Black Sails 2x03 Reaction

A lot of the comments here focus on Vane killing Lowe for Elanor but there is also another reason. Vane wasnt lying to Lowe, he does need a ship and recall when he first went back to where he rose from the dead, he told the men they are pirates who belong at sea. Part of his goal for this crew is to get a ship and sail the seas. This is the perfect plan to do so. Take out a captain no one likes, claim their ship, help Elanor, plus they get Lowe's "treasure" and keep his crew happy all at the same time. Now he doesnt "need" the fort, but it gives him power leverage over the island. The dialog and convo between Vane and Lowe is hilarious when he ends it with Mr Holmes doesnt work here any more. We also have the puzzle pieces that will move these characters going forward and you can see the lines that lead to the end of the season when you look back. Vane's choice to tell Elanor about the girl and who she is being a major piece that will lead to disaster for some and heart break for others. But also some badass moments for our characters that are very enjoyable to watch.

I'll try post this one more time, really hope it works correctly: 2x03 First Impressoins - Thomas and Flint; The show is doing a great job of showing us with the two storylines how someone such as Flint came to be the man he is today, and how he navigates the fallout of his past life. Seeing the man he used to be makes it all the more tragic, especially given what he and Thomas are discussing. Miranda is so pretty ; _ ; - Silvy in the mess hall; The crew like him , love that. Not really sure what that dispute between the crewman and Silvy was meant to signify, if I'm being totally honest. - Vane and Low; I think what Low did here was very clever, and again a testament to the writing. When Low gives Vane the money and mentions the 'tax' El imposed on him, it's clear that his goals are not simply to make sure that Vane won't be an enemy, but to create a possible divide between him (Vane) and El. Present himself as straightforward, respectful, reasonable. Give off the impression that he is, indeed, laying all his cards on the table, and then plant a seed of doubt in Vane's mind. The problem here of course is that Vane is way too fucking clever, and were there anything that would make Vane cross El, it will take a lot more than a man like Low whom Vane sees right through. Both with this moment and the rest of the scene in general, they do a great job at presenting Low as a formidable foe. - Anne and Max in bed; this scene made me sad. In 1x05 Anne gave us a brief snippet of information regarding men's mistreatment of her in *that* particular way, but the scenes with Anne really indicate how much apprehension and safeguarding is there. I don't like thinking about what it is Anne has had to go through to make her behaviour the way that it is. - Flint and Dufresne; scenes like this are good because Dufresne's totally in the right to fight against Flint, both in this case and generally speaking. Both men handle each other quite well, Dufresne seems to be fitting into the shoes Gates left quite well in this regard. The last 24 hours have illustrated to Dufresne quite clearly that he still has much to learn. Flint and Silvy; I could watch them bicker back and forth all day, honestly. They make such a good odd couple. Miranda and El; Put Mianda and Jack in a room together immediately. These are the two most articulate motherfuckers on the show without fail. A question for those who may be able to clarify something for me: at this particular point in time, does Miranda have any 'real' reason for helping El here? I'm curious as to why she seems so calm and respectful to El here. Why would she not just tell her to fuck off instead? Is it purely out of sympathy, or knowing that it would piss of Flint if she didn't help her, or is there a third thing here that I'm just not seeing? - Silvy and Flint; another scene that reminds me of The Wire, in that we forget that Flint and Silvy are only just now realising that Vane has taken over the fort and forced Hornigold to the beach. I wonder if they nicknamed their new location Hamsterdam for old times sake... Vane and Max; Vane, that's rude. You can just move out of the girls way. The dialogue in this show fucking rocks. I fucking love how smart all these characters are, the relationships are almost soap opera in nature but the complexity of the characters and the dynamics of the relationships are so incredibly deep it's like a novel. Vane not wanting to know how to get over El, just perfection. El and Eme; It's great to see her character back, however briefly, to show that El did put the work in to help these people. El and Flint; Jeeeeeesus they did so much there. Flint chewing her out for succumbing to Vane, point blank asking her where she really sees all this heading, him confessing his murder of Gates and using it to explain (and possibly rationalise) his actions against hers, El showing genuine fear and vulnerability in saying "it can wait till the morning", and then bringing Miranda into it all by the very end. Fuck. - Miranda and Flint; "Would you not enjoy my company?" goddamn that made me grin ear to