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Stuff Watched (AKA More Black Sails)
I finished the third season this Tuesday, so my plans for having the entire show over and done with before classes start back up again are on track. I also finally cracked and snagged an Anne Bonny icon because she's, as ever, my favorite, and was especially wonderful this season.
So, unlike the second season, which picks up almost exactly where season 1 left off, season 3 starts a good couple months after the end of season 2; it's maybe a bit darker than the other two seasons, but not that much darker: Flint's ready to wage war on England; Silver's sometimes-coping, sometimes-not with the loss of his leg and also with being Flint's new quartermaster (otherwise known as the most thankless job on board--I mean, look what happened to Gates); Max, Anne, and Jack are trying to rebuild the fort at Nassau; Eleanor's set to be executed in England until she's offered an opportunity and grabs it; Vane reunites with his old mentor/rival/friend, who just happens to be Edward Teach/Blackbeard. I tend to pick and choose which storylines and/or characters I'm most interested in, but this time around everyone interested me more or less equally, and their stories all seemed to be woven together extra tightly. If I absolutely had to pick I'd still have to go with Anne, Jack, and Max. (And of those three--only if I had to pick!--Anne.)
That being said, the character with my favorite progression through the show has got to be Vane. The hanging scene in 3x09 was heart wrenching for reasons that back in season 1 I never would've expected, and the same goes for his last confrontation with Eleanor. Just...wow. As individuals they both have their good points and their less-than-good points. As a couple they're absolutely awful for each other and destructive in the worst ways, but that's (for me, anyway) what makes their relationship so compelling--even at the end, you can't help yourself hoping that maybe, just maybe, Eleanor will have a change of heart. And she doesn't, and you can't blame her, and you end up feeling terrible for them both but not really blaming either, which is exactly what I want out of complicated-ugly character dynamics. Come down to it, Vane might just be the more principled of the two--he sticks to his guns and never switches sides, no matter the cost--which, again, is something I never would have guessed based off my first impressions of his character.
Speaking of complicated (but not nearly as ugly) character dynamics, Anne, Jack, and Max's plans to rebuild the fort fall through early on. Over the season they eventually split and form their separate alliances (Max reunites with Eleanor, who's come back on the side of the British and specifically Woodes Rogers, Nassau's new governor, and Anne and Jack stick with Vane, and later Flint). Despite that they still seem like they're all on okay terms, with Max doing her best to make sure neither Anne or Jack ends up dead. Hopefully there'll be a reunion next season, but in the meantime it's nice that their relationship continues to be one of the more functional ones in the show, even when they're on opposite sides.
Oh, and I can't believe I got this far without mentioning her already, but Madi! She's lovely, and a perfect foil for Silver in lots of ways; I'd also kill to see more interactions between her and Flint. Her memories of Eleanor, plus the way she sees herself as being one of two daughters to Mr. Scott because of Eleanor, really got to me--I'd kill for some good Eleanor & Madi interactions, too, though I don't know how likely those are. The maroon island in general is really fascinating (I could use an entire show based there), its own fully-realized world to the point that I felt like we'd only gotten the tiniest glimpse of it.
So, unlike the second season, which picks up almost exactly where season 1 left off, season 3 starts a good couple months after the end of season 2; it's maybe a bit darker than the other two seasons, but not that much darker: Flint's ready to wage war on England; Silver's sometimes-coping, sometimes-not with the loss of his leg and also with being Flint's new quartermaster (otherwise known as the most thankless job on board--I mean, look what happened to Gates); Max, Anne, and Jack are trying to rebuild the fort at Nassau; Eleanor's set to be executed in England until she's offered an opportunity and grabs it; Vane reunites with his old mentor/rival/friend, who just happens to be Edward Teach/Blackbeard. I tend to pick and choose which storylines and/or characters I'm most interested in, but this time around everyone interested me more or less equally, and their stories all seemed to be woven together extra tightly. If I absolutely had to pick I'd still have to go with Anne, Jack, and Max. (And of those three--only if I had to pick!--Anne.)
