Black Sails Season 3 Episode Guide
3.01. XIX - Review
3.02. XX - Review
3.03. XXI - Review
3.04. XXII - Review
3.05. XXIII - Review
3.06. XXIV - Review Coming Soon
3.07. XXV - Review Coming Soon
3.08. XXVI - Review Coming Soon
3.09 XXVII - Review Coming Soon
3.10. XXVIII - Review Coming Soon
Black Sails 3.05: XXIII
Directed by Alik Sakharov & Written by Jonathan E. Steinberg & Robert Levine
Well after the previous week's epic action this time around we were able to explore more of Mr. Scott's character following the revelation that he was the father of Madi and it was his responsible for creating the home for the former slaves on the Island that Flint and his crew have found themselves on. It puts the pirates of Nassau in a grim situation, and the prospect of survival doesn't look much better. But Flint, being the leader that he is, has come up with a plan to regain it - if they work together with Charles Vane to overthrow Woodes Rogers, then they will show that the English Empire can be beaten and thousands of oppressed people will flock to their cause in an attempt to defend Nassau. Of course, history tells us that it doesn't play out like that, but it will no doubt be interesting to see what happens to Flint and his crew, who are of course, wild cards and make an excellent addition to the series, preventing it from being just focused on the likes of Vane, Rackham and company.
Save for a couple of sequences this made up for the action-heavy instalment of XXII by having a quieter paced episode that was still packed full with plenty of revelations as we dug into the mystery of Mr. Scott's character even more. Having been badly injured by a conflict with Rogers' troops Mr. Scott is on the edge of death, and allows Flint to visit him. Scott tells Flint about what happened on the Island and to Flint's surprise, reveals that Vane escaped with Teach and is on the run. Mr. Scott also understands that now without Nassau he will not be able to get supplies to the Island as easily as he could before especially once the English work out that he has helped the slaves escape. Now sharing a common ground, Flint's survival prospects of getting off the island are looking increasingly more likel. However that doesn't see him in the clear yet and it has merely earned him a meeting with the Queen. If he fails then all his crew, and Ben Gunn, will be at her mercy. So Flint decides to conjure up his best sales pitch that he can think of, and offers the people of the Island a better chance at survival. The pirates won't be defeated that easily and now they have the means and the manpower to fight back. This also allows Flint to finally get himself back together with the help of Silver, and as a result things are starting to look up for his character. The question is though, for how long?
Woodes Rogers meanwhile works with his men and are quickly able to clean up the home of the original Governor who lived in the building before Nassau fell. He is told by Hornigold that they have discovers the gold from the Urca de Lima following the excavation of the fort. Hornigold in turn is asked by Eleanor about Rackham's whereabouts and he says that he doesn't know. Eleanor then tells Rogers that she needs to know where all the key players involved in Nassau before it fell are in order to keep an eye on them in case they try to formulate a resistance. Eleanor then follows that up with a visit to Max in order to tell her about the Council and its formations, compromising of 12 members. Half of that number will be appointed by Rogers and the other half will be chosen from Nassau's merchants. However, Max resists when she learns that she is only allowed to bless their appointments and not be part of the Council herself due to her connections with piracy. Max however tries to buy a spot on the council knowing the power and level of influence that she can maintain by being on it offering a gem which would equal five years worth of taxation and offers it so that she can help him benefit Nassau and its survival. However Eleanor knows that this is from the Urca gold not the profits that she gained whilst working. And then, during an intimate moment, Eleanor and Rodgers are interrupted by Mrs. Hudson who reveals that she is informing for a member of the Spanish Intelligence Agency, the Casa de Contratación. The man's name is Juan Antonio Grandale who goes by John, originally posing as someone who had an interest in Rogers' expedition. She says that Spanish spies discovered the transaction of exchanged gold and want to know if this was something that Rogers was aware of.
Rogers knows that they are in considerable danger of Spanish attack and decides to send the gold from Max to the Spanish but this was only half of what was exchanged. It turns out that the other half is in the hands of Jack Rackham and Anne Bonny, who are on the run, and wanted. It would be so easy for them to change their name but given that Jack has lost everything over the last few days the last thing that he wants is to loose the name as well, no matter how much it would benefit them, as they can't go anywhere without people finding out who they are. He decides to head back to Nassau and accept the pardon from Rogers, knowing that this way they can keep their prize and have the legitimacy that comes with the name, not knowing of course that the English will now be looking after the Gold.
Out at seas and on the run, Vane is hunting for a Spanish ship despite the unwritten rule that they shouldn't attack the Spanish in fear of retaliation against Nassau but now that Nassau is in the hands of the English they don't have anything to lose and are able to attack. Zach McGowan gets another awesome fight scene (seriously, between this show and The 100, this guy is kicking serious ass) where he is able to take care of a Spaniard who is mortally wounded and on the verge of death. Vane gives the sailor a last drink as requested and the Sailor talks about looking after his family, and how that they have to fight to protect their cargo rather than surrender if they don't want their wages to be cut by the Captain, who is now dead. Vane meanwhile acknowledges that he could have easily been beaten had the sword fight gone another way. Teach meanwhile though discovered in the ship that the collected Spanish intelligence shows Vane's name and his expeditions in the Bahamas. They also have information about Rogers and Vane suspects that they are planning an attack on Nassau, but questions how much they know about him. Teach then reveals that there is a spy feeding the Spanish information.
There was a lot of awesome stuff at work in this episode with several memorable scenes. Sure it may not have been the most action packed hour of Black Sails ever but that doesn't stop it from being a powerful one. Much of this season so far has been setting the stages for possibly the biggest conflict yet so we can only hope that Season 3 will end with a bang, and of course it doesn't help that we have a fixated path of our historical characters laid out for us. If this was a movie or some original material I could easily see it ending with Nassau established as a free state but sadly, I don't think it's going to play out that way and it looks like we're headed for some darker times ahead. Unless of course Black Sails decides to change history, which would be pretty awesome for sure. Either way - I have faith in the writers to keep delivering the awesomeness that they've been providing us with so far.
What did you think of XXIII? Let me know in the comments below and be sure to watch the next episode this Saturday at 9pm on Starz.
Overall Episode Verdict: A
Positives:
+Vane confronting the dying Spaniard following the fight.
+Politics with Rogers & Max being handled well.
+Rackham wanting to keep the name.
+Flint's attempt to convince the Queen.
