#james mcgraw

[hfeves]

[mushroomseb]

BLACK SAILS 1.07 "VII."

[keivni]

[mediacircuspod]

They really went to Toby Stephens and said, “We’re imagining the saddest man—completely regret ridden, absolutely terrified of his own passions, but also weirdly “dark nautical” in theme.

And Toby Stephens went, “That’s actually kind of my specialty.”

[peixe-art]

Man of all time

PRINTS

[kazisonline]

Edit: for people tagging this some weird stuff, it's about black sails, it's a direct quote. Tf you guys even are taking about in the tags, wdym #feminism #healing XDDD GO WATCH BLACK SAILS GEEZ

[a-story-is-true]

all this will be for nothing. we will have been for nothing.

[on youtube with subtitles]

[burningvelvet]

black sails created an 18th century legendary pirate captain who is canonically queer, ginger, depressed, repressed, polyamorous, murderous, morally gray, downright insane, thoughtful, contradictive, manipulative, funny, strong, idealistic, proto-feminist, utopian, kind, proto-anarchist, anti-colonization, controlling, obsessive, stoic, strategic, intelligent, quiet, delusional, traumatized, filled with uncontrollable rage, consumed by grief and shame, a literary nerd obsessed with greek mythology and classics, a proto-romantic in the philosophical sense - whose whole story is the prequel story of a character from a classic novel who was dead from the very beginning of said novel - and they expected us to be normal about all this and to get over all this and move on from all this?????????

[zairaalbereo]

“Please don’t do this.”

So after binging the whole four seasons of Black Sails last month, I’m now on a more leisurely rewatch… or so I thought.

But god everything hits so much worse or better or harder knowing about Flint’s past and motivation now. And then this scene came up, and I’m just… fuuuuuck. Crying, screaming, throwing up. I’m not okay. This is devastating. (Did I mention I cope with art?)

On my first watch, Flint killing Gates truly shocked me. He would really kill his friend just because he wouldn’t go along with his plans? To not have to give up on the Urca? Sure, Gates is going against his command. It’s mutiny, but Gates seems to be trying, and he sounds so bloody reasonable. And more importantly, he’s been a loyal friend up until now. A fatherly friend (I want to throw up). And even now he’s… trying to protect Flint, right? (Fuck. Seriously. Feeling ill.)

But yeah, I was shocked. And as he whispered broken apologies to the friend he just murdered, I wondered… could I forgive him for this?

And now…omg now it’s like watching a completely different train wreck happening, and it all makes perfect, tragic, horrible sense. The way the whole scene mirrors James McGraw’s futile attempt to convince Hennessy of their Hail Mary plan to save Nassau. Every step. The urgency when things have already gone sideways, but James refuses to give up, because it can still work. People just have to listen. Let him explain. Have a little faith. Back then he trusted Hennessy, and now he still trusts Gates. He trusts them to understand, asking them to believe in him. He doesn’t see it coming. (How does he not see it coming this time?)

And then the moment the floor is ripped out from under him. And it’s all there, on Flint’s face, in the moment when Gates says “They know.” It’s not the mutiny. It’s the betrayal. The way Flint’s face falls, and for a moment he looks just like James McGraw in Hennessy’s office. The same devastation and disbelief when he asks “You told them?” And of course for him it is the same betrayal. It is the same fight, to prove Thomas right. To stand against those who took him and everything else away from James.

And Gates, that poor bastard, doesn’t even understand what sin he is committing. He doesn’t even see it as mutiny. He sees it as doing the right thing, containing a madman. (Omggg…) And then there is Flint, reliving the worst moments of his life. And that point it doesn’t feel like it’s about the Urca anymore. It’s an emotional massacre, to which Gates seems completely oblivious. When Flint asks if he will see him get hanged, only to be promised an opportunity to flee for him and ‘Mrs Barlow’, Gates thinks he is doing him a kindness. Like Hennessy probably thought he was doing him a kindness, saving him from the gallows. It’s all right. Flint just has to leave, vanish and never be heard of again. He should be grateful. And the way Flint’s eyes close briefly in disbelief that this is happening. Again. The way he pleads with Gates, just like he pleaded with Hennessy. So unlike Flint. But once more he is told that his actions are unforgivable. Simply too much. He’s not just rejected, but he is abandoned. He is cast out for who he is and his supposed sins. A monster that can’t be allowed to exist amongst the rest of them.

The whole scene is executed so brilliantly, the way he fluctuates between James’ almost innocent appeals to be understood and Flint’s anger at being denied. But he keeps trying until the last moment. And then, when he acts, it’s not a calculated move. It’s pure desperation, the only purpose to do something, to stop what is happening. Because James McGraw didn’t. But where James McGraw hesitated, where he maybe still hoped, still didn’t comprehend, and where he still thought he had something to lose… Flint doesn’t. And yet we can see it break him. We can see how it breaks another part of his soul. 

(And of course it will happen again. Screaming. Crying. Throwing up.)

[erodingsinner]

what kind of man loves like this?

[stuckwiththephobia]

one thing I have loved about black sails since I first watched it is the fact that it doesn’t villainise anger. it doesn’t tell you that, without this devouring anger, a character would be thriving. It shows us anger being destructive, often through Anne, it shows us anger being infectious, like a fire that catches and cannot be put out, but most importantly it shows us anger as integral. It is at the centre of the struggle against empire, it is at the centre of Flint. He is not angry in spite of all his morality, he is angry because of it. He is angry because how else is he supposed to feel in the face of absolute injustice??

The show rejects the notion of anger as inherently immoral. I saw someone say that it shows us anger as the extension of love, rather than the antithesis of it. I think this is spot on. It shows us anger as born from the ashes of loss, and stoked in opposition to the forces that caused it. go anger!!!

Flint is angry because anger is the only emotion powerful enough to pull him up from his knees time and time again, and give him the tools to fight for what he believes in.

[mushroomseb]

"This is how they survive. You must know this. You're too smart not to know this." ⏤ Captain Flint

⌞ BLACK SAILS 4.10 "XXXVIII."

[keivni]

[dreaming-of-hope]

[...] I'm damned for what I do. My anger, my ego, my unwillingness to yield, my eagerness to fight, they've set me on a path from which there is no escape. I yearned to be a savior against injustice without contemplating the cost and by the time I looked down there was no longer any ground beneath my feet. What is my sacrifice? I'm condemned to use the tools of my enemy to defeat them. I burn my decency for someone else's future. I burn my life to make a sunrise that I know I'll never see. And the ego that started this fight will never have a mirror or an audience or the light of gratitude. So what do I sacrifice? E V E R Y T H I N G ! 

black sails (2014-2018) // andor (2022-2025)

[kuzuyamii]

how was this show real

[k-wame]

I rather envy you. I remember what it was like the first time I met him…It's something quite indescribable. I imagine you're having it as we speak. ↳ BLACK SAILS | S2.E1 · IX