which is interesting, but maybe that's just how he sees Flint or he's trying to stay in the man's good books; to be fair, Dufresne calling him "Mr. Flint" just sounds wrong. Dufresne's logic, combined with Flint's ability to manipulate people (the whole "fucking warship" speech was very effective) manage to win him and Silver a loose kind of pardon. Obviously being executed isn't ideal, but Flint clearly hates the idea of being removed from the crew of the Walrus (or I guess the unnamed Spanish warship now) almost as much. Silver, on the other hand, is just happy to take any chance at survival that anyone offers him, much to Flint's anger.

I'm going to be honest, I didn't really expect Flint and Silver to just... swim out to the ship. I guess if it works, it works, but something about the simplicity of it took me by surprise. To be fair, I guess the virtue of that whole plan was that it was so simple that there was little room for it to go wrong. It's also a fun little moment for the development of Flint and Silver's relationship. Although Silver has recognised Flint as the one person who doesn't want him dead (and tells Flint that the reverse is also true), he's also one of the few people who hasn't really fallen to Flint's bullshit yet. He even goes as far as fully calling Flint out on his tendency to control everything he can when he tells him "we're both better off now than we were two minutes ago, yet you're angry about it because it didn't happen your way", which does, unfortunately for everyone probably, ring very true. Still, the two of them muddle their way through the taking of a massive fucking warship surprisingly well (honestly, parts of that scene feel almost like a comedy), and the rest of the crew comes to the rescue just as things are starting to properly go to ship.

Then we get my favourite new aspect of the show: Flint's backstory (or, as I coined it at some point in season 1, Flintsight*). In this one episode, we learn more about him than we did over the entirety of the first season. We learn that he's a rising star in the navy, despite his working class background (which would have put him at a massive disadvantage). We see the beginning of his friendship with Thomas Hamilton, and Miranda even comes onto the scene towards the end. This is also the first time we actually see civilisation first-hand, and, I'm going to be honest, it's not a good look. It says something that the second civilisation scene we get is a hanging, complete with McGraw's "civilisation needs its monsters" moment. I'm glad to see that the disillusionment remains consistent across his timeline. Anyway, the key players are all set up in London. We know (roughly) where this ends, now we'll see how they get there.

*I'm not proud of that, but I do like it

[alexwatchesshows]

Black Sails season 1 wrap-up

Spoilers for all of season 1.

What a season. To be honest, season 1 is by far my least favourite season of Black Sails, but it's still quite a bit better than most of the other shows I've watched.

I'm not really sure how to structure this, so I guess I'll just start with looking about the shift of power in Nassau. At the beginning of the season, Richard Guthrie arguably holds most of the power, with Eleanor as his proxy in the town. Hornigold has the fort, which means... something, I guess. As Richard Guthrie's tenuous connections to civilisation are severed (and he is injured in a fight with the British troops), he loses his power, but Eleanor (and to an extent, Flint), takes over fully, still acting in his name, and continues to run Nassau relatively well, until Richard Guthrie comes back to fuck shit up even more. He isn't content with just trying to sabotage Flint's plan with the Urca, and decides that announcing his arrest is the best next step, ultimately creating more chaos. Despite some people's claims that this will also be the end of Eleanor's claim to the island, she manages to (quite quickly) regain her standing and power, by collaborating with influential captains (most notably Hornigold) and creating a shipping consortium that seems to be running successfully. Once again, a level of order is returned to Nassau and, once again, someone comes along to disrupt it. This time, it's Vane, with his hired pirates from the mysterious island, who reveals the power of the fort, taking it from Hornigold, but ultimately (I think) leaving most of the rest of Nassau's power structure in place, just putting himself a little above everyone else, because he can.

The crew of the Walrus spends most of the season on the verge of a similar power upheaval, but doesn't actually undergo one until the last episode. Flint, with the help of Billy and Gates, and a whole lot of lying and manipulation (and a little murder), manages to cling onto his role as captain for about seven and a half episodes. Killing Billy (or at least, letting Billy die, or not doing much to dissuade Gates that he did that) was what ultimately led to his downfall as it turned Gates, his most loyal man, against him, allowing him to unite the crew, but this time against Flint. Maybe if he'd accounted for the weather in his navigations and had found the Urca sooner, a complete mutiny would have been avoided, but, given how close he was to it throughout the season, it was probably going to happen at some point.

