Trouble continues to brew in Nassau as Silver, Flint, Billy, and Eleanor complicate matters in the latest episode of Black Sails titled XXXII. After the end of the last episode, one would think that pirates had the upper hand against the British’s forces and everything would be pretty “easy peasy”for them but unfortunately, that’s not the case in this episode, seeing the meddling of some, which causes to split asunder alliances and united fronts. One thing is clear,. troubled times lay ahead for the control of Nassau.
As I was expecting, the episode opened up with the pirates swiftly taking control of Nassau, with many of the British soldiers scattering to make their way towards the Fort, where they (as well as Elenaor) planned to “hunker”down until Woodes Rogers returns. It was kind of cool to see the aftermath (sort of speak) over the death of Captain Berringer and his forces from the last episode as we saw the pirates forces violently take back control of the port. After taking control, the big question (the sort of elephant-in the-room) was where Billy Bones stands in this current situation, who did unexpectedly help them at the end of the last episode.
As I stated before in my previous reviews, Billy Bones have never seen “eye to eye”with Flint and doesn’t trust him and tries to further exploit that notion by trying to divide him with Silver. Billy, getting his moment alone with Silver, continues to tear the Silver / Flint alliance. However, despite Silver dismissing the notion, Billy’s words ring true and linger around in the pirate’s mind. So, while Billy may have not persuaded Silver to turn against Flint (after this conversation), it does plant the seeds of doubt within.
After the meeting between Billy, Max was handed over to Silver, who planned to trade her for some of the pirate prisoners that are being held up at the fort. Before she left, Max mentioned something interesting to Silver, talking about convict slaves from prominent wealth families in London, which might imply to Thomas Hamilton, Flint’s former lover. Silver does bring this up to Flint as they oversee the prisoner exchange for Max, but Flint sort of brushes it off, treating it like a hypothetical question. However, during this conversation, it would seem that Billy’s words have stayed in Silver’s mind as one could tell that the seed of doubt has been planted in Long John Silver, seeing Flint’s motives are not as always towards his liking.
The ending for the episode was another “turning point”for the show, with Eleanor arranging a secret meeting with Silver and Flint and expressing that she will surrender the British forces, surrender their control over the fort, and remove themselves from Nassau (with safe passage back to London) in exchange for the Urca treasure. Yes, the fabled hidden cache of the Urca treasure finally gets mentioned again (it hasn’t been mentioned at all this season) and now seems like it’s going to play another big part in the show. Anyways, back to the meeting, Silver, of course, doesn’t agree with Eleanor’s proposal, but Flint does as he surrenders himself to Elenaor, acting as hostage in good faith until the deal is done. Maybe with the previous conversation with Silver about Thomas propelled Flint to make the deal and surrender himself, with the notion that he might (just maybe) get to see his beloved Thomas once again (that’s to be assumed that he was in fact shipped off to a labor estate). Flint usually doesn’t act on impulse, so he’s always has a plan up his sleeve and it will be interesting to see he has plan for this current predicament. However, Flint’s action will (most likely) cause ire from Silver, which Billy might fuel and seizing a further opportunity to drive a wedge between him and Flint.
As all those stories collided in Nassau and there were other narrative threads that were featured. The most notable of those was with Jack Rackham and Anne Bonny, who (along with the rest of Teach’s crew) are still prisoners to the Roger’s men. Trapped in the hull of a ship with some vengeful guards, Jack and his crew members were being forced (one at a time) to fight against one of their men, a huge brutish size man named “Mr. Miltonâ€. One by one, each man fell to larger man and, in the end, it was actually Anne who subdued Mr. Milton. However, she was pummeled greatly by the behemoth guard, so much so that I actually thought she was going to die in this episode. Although, I believe she survived (I do hope so. I like the character of Anne Bonny in Black Sails).
Lastly, in the island’s interior (where all the plantation estates are located), the slaves rose up and revolted against their owners, forming their own army (with no loyalties to either the British or the pirates) are now marching towards Nassau to take it as their own. I guess that’s going to throw a wrench into pirates’ (Silver, Flint, Billy) plans as well as the Woodes Roger by proximity in future episodes. Furthermore, that puts Madi in a very difficult position, especially with her people revolting and going against her plans for them to join up with the rest of the pirates. Lastly, there was a small conversation between Elenaor and Max in this episode, with the pair talking about their thoughts, she believed that she missed her opportunity to walk away from everything too many times (which she has) while Max expressed her feelings that she (Elenaor) and Woodes Rogers ignore her warning (from this season and last season) on almost everything, which could have prevented some events from happening. In hindsight, if you think about it, Max is probably one of the wisest characters in the show. I mean, she’s risen above her former life as a prostitute (becoming a brothel owner in the process), took over Eleanor’s job at the beginning of season 3, and has survived throughout the entire show with all the deviant and powerful individuals who are scrambling for control over Nassau. I have a feeling that she will probably survive this whole ordeal, being one of the few characters (beyond the Treasure Island characters) to make it to the series finale.
Episode XXXII was not as excitable as the season 4 premiere nor was it as engrossing as the previous one, but it was still a poignant one as it did further complicate matters for most of the main characters, With the ideas of divisions, a new uprising force, and Flint’s unexpected deal with Elenaor, it’s clear that the board game in Nassau just got more complexed and the next decisive move could (for either side) could spell victory or certain doom. In any case, there’s no easy choices left to make.
Score: 8.0 / 10
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