[SPOILERS] Black Sails Season 4: All that glitters is not Silver

[GallowKnight]

I guess that's the last ride of he Dreadlock Commandos.

RIP Blackbeard. That was harsh and gruesome and a great death scene. The scene where we actually see him get dragged underwater was great and gruesome as hell. However I kinds wish that they had given Stevenson a bit better material during early season 3 so we could have gotten more good stuff out of Blackbeard before his demise. A part of me is a bit disappointed that he didn't get his historical glorious last stand, but I still think it worked out fine. I also liked how managed to play homage to the myth that Blackbeard's headless body swam around the ship three times.

On the other hand the circumstances leading up to his death was pretty dumb. Why wouldn't they just pound Roger's ship to scrap and make sure nobody got off? And I don't really buy that someone Jack would surrender in that situation even with Anne on the ship. He's way too smart for that.

RIP Berringer. I really did not expect him to die, but I guess I really shouldn't have been surprised when they made such a big deal about him looking at a picture of his wife. At that point he might just as well have said he was two weeks away from retirement. But I though he'd last longer and he was a great antagonist for what little screen-time he got. But at the same time I'm glad they're not dragging things out. On a side note, I just found out that the actor playing Berringer is Toby Stephens' older brother.

The battle was pretty great too. Israel Hands is a badass and Long John Silver kicked a lot more ass than I ever expected. Billy and his men acting as the cavalry was a bit predictable, but I'm interested to see how this will play out now that they got Nassau and must need to be "friends" again. It was nice to see that Featherstone got in on the fighting too. 

I wonder if they have already killed off Mr DeGroot off-screen? Or did they do it on screen and I just missed it?

I'm actually starting to feel a bit more engaged in Max and her storyline.

Overall it's still mostly great. I am pleased that they are keeping a high pace and that keep things moving forward in every episode. And that they are not afraid to make big changes as they go a long, and not just save everything for the end of the season.

 

[Theda Baratheon]

I'm all caught up now and totally in love wth this show  

[sweetsunray]

5 hours ago, GallowKnight said:

On the other hand the circumstances leading up to his death was pretty dumb. Why wouldn't they just pound Roger's ship to scrap and make sure nobody got off? And I don't really buy that someone Jack would surrender in that situation even with Anne on the ship. He's way too smart for that.

It's Jack's theme of underestimation. You had that goliath Man O War shot against puny governor's sloop first. Teach underestimates guys like Jack and Rackham (who uses underestimation as his tool) very clearly underestimated Woodes since S3. He thought of him as that wuss who stood on a beach and said "please". Woodes hadn't tortured Jack in S3 and ordered Anne to remain unharmed. I think Jack counted on Woodes to be too concerned about his honor and appearance, and probably thought he could cook up some plan together with Teach and Anne in the hull as captives. Jack really had not expected Woodes to torture Teach just because he wanted to and could. I'm certain he remembered Woodes telling him that you leave stuff out of the book, because otherwise you don't get invited to parties if people knew what you're capable of. 

[Red Tiger]

5 hours ago, GallowKnight said:

At that point he might just as well have said he was two weeks away from retirement.

LOL, that never gets old.

[GallowKnight]

36 minutes ago, sweetsunray said:

It's Jack's theme of underestimation. You had that goliath Man O War shot against puny governor's sloop first. Teach underestimates guys like Jack and Rackham (who uses underestimation as his tool) very clearly underestimated Woodes since S3. He thought of him as that wuss who stood on a beach and said "please". Woodes hadn't tortured Jack in S3 and ordered Anne to remain unharmed. I think Jack counted on Woodes to be too concerned about his honor and appearance, and probably thought he could cook up some plan together with Teach and Anne in the hull as captives. Jack really had not expected Woodes to torture Teach just because he wanted to and could. I'm certain he remembered Woodes telling him that you leave stuff out of the book, because otherwise you don't get invited to parties if people knew what you're capable of. 

That makes sense I guess.

[sweetsunray]

BTW that scene with Berringer taking his arms of and asking anyone to stand up against him and then calling them cowards... That to me was a wink to Tom Berrenger as Captain Barnes in Platoon, challenging Charlie and others to go for him when he overheaers them talking about taking out Captain Barnes for what he did to Captain Elias (Dafoe).

The reminiscing over his wife and boy was a foreshadowing, but also gave him something human, and it imo was a visual hint on the scouts he was waiting for. Woodes wondered why he hadn't gone off to bed yet, and he mentioned scouts. The first thought are scouts following Max, but Max did not even receive Silver's note to meet with him until after Woodes had sailed off. So, I think it was a visual connection to the Underhill plantation, where we were explicitly shown that little daughter several times in the previous episode.

