Black Sails finale

[schneefink]

We watched the last four episodes of Black Sails today and I have a whole big confused tangled of intense emotions. Separate ones for the Watsonian and Doylist perspective: the latter I'm not yet sure about, I think I'll need more time to think about it, and the former mostly anger.

FUUUUUUCK JOHN SILVER. He's still a selfish asshole, just of a different kind than when the show started. "I betrayed everything you've worked for because I love you," how did Madi not stab him. And it wasn't even a spontaneous decision after her kidnapping, no, he was working toward preventing that war that Flint and Madi wanted for far longer than that. When did he decide? When the pirates failed to invade Nassau, or already while he was living with Madi at the maroon camp? When he decided not to tell Flint about Thomas being alive as soon as he found out, was he already planning on using that to figuratively disarm him? "I don't want that war because the cost would be too high," who the FUCK are you to decide that. How about you ask the slaves fleeing their masters and freeing their brethren from their chains if they think the cost is too high. I thought living at the maroon camp with Madi for months made him sympathetic to the fight of the slaves, apparently not. Nope, it's all only about himself. What a fucking asshole. Flint should have let him be shot.

Max and Anne and Jack and Featherstone and Idelle got a very nice ending, that at least was an enjoyable silver lining. I really liked Marion Guthrie, I liked her rapport with Max, but I also liked that Max refused the plan presented to her and be the governor's wife and found another way instead. "Mark" Read was a delightful bonus at the end.

So Flint was subdued by Silver and his men and taken to the plantation, where he met Thomas again. I loved that reunion. But, uh, seeing Thomas again doesn't turn back time. What, does Silver really think Flint will just stay on that plantation with Thomas forever and be happy or at least satisfied? I give them a few weeks before they break out. And Flint is still the only one who knows where the treasure chest is. He should get in contact with Madi. They missed the timing for the war they wanted, but that doesn't mean they'll give up.

I did not expect quite that many people from the Walrus' crew to die, and I was very sad that the Walrus itself didn't make it. Mr. de Groot didn't make it, Joji was killed by Flint himself, and there were very few survivors. Billy survived, but fuck him.

Tomorrow we'll watch all the specials and finally start reading fic, which I look forward to. (I want ALL the canon-divergent AUs.) I'll try to clarify my feelings about the finale.

Comments

[rydra_wong]

and I have a whole big confused tangled of intense emotions.

Yep, sounds normal.

When did he decide? When the pirates failed to invade Nassau, or already while he was living with Madi at the maroon camp?

Not pre-invasion of Nassau, because he's fully on board in 4.01 and not doing anything to try to undermine that.

When he decided not to tell Flint about Thomas being alive as soon as he found out, was he already planning on using that to figuratively disarm him?

He's presumably at least got the possibility in his head, yeah.

On the other hand, it's unclear when he actually finds out that Thomas is alive -- depending on the exact timeline of Tom Morgan gets back from Georgia, it's either going to be just before he hears that Madi is "dead" or just after.

Before that, all he has is the info we see Max give him about the prison farm in Georgia, and a wild hunch (you can argue he should have told Flint and Madi as soon as he had that first inkling, but it's still distinct from the point when he knows for sure that Thomas is alive and chooses not to tell Flint).

How about you ask the slaves fleeing their masters and freeing their brethren from their chains if they think the cost is too high.

Well, Julius clearly did, remember. It's not just the cost, it's also the high risk that they will lose the war (especially salient after seeing the Spanish raze Nassau to the ground with a mere handful of their ships). And, as Julius says, some of them are going to end up back in chains at that point.

The treaty that they sign (the one Madi rejected) is based on the one the Jamaican Maroons signed after their first war, and it's usually regarded as a substantial win for them because it guaranteed their freedom, albeit at the terrible cost of returning other escaped slaves.

I completely agree with you that Silver is making decisions on behalf of other people that he has absolutely no right to make! And his betrayal of Madi is unforgiveable.

But he's not the only person who is not on board with Flint's war.

So Flint was subdued by Silver and his men and taken to the plantation, where he met Thomas again. I loved that reunion. But, uh, seeing Thomas again doesn't turn back time. What, does Silver really think Flint will just stay on that plantation with Thomas forever and be happy or at least satisfied? I give them a few weeks before they break out.

Hooray, you can now read Unaccommodated Man by kvikindi, the novella-length James/Thomas post-series fic that you will need at this point.

[rydra_wong]

P.S. juliet's just finished the show, in case you fancy company in HAVING ALL THE FEELS:

https://rydra-wong.dreamwidth.org/551589.html