Black Sails 1x04 Reaction

Hey Milena and Lola, long time watcher of your channel and a huge Black Sails fan. I am so thrilled to see that you two are watching this show, it truly deserves more attention. Unfortunately I also live in the UK and this video seems to be blocked because of it, I don’t know if you can do anything about it but I’ll try something on my end. Carry on, and I look forward to future episodes (if they don’t get blocked for me).

We got our first "Play the next one!!!" from Lola and it's only episode 4, I'm so happy!!!! But the way this episode ends I honestly get it, the stakes are now raised and everything is a rollercoaster of emotions from here on out. Everything happening with Max is truly horrific and unfortunate, but I loved seeing how it affects and disturbs Anne. Silver deciding to cozy up to Flint by selling out Billy is a shame but I do love how unintentionally funny Silver is about the whole thing. He's made it known he looks out for himself and himself only and has decided sticking to Flint will help him, so we see here that he has chosen a side but I love how protective you ladies already are of Billy. He really is a well mannered man with good intentions, but I do like how in the beginning of the episode Flint wouldn't listen to Silver yet by the end came around. That careening scene was just so crazy to see and poor Morley who didn't make it out. While I dislike Eleanor's father, I do think he has a point about her putting to much at risk for this plan, it's like she wants it so bad that she won't allow herself to think about all the many ways this could go horribly wrong, it's a little disconcerting. I love the little tidbits we get of not only Flint's past but Vane's as well. Can't wait for the next one ladies!!!!!

More definitions! It’s said that Miranda’s husband Thomas was the son of Alfred Hamilton, the Lord Proprietor of the Bahamas. This means that he is in charge of all the British colonies in that area. He appoints all public officials like governors, but said governors did as the Lord Proprietors ask. And the Lord Proprietors were directly appointed by, and report to, the King of Britain. So, the Hamilton family was very wealthy and influential. Even though Thomas wasn’t the Lord Proprietor himself, he would likely have held a good bit of power all the same through his father. Then, there’s Flint. They said he was “a promising young officer in his majesty’s navy”. So we know he is a very experienced and trained sailor as well as soldier, as he was a respected officer of the sea.

Haha, perhaps one of these episodes they will remember it's Gates and not Grant who is Flint's Quartermaster. At least it's a similar sounding name lol. Wanted to pop in with another definition. I talked in a different comment about the necessity of careening, but Flint mentions how it will give them extra "knots" in speed. While you can understand what he's talking about, I'll still clarify. A "knot" is a nautical mile, equal to 1.87 km per hour. However, it's not just a name. Sailors would use what's called a chip log, which was a weighted piece of wood that floated at a specific angle in the water. This wood was tied to a line with several knots in it, each spaced over forty feet apart. When thrown over the stern of a moving ship, the wood encounters resistance in the water, and this changes the speed of the line/knots as they run through a sailor's hands. Another sailor times it with a 30 second hourglass, and each knot in the line represented a nautical mile. This video explains all of that in like under a minute, for those curious haha: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtvfYJFhYEg

Lola thinking Flint might have "tripped" Morley is a thought that crossed my mind as well, and honestly I'm not sure if I'm ready to dismiss it just yet, not until I know more about Flint's character. I really liked Morley tho, you can tell he was a decent guy by the way he treated Randall. Also I was literally begging for the show not to kill the cat... I had enough of that with The fall of house of Usher 😅

black sails and tfothou? yes. i mean, it's almost 1am but i'll still try to watch both!

There is so much careful setup at play in these first few episodes. They're so meaty on rewatch ^_^ We're going to have some wild discussions to come

Hearing you both talk about how interested you are in learning more about Flint and Miranda...man I can't wait for it either. Like...there's so much I want to say but can't. It's an incredibly fascinating and layered relationship though, that much is obvious.

Honestly the story behind Lola's name sounds like a lie.