That being said, the character with my favorite progression through the show has got to be Vane. The hanging scene in 3x09 was heart wrenching for reasons that back in season 1 I never would've expected, and the same goes for his last confrontation with Eleanor. Just...wow. As individuals they both have their good points and their less-than-good points. As a couple they're absolutely awful for each other and destructive in the worst ways, but that's (for me, anyway) what makes their relationship so compelling--even at the end, you can't help yourself hoping that maybe, just maybe, Eleanor will have a change of heart. And she doesn't, and you can't blame her, and you end up feeling terrible for them both but not really blaming either, which is exactly what I want out of complicated-ugly character dynamics. Come down to it, Vane might just be the more principled of the two--he sticks to his guns and never switches sides, no matter the cost--which, again, is something I never would have guessed based off my first impressions of his character.
Speaking of complicated (but not nearly as ugly) character dynamics, Anne, Jack, and Max's plans to rebuild the fort fall through early on. Over the season they eventually split and form their separate alliances (Max reunites with Eleanor, who's come back on the side of the British and specifically Woodes Rogers, Nassau's new governor, and Anne and Jack stick with Vane, and later Flint). Despite that they still seem like they're all on okay terms, with Max doing her best to make sure neither Anne or Jack ends up dead. Hopefully there'll be a reunion next season, but in the meantime it's nice that their relationship continues to be one of the more functional ones in the show, even when they're on opposite sides.
Oh, and I can't believe I got this far without mentioning her already, but Madi! She's lovely, and a perfect foil for Silver in lots of ways; I'd also kill to see more interactions between her and Flint. Her memories of Eleanor, plus the way she sees herself as being one of two daughters to Mr. Scott because of Eleanor, really got to me--I'd kill for some good Eleanor & Madi interactions, too, though I don't know how likely those are. The maroon island in general is really fascinating (I could use an entire show based there), its own fully-realized world to the point that I felt like we'd only gotten the tiniest glimpse of it.
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*nods* Yes to both (as in, yes, you're lucky, and yes, she did). Hence me Feeling a bit protective of Eleanor. At the time, I also couldn't help but comparing: when Flint killed Gates, a man who trusted him and deeply cared for him, the fannish reaction, in as much as there was already a fandom in s1, was "omg, poor Flint, it killed him, having to do that!" Meanwhile, when Eleanor has Vane executed: "that bitch! How could she!" I mean, some of it is due to Toby Stephens being awesome and making you feel for Flint at any Moment, but it's still a blatant double standard. (Incidentally, both actions backfire in similar ways. Instead of preventing a mutiny, Flint killing Gates is proverbial last push causing it. Instead of preventing uproar in Nassau, Vane's execution, well, take a guess.)
re: Treasure Island spoilers: in the novel, though not in all the film versions, Silver is married to a black woman. Now, for the first two seasons, the only woc with an important role in the narrative was Max, so there was much uneasy speculation whether or not she was the future Mrs. Silver, if so, whether there'd be straightwashing, etc. Now I mostly assumed she wasn't, because the show didn't give her and Silver nearly enough interaction to foreshadow a later relationship like that (though what few scenes they do share are always eminently watchable). Come Season 3, Madi gets introduced, which ends the "is Max the future Mrs. Silver?" speculation, but starts a new one, to wit: why would Madi, who takes her responsibility to her people very seriously indeed, end up running a tavern in Bristol with Silver? Feel free to speculate. :_)
(BTW, pre-Black Sails, my favourite Version of Mrs. Silver was this one.)
no subject
I didn't know much about Madi's specific role in the plot when I started watching, but I'd picked up enough of Black Sails fandom by osmosis at that point to know that she was the more likely Mrs. Silver candidate than Max (though Max and Silver's very first scene together does do a good job of misleading you for a hot second). So I'm curious and honestly kind of scared to see how it all works out in the end; knowing how the season finales usually go, I'm sure my emotions will be all over the place. But hopefully in a good (or at least satisfying) way.
And thanks for the rec! I have a big soft spot for John Silver/Mrs. Silver, which obviously isn't satisfied by the book, so I'm sure this will be a great read.