It seems like a lie when Berringer tells the murder of Underhill's wife and child to Max the next day, but I'm not so sure it was a lie. Billy was really way off his background characterization in previous episode. His background story told us he was forcibly conscripted in England and rescued from that by pirates. And while obviously the slaves are forced to labor for Mr. Underhill, Billy completely disregards their unwillingness to fight alongside the pirates and maroons (in order to protect their family) and also intends to forcibly conscript them. It's like Vane hating slavery because he was a slave once, but not putting his foot down over Jack using slaves to rebuild the fort. Or McGraw calling pirates savages for killing a governor and his family to Thomas Hamilton, and then shooting a governor and his wife last season. So, yes, I think that Billy or his men were indeed capable of shooting a sick woman and her little daughter after Flint and Madi escaped into the field.

[Martini Sigil]

I guess it was important to Teach to capture Rodgers.... otherwise I'm at a loss as to why they didn't just sink the much smaller ship

[Arkash]

Maybe to get sure Rodgers didnt escape... maybe... dunno...

I agree it was a bit reckless but well, who knows... or maybe in hope to find valuable information...

[Theda Baratheon]

i only just found out this is the last season!?! i feel so robbed?! i only just got into this and binge watched it all and im truly full on obsessed with this show !!! im listening to the soundtrack, im dreaming of the characters; im getting really sad about it !!! i will definitely be rewatching this again 

[Theda Baratheon]

also!!!! CAN ANYONE HELP ME 

What is the music in the ''previously on'' bit before each episode (before the title sequences)it's really discordant and unnerving and i can'#t hear it in any of the songs on the soundtrack!!!!!!! and i LOVE IT SO MUCH !!!! does anyone know the song!!!! thanks 

[Corvinus85]

19 hours ago, Theda Baratheon said:

also!!!! CAN ANYONE HELP ME 

What is the music in the ''previously on'' bit before each episode (before the title sequences)it's really discordant and unnerving and i can'#t hear it in any of the songs on the soundtrack!!!!!!! and i LOVE IT SO MUCH !!!! does anyone know the song!!!! thanks 

I'm searching but I haven't found it yet. It is definitely Bear McCreary's composition, but is very likely that is an unreleased bit of music, maybe something like when he was trying something out, but just didn't work out in a song, or it is part of a song that was synthesized of other sounds.

[Theda Baratheon]

1 hour ago, Corvinus said:

I'm searching but I haven't found it yet. It is definitely Bear McCreary's composition, but is very likely that is an unreleased bit of music, maybe something like when he was trying something out, but just didn't work out in a song, or it is part of a song that was synthesized of other sounds.

I thought it was something like this because I LOVE IT SO MUCH its so discordant and weird and unnerving and I just want to listen to it on a loop

[akh]

The whole ordeal with Anne and Rackham was rough. Anne's fight was pretty brutal.. Did anyone catch whether she survived or nah? It looked pretty bad, but if that were to be her end, at least she went out kicking ass. Should that be the end of her, the show has handled the two major deaths very well this season. 

Also.. on the ending - why on earth would Flint agree to that deal?

[sweetsunray]

Wow! Just wow!

Spoiler

Thomas Hamilton may be alive in Florida?!!!!!!! And Silver knows. I practically wanted to kiss Max when she mentioned that caretaker, evne if she has no idea whatsoever why it might be important. Though I wonder what he'd have to say to Flint about the choices he made.

Very well played by Eleanor, though I did suspect her arc may go the way of a woman having to look out for a most innocent life. Nice reflecting back scene for Maxanor there. Although I think Max is a bit too sure of herself that things might have gone different if they had listened to her. From the very beginning the main pirates were invested in taking Nassau back, regardless of a Captain Berringer, Vane's hanging, Eleanor coming back to Nassau, etc... It's not as if she didn't make any mistakes (4X02). And why did she not offer the same solution for Vane when she still could. It's all very well to say "don't do this, and don't do that," when you don't offer a valid alternative. Looking forward to Flint and Eleanor in the same place. She risked her life and reputation to fetch Abigail from the fort for him, lost a father for it too and her being handed over to Hume. The pirates didn't have any issue with a hanging then. Unfortunately I see no reason why Max would repeat her story about that caretaking place North of Florida to Flint.  

I effing hope that Anne's alive though. But I reckoned she'd be the one to get them to overtake the sloop.

