Black Sails 2.7: The Governor's Daughter and the Gold

A strategically rip-roaring Black Sails 2.7 tonight, with all kinds of revelations and double-crosses.

First and foremost, we finally get some clarity about Billy.   In a crucial scene, he tells Flint that he can't be sure if Flint let his hand and him slip into the sea of not, but that was the past, this is the here and now, and Flint is still Billy and the men's best bet for success.   Earlier, Billy seemed to be working with Dufresne to tun Flint over to the authorities, but something in Billy's expression made me if not Dufresne suspicious about what Flint was really up to.  In a dramatic scene, Billy turns on Dufresne and the pirates the quartermaster had rallied against Flint. But - why did Billy let Dufresne live?

Meanwhile, right around this same time, we get a great scene with Eleanor and Vane.  She has rescued the Governor's daughter, but Vane has come upon them, literally on the other side of a locked gate, with him inside.   He threatens Eleanor not to take the prize, and that was likely his worst move, since, if we know anything for sure about Eleanor, she doesn't respond well to threats, including even from the Captain who beat Ned Low and wasn't beaten by Flint.

But the biggest surprise of all comes from John Silver, who cooks up a story about the Urca gold having vanished and manages to sell it to everyone, likely including - at least, it seems so - Flint himself.   I certainly believed it, even though its news seemed rather out of the clear blue Caribbean sky.   But Silver has a plan.  Unlike most of the major players in this narrative, he's loyal mainly only to himself - unencumbered by any obligation to the men whom he doesn't lead but sways with his oratory.

And this is where Black Sails now is: in a fine kettle of fish, with just about every captain working against every captain - including, via Silver via Max, Rackham and his ship against Flint.   Honigold may be leaving, but we now have Flint vs. Vane vs. Rackham.

Who will win?  Well, though Flint won't be killed, it's not impossible that the season may end with his being taken into custody, given the rough sailing ahead.

See also Black Sails 2.1: Good Combo, Back Story, New Blood ... Black Sails 2.2: A Fine Lesson in Captaining ... Black Sails 2.3: "I Angered Charles Vane" ... Black Sails 2.4: "Fire!" ... Black Sails 2.5: Twist! ... Black Sails 2.6: Weighty Alternatives, and the Medium is the Message on the High Seas

And 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 ... Black Sails 1.7: Fictions and History ... Black Sails 1.8: Money

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pirates of the mind in The Plot to Save Socrates