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Black Sails Ep. 404 Recap & Review - 'XXXII'

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Silver and Flint aim to reestablish order in Nassau, but at what cost?

Violence continues in Nassau in the aftermath of last week’s battle between the pirates and the redcoats. Eleanor barely escapes to the fort where she and the remaining forces on the island take shelter until Governor Rogers comes back. Eleanor looks for Max who was supposed to already be inside the fort, but she is still missing and most likely captured. She sends a message out to Flint and Silver that if they give Max to her safely, she will release 20 of their men whom are currently being held prisoner at the fort. The only problem is, Flint and Silver don’t have Max. Billy does.

Back in Nassau, Flint and Silver are trying to reestablish order among the pirates, organizing a new council with some of the remaining captains. One of the captains is skeptical that many people are eager to start taking orders any time soon, to which Flint begins to question whether or he should even be allowed to continue having a say. The captain looks to Silver, probably in hopes of coming to his defense, but Silver sides with Flint and says, “You heard him.”

What’s interesting here is that it seems that some of the pirates are skeptical about from whom they should really be taking orders. The captain might be more inclined to look to Silver for leadership, while others look to Flint having the final say. It’s a dichotomy both are aware of, but choose not to acknowledge head on. Right now, both would rather believe (and make everyone else believe) that they are equal partners in this takeover. They’re orders are the same. Period. And then there’s Billy. He has influence on the island that’s best not to be ignored.

After the Nassau was overtaken, Billy and his group splinter off to the beach to do their own thing. Silver is still furious about what happened at Underhill — splintering the armies Silver and Flint worked hard to gather, as well as destroy the alliance with the slaves on the island — and says that he wants to speak with him within the hour, or else. When Billy finally arrives, he wishes only to speak with Silver about the coming transition.

In their private conversation, Billy makes Silver listen to what he has to say first before handing over Max. He makes a decent argument in favor of keeping Max a prisoner after what she has done to them. Then he moves on to discrediting Flint, to which Silver tries to cut him off. Billy persists pointing out that Flint constantly leading them into storm after storm with no end in sight. He finishes their conversation that Madi is the most at risk of being consumed by this war, and it will be because of Flint. Silver does take this to heart, and later confesses this sentiment to Flint hours later.

Out at sea, Blackbeard’s surviving crew, including Jack and Anne, are now Rogers’ prisoners and being towed to Port Royal. Rogers spots and intercepts a boat that had just escaped Nassau with one of its crew told him that Nassau was taken by the pirates, and Eleanor never made it off the island. Upon hearing this, he leaves a few of his men to finish transporting the prisoners while the rest of them hurry their way back to Nassau.

Angry that they’ve been denied a proper fight with the pirates, the soldiers who were left behind take it out on Jack and his crew. Whoever is made to fight with the soldiers are beaten to death. Anne has had enough and convinces Jack not to name another pirate, to make the soldiers choose on their own — she’s certain that they would pick her next. And they do. Anne finds herself in a bloody brawl and is almost beaten to death. However, she manages to subdue her opponents, grab the keys, and allows her comrades to free themselves and join in on the fight. The pirates retake their ship, but we’re left to question whether or not Anne will survive her injuries.

Before she is given back to Eleanor, Max tells Silver that she’s heard of a man in England who makes money off of slave labor using convicts. He also lends his services to families in London who wish to have certain family members disappear. Not killed, mind you. Just never to be seen or heard from again. This gives Silver the idea that maybe, just maybe, Flint’s long-lost lover Thomas Hamilton is still alive and under this man’s “care.” He hints to Flint that Thomas might still be alive and then asks if he is willing to trade one irreplaceable thing for another.

Eleanor tries to apologize to all she’s done to Max. In doing so, she makes the revelation that Nassau is a lost cause, that it will never be what either of them want it to become. So, upon discovering that Rogers is already on his way back to Nassau, Eleanor holds a secret meeting with Flint and Silver with an intention to strike a bargain with them: Nassau will be surrendered to the pirates without a fight. In exchange, she wants Silver and Flint to give them the Urca gold.

Silver immediately refuses, but Flint takes her offer into consideration. He accepts the deal, and offers himself as a prisoner to ensure the terms are met.

If you’ve been wondering what happened to the slaves on one of the other plantations due to Billy and his band of pirates taking over the Underhill estate, don’t worry. The show has not forgotten about them. On another plantation, we see the punishment of those related to the Underhill slaves already underway. But once word reached that Nassau had been overtaken, one of the slaves named Julius, started his own revolt. He and the other slaves overtook that plantation and began to organize. The problem here is that this army of slaves are angry at everyone, including Flint, Silver and Madi for what they had failed to do at Underhill. Julius’ forces are pretty strong on their own, and his numbers are growing. Even a few of the Underhill slaves refuse to cooperate with Billy’s men because they support Julius more than the pirates. Furthermore, this army seeks to take Nassau for themselves as well.

New episodes of Black Sails air Sundays 9PM E/P on STARZ.

                        

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Christina E. Janke

Christina is the co-host of “Intro to Geek” on Shauncastic and Editor-in-Chief at Agents of Geek. Her love of all things Mass Effect knows no bounds. She also carries an obsession with comic books, video games, and quirky television shows. Her heroes are Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Gail Simone. She hopes to be just like them when she grows up.