#black sails s101

[randomishnickname]

The main deck as a stage - thoughts on S101

Rewatching S101 for the first time in years and I have some thoughts on the ending. Mainly, the reason why Billy, when handed a blank page, goes along with Flint’s wishes and pretends it’s the stolen one.

Thing is, it makes no sense that after what happened on Harbor Island and with Richard Guthrie, Billy'd be very convinced of Flint's Urca de Lima plans. He's seen Flint at his most unhinged and manipulative just a few hours ago! He hasn't had time to think the entire endeavor over! I don't think that, when handed the page, he makes the split decision that

Flint's pursuit of the Urca is worth lying to his brother-in-arms,

he shares Flint's worries about soon-to-be English colonization attempts or

Singleton's death on false pretenses was a necessary evil

The face of a man thoroughly convinced of Flint's leadership

Instead, I think Billy was being typecasted by Flint and reacted accordingly.

Flint sets up a scene: an initiating event (Singleton steals from his crew!), a conflict (trial by combat!), a climax (Flint kills Singleton as punishment for the theft), a clear resolution (Flint returns the stolen page to his crew!). As soon as Flint wins the fight the page being the stolen one becomes the logical conclusion, the satisfying outcome. The righteous man killed the duplicitous man, justice has been served. It's what the audience, waiting with bated breath, very clearly expects. It ties everything together.

And Billy, when he accepts the page from Flint's hand, is handed a role exactly as clear: deliver that bit of information to the audience.

Enter scene: confused boatswain

Except the page is blank.

"Flint? What's my line?

Blindsided by this, everyone's eyes on him, unable to come up with a replacement script from the get-go, Billy goes the path of least resistance and acts out the play according to everyone's expectations. He's carried by the momentum of the story. He's just a hapless stage prop. Yet.

It's the first of many, many times we see the ship's main deck turned into a center stage with Flint (and later Silver) as the showmaster, pushing narratives to enforce his agenda, a game at which he excels.

do Hamlet next babe, you wouldn't even need a new shirt

That man, in a mere minutes after deducting the thief must still be around, devised this exact scene set up and gambled that its dramatic impact would be strong enough to sway Billy. And he was right!! Flint is phenomenal at this game from the get-go, that's his real gift, even more than his fighting prowesses or strategic cunning. A lesser show would let us (the real audience) savor his victory, reflect upon its cleverness and await what comes next.

But then ... after the theatralics, histrionics, the fights and blood and epic grandiloquence acted out in full sunlight ...

We cut to backstage. The brothel, Jack, Anne and Max, hidden in the shadows behind the curtains, ready to rewrite the narrative.

Enter scene - the new playwright

The curtains are fucking red y'all!!!

@urcadelimabean