ear on my first watch, I'd have been wrapped around her finger no question if I was Flint in that moment xD The rest of the scene speaks for itself. Miranda is really doing a lot as a character to impresss me, and the actor is fantastic too. Silvy and Hornigold; When Silvy said "Why, how do you do it?", was he directly referencing El there? Jack and Anne; I took Anne totally on face value there. Perhaps I'm way too naive to have done so, but I guess time will tell. Vane and Jack; "still as thick as the moment I found you fucking behind the galley" why did I find that so sweet?! I love Jack and Anne together. Anne reaching for her sword was a nice moment of extra dramatic tension. And is it me or does Jack remind anyone else a bit of Daniel from Lost (no I am not stopping with the Lost callbacks, I never will. Cope.) Silver and Flint; Flint deliberatelly wanting to rile up the crew, I can't stand the way he looks upon them so often. Miranda and Flint flashback; I wonder if the driver thinks to himself "what the hell is going on back there?", or maybe he just thinks "every damn week..." lmao Miranda and Flint today; I take it that those kids were just in Flint's head, and not actually real? I never actually questioned until now whether or not Miranda had had children prior to her having to leave for Nassau. - Low and Vane; I'll admit that I fell hook line and sinker for this scene. I totally thought that Vane honestly wanted to strike up a deal with Vane. Also when we first saw the crewmen swimming underwater, I was convinced it was Jack and Anne at first :') "Mr. Holmes doesn't work here anymore", holy shit. I'm in no way whatsoever doubting the writing at all, but during that split second where it appears 50 / 50 as to whether Low or Vane lost the fight, if the reveal had been Vane's held being held by Low, that would have been a real shocker. He most likely would have then been killed by the crew (though, you never know, perhaps they may have been incredibly impressed by Low's ability in that moment), but for us to then have to pick-up the pieces of Vane being slaughtered with so much of the episode (and series) still left to go, it would have amazing. - Scott and El; I'm glad we're seeing more of Scott. He looks so different with short hair! I'm... not 100% sure what Scott was getting at, is he low-key implying that staying on Flint's side is the right decision if it's one she's able to commit to? I doubt this will be the last time these two converse so I'll move on for now. El and the crowd; Gotta give props to the penmanship. I assume Vane got one of the other men to write that down, but the letters are well spaced and very legible. Props! Vane and El; Jesus Christ this show was made for the bi folks wasn't it? 10/10. Jack and Anne (and Max lol); I'm glad to see that there's an air of reconciliation to Anne, her character is really proving to be a lot more complex than I originally thought. The very slow reveal of her character over time is exciting, but very sad as well of course. I really don't like to dwell on what it is she may have had to endure, and what it is that Max is helping her work through. I mentioned before that at this point in time Jack is my favourite character. I really hope his ethics as a character don't diminish, as he truly does care about Anne (or at least it seems that way). I guess the future conflict(s) with Max will reveal Jack's true nature also. Vane and El; Oh, Vane is going to die isn't he? :( They made such a point of how dangerous this all it that he can't NOT die. And I like hiiiiiim :( Silvy and Flint; Fucking hell, Flint is committed. The story is *really* starting to kick off now. And Miranda picking up the book the next morning? Though I doubt this would happen, it would be incredible if Flint died smack dab in the middle of this season, or by the season end at least. All the build up and tragedy, seeing him sink lower and lower into his narrow-minded pursuit of relief. It would be a perfectly tragic storyline, to see him completely unravel at the seems, to see the life drain from him as a result of grasping so hard to both the past and future. I say that it's unlikely to happen as the way people have been talking in the comments implies that he's going to live past season 2 (a reason why I'm no longer peeping the comments as heavily as I did when the show began, I want to go in unbaised), but nonetheless I think that killing Flint by the end of the season at least would be the most appropriate for how weakened he is as a character at this stage.

I love that the girls can’t call Flint, James lol. I feel like we all had to watch the flashbacks and then get further context to”Flint” from himself, before we get to see that there is an actual visual distinction between the McGraw version of him and the Flint version of him (and that is all down to Tobys acting🤌🏼) And only then do we feel comfortable calling the younger one James and the current one Flint. Or was that just me?

i am LOVING these reactions and specially rewatching the show and having you two talk and talk about it because i loved this show but there's so many things i don't remember that at times i cannot recall what comes next.

The first time I watched this show, I had assumed that Anne kept her shirt on during all of her sex scenes simply because the actress was uncomfortabe with doing nudity. To see that it was actually because the character had scars that she didn't like to show was a pretty clever piece of misdirection.

"I adore this show." You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear that. :)

Jack and Max were kind of flirting in the pilot episode. Sure, it was business, but there's definitely a chemistry

The thing you ladies need to remember about Eleanor and Vane is that they were in a relationship before and it ended badly. Eleanor moved on, Vane did not. What we are seeing now is a man desperately trying to get back that great love he once had, and a woman who acknowledges there is still some minor leftover feelings but they aren't strong enough for her to start back up with him again. I agree that Eleanor had shown more care to Max, but that was because at this point in her life she had grown to care for Max, the way she previously cared for Vane in the past. If we had met these characters when they were dating before, the way she acts with him would be extremely different. I LOVE Miranda and Flint's relationship, and I loved how Miranda politely told Eleanor "You don't know shit about us." Eleanor came in hot and left realizing that when it comes to Flint, she would never know him the way Miranda does. I also love how much Jack was spouting on and on about how Anne can't trust Max and all the while Max was actually trying to help Jack get his reputation back, one of the first times I remember disagreeing with Jack and I loved how he was immediately proven wrong. Max has her own goals yes, but she genuinely feels grateful to Jack and Anne for what they did for her and what it cost him, so she is trying to help in any way she can. I understand why you ladies haven't truly warmed up to Vane yet but at this point I genuinely started to love him because of how genuine he is, how blunt, what you see is truly what you get with him, there's no plotting or malice in what he does and it's a stark contrast to Flint which is what I found so intriguing about our two most famous Captains in Nassau.

Every single Black Sails reaction video now, LM tells us how much they hate us because they have to talk about the episode 😂

They’re not exactly the same, but Flint reminds me a lot of Erwin Smith from AoT. They have strong charisma and are experienced leaders. They also send people to their deaths for false goals. Anytime those characters speak I get so hyped. Obviously their characters are not exactly the same. But I can’t imagine a hypothetical scenario where I’d have to choose one as a leader, I could not pick

Love Milena hype for Flint :D "I would follow him anyware!" Eh, I feel you girl, same here! :D Amazing episode, the badass-meter was over 9000 in this one XD The first time I watched I was very surprised to see Ned Low leaving the scene so quickly, I expected him to be the villain for the entire season or most of it.

WE ALREADY AT THE HOUR LONG VIDEOS WITH A PROMISE FOR MORE NEXT EPISODE. I LOVE THIS SERIES AND YALL REACTIONS TO IT

We are 100% gonna get some tears of hype from the girls this season and im so ready for it

I didn't think I'd be cheering for Vane but here I am 😅. Not for one second did I doubt that he would come to Ned Low's ship with no backup, but I definitely did not expect Ned to be killed this early, I thought he was going to be kidnapped at most and continue being trouble for at least a couple of episodes. One small thing I really loved was Vane's public meeting with Jack and Anne, and how he went the extra mile by giving Jack a hug lmao. Vane really took the spotlight for me in this episode

Patron only shows the first two paragraphs of my comment and I've tried post it 7 times now. I accept defeat, Patron is sick of my bullshit. Anyways the write-up is on the Discord for those curious.

''So, at sunrise tomorrow we make our terms clear, with no room for bargain or compromise. Charles Vane and the animals he commands have until sunrise tomorrow to vacate that fort or so help me God, I will reign holy hell down upon him'' Most badass line ever

I loved how vane figured out a way to justify helping Eleanor in the eyes of his crew. He has such a soft spot for her. I really love that he genuinely cares for her even if it’s hard for him to fully admit it sometimes

