Black Sails 4.4: The Chess Game

An outstanding Black Sails 4.4 tonight, as the chess game for the control of Nassau and the future of North America continues apace.  Among the highlights -

• Annie taking control of the British controlled pirate ship literally in her bloody hands.  Well, that was hardly chess, even metaphorically, but it was a great if harrowing scene anyway.
• The conversation between Billy and Long John.   Their conversations are always important, and usually, of late, about Flint, with Billy taking the con and Long John the pro side, and this was no different.  But it was good to see the future of the this part of the world hanging in this balance.
• The talk about the new slave army, independent of both the pirates and the British.  If we think about what these islands are today, we can see that neither the pirates nor the British lasted.  So that new army, whatever its role and fate in Black Sails, is a harbinger of the future.

But the best part, and in a class by itself, is Flynt agreeing to Eleanor's proposal, and putting himself in her custody, over Long John's strenuous objections.  We know her motives.  She's pregnant, and wants a life for her, the Governor, and their baby, away from all of this fighting.

But what is Flint's motive?  What's up his billowing sleeve?   He never really answers Long John's question about whether he'd give up Nassau for the love of his life.  All he says to Long John is, "trust me".

Should he?  Should we?  We'll no doubt find out in the remaining weeks ahead.

See also: Black Sails 4.1: "True Friends and Mortal Enemies" ... Black Sails 4.2: Bones vs. Flint ... Black Sails 4.3: Decisive Victories and Losses - On Both Sides

See also Black Sails 3.1: Restored ... Black Sails 3.2: Flint vs. Sea ... Black Sails 3.3: Gone Fishin' ... Black Sails 3.4: Mr. Scott's People ... Black Sails 3.5: Alliance ... Black Sails 3.6: The Duel ... Black Sails 3.7: The Blackening of John Silver ... Black Sails 3.8: Whether Vane? ... Black Sails 3.10: Wither Vane ... Black Sails Season 3 Finale: Throckmorton

And 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 ...Black Sails 2.7: The Governor's Daughter and the Gold ... Black Sails 2.9: The Unlikely Hero ... Black Sails Season 2 Finale: Satisfying Literate and Vulgar

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

#SFWApro

 

pirates of the mind in The Plot to Save Socrates