Hello everyone, here's my first impressions of 1x04. As usual, I won't have picked up on everything, but I'd prefer to just give you my first impressions as they were without looking up any explanations or anything like that. So, here it goes! - Our opening scene with Billy Biceps as the quartermaster adressing the men: as aforementioned, i think it's quite strong that the show is illustrating the sense of order and politics the pirates have. It does a good job of asserting that actions have consequences in the show, and adds a great deal of realism to the overall story. - Great comedic timing in BB telling the crews to forgo a fuck tent, and them looking at him as though he had told them that they'll be forgoing bathroom breaks, then we snapcut to the sex workers on the beach. The dry humour is very well done in the show. - This entire scene with Morley and BB is excellent. It establishes that Flint will go to extreme lengths to achieve his goals, even sailing for months and watching his own men die whilst forgoing fortune. When money is not enough to assuage a pirate, there's bound to be severe conflict and consequences. I'm going to speculate that the man and woman that were killed for Miranda's sake were of some connection to her affair with Flint. Though I'm guessing it's not Thomas Hamilton, as Richard implied (or, basically just told us) that he killed himself when he learned of the affiar. Anyways, great scene illustrating Flint's tenacity and BB's wariness. - The sex scene was brilliant from a visual storytelling point of view. We learned so much as to who these characters are and used to be in just five shots, how much love is lost and despair is present when they have sex. The succeeding conversation about the book solidifies this, but honestly the sex scene in and of itself did so much with so little. Great writing. As for Flint's promise that things will get better, is he imagining that capturing the Dua Lipa for the 5 million will result in them being able to live out their remaining years on the porch by the sunset, where men mistake an oar for a shovel? I interpreted this scene as Miranda being able to see that Flint is truly trying to convince himself as such in this scene. - Can't say I have a lot of love for Zane falling off the deep end here after what he let happen to Max. Jack on the otherhand I could watch all day. He'd fall right into place working under Lester on a wiretap. It's a great sign of a well written show when you have a highly inteligent character that's isn't necessarily floating above the others with their intellect, but instead has their strong and weak points. I'm very much interested to see what the show will do with Jack, he's my favourite thus far alongside El. - Great establishment of the inciting incident for Scott, again all based on a very practical issue; the islanders simply do not trust El, whom they see as a tyrant. Scott's PR skills for lack of a better term can only do so much when El literally forbids trade to occur on the island. A very valid and volatle conflict for his character (how would things be if Scott were in charge, I wonder?). At this point it's a great set-up for El's seasonal arc. She's so stubborn in being correct, both in her convictions in and of themselves and the fact that she does not need a paternal figure to tell her when she's gone too far, and yet it is her relationship with Flint that seeks to undermine this. Something of a 'teenage queen whose duties are in conflict with romance' archtype. At this point, the writing is pretty much on the wall that El is going to fall by the season's end, she can only remain this naive for so long. Nonetheless, I'm very excited to see what will happen. - Great contrast in this episode with how Flint's trust in Billy grows whilst Billy's trust in Flint wains. - Silvy undercooking the pig and Flint pretending to like it to maintain morale, I could see the spit coming a mile away and I still laughed. Silvy calling him cynical made me genuinely laugh out loud. - Ugh, poor Max. I was hoping we weren't going to get more explicit scenes of her brutalised, but at least this one was relatively brief, and the writers didn't stick on it for an extended period of time. - I'm unsure as to why Richard runs the risk of being shipped to Boston were Bryson to learn of the arrest... - The honest mistake of BB not making sure his crew secure the ship correctly is a great way to show how ethical of a character he is; he'll no doubt feel substantial guilt despite the fact that it was a totally honest mistake. - Morley's interaction with BB is a great one I didn't see coming. Again, another test to BB's morality, and one which may very well be planting a seed as to the future politics between himself and Flint et. al - Silvy trying to get in Flint's head was a great illustration of Silvy's intellect coming up against Flint's resolve. - "My only value are my wits... and they are ill-valued at this point". What a fucking line. - Interesting how Anne's emasculation of the brothel-keep is what leads to his death by the episode's end. - I'll be honest, I have no idea what Richard would have said to Bryson behind the closed doors. Whether or not it was a large secret the audience don't know yet, or a convincing lie, I couldn't tell you. - El's acquisition of the guns independent of her loss of Scott's trust in her is a great tragic irony for her character. Her confidants are dropping left and right.   - Richard with Scott, the premonition that there is a war on the horizon that El is too ignorant to see, is incredibly interesting, and adds more validity to the stoicism we've seen from Richard' characterisation thus far. - Miranda, don't listen to that little boy, you're lovely! - Flint and El's scene, "no one will believe us until they see it...", is he trying to convince himself the same way Lester did with Jimmy in season 5? - There's a literal 'save the cat' scene with Randall!   - Flint calling BB 'captin' :') - Am I right in inferring that Flint letting Morley die was a direct result of his paranoia that Morley could potentially thwart his crew's trust in him, and that BB picks up on this right away when he sees Morley's corpse beneath the ship? Likewise, when BB tells Gates that he's afraid of Flint, afraid of what exactly? Not physical strength, surely? Anyways, Flint seeing Gates and BB talking is another great seed-planting of future conflict, tied with him asking Silvy directly what Morley had said to BB. - Miranda's backstory is an interesting one, and a great set-up for how her sights of freedom being set on Boston will come into conflict with Flint's being set on the acquisition of the riches. Flint 'fighting for freedom', the inherent paradox of that, against Miranda looking to a future that won't come to get back to a past that is destroyed is definitley going to have tragic consequences. - Wow, is all I have to say of Zane's dream of El. Not only for the writing but for the directing, cinematography, and Hannah New's acting there. Really fantastic. Zane is such a corrupt character, him choosing between keeping El at his side as a lesser being (a 'girl', specifically) and making her just as weak behind a mask as he is, or destroying her altogether. That level of ruthlessness is as interesting as it is terrifying. - Pastor: "God teaches us not to cheer when others stumble. In your case, I may ask his Forgiveness". Fucking A. - The episode ending with Richard explicitly saying that he plans to rid the islands of the pirates is a fantastic cliffhanger. I'm very much excited to see how the relationship between Richard and El will be irrevocably destroyed as a result. Likewise, the link between Richard and Miranda as a thwart to Flint's relationship with her coming alonside his (Richard's) *own* relationship with El is an incredibly complex web to have been woven. I don't know if I'll be able to make time for such a detailed write-up every single episode, but a show like this realy seems to warrant looking at deeply, and I enjoyed doing it! Given that I'm writing these as I go along, it'll be interesting to look back on my past write-ups once the show has ended to see how much I got right and wrong. I'm thoroughly enjoying the show thus far :)

Betsy the cat is very cute. It was actually very common for pirates to have cats (as well as other kinds of animals) aboard the ship. Cats in particular though were great for both boosting morale and keeping vermin in check, so they were very popular on ships. I like Morely’s interaction with Randall and Betsy, it’s quite sweet. He didn’t have to go back to get a barnacle, but he did. “How exactly does the most feared pirate captain of the high seas learn how to spice and glaze a pig?” A good question, but one Flint doesn’t answer. I also really like the conversation Anne and Jack have. It’s genuinely sweet when it seems like Anne has gotten offers from other crews that Jack says she would be an asset to any of them. “Fuck you Jack.” We need to keep a count of how often this is said lol. It’s interesting that it’s Anne’s words to Noonan about “not having enough balls” to get Max back that results in him dying at Vane’s hand later on. But we’ve also been building a clear thread of Anne really not liking what is happening with Max (and likely feeling guilty, as she was the one who spotted Max when she was trying to leave back in episode 2). I wanted to take a moment to talk about Mr. Scott as well. He’s starting to get more and more time with other characters to really give insight into how smart and practical he is, as well as the life he has led that got him to this point. And while it’s clear he and Eleanor care about each other, she’s currently in the middle of speed running how many of her relationships she can tear apart. I really like how direct he is when he says “Shame on you” to her, it really comes off as a scolding from a parental figure, and it conveys the kind of hurt she has caused. And no matter how she justifies it it’s clear these choices are taking a toll on her. This is seen clearly in the conversation she has with Flint on the beach. She’s looking for reasons to convince herself that these choices she’s made aren’t mistakes. That she hasn’t broken these relationships for nothing. And of course Flint is the perfect person to reassure her, because it’s something he too *has* to believe in. “Nobody will believe it’s possible until we show it to them. And when it comes, you know what they’ll say? They’ll say it was inevitable.” Later, Flint chooses to go to save Randall. Is that because it’s his instinct? Is that because Morely was there? Is it because Randall was one of his detractors, so Flint wanted to win him/the remaining detractors over? We can’t know for sure. John Silver is the one who ends up bringing the solution: cutting off some of Randall’s leg. Naq gurer vf FB ZHPU qryvpvbhf vebal va uvz orvat gur bar gb fhttrfg phggvat bss fbzrbar'f yrt. And of course, it’s quite convenient for Flint that Morely dies. Did Flint leave him to die intentionally? The camera cuts away when it happens, and deliberately does not show us. He could have let Morely die on purpose. But would he have been able to in that moment? We saw Flint scrambling away with Randall in his arms. Would he have been able to do anything but try to save Randall and himself in that situation? On top of that, killing Morely isn’t really all that beneficial to Flint, as it makes him seem more suspicious. So did he do it, or not? We don’t know. The show doesn’t tell us. Ambiguity is something that comes up a lot in this show, and it’s something I love about it. The conversation with Miranda and Richard Guthrie…now we finally have some information. Or at least, we have what Richard Guthrie has heard is the truth. Still, it’s clearly spot on enough in some places. Miranda is Mrs. Hamilton, and her husband Thomas is dead (a thing which was also pretty clear from the way she talks about him). Flint was obviously this promising young Naval officer and a close friend of Thomas’s. This hallucination/dream that Vane has of Eleanor really says a lot about how he views her. I’ve mentioned before that it seems clear to me that Vane only partially understands her, and that there’s a lot about her he doesn't get. This hallucination reinforces that. Basically encouraging Vane that she just doesn't want to admit she’s lesser than him, and he could take the island from her and prove what a big strong manly man he is. This hints at deep insecurities within Vane, something that I think has been evident in the way he responds in anger to certain situations, such as when he attacked Max or when he first tried to convince Eleanor to give his crew better leads. On top of that, how Eleanor is viewed by other people (especially the men) around her is a consistent thing I’m going to want to talk about. Vane very nearly dies here. If it weren’t for the gun failing, this would have been it for him. I like how visceral this short fight feels: it’s desperate and messy. But Cane is still alive by the end of it, and we will have to see what he chooses to do from here on.