Eleanor seems to have taken this action exactly as Vane hoped. I do want to point out that Vane denies that he killed Low for her. Even though we as the audience know that’s a lie…it’s kind of interesting. Eleanor told him to prove he cared for her by doing this, only for him to deny that that’s why. I wonder if she believes him. She doubted he cared in the first place after all, and has consistently shown that she has a hard time believing when people say they care about her at all. Regardless she’s…rather appreciative haha. I don’t ship these characters but the actors have good chemistry, and you’ve always been able to see that physical attraction has never been a problem in their relationship. It’s also quite a contrast to their previous sex scene, where they spent it fighting for dominance. They’re a lot more on the same page here. Back to the brothel, Jack and Anne are celebrating their victory. Anne starts to walk off, and Jack is disappointed, clearly thinking she is leaving him to go to Max. Then she asks why the fuck he isn’t coming along. And what follows is a scene with excellent non verbal communication. All of the actors do an excellent job. At the top of the stairs, Jack is confused, thinking they are heading toward their own room. But Anne takes him into Max’s room instead (he did talk about not liking being on the other side of that door). A thing Max was clearly not expecting, and neither was Jack. But Anne keeps walking forward, and for the first time she completely disrobes. Even in the sex scene she had with Jack before she still had her shirt on. And we see several huge scars all across her back. Jack of course has seen them before, and from the way he sets his jaw he clearly knows what caused them as well, and thinking of it causes him pain. Max in turn has not seen those scars, and seems quite saddened by them (Jessica Parker Kennedy even almost looks on the verge of tears for a second), overtaking her surprise for a moment. Anne walks forward, leaving both Max and Jack to stare at each other and know they have a choice to make. Anne hasn’t said a word since they came upstairs, but it’s clear: this is how things have to happen if they are going to continue. Both for Max to see her, and for Jack. She’s put all of herself on the table now, literally exposed herself. It’s up to Max and Jack to follow suit. And they do. We see Eleanor and Vane again, and Vane makes another important choice: to show Eleanor what the “prize” Low’s crew had. That Vane now has. He doesn’t want Eleanor to find out another way. This is where we learn why she is so important: she is the daughter of Peter Ashe, governor of the Carolina colony. And they mean to ransome her. As soon as Vane says it you can see Eleanor wishing he wasn’t doing this, and we learn a little about lord Ashe as well. Apparently he is very anti-pirate, even hanging those only suspected of having pirated goods. She calls him “fanatical”, and he’s clearly very dangerous. But Vane was not asking for permission, and Eleanor’s views on the subject won’t change it. Back with The Walrus crew, Flint gives a great speech (as per usual). It builds into a great note for the episode to end on. “Or so help me God…I will rain holy hell down upon them.”

Then, we see Vane coming onto Ned Low’s ship and meeting in his cabin. How many of you watching for the first time knew he was here to kill Low? But I’m getting ahead of myself: this conversation is a lot of fun. Vane pretends he’s coming to ally with Low, but Low doesn’t let that last long. He also makes a lot of assumptions that turn out to be wrong, but the biggest is that Vane came alone without his men knowing. I love the way it cuts back and forth from Vane speaking to his men actively taking over the ship. “What exactly would I get in exchange for all that?” “A head start.” Chills every time. This whole bit is amazing, and followed up with another great line: “Mr. Holmes doesn’t work here anymore.” The fight between them is short but brutal; again, I love how consistently intense the fights feel in this show, it really does come off like it could go either way for these characters. And the show plays with that for a minute: it isn’t clear at first who walks through that door and whose head is being held. But it’s Vane of course. Because Low did a very dangerous thing: he angered Charles Vane. And that cannot stand, something that Vane is also making clear to his own crew. Back on land, Scott gets a secret message to meet with Eleanor. It’s nice to see them on good terms, though Scott stops Eleanor from putting him in a position of betraying Hornigold. It’s clear she still needs someone to bounce her thoughts off of, to get advice from, and it makes sense she would turn to Scott. And Scott, in turn, gives her very good advice while still avoiding anything that would be a betrayal toward Hornigold. Telling her that she has to decide who she trusts and what she really wants. Reminding her that she has put time and money and effort into Flint already, and if she changes her loyalties now it will have consequences. Of course, that is true no matter what she chooses, and I think she really is trying to figure out what is best for Nassau. She’s also definitely shaken by what Flint did to Gates, and it’s enough to make her question not only him, but herself. Surely she isn’t capable of doing the same things Flint is, right? But then we see it. Ned’s head on a spike on the beach. With a note saying “I angered Charles Vane.” Quite a statement to make. To the island, to his crew. To Eleanor. On a funnier note, since I’ve been re-listening to the Black Sails podcast Fathoms Deep, and the hosts pointed out that it’s likely Vane isn’t even literate. So they had to go through a whole process of finding a scribe to write this note (in a very fancy script at that lol) and then set it up how Vane wanted. And that’s kind of hilarious to think about.

We’ve got a few scenes in between, but what I want to talk about next is Jack and Anne with Vane in the brothel. “You’ll either be the death of each other, or we’ll all end up working for you one day. There’s no third option.” Pbafvqrevat jurer Wnpx naq Naar raq hc...lrnu gung frpbaq bcgvba ghearq bhg cerggl fcbg ba, ng yrnfg jurer gur frevrf pbapyhqrq. I like how through the whole conversation Anne is ready to stab Vane if he so much as makes the slightest threatening move against Jack lmao. And of course Max making her entrance down the stairs at just the right moment, both to show Jack and Anne how valuable she is to have as a partner, and so she can tell Vane what Low’s crew has. “Congratulations, Jack. Now you know what it’s like to rise from the grave.” That’s a great line. And while you could ask ‘how does anyone know about Vane doing that’, the answer is obvious: it’s become a story spread by his own crew. We know the way storytelling works here, how important it is for a captain to have a reputation. There is no way that word of that wouldn’t travel around. We go shortly into another flashback (after a brief scene showing Silver starting to get annoyed with Flint). Miranda and James in a carriage, not going where she had wanted to but back to her own house. The analysis Miranda makes of James is quite interesting, and something we see carried over when he is Flint. Managing how he is perceived, and getting what he wants without others knowing he did anything to get it at all. Basically describes everything he did in the previous episode to get his captaincy back, doesn’t it? I also think it’s really interesting that it’s James who makes the first move here. Miranda isn’t the one who reaches for his hand. He reaches for hers, knowing what that initiates between them. Proving Miranda right, that he is less concerned about what they are actually doing together than he is about how it would look to be seen out in public. Then of course we jump forward and see him coming up to her house. It’s really quite a melancholy scene. He looks in through the glowing window at Miranda entertaining a family from the interior (possibly the Underhill family, or else certainly someone from Lambrick’s congregation) smiling, and laughing, and looking so much more like the Miranda we have seen in flashbacks. And Flint can’t bring himself to go in. To shatter this peaceful moment or risk her dropping her smile. So he just leaves the book for her. And it feels like an apology for how they left things last time. As usual, Toby Stephens is a gift to acting: he communicates so much emotion with his face, it’s astounding.

We briefly see Eme again, which is nice! She helps Eleanor find a new bodyguard, one of the other former slaves that Scott helped to free. But of course that’s when Flint returns, and the whole bar goes silent at the sight of him. Eleanor is so happy she hugs him, but Flint doesn't wait to tell her the truth: he doesn’t have the gold. The conversation that continues in her office doesn’t get better from there. Eleanor insists that she had very little choice when Vane took over the fort, and that’s certainly true. We know he would have kept sinking ships until they were able to get him out, and who knows how much damage he would have been able to do in that time. Eleanor tried to make a choice that resulted in the least awful outcome, and says that doing otherwise would have been “too great” of a sacrifice. Of course to Flint, there *is no* sacrifice that’s too great. And that’s why he tells her about Gates. Tries to get her around to his view. Of course, Eleanor’s feelings about it are complicated. Obviously there is the part of her that cares about Vane, but she also knows that Vane is likely about to help her out with Low, a problem that Flint may not be able to help with. So is she supposed to depose the man that’s going to help her get rid of a psychopathic captain that’s painted a target on her back? At the same time, she can’t deny Flint’s point that Vane is unlikely to let him enter the bay with the Urca gold. I think it’s interesting that Eleanor tries to get Flint to go and see Miranda, despite how terribly her own conversation with Miranda went. I think she knows that seeing Miranda is likely to calm Flint down, but I think it’s also true that she picked up on the genuine care Miranda has for him. In any case, I love the knocking on the door leading to a cut that brings us back to the past. Miranda comes to visit a bedraggled James at his home. Something that on its own would be considered rather inappropriate for the time period, not that Miranda is remotely concerned. Poor James in this scene is very confused. “Would you not enjoy my company?” Oh she is so good at this. And I love James’s smile in response. It’s made very clear that both Miranda and Thomas are aware of the rumors about herself and their relationship, but that they do not particularly care. “I love my husband,” Miranda says, a refrain that she has kept steadily, all the way into 1715 when she talks about Thomas with Pastor Lambrick. And in their previous scene together their easy affection was quite obvious. Neither she or Thomas care about “what the neighbors” say about her. So, the question then is…does James care? We know the answer to that of course.

If you girls can't watch episode 6 right after 5, you are gonna be pissed. xD

Don’t really have much to say about the short scene with Flint as Silver as they reach Nassau’s beach. It’s good to get a rough timetable for when they need to go back for the gold though. I *do* have things to say about the scene between Vane and Max in the brothel. I like how immediately Max realizes that Vane is there because of Eleanor, just because he wants to find out what “prize” Low’s crew has. Max talks about the scene between herself and Eleanor at the end of last season, and that despite it all “The moment she walked away do you know what I felt? The urge to go after her and hold her again.” I also love how Vane laughs and says that Jack and Anne have “no idea what they’re up against” with Max, immediately recognizing in turn how smart she is. He tries to pay her with the gold that Low gave him, but Max has a better idea. One that is more beneficial not just for her, but for Anne and Jack as well. I think this further proves that she hasn’t been trying to antagonize Jack or drive a wedge between him and Anne: she’s just trying to make things more stable for herself. The smart thing to do isn’t to upset Jack and Anne: it’s to give them what they want. Giving people what they want is how Max operates, and it’s how she’s operated for a long time. One of the things I really like about her character is how it includes her experience as a sex worker into the choices she makes and how she uses her intelligence. It’s part of how she reads people so well, and part of how she uses what she learns to her advantage: giving people what they want is more likely to give you better results in turn. “Pleasure should be shared equally” she said once, and that’s generally how she tries to operate. She also tries to tell Vane that she has “figured out how to stop caring” about Eleanor, though the tremble in her voice says otherwise. She offers to tell Vane how, but Vane isn’t interested in that. Even when he got men who didn’t care about Eleanor for the purpose of forcing himself into a controlling position, that was never about trying to get Eleanor not to care. Quite the opposite, actually, though the results of that have been shaky at best so far.

"Mr. Holmes doesn't work here anymore." I love this line.

We see Vane fighting against some of his crew when Ned Low comes to speak with him. Low has pretty correctly identified Vane as someone who would be a potential problem, and I don’t think he leaves the conversation thinking that Vane will be any less of a problem. I think it’s interesting to see both Ned Low and one of Vane’s crew referring to Eleanor as “The Guthrie woman”. Vane himself said he got this crew for the sake of them not caring about what Eleanor wants. When that’s in Vane’s favor (like taking the fort no matter what Eleanor has to say about it) it’s great. But now Vane is trying to get on Eleanor’s good side…well, he’s seeing the other side of that. In the brothel, we see Jack waking up alone. In the previous episode he told Anne to return when she was “done” with Max, and it seems like they’re still nowhere near done even the next day. We soon see that this is definitely the case, and I want to take a second to shout out this sex scene. I think a lot of sex scenes involving two women in media tend to focus on just making the women look sexy for the (presumed male) audience, but this doesn’t come off that way at all. Anne still has her shirt on, and the sex they’re having is for Anne’s pleasure, not the titillation of the audience. I also really like that shot in the mirror of Max as she crawls further up the bed. And I like the body language we get afterward as well. There’s still a degree to which Anne is keeping herself closed off: she keeps her back to Max after all. But she also reaches deliberately for Max’s hand, to hold it close to herself. It really feels particularly vulnerable. Back on The Walrus, things are continuing to be tense with Dufresne. While Flint is ultimately able to get him to take his orders, it’s clear Dufresne is going to put up a fight about basically anything Flint wants. It’s interesting that Flint trusts Silver to choose men to go back and watch over the Spanish soldiers/gold, but he has realized that Silver is basically his only ally on the crew right now. The green dress Miranda is wearing is the same shade as the one she wore back in 1705, but it’s a very different kind of dress. Here it’s much more practical: a dress she can wear while doing work around the field, but I think the color in the costuming is a deliberate callback to how she looked ten years ago. We expect to see Flint riding up to her, but it’s actually Eleanor. I feel bad for Miranda in this scene: it’s been established how lonely she is. I think she’s being genuine when she’s telling Eleanor all she’s heard about her and how she admires it. She’s getting tea ready for them to share, and clearly wants to have a good conversation with her…buuuuut Eleanor does not feel the same way. From Eleanor’s perspective, Miranda betrayed Flint (and all of them) and it nearly ruined everything, so it’s not surprising that she doesn’t like Miranda at all. She tries to be quite petty about it too, claiming that Miranda is “unremarkable” because Flint hasn’t mentioned her to Eleanor at all (rather than the truth, which is that Flint confides in Miranda while he doesn’t do that with Eleanor). Miranda doesn’t seem too bothered by this, and it’s clear she’s no stranger to this kind of verbal sparring. “Every man has his torments. Demons born of past wrongs that hound and harass them. You perceive the effect of Captain Flint’s demons. Echos of their voices. But I know their names. I was there when they were born. I know the things they whisper to him at night. So you can believe me when I tell you that within his chorus of torments…none of them look or sound like me.” Great lines. Also: Bu ybbx, n fhecevfr gbby gung jvyy uheg hf yngre.

