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


GallowKnight

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Well, Anne is definitly not in her best shape right now.

I exited the episode convinced she was a goner, but since have come to think that, yeah, it will be better for the story if she ties some loose ends before her (inevitable I think) death. But I dont see how she could recover of these injuries before the end of the season, so she'll probably bite it still in a pretty rough shape. Which means she probably wont go down fighting, which is kinda sad... 

Or maybe I'm overthinking this... 

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7 hours ago, Astromech said:

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.

Well, Silver knows more of Max's betrayal than Billy does. She tried to capture Silver. Billy doesn't know about that. I found it ironic, because Billy thought he could reveal something new to Silver, while it's old news to him. Meanwhile neither Flint nor Silver suspected Featherstone of betraying them, since Featherstone is inside the mansion's assembly hall with Idelle, surveying maps or papers, helping out, even before Billy arrives.

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3 hours ago, Arkash said:

Well, Anne is definitly not in her best shape right now.

I exited the episode convinced she was a goner, but since have come to think that, yeah, it will be better for the story if she ties some loose ends before her (inevitable I think) death. But I dont see how she could recover of these injuries before the end of the season, so she'll probably bite it still in a pretty rough shape. Which means she probably wont go down fighting, which is kinda sad... 

Or maybe I'm overthinking this... 

I re-watched Anne's fighting scene: first MIlton tried to choke her, which is likely why she has difficulty breathing. She was cut in the cheek, not the throat. So, she'll have a facial scar across her cheek. The head bleeds heavily even from non lifte threatening veins, because our body pumps a lot of blood into our head. It looks uglier than it is.  She was however kicked around a lot. She might have a broken rib or hip. The mallet hit her right side, not the left side where the spleen is. So, she'll be fine, but will need time to recover. She won't be up and about quickly.

Another thing I noticed was how Anne held her hand prominently and protectively across her abdomen when she's hit on the side by the mallet near the stairs. This season motherhood is becoming a theme. And we have a mirror in Eleanor and Anne wanting to leave Nassau behind for good. There was a dialogue and visual link between them even with Anne grabbing sharp glass shards and being cut, and Eleanor telling Max that in S1 she couldn't find something sharp enough to make the cut with Nassau. Her pregnancy is the sharpness she required.

So, lots of subtle foreshadowing that Anne is pregnant.

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Versions of the legend is that she was able to plead her belly to avoid immediate execution after capture, and then things get murky. There's no evidence for her being executed or released.

But then, this is fiction, so who knows how it will turn out for Anne in this version of the legend?  :cheers:

 

 

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The hint that Thomas might be alive is totally mind-blowing and makes me rethink a lot of Flint's backstory in a highly dramatic way.

Treasure Island says that Flint died in Savannah drinking himself to death. Savannah is where? Just north of Florida. Now the interesting thing is that Lord Ashe sent Abigail to a Mr. Ashford before the trial started in Savannah. Is the man that Max talks about the one and the same Mr. Ashford?

If so, then Lord Ashe knew Thomas was alive, when Miranda and Flint showed up. And it begs the question whether Lord Ashe may be the person who proposed it as a solution to the earl - as in trying to make the best of an inevitable bad situation. Lord Ashe may actually have saved Thomas's life. And then that clock of Thomas's house meant somthing else.

Going further down that line of thought - why did the earl and his wife sail for the Americas. Sure, he was a Lord Proprietor, but they let appointed governors handle that, such as Lord Ashe. And why would he bring his wife along. What if they wished to settle near Thomas? Or visit him?

This brings me to the fateful moment that Flint boards the Maria Alayne and murders the earl Hamilton and his wife. He had them in his power. They were begging for their lives, for mercy. Certainly the earl would have recognized McGraw. Quite possibly Flint might have learned that Thomas was live, if he had let them speak. Instead he murdered them.

And now consider his death derams with Miranda. It seemed like some fluffy visual stuff to reveal his mourning over Miranda's death. But Miranda says something like, "You can't see it yet, can you? You're not alone." Because of S3 it seemed to allude to Silver, and that's how Flint took it at the time. But what do have to see about these dreams? What are the repeated dreams telling us visually? It's just Miranda. Thomas is not with her. And then her "you're not alone," means something entirely different.

My jaw is on the floor, thinking about this.

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For the life of me I can't figure out what's going through Flint's mind... giving himself up seems so out of character... there has to be a play that I'm just not seeing... 

Yeah that really shocked me this episode, along with Thomas maybe being alive. There must be some play, because it's Flint and he's usually ahead of everyone. Can't quite see it, but one thing is he was a long time partner with Eleanor. Also he may have been spooked by Hands about how delicate his situation with Silver is. Silver is really in command and could have him killed at any moment. Still don't see how he'll find a way to work with Eleanor though, given her new alliance, despite their history.

 

 

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Treasure Island says that Flint died in Savannah drinking himself to death. Savannah is where? Just north of Florida.

I'm confused.  When is this season of Black Sails taking place? Savannah wasn't even founded until 1733.  And for quite some years, while Oglethorpe remained the Proprietor of the Georgia colony, whiskey wasn't allowed into it. Beer and wine, but Oglethorpe believed whiskey of the devil, causing all sorts of criminal behavior, including domestic abuse.

 Neither was slavery allowed. Which the colonists resented even more than going without whiskey.  They fixed both problems though and got slaves and whiskey!  But it took a few years.

 

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24 minutes ago, Zorral said:

I'm confused.  When is this season of Black Sails taking place? Savannah wasn't even founded until 1733.  And for quite some years, while Oglethorpe remained the Proprietor of the Georgia colony, whiskey wasn't allowed into it. Beer and wine, but Oglethorpe believed whiskey of the devil, causing all sorts of criminal behavior, including domestic abuse.

 Neither was slavery allowed. Which the colonists resented even more than going without whiskey.  They fixed both problems though and got slaves and whiskey!  But it took a few years.

 

They may have condensed timelines for this last season, provided that they are even going towards Flint's death as mentioned in Treasure Island. But there is also a Spanish-English war going on, which is why the Spanish plot of season 3 was brushed aside, but I don't think there was a real war between 1715, when season 1 of Black Sails started, and 1718, when Rogers takes Nassau. You know more.

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2 hours ago, Astromech said:

Blackbeard's death was 1718. In the novel, Treasure Island, Flint's death is in 1754.

That's interesting, as on the docks a tavern was established in 1753, called the Pirates House.  It's still there and a most popular tourist restaurant.  I oughta know . . . I've been there more than once!  :D

The Georgia charter was up for renewal in 1753, but there was so much discontent it was given up already in 1752.  Yah, as you might suspectI have a lot of Georgia, particularly Savannah, books right here to hand.  (And a lotta other histories of the colonies and the states and the Caribbean and related subjects -- such a dig I be -- but it be my job!)

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They may have condensed timelines for this last season, provided that they are even going towards Flint's death as mentioned in Treasure Island. But there is also a Spanish-English war going on, which is why the Spanish plot of season 3 was brushed aside, but I don't think there was a real war between 1715, when season 1 of Black Sails started, and 1718, when Rogers takes Nassau. You know more

I don't necessarily know more.  However that would be . . .  the Spanish-English War, or the War of the Quadruple Alliance -- rather limited in scope at least if compared to say, the War of the Spanish Succession, which is some ways it's a part of.  But it was in this period that the French took Pensacola and sent Charles Town (not yet Charleston, no more than Savannah even existed yet) into a buzzy tizzy all right -- not to mention in Spain and Cuba.

But Black Sails!  What matters to it is that because of this limited war (sort of -- they were always at war in one way or another) is that the Spanish sent a Cuban force to Nassau, which they plundered, but managed not to keep (they'd have just had to have given it back anyway as alliances and foes continued their continually shifty patterns).

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I'm an episode behind but felt I had to drop in and say "Episode 3s aren't supposed to be like that!"

That's set a high bar for the rest of the season. Also cool with them twisting the history if it gives us scenes like the keel haul. Just a shame that was the most impressive thing Blackbeard did in this show. But Blackbeard had Rogers beat - nice work by the actor playing Rogers in conveying that too.

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15 hours ago, Zorral said:

I'm confused.  When is this season of Black Sails taking place? Savannah wasn't even founded until 1733.  And for quite some years, while Oglethorpe remained the Proprietor of the Georgia colony, whiskey wasn't allowed into it. Beer and wine, but Oglethorpe believed whiskey of the devil, causing all sorts of criminal behavior, including domestic abuse.

 Neither was slavery allowed. Which the colonists resented even more than going without whiskey.  They fixed both problems though and got slaves and whiskey!  But it took a few years.

 

Well, in the show Savannah exists, since Lord Ashe tells Abigail in 2.9 that she's to go there. Meanwhile, Max mentioned this man with his lands north of Florida is a "reformist", while Treasure Island mentions Flint having drunk himself to death in Savannah.

Black Sails all of the "4 seasons" occur in 1715: S1 is spring, S2 is summer, S3 is fall, and S4 is winter. It's the year 1715 at the start of S1. S2 follows up right after S1. Then we jump about 3-4 months in S3, and 2 months in S4. Don't rely too much on dates when it comes to Black Sails, because the conflated it all into one year.

As for Treasure Island - the date setting of Treasure Island is somewhat speculative. It relies on a date written on a depicted map, but not confirmed in the text. Black Sails' S1 summary says it takes place 20 years before the events of TI, and thus claiming that TI happens in 1735. The Spanish-English war of the present season was in 1719 àr 1720 IIRC. And yes, Spain tried to invade the island from the interior, but were repelled by Rogers from the fort. So Spain didn't raid Nassau again, but they captured slaves in the interior. Pretty sure they're going to use that event to solve the issue of Julius and his army, but with Rogers asking Spain's aid instead, rather than defending Nassau against them.