I can't figure out how to smoothly transition into this, so we're just going to look at some of the characters now.

Flint remains somewhat of a mystery to us. Over the course of the season, we see how he is driven by an ambition to make Nassau something more through the Urca gold. He's presented as almost being separate from the other pirates, furthered by the fact that he spends time living with Miranda on the inner-island. He knows how to captain a ship, motivate a crew, and spice a pig. He's well-read. He's an emotional wreck. The only insight we have into his and Miranda's backstory is Richard Guthrie's likely warped, gossipy account of Flint having an affair with Miranda, driving Miranda's husband mad with grief. It's clear that Miranda never wanted to be in Nassau, but there's no way in hell Flint will accept a pardon that will allow him to return to civilisation with her. Aside from Miranda, he was clearly good friends with Gates, but I doubt that Gates ever knew as much as Miranda about his history. He also has some kind of friendship with Eleanor, based on their shared borderline-obsessive motivation to make Nassau more powerful. Mostly, he just seems angry, sad, and traumatised, but remains a mystery.

Silver, similarly, remains a mystery. We learn almost immediately that he's quick, smart, and independent. He came from a merchant vessel (which he possibly wasn't employed on willingly) and is only working with the pirates for as long as it will take for him to get his gold. He's earned some of Randall's loyalty, and has wormed himself into Flint and Eleanor's lives, but doesn't seem particularly attached to any person or crew. Honestly, he hasn't changed much as a character yet.

Vane has not had a great time of it, and it is partially his fault. He took quite a detached approach to his crew and general leadership, which resulted in him having little to no control over how his men treated Max, causing him to fall way out of Eleanor's good graces. His complete fall from power led to him having some kind of soul-searching mental breakdown and eventually going back to somewhere where he was enslaved(?) at a younger age. On this mysterious island, he fights the demons of his past, and emerges stronger, both in terms of men and in terms of his sense of self. He is truly reborn when he rises from the literal grave. Then he retakes Nassau and can face Eleanor once again, but allows her to retain some power.

Jack and Anne are basically joined at the hip, no matter how much they may resent each other at times. Jack's mistake with the pearls gets them (and Vane) into trouble and the situation with Max is the closest they come to breaking, but, whatever happens, they go through it together. They go from being valued crew members, to disgraced crew members, to brothel owners, to (briefly) Eleanor's murder accomplices, to generally much more successful brothel owners, to incredibly disgraced brothel owners. They barely communicate, they seem to have very different goals and values, but they stick together.

Eleanor, much like Flint, is constantly fighting to stay in control. Unlike Flint, she still holds some control by the end of the season. Through her ambition, she loses a lot of people: Max, her father, Mr. Scott, but she stands pretty strong throughout this. The main development we see is her learning to swallow her pride to "forgive" Vane publicly, and her generally becoming a little less impulsive. There's also that lovely moment of understanding that her and Max come to at the end. Neither of them are in ideal positions, but they're still standing.

Speaking of Max, she's gone through hell. More than any other character so far, she has suffered for her ambition (probably as she is more vulnerable because of her race, class and gender). Despite this, she maintains her dignity and uses her intellegence and dedication to not only regain her old position at the brothel, but to rise up and become its new madame. Her outfit in the last episode shows just how much she's risen in the world. God, I love her.

We haven't necessarily had much time to explore many themes in a lot of detail yet, but we've seen the beginnings of a lot of them. Power is a big one, but I feel like I've written enough about that in regards to Nassau, the Walrus, and the individual characters. We see that there are lots of different types of power a character can hold such as, money/privilege, the regard of others, strategic power, and we see that all of these are very prone to change. Empire/civilisation is another key theme. Pirates exist outside of mainstream civilisation, allowing for those who may have been powerless within it to hold some degree of power. We see the democracy of the pirate crews as an example of this, as well as Eleanor, a woman, holding one of the main positions of power. Despite this, Nassau is not a safe haven, and, especially through Max and Mr Scott, we see that many forms of discrimination still thrive, even if there aren't any laws to uphold them.

I'm sure there's more to say about this season that I'll remember as soon as I post this, but this still feels like a servicable wrap-up, so enjoy, I guess. I'll be back very soon with my season 2 episode wrap ups.