 

[Astromech]

20 hours ago, akh said:

The whole ordeal with Anne and Rackham was rough. Anne's fight was pretty brutal.. Did anyone catch whether she survived or nah? It looked pretty bad, but if that were to be her end, at least she went out kicking ass. Should that be the end of her, the show has handled the two major deaths very well this season. 

Also.. on the ending - why on earth would Flint agree to that deal?

I think the gold was always just a means to an end for him. He wants Nassau and his revenge. It will be interesting to see whether or not Silver tells him about what Max shared with him. May throw a wrench in his plans.

I did like Eleanor's plan and her rescuing of Max and reliving the past. Oh, how hindsight is always 20/20.

Billy was pretty quick to realize Max was the one betraying them. It is interesting to see how everyone is now wanting Silver's ear rather than Flint's. It's not absolute yet, but slowly getting there.

The scenes with Rackham and Anne were great, but they could have been longer. I have no idea what their show fate will be after Teach's ending last week.

 

 

 

[sweetsunray]

Well, as far as Flint making that decision in the end. At the very least it buys Flint time for the fort not to aim their guns on Nassau and the beach. If you are not pirate minded, the way the pirates wrecked it, you might as well shoot at it too, right? While not outpeopled, the pirates are now outgunned and exposed with Eleanor in Fort and Woodes on the Man O War. Muskets can't do much against that. Meanwhile Flint saw the cache as a means to an end in S3, and he starts out with rebuilding from small to re-establish "order". Those looting men are cocky, not just angry. If you give them the cache, they won't do a thing anymore.

[GallowKnight]

I wonder where Flint will go with this. If he intends to keep to Eleanor's plan or if he has some secret idea he's working on. The possibility that Thomas maybe is alive brings another interesting piece to the table. Some great acting there from Toby Stephen's when Silver mentioned his name.

A pissed-off slave army going after both the English and the Pirates seems like a nice ingredient for a already volatile situation and it will be interesting to see how that plays out.

That Anne scene was brutal. I don't think she'll die of that though. I wonder how close they are going to stick to the historical fates of Anne and Jack. I do hope they at least get one scene with Max again before the end of the show.

Yay, De Groot is still alive. And we got some Ben Gunn too.

9 hours ago, Astromech said:

Billy was pretty quick to realize Max was the one betraying them.

Honestly, she's the most logical choice for that role, close to both the British powers in Nassau and to Featherstone, so it shouldn't really have been that hard for Billy to figure that out.

[Corvinus85]

35 minutes ago, GallowKnight said:

I wonder how close they are going to stick to the historical fates of Anne and Jack. I do hope they at least get one scene with Max again before the end of the show.

I think, besides a narrative reason, there is another reason why they killed Teach last week, and didn't give him his historical death. They might want the audience to believe that things will not go down as expected from both a historical perspective and Treasure Island perspective. I, for one, (maybe others) have, up until recently, been pretty comfortable that Silver will survive the end of the show, Flint will die, and the historical pirates will all die one by one, as it happened with Vane last season. But now I'm not so sure. This re-introduction of Thomas Hamilton might change Flint's fate, and Silver's and Billy's destinies might be different, as well. 

[GallowKnight]

47 minutes ago, Corvinus said:

I think, besides a narrative reason, there is another reason why they killed Teach last week, and didn't give him his historical death. They might want the audience to believe that things will not go down as expected from both a historical perspective and Treasure Island perspective. I, for one, (maybe others) have, up until recently, been pretty comfortable that Silver will survive the end of the show, Flint will die, and the historical pirates will all die one by one, as it happened with Vane last season. But now I'm not so sure. This re-introduction of Thomas Hamilton might change Flint's fate, and Silver's and Billy's destinies might be different, as well. 

Still, Teach was lured into an ambush and killed by the British. It was just the how, the why and the who that was different.

And I'm not expecting a happy ending for Flint, irregardless if Thomas is still alive.

[Astromech]

2 hours ago, GallowKnight said:

 

Honestly, she's the most logical choice for that role, close to both the British powers in Nassau and to Featherstone, so it shouldn't really have been that hard for Billy to figure that out.

I phrased my comment about Billy's quick realization rather poorly. It was intended as sarcasm. Others, especially, Silver should have realized it was Max just as quickly as Billy, if not more quickly. Silver, after all, had been conspiring with Max previously and seems to be quite adept at reading people.

When Woodes Rogers directed his second to take the prisoners to Port Royal, I thought it would soon be the end of Jack and Anne. I'm not so sure anymore.