This past Saturday the season three third episode of Black Sails aired and it was nothing but problems, problems, problems for all pirates involved.

First on Nassau the fragile truce that had been working out between Vane, Rackham and Flint is being put to the test. Not only is Flint gone when the unexpected news of an English fleet will soon be arriving, but Edward Teach aka Blackbeard is trying his hardest to turn Vane against the others. Not to mention that the other pirates seem lethargic at best about defending Nassau. Guess they’re starting to understand why Eleanor always had to rule with an iron fist, hm?

While I understand them wanting Flint to be there with his knowledge of English military tactics and strategy and being a damn good captain on top of it, I don’t understand why Vane couldn’t handle the job. I know he’s supposed to be in charge of the land militia (which he has done jack with to be honest. Also where are those lumber pirates of his?), but with Flint gone much of the time on colonial raids did no one wonder who should be in charge or what to do if he wasn’t there? Pirates aren’t very good at planning.

Nassau seems to luck out when Teach reaches out and makes a deal with Vane. Leave with him, but first he’ll help defend the island. Blackbeard has continually gnawed at Vane’s insecurities, tried his best to gain favor by calling him the son he never had and undermining Rackham at every turn. Teach does in the end seem to convince Vane to leave with him and starts the defense of Nassau.

I wonder if Vane really will leave the island. He has always stated that this is his home and he wants it to be strong and free (much like himself). Not to mention Vane has been his own man/boss for almost a decade now and I don’t know how he would take to becoming Teach’s underling again. Nostalgia might win out, but will it last? Or will Vane betray Teach instead of Rackham? It’s impossible to tell with Vanes unpredictability, but it’s worth noting he is swayed more by his emotions than logic or reason.

Meanwhile Jack Rackham is able to convince the other pirate captains to stand together in a show of force, hoping to bluff the British fleet into fleeing rather than face a huge, bloody battle. I’m glad to see this growth in Jack and others seeing his strength. We had seen it on a small scale when he was able to get the respect of his new crew, but to be able to bring together an entire island of pirates is really something. Especially since he has had trouble getting them to even work on the fort and it’s still mostly out of commission.

We also find Max being shrewd as ever; she was already worried about what would probably happen (always waiting for the other shoe to drop) and hearing about the British she sets about dividing their shares equally knowing she and Anne will not be able to stay together. Anne fights this and demands to know that even if the island falls, why can’t Max get on the same ship as her? Max explains (and we finally get some backstory!) about when she was a little slave girl how she would go out and watch her owners daughter in the house. How that daughters father made sure she wanted for nothing and kept her safe so she could dance, read, eat and anything else her heart desired. Max reveals that he was also her father. Anne wants a life of danger on the high seas and all Max wants is what that little girl had-safety and security. These two paths cannot coincide and that’s why she’s been telling Anne that they have to part.

The British are soon to arrive and we find that Eleanor and Rogers are still sniping back and forth between each other, but that they do seem to have a sort of understanding and partnership. They realize that they need to talk to the pirates when they see their show of force and Eleanor has the ingenious plan to send Hornigold out there instead of her or Rogers. They won’t trust him and she’s made too many enemies, but they all still like Hornigold and best of all Rogers won’t care if they do decide to hack him into pieces.
Sadly, the other pirate captains give in to Hornigold without a fight when he reveals that the British are willing to pardon them all if they give up. It will be up to Teach, Vane, Rackham, Anne and Max to be able to save their island.

We also get back to the crew of The Walrus and find that they are still stuck out at sea. Almost all their food and water is gone, either spoiled from the storm or eaten (and they didn’t have that much for such a long journey). Flint makes the terrible decision to only feed the most necessary crew members and leave the others out entirely. Billy and John both protest this, but Billy puts it mostly on John to change Flint’s mind. When Flint kills two members of the crew, one of which was innocent, for stealing food (who would have thought a starving pirate would steal? Not anyone in charge of the Walrus I guess), the two really try to figure out what’s going on with Flint.

Flint locks himself in his captain’s quarters and has a total breakdown. As John had told Billy, Flint doesn’t like being the villain and he has just committed the most horrendous of villainous acts, against his own crew no less. I think his actions are really starting to get to Flint, but he is still so angry and so grief stricken at the world for taking both his loves from him that he can’t help but to keep lashing out, no matter who gets hurt in the process. I love Toby Stephen’s performance here. He never said a word and I was feeling terrible for this villainous pirate.

Back on deck, Billy makes the point that Flint has to see John as an equal before he will listen to him, like Gates and Miranda. John makes the counterpoint that those two people are dead now. Billy is unimpressed and leaves it to John to fix while he tries to rally the crew. Can we have more Billy please? I’m not sure where his head is anymore as he seems to never want to question Flint anymore, but he also a bit is, but makes John do it? Just more Billy please.

He is unable to as Flint is unbending since Miranda’s murder. I think Flint may have gone mad with grief and that he too is lost at sea and going nowhere, just like his ship. That he is starving and dying inside without her, just like his crew without food and water. Nice metaphor Black Sails writers, I see what you did there. He even starts to hallucinate seeing Miranda where she speaks to him about finding peace and how she was everything to him, even mother. Alright then Oedipus.

Finally the crew seems to have some luck when they spot a dead orca floating near them. John finagles it so that he and Flint are the ones to go out and see if it’s still worth eating and on the way there reveals a bombshell of a truth. That while Flint thinks he has everyone and thing figured out, that he had no idea that John was behind the Urca gold being stolen from under his nose. He also reveals that he didn’t end up taking his share because he chose the men over it. Hint hint, Flint.

I love seeing John’s growth in the series so far. He has come such a long way from using them as a means to a profitable end, to being the main person worried about their welfare. Not to mention his gratitude towards them keeping him with them so that he has people and is useful and not just an invalid.

Flint keeps his reaction muted, but you can tell it shocks him. He tries to play it off and they continue to the dead orca. They find it’s too rotten to eat, but realize that sharks are below feasting on it. They can eat those. While the shark fight was cool, I did think that huge beast gave up rather easily when in the boat and they somehow did not capsize. Seriously have you ever seen a fish thrash about when out of water? Now imagine that but it being six feet long with way more teeth than you. That tiny boat Flint and John were in wouldