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Mar. 7th, 2016 06:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwydion* Flint vs. Silver: http://shinmaya-aka-fred.tumblr.com/post/140612420469/iwtv2007-shinmaya-aka-fred-iwtv2007
* Black Sails XXV
* I have a lot of thoughts about Max right now, but none of them are formed enough for writing out.
* I have been thinking a lot about Charles Vane's near silence in most meetings, especially this season. He usually doesn't talk in these high level meetings unless asked directly, and he was particularly quiet with Blackbeard around. As a result, it's startling to me him standing up for his part of the plan here on his own account. They look more like equals here, even though it is flint she is negotiating with. I keep remembering how much I wanted Vane to stand up and strongly back the defense of Nassau instead of letting Jack do it, to lend Jack his weight of authority. Here he is lending Flint his weight. I'm still mulling that and I suspect I'll be writing more on the subject another time.
* Flint, this remains a terrible plan.
* So Madi is co-commander official, and Charles is acting as an ally outside chain of command, but it's still Flint giving orders, really, about which I have a number of opinions best not spoken. It's another triumvarite, isn't it? And one I suspect is even more doomed.
* More than a hundred years later, English soldiers feared posting to the Caribbean as it was a death sentence for so many. Like the deadliness of belly wounds, this is often forgotten in historical dramas, but not here.
* Jack is clever enough to figure it out. His faith in Anne's bloody vengeance is beautiful in it's way.
* This concern about who is the villain looms over this episode as it did the last one. Here it is Woodes trying to avoid it. "I face a number of dangers ahead in stabilizing Nassau. The one I will resist to the limits of my ability is to allow myself to be cast as its villain." Jack, for his part owns it, "We're all villains in Nassau. Don't think because you're new you're any different." Later it is Flint and Silver talking around it, referencing their conversation about monsters and self hatred, and Woodes and Flint will discuss it openly. I think it is also the subtext of Max's thread this episode. It certainly is in Eleanor's, given that conversation in bed with Woodes.
* How convenient for everyone that Mrs. Hudson is a double agent who can convey terms directly.
* I do like Eleanor having the courtesy to tell Max that Max is forsworn and now complicit in betraying Anne in a way she did not intend. There is, of course, the matter of the betrayal she did intend. I do like Max begging mercy for Anne and Eleanor having anticipated it. I like the way they are finally coming to understand each other better since Eleanor's return.
* I do so enjoy Idelle's side eyes.
* Another planning meeting with Charles speaking his mind on his own account. I am suspecting this second emphatic break with Blackbeard has freed him from that diminishment that has hung over him all season. He's stopped being the prodigal son in the shadow of a legendary father, and gone back to being Charles Fucking Vane, pirate's pirate, a legend in his own right.
And now I'm thinking about how that applies to Jack's arc, given how much Jack idolizes Vane and the ways Jack is finally starting to grow up. The thoughts are not formed enough for writing at length, but I'm sticking a pin in this one too.
* Flint is thinking bigger than Vane, though Vane's objection is a good one on a ship politics level. Flint is thinking in terms of the Story and it's power to change the politics, but Billy of all people sees further than Flint. He's right on the face of it. It really should be Silver, logically. It is so much scarier that way, letting their master story teller turn up as a harbinger to spread alarm and uncertainty in the dark. The Monster you see is seldom scarier than the Monster you can't see. Flint's spent all the time since the end of last season building a legend as an unkillable monster who comes in the dark to bring fire and blood. Silver turning up to tell them that he's returned from the dead is much scarier, kind of like Steve Buschemi's character talking up El Mariachi in the beginning of Desperado.
* You know what it also does? It _protects Flint_. Rather than Flint exposing himself prematurely to attack in some tavern, he's back on the boat nice and safe. Just saying. I see what you did there, Billy Bones.
* We've been tracking death imagery all season, from the Ghost Captain to the male and female death figures to Miranda as psychopomp and Charon the boatman. We've had Flint's own struggle with suicidal ideation for most of season. Now he is literally referred to as a "ghost." He has become the Ghost Captain, only he is not alone, but rather coming as Death himself. O.o
* Side note: the phrase "desert the black" makes me think of renegade Crows being begeaded in ASoIaF, and it took me half a minute to untangle contexts, which then sent me down a bit of a cross over rabbit hole. I have often said Black sails is everything I wanted out of GoT and didn't get.... Anyway, back to pirates.
* Silver's bitter: "Who'll be able to take their eyes off the one-legged creature?" Ouch. So much ouch.
* "That fucking chair. To gain it, it demands you win partners, call them friends, make them promises. To keep it, it demands you break them all. One day when all is settled here, we should burn that fucking chair. My God, how I hated you. There was a time in which I could not conceive of how I could ever forgive you. And in this moment, I am you." I'm thinking them moving closer towards a friendship is real, but there's also the politics of it, and I have to wonder how much is manipulation. I don't think either of them can afford to ever trust the other again. They are both willing to sacrifice anything both for personal survival and to hold on to power. Gossip is a kind of story too, and it certainly makes villains.
* I think Eleanor wants to prove Charles wrong, but ultimately, she can't. When the politics turn, she'll have to betray him. That's the nature of politics this (often literally) cut throat. Alliances form and dissolve. I think she is lying to herself about her chances as much as to him when she says, "You asked me once if it was true what my enemies say of me. That I would turn on anyone, no matter how close, if it served my ambition. It was that way once. But I do not wish to be that way ever again. I’m resolved to shed it. I’m resolved to have my word mean something. And I give you my word… my commitment to you is inviolable. Not because my freedom depends on your success here. Not because I seek to regain that which was taken from me nor vengeance upon those who took it."
* Madi admitting out loud that her father is dying. Ouch.
* Silver makes Flint sound like a vengeful God. Silver sounds like an evangelist. I keep thinking that Silver tarnishes and Flint chips and well as stabs.
* All I could think of when Silver was stomping Dufresne was hoew much damage he was doing to himself and how much that was going to hurt. I kind of love that Madi and Flint's first response was to ask if he was all right. At the same time, it was rather satisfying to see Dufresne's ablest mouth smashed in forcefully along with the rest of his head by the person he called "half a man."
* Now we get the direct call back to the conversation between Flint and Silver about being a monster, now that Silver has crossed a line he can never recross.
Flint:You were right. About the toll it took, playing this part. Losing Miranda. The things that losing Miranda drove me to. So I know what you're feeling in the moment.
Silver:I perceived its effects on you. What I assumed was sorrow, loneliness. And worst of all terror at the thing you were becoming. There is an element of this journey into the dark that... I'm only now beginning to appreciate.
Flint:What's that?
Silver:How good it feels.
* Clever, clever Eleanor, working smart, not hard. She is so damned good at this game.
* So the old Madame is back. I strongly suspect Georgia is a poisoned offering.
* Woodes Rogers the misplayed the Hamilton card though. Is he relying on Eleanor's version and rumors at the Admiralty or does he actually know? Watching Flint's face, he is unsettled at first, but you can see him check out round about, "Without Lord Hamilton's efforts, your efforts, it's likely I wouldn't have been successful in my efforts to finally secure the pardon." I think his amusement when he says "Clever" is genuine. Woodes is a good opponent, and the parley ploy was clever, as was trying to suck in Flint using the intelligence he had of him, but he can't see the way things have changed since Charlestown and that the man he's dealing with is in a different place than the one willing to sacrifice himself then. He and Eleanor have miscalculated because they think they are dealing with the Flint Eleanor was allied with and not the one willing to burn the world down to keep the Empire out. "Thomas Hamilton fought to introduce the pardons to make a point. To seek to change England. And he was killed for it. His wife and I went to Charles Town to argue for the pardons, to make peace with England, and she was killed for it. England has shown herself to me. Gnarled and gray... and spiteful of anyone who would find happiness under her rule. I'm through seeking anything from England except her departure from my island." Woodes Rogers has come to late for Miranda, and so is too late for Flint. England has taken all that mattered to him and offers paper in return for the lives lost.
* Here Flint and Rogers talk of villains:
Woodes Rogers:What a story you'll have to spin to your men to turn me into the kind of villain worth losing their lives over.
Flint:I've lived on the other side of those stories. I'm sure I'll figure something out.
WR:I'm sure you will. Then let us be very clear about something. I am reasonable in seeking peace. But if you insist upon making me your villain, I'll play the part.
I don't think Woodes grasps what living with being the villain means. He talks about it, and I suspect he was one on his voyage, but I don't think he's really lived with the implications of infamy the way Eleanor, Flint, Vane, Jack, Max, and Silver have to name a few. I think Eleanor was trying to tell him in the bedroom scene. I think Jack's warnings are not kindly meant, but they are warnings all the same. I think Max is once again ahead of the boys here, as she's been grappling with the weight of it all season.
* Featherstone: not nearly as foolish as he often appears.
* I admit, I kept expecting Charles to pop out and for him and Anne to kill them in the cross fire. I love that that was Flint's expectation too and that he asked the question I suspect most of us were thinking, "Why the fuck did you hand over the chest?" And I love that Vane has a damned good answer.
* EBAYs:
CARLIN 2010 (LE, Halloweenie): (Company Says: Black sage, ivy-twined rowan, thistle, snapdragon, heather, gorse, fumitory, and anise.) 1/2 Full.
ERIK 2009 (LE, Retail Exclusive Oils): (Company Says: Resin-coated wood, kerosene, oil, leather, musty velvet, and dust from the Grand Drape.) 1/2 Full
http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/301888390754?
I AM TIRED OF TEARS AND LAUGHTER 2013 (LE): (Company Says: White lavender, oudh, and Siamese benzoin.) Just below label Top. http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/301888394087?
SNAKE OIL IN THE PUMPKIN PATCH 2013 (LE, Halloweenie, Pumpkin Patch): (Company Says: There's all manner of shenanigans in this year's pumpkin patch! Pumpkin'ized hybrids of GC BPAL scents abound!) Just below shoulder http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/301888396359?
LOVERS IN THE TEA HOUSE 2014 (LE, Lupercalia, Shungas): (Company Says: Sake and matcha tea with amber incense, golden sandalwood, and yōkan.) 2/3 Full.
LORD RUTHVEN 2009 (LE, Halloweenie): (Company Says: The father of all dandy aristocrat vampires: Aqua Admirabilis with polished boot leather and blood. 2/3 Full. http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/301888398709?
FOREVER IS MERCY BUILT 2013 (LE, Gifts with Donation or Purchase): (Company Says: Tamarind, tonka bean, patchouli, golden amber, and white fig.) Just below label Top. http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/301888402554?
DIVERSIONS IN THE CHASHITSU 2014 (LE, Lupercalia, Shungas): (Company Says: Green tea, yellow sandalwood, apple blossom, and white bamboo.) just Below Label Top. http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/301888404587?
BUT MEN LOVED DARKNESS RATHER THAN LIGHT 2009 (LE, Yules): (Company Says: The world will love its darkness: cistus labdanum, ginger, East Indian patchouli, pimento berry, oakmoss, saffron, smoky vanilla, sage, myrrh, and bitter clove.) 2/3 Full. http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/301888407143?
* Help pay for gas to get a rescue kitty safe to his new forever home. paypal@ninjakitten.com
* Want to help the people of Fiji in the wake of Cyclone Winston?: http://www.redcross.com.fj/
* Zimbabwe has joined Ethiopia in disaster level drought People and animals are dying. Want to help? https://www.wfp.org/help
* Help the poisoned children of Flint Michigan. "Water Crisis:&"; https://www.cfgf.org/cfgf/GoodWork/FlintArea/WaterCrisis/tabid/855/Default.aspx
* "How to help Flint, Michigan:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/how-help-flint-michigan
* Want to help finance my meds/medical co pays? Paypal Lethran@gmail.com
* Donate to help refugees "UN Refugee Agency:" http://donate.unhcr.org/international/general
* Organizations helping with the refugee crisis: http://captainofalltheships.tumblr.com/post/128790538169/an-updated-list-of-organizations-to-donate-to-help
* Want Game of Thrones without the creepy? We desperately need new players. We are very inclusive. "Game of Bones MUSH:" gobmush.wikidot.com
* Black Sails XXV
* I have a lot of thoughts about Max right now, but none of them are formed enough for writing out.
* I have been thinking a lot about Charles Vane's near silence in most meetings, especially this season. He usually doesn't talk in these high level meetings unless asked directly, and he was particularly quiet with Blackbeard around. As a result, it's startling to me him standing up for his part of the plan here on his own account. They look more like equals here, even though it is flint she is negotiating with. I keep remembering how much I wanted Vane to stand up and strongly back the defense of Nassau instead of letting Jack do it, to lend Jack his weight of authority. Here he is lending Flint his weight. I'm still mulling that and I suspect I'll be writing more on the subject another time.
* Flint, this remains a terrible plan.
* So Madi is co-commander official, and Charles is acting as an ally outside chain of command, but it's still Flint giving orders, really, about which I have a number of opinions best not spoken. It's another triumvarite, isn't it? And one I suspect is even more doomed.
* More than a hundred years later, English soldiers feared posting to the Caribbean as it was a death sentence for so many. Like the deadliness of belly wounds, this is often forgotten in historical dramas, but not here.
* Jack is clever enough to figure it out. His faith in Anne's bloody vengeance is beautiful in it's way.
* This concern about who is the villain looms over this episode as it did the last one. Here it is Woodes trying to avoid it. "I face a number of dangers ahead in stabilizing Nassau. The one I will resist to the limits of my ability is to allow myself to be cast as its villain." Jack, for his part owns it, "We're all villains in Nassau. Don't think because you're new you're any different." Later it is Flint and Silver talking around it, referencing their conversation about monsters and self hatred, and Woodes and Flint will discuss it openly. I think it is also the subtext of Max's thread this episode. It certainly is in Eleanor's, given that conversation in bed with Woodes.
* How convenient for everyone that Mrs. Hudson is a double agent who can convey terms directly.
* I do like Eleanor having the courtesy to tell Max that Max is forsworn and now complicit in betraying Anne in a way she did not intend. There is, of course, the matter of the betrayal she did intend. I do like Max begging mercy for Anne and Eleanor having anticipated it. I like the way they are finally coming to understand each other better since Eleanor's return.
* I do so enjoy Idelle's side eyes.
* Another planning meeting with Charles speaking his mind on his own account. I am suspecting this second emphatic break with Blackbeard has freed him from that diminishment that has hung over him all season. He's stopped being the prodigal son in the shadow of a legendary father, and gone back to being Charles Fucking Vane, pirate's pirate, a legend in his own right.
And now I'm thinking about how that applies to Jack's arc, given how much Jack idolizes Vane and the ways Jack is finally starting to grow up. The thoughts are not formed enough for writing at length, but I'm sticking a pin in this one too.
* Flint is thinking bigger than Vane, though Vane's objection is a good one on a ship politics level. Flint is thinking in terms of the Story and it's power to change the politics, but Billy of all people sees further than Flint. He's right on the face of it. It really should be Silver, logically. It is so much scarier that way, letting their master story teller turn up as a harbinger to spread alarm and uncertainty in the dark. The Monster you see is seldom scarier than the Monster you can't see. Flint's spent all the time since the end of last season building a legend as an unkillable monster who comes in the dark to bring fire and blood. Silver turning up to tell them that he's returned from the dead is much scarier, kind of like Steve Buschemi's character talking up El Mariachi in the beginning of Desperado.
* You know what it also does? It _protects Flint_. Rather than Flint exposing himself prematurely to attack in some tavern, he's back on the boat nice and safe. Just saying. I see what you did there, Billy Bones.
* We've been tracking death imagery all season, from the Ghost Captain to the male and female death figures to Miranda as psychopomp and Charon the boatman. We've had Flint's own struggle with suicidal ideation for most of season. Now he is literally referred to as a "ghost." He has become the Ghost Captain, only he is not alone, but rather coming as Death himself. O.o
* Side note: the phrase "desert the black" makes me think of renegade Crows being begeaded in ASoIaF, and it took me half a minute to untangle contexts, which then sent me down a bit of a cross over rabbit hole. I have often said Black sails is everything I wanted out of GoT and didn't get.... Anyway, back to pirates.
* Silver's bitter: "Who'll be able to take their eyes off the one-legged creature?" Ouch. So much ouch.
* "That fucking chair. To gain it, it demands you win partners, call them friends, make them promises. To keep it, it demands you break them all. One day when all is settled here, we should burn that fucking chair. My God, how I hated you. There was a time in which I could not conceive of how I could ever forgive you. And in this moment, I am you." I'm thinking them moving closer towards a friendship is real, but there's also the politics of it, and I have to wonder how much is manipulation. I don't think either of them can afford to ever trust the other again. They are both willing to sacrifice anything both for personal survival and to hold on to power. Gossip is a kind of story too, and it certainly makes villains.
* I think Eleanor wants to prove Charles wrong, but ultimately, she can't. When the politics turn, she'll have to betray him. That's the nature of politics this (often literally) cut throat. Alliances form and dissolve. I think she is lying to herself about her chances as much as to him when she says, "You asked me once if it was true what my enemies say of me. That I would turn on anyone, no matter how close, if it served my ambition. It was that way once. But I do not wish to be that way ever again. I’m resolved to shed it. I’m resolved to have my word mean something. And I give you my word… my commitment to you is inviolable. Not because my freedom depends on your success here. Not because I seek to regain that which was taken from me nor vengeance upon those who took it."
* Madi admitting out loud that her father is dying. Ouch.
* Silver makes Flint sound like a vengeful God. Silver sounds like an evangelist. I keep thinking that Silver tarnishes and Flint chips and well as stabs.
* All I could think of when Silver was stomping Dufresne was hoew much damage he was doing to himself and how much that was going to hurt. I kind of love that Madi and Flint's first response was to ask if he was all right. At the same time, it was rather satisfying to see Dufresne's ablest mouth smashed in forcefully along with the rest of his head by the person he called "half a man."
* Now we get the direct call back to the conversation between Flint and Silver about being a monster, now that Silver has crossed a line he can never recross.
Flint:You were right. About the toll it took, playing this part. Losing Miranda. The things that losing Miranda drove me to. So I know what you're feeling in the moment.
Silver:I perceived its effects on you. What I assumed was sorrow, loneliness. And worst of all terror at the thing you were becoming. There is an element of this journey into the dark that... I'm only now beginning to appreciate.
Flint:What's that?
Silver:How good it feels.
* Clever, clever Eleanor, working smart, not hard. She is so damned good at this game.
* So the old Madame is back. I strongly suspect Georgia is a poisoned offering.
* Woodes Rogers the misplayed the Hamilton card though. Is he relying on Eleanor's version and rumors at the Admiralty or does he actually know? Watching Flint's face, he is unsettled at first, but you can see him check out round about, "Without Lord Hamilton's efforts, your efforts, it's likely I wouldn't have been successful in my efforts to finally secure the pardon." I think his amusement when he says "Clever" is genuine. Woodes is a good opponent, and the parley ploy was clever, as was trying to suck in Flint using the intelligence he had of him, but he can't see the way things have changed since Charlestown and that the man he's dealing with is in a different place than the one willing to sacrifice himself then. He and Eleanor have miscalculated because they think they are dealing with the Flint Eleanor was allied with and not the one willing to burn the world down to keep the Empire out. "Thomas Hamilton fought to introduce the pardons to make a point. To seek to change England. And he was killed for it. His wife and I went to Charles Town to argue for the pardons, to make peace with England, and she was killed for it. England has shown herself to me. Gnarled and gray... and spiteful of anyone who would find happiness under her rule. I'm through seeking anything from England except her departure from my island." Woodes Rogers has come to late for Miranda, and so is too late for Flint. England has taken all that mattered to him and offers paper in return for the lives lost.
* Here Flint and Rogers talk of villains:
Woodes Rogers:What a story you'll have to spin to your men to turn me into the kind of villain worth losing their lives over.
Flint:I've lived on the other side of those stories. I'm sure I'll figure something out.
WR:I'm sure you will. Then let us be very clear about something. I am reasonable in seeking peace. But if you insist upon making me your villain, I'll play the part.
I don't think Woodes grasps what living with being the villain means. He talks about it, and I suspect he was one on his voyage, but I don't think he's really lived with the implications of infamy the way Eleanor, Flint, Vane, Jack, Max, and Silver have to name a few. I think Eleanor was trying to tell him in the bedroom scene. I think Jack's warnings are not kindly meant, but they are warnings all the same. I think Max is once again ahead of the boys here, as she's been grappling with the weight of it all season.
* Featherstone: not nearly as foolish as he often appears.
* I admit, I kept expecting Charles to pop out and for him and Anne to kill them in the cross fire. I love that that was Flint's expectation too and that he asked the question I suspect most of us were thinking, "Why the fuck did you hand over the chest?" And I love that Vane has a damned good answer.
* EBAYs:
CARLIN 2010 (LE, Halloweenie): (Company Says: Black sage, ivy-twined rowan, thistle, snapdragon, heather, gorse, fumitory, and anise.) 1/2 Full.
ERIK 2009 (LE, Retail Exclusive Oils): (Company Says: Resin-coated wood, kerosene, oil, leather, musty velvet, and dust from the Grand Drape.) 1/2 Full
http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/301888390754?
I AM TIRED OF TEARS AND LAUGHTER 2013 (LE): (Company Says: White lavender, oudh, and Siamese benzoin.) Just below label Top. http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/301888394087?
SNAKE OIL IN THE PUMPKIN PATCH 2013 (LE, Halloweenie, Pumpkin Patch): (Company Says: There's all manner of shenanigans in this year's pumpkin patch! Pumpkin'ized hybrids of GC BPAL scents abound!) Just below shoulder http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/301888396359?
LOVERS IN THE TEA HOUSE 2014 (LE, Lupercalia, Shungas): (Company Says: Sake and matcha tea with amber incense, golden sandalwood, and yōkan.) 2/3 Full.
LORD RUTHVEN 2009 (LE, Halloweenie): (Company Says: The father of all dandy aristocrat vampires: Aqua Admirabilis with polished boot leather and blood. 2/3 Full. http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/301888398709?
FOREVER IS MERCY BUILT 2013 (LE, Gifts with Donation or Purchase): (Company Says: Tamarind, tonka bean, patchouli, golden amber, and white fig.) Just below label Top. http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/301888402554?
DIVERSIONS IN THE CHASHITSU 2014 (LE, Lupercalia, Shungas): (Company Says: Green tea, yellow sandalwood, apple blossom, and white bamboo.) just Below Label Top. http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/301888404587?
BUT MEN LOVED DARKNESS RATHER THAN LIGHT 2009 (LE, Yules): (Company Says: The world will love its darkness: cistus labdanum, ginger, East Indian patchouli, pimento berry, oakmoss, saffron, smoky vanilla, sage, myrrh, and bitter clove.) 2/3 Full. http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/301888407143?
* Help pay for gas to get a rescue kitty safe to his new forever home. paypal@ninjakitten.com
* Want to help the people of Fiji in the wake of Cyclone Winston?: http://www.redcross.com.fj/
* Zimbabwe has joined Ethiopia in disaster level drought People and animals are dying. Want to help? https://www.wfp.org/help
* Help the poisoned children of Flint Michigan. "Water Crisis:&"; https://www.cfgf.org/cfgf/GoodWork/FlintArea/WaterCrisis/tabid/855/Default.aspx
* "How to help Flint, Michigan:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/how-help-flint-michigan
* Want to help finance my meds/medical co pays? Paypal Lethran@gmail.com
* Donate to help refugees "UN Refugee Agency:" http://donate.unhcr.org/international/general
* Organizations helping with the refugee crisis: http://captainofalltheships.tumblr.com/post/128790538169/an-updated-list-of-organizations-to-donate-to-help
* Want Game of Thrones without the creepy? We desperately need new players. We are very inclusive. "Game of Bones MUSH:" gobmush.wikidot.com