All right, episode three of season two. Here we go. We open back in 1705, with Thomas and James looking over a propoganda pamphlet about the dangers of piracy. If you look closely, the pirate on the pamphlet has pointed teeth, which brings to mind Joshua on Flint’s crew in the future. Both Joshua and the people who make the pamphlet use that imagery for the specific purpose of scaring people, and both are just as fake. Anyway, we finally see Thomas without his wig and I’m very much looking forward to how excited Lola and Milena will be about that lmao. Turns out, said propaganda is being financed by the current governor of Nassau, showing quite frankly the cycle that is intentionally perpetuated. And while they could always appoint a new governor, James is quick to point out that keeping a governor honest is very hard to do when they’re sent off to an island with no one to keep them accountable. “No man, given that kind of influence will stay honest for very long.” Then Miranda comes in, wearing a lovely green dress. I love how easily affectionate you can see her and Thomas being with each other. She walks up and gives him a little hug from the side and he holds her hand as he squeezes her back. Then she grabs a book from their personal shelf, and gives it to James, saying it will help him “deal” with Thomas. The book she picks is Don Quixote by Miguel De Servantes (and, in 1715, the book Flint picks to give Miranda is another book by Servantes, in what is clearly an intentional callback). Thomas is pretty amused by her choice, and it’s clearly a joke between them. One that Miranda is now intentionally including James in. So, let’s talk about Don Quixote by Miguel De Servantes. Disclaimer: I have not read the book, my knowledge of it comes from both reading about it, and watching videos about it over the years. So if there’s someone who has read it and can add to the conversation, please do so! In short, Don Quixote is about a very idealistic lord named Alonso who becomes obsessed with ‘romantic chivalry’ as seen in many heroic stories, and the book is very much a critique of those kind of stories. Alonso begins calling himself Don Quixote and declares himself to be a knight, and rides off to go and find people in need of rescuing. The whole story is basically a collection of episodic tales of Quixote misinterpreting normal situations for more fantastical ones, and often inserting himself into situations he is rather naive about. This often leads to more harm than good. In particular, there is a famous sequence involving a windmill that Quixote claims is actually a giant. He attacks the windmill, and unsurprisingly the windmill wins. This sequence eventually led to an English phrase, “tilting at windmills” which can mean a few different things, such as fighting an invisible or non-existent enemy, but is also used to apply toward those that are viewed as being extreme idealists. So, in essence, Miranda is teasing Thomas about acting like a knight in shining armor toward Nassau, in spite of his own idealism and naivete. Thomas clearly understands the joke and gets it, which makes sense. He is not unaware of his own blind spots here, and that’s a big part of why he wants James to help him. Precisely because, as Thomas said last episode “they see the world so differently.” The version of the book she gives him is in Spanish, which James of 1705 doesn’t yet speak. But Flint in 1715 clearly does, as he picks another Servantes book to give to Miranda. For those curious, it’s La Galatea, which is basically all about love as examined through many different characters as well as poems and songs. Flint’s contemplation is distracted by the sounds of the other crewmen, who have already become quite taken with Silver’s daily announcements. They’re laughing and joking and listening along willingly. We also see that while Flint has won the votes of his crew, there’s still discontent among them about his leadership. Oh yeah, and they don’t know Vane took control of the fort either.