Black Sails 1.7: Fictions and History

A good Black Sails 1.7 last night, setting the deck well for the season finale next week.

We still don't know if Flint was in any way responsible for Billy's death - assuming Billy's indeed dead - and or at very least not going back to find him when he fell off the ship, but Gates doesn't like it, whatever actually happened.   In one of the best conversations of the series, he airs his concerns with Flint, and the two are surprisingly equally matched in this exchange.   The later revelation that Gates will go along with the killing of Flint after the pirates finish their business adds the requisite amount of tension for the finale, but when push comes to shove, I think Gates will stand with the Captain, whatever Gates may now think or say.

Speaking of conversations and altered relationships, it was good to see Flint confront Miranda about her "helpful" letter, and, later in the episode, see Flint this close to kissing and then likely bedding Eleanor. Flint elected to kiss her on the forehead rather than the lips - this time - and it will fun to see what more develops between these two next season if not in this season's finale.  Eleanor clearly wanted the kiss.

The other big development that sets up the finale next week is Vane's coming back from the dead - or from being beaten and buried, to be more precise - and his consequent amassing of a cohort to join the fight.   Charles Vane was a real person and pirate, so, depending upon how carefully Black Sails followed history, he couldn't have died in last night's episode.   Flint, of course, is a Robert Louis Stevenson creation, so there's no way of knowing what will happen between Flint and Vane in the season finale - other than Vane not dying, because, again, he didn't die that way in history, and Flint not dying, either, because ... well, there's the second season of Black Sails, and Robert Louis Stevenson's Flint has his adventures two decades after Black Sails, if that counts.

All of which adds up to: the season one finale should be fit to watch, indeed.

See also Black Sails: Literate and Raunchy Piracy ... Black Sails 1.3: John Milton and Marcus Aurelius ... Black Sails 1.4: The Masts of Wall Street ... Black Sails 1.6: Rising Up

#SFWApro

 
Like historical fiction?   Try The Plot to Save Socrates ...