Black Sails follows the spirit of history and characterization more than actually depicting history in a fictional tale in a set year, regardless of whether Woodes only arrived first in 1718 (though he was busy trying to test the universal pardon plan in 1715 in Madgascar). Ned Low wasn't even a pirate before 1720s, BB died in 1718 in the channel of Ocracoke and caught by a different man, Charles Vane was caught in Roatan instead in 1721 (?), Rogers never hanged more than 8 men in Nassau, Hornigold was of similar age as Vane and certainly outlived BB, ... 

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On 2017-02-20 at 6:11 PM, GallowKnight said:

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.

Not really ambushed per se, his crew just had the disadvantage of a serious hangover:

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The two small ships, the Ranger and the Jane, scouted along the coast for the well-known pirate. Blackbeard's haunts were well known, and it didn't take Maynard too long to find him. Late in the day on November 21, 1718, they sighted Blackbeard off of Ocracoke Island, but decided to delay the attack until the next day. Meanwhile, Blackbeard and his men were drinking all night as they entertained a fellow smuggler.

 

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4 hours ago, sweetsunray said:

 

Black Sails all of the "4 seasons" occur in 1715: S1 is spring, S2 is summer, S3 is fall, and S4 is winter. It's the year 1715 at the start of S1. S2 follows up right after S1. Then we jump about 3-4 months in S3, and 2 months in S4. Don't rely too much on dates when it comes to Black Sails, because the conflated it all into one year.

 

I hope that isn't true - otherwise I'll just discard it as alt-truth. Max and Silver, in particular don't strike me as being able to establish themselves so firmly in the space of 1 year given the point at which they started. Silver also became pretty handy with a stump in 6 months too.

Flint's rage/grief also seems more fleeting in that sense too. And I probably don't even want to think about the commute times from Nassau to England that have been occurring throughout the series.

Like I said. I'll just assume it's spread over a few years instead.

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31 minutes ago, red snow said:

I hope that isn't true - otherwise I'll just discard it as alt-truth. Max and Silver, in particular don't strike me as being able to establish themselves so firmly in the space of 1 year given the point at which they started. Silver also became pretty handy with a stump in 6 months too.

Flint's rage/grief also seems more fleeting in that sense too. And I probably don't even want to think about the commute times from Nassau to England that have been occurring throughout the series.

Like I said. I'll just assume it's spread over a few years instead.

It's an "inspired" truth.

Because of the gulf stream one can sail from the Bahamas to London in 2 weeks. And using the whaler known route avoiding the Gulf Stream, instead of using the trade winds from the Azore, one can sail from London to Bermuda in 38 days and Bermuda to Bahamas in 12 days. This was the route they showed us in S3 for Eleanor's voyage back: coast of Ireland, Hornigold came on board at Bermuda, and then onwards to Nassau. The Azores route would have taken them straight to the Bahamas instead, not Bermuda, near the Sargasso Sea where Flint found himself becalmed after the ship-killer storm. (That route was only first published by Franklinin 1770, but he got his info from whalers and Rogers apprenticed for 7 years in Newfoundland. Historically he used the Azores route, but fiction inspired on history can get away with this.)

If S3 ends on 21st of October, a month after Nassau surrendering to Rogers on 21st September, it's 64 days to Christmas, 24th of December. That falls within the possible time scope for Woodes to file for divorce, send a letter to Bristol and news traveling back to him. S3 is clearly set in September and October, because late August and September is hurricane season in the caribbean..Eleanor mentions "winter'" in S4 (her grandfather resides in Philly during winter, instead of Boston), and Mrs. Hudson says it's the 24th. In S3 Rackham says he hopes "come Christmas" Nassau will be laid to ashes. His prediction came true. As 4x03 and 4x04 are all on the same day. In  S1 (end of it) and S2 we get a summer reference regarding the Urca. The S1 finale and S2 opener have no more than a day between them. And Flint is adamant about the route the Urca must have taken in relation to the summer season. 

From this we can conclude S1 takes place in May 1715 ending at the latest 21st of July. Eleanor is taken captive early June by Hume, has her trial in the second half of June and leaves for Nassau again on August 1st. Her S3 scenes of 3x01 and 3x02 (except Hornigold getting on board at Bermuda) precede those of the Nassau and Flint-Hornigold scenes by several weeks. She rejoins that timeline in Bermuda by the end of 3x02. 12 days later Nassau surrenders/falls.

The sole first time jump we witness is between S2 and S3, and then again between S3 and S4. Actors and writers said there were several months in between S2 and S3, and several weeks between S3 and S4 in interviews. So nope, not "years". They're doing a "realistic" and "historic era inspired" fiction that is deeply layered with parallels, mirroring and symbolism. It's close to televized literature. And then historical accuracy flies out of the window. Holding on to "but that's not what happened in 1715" will only cause frustration. I'm a Woodes fan, including Dark Woodes, but if he dies towards the end of S4, I won't feel annoyed, knowing he died in 1732 instead. They want to tell a good story, not a historical accurate story, except in spirit.

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