The careening of the ship! One of the things I really love about this show is that it has these kinds of details. I’ve mentioned before that it isn’t realistic in the same way The Wire is, but it still makes the life these pirates lead feel very real, and that’s partly thanks to these kinds of details. The ship naturally accumulates barnacles over the course of being at sea. And eventually those barnacles can reach a high enough number to seriously affect the drag it has in the water. If they want to hit their top speeds, they have to scrape off the barnacles. I also love how the creaking ropes are used as this great builder of tension throughout. Props to the sound designers for that one, it’s extremely effective. John Silver has to try and actually be a cook, and it turns out that’s not so easy! They even made it look unappetizing, it’s very clearly not cooked properly at all. I feel bad for the men who ate it lol! But Flint stepping in on Silver’s behalf - because they need Silver after all - is interesting. “What the fuck did you do to that?” “Cooked it?” “You absolutely *did not*.” I laugh every time, that whole bit is hilarious. From Flint spitting it out to their conversation afterward. The Max scene is..hard. At least we don’t see much on screen and it’s brief. I will say though, there are some genuine character details in there I like. Max has fashioned herself a dress out of what looks like part of a sailcloth, even set up a kind of vanity counter for her to brush her hair. Her circumstances are awful of course, but it speaks to her resilience that she does things like…use the material around her to make clothes. It’s clear that for most of the men she’s able to get them to treat her well, and I think she banked on being able to do that and pay off her debt more quickly. But Hammond is literally THE WORST so her tactics are much less effective against someone like that. That’s about all I have to say on it, my previous comments on this plot point have made my feelings pretty clear. Yet still more I’ll be talking about in another comment!

My notes for this episode are - unsurprisingly- very long lmao. Enjoy the essays people! We start the episode by seeing Gates in the midst of his role as Quartermaster, even as he prepares to become a Captain. Which includes having the crew vote for his replacement! Billy “Biceps” Bones is an easy winner: it’s been very well established that the crew likes Billy. Mr. DeGroot gets more of an introduction here. He’s been in other episodes, but him stepping forward to share his fears about careening on this beach shows the kind of character he is. He’s the Ship’s Master for the record, which means he is in charge of navigation and is generally just a very experienced sailor/knowledgeable about the ship itself. DeGroot isn’t wrong in his point, but neither is Flint. If they’re going to catch the Urca, they can’t afford to wait two weeks. Lmao, “for once, we forgo the fuck tent?” And everyone looks at Billy like he’s suggested they work without food. I love how it just cuts to said tent being set up, it’s so funny and well timed. I like that we cut back to the conversation Billy was having with Morely. It communicates that this is what Billy is thinking about at that moment: he is remembering the rest of that conversation, and the show is using that flashback to give further context. And so Morely tells Billy - and us - about the Marie Elaine. It starts with a story (there’s that word again) not unlike the one Flint has told about the Urca. Find this ship and you will get a prize beyond your wildest dreams. But there was no prize. No payment for the men. Only people that Flint chose to slaughter, no matter what they offered him for their lives. “But that’s when the screams began.” A very chilling line. But what follows is much more interesting. When Flint reached the shores of Nassau, a woman (Miranda based on implication) is waiting for him. He tells her “they’re dead”, and it’s very clear that this was something personal that Flint did - not just for himself, but for her. Something she had been waiting at the dock to hear confirmed. In this episode, Miranda has a rock thrown at her by a kid that calls her a witch. We know that one of Flint’s crew thinks he is “controlled by a witch who lives at the center of the island”. Again, she’s obviously not a witch. But how involved is she really in what Flint has been doing? More than it appears at first glance. We knew in the previous episode that she was aware of Flint’s plans, his chase for the Urca. But this speaks to more than just awareness. I’m also going to talk about the sex scene between Miranda and Flint. Before, it was unclear if they were even a couple exactly, and somehow even now that feels less than certain. A lot is communicated in just this moment alone. I mentioned before that I generally think the sex scenes in Black Sails are about conveying things about the characters and story, and this is a good example. They’re having sex but Miranda is the only active participant. And even then it feels very much like it was just for her to get a little satisfaction. It’s…awkward. Cold. But not without warmth either. They embrace, and it almost feels like they are offering comfort to each other. But the conversation afterward also has a whole lot happening. Miranda: If you’re upset with me I’d appreciate you saying so. Flint: You know why I’m upset. Miranda: Because I read to him? Flint: There’s a whole shelf full of books! Why’d you have to read him *that* one? Miranda: Perhaps because I am no longer willing to bury it on a shelf and pretend it has no meaning for me! So, Meditations is clearly something that has meaning for both Flint and Miranda, considering Flint’s response to her reading it to Mr. Guthrie. And this is Miranda reminding Flint of that - that the book holds meaning for her too and she can’t pretend it doesn’t. That it makes her think of Thomas and the life they had, and she doesn’t want to forget those things. And I just feel so sad for her as she breaks down further, saying that the life they have been living here “is no life at all.” And in response…Flint is surprisingly gentle. Kind. He goes to her and holds her tearful face in his hands. His expression is clearly torn. He kisses her forehead and promises that things will get better. He clearly still believes it. If Miranda ever did, she clearly doesn’t anymore. What does all of this mean? Well, I can’t wait for those watching for the first time to find out. Tbq, gur jnl Syvag ybbxf ng gur cbegenvg bs Gubznf. Ubj tevrs-fgevpxra ur ybbxf jura ur tbrf gb ubyq ure snpr. Ur *trgf* jung fur'f srryvat, rira vs ur qbrfa'g trg vg ng gur fnzr gvzr. Ur xabjf ure tevrs, orpnhfr vgf uvf nf jryy. Ur'f fb natel gung fur fubjrq Ze. Thguevr Zrqvgngvbaf, ohg bapr fur gnyxf nobhg Gubznf ur pna'g uryc ohg fbsgra. Haqrefgnaq. Gel gb pbzsbeg ure nf orfg ur pna.

Yesss, been waiting for this. Everything with careening the ship is so intense and well done in this episode.

I’m very excited for them to get further in the story, and to very soon wash the bad taste of episode 3 out of our mouths

Too long have we waited.

Yusss i was just thinking about yall and Black Sails 🔥🙏 also all the respect in the world goes to ship cats. They are the true beings that keep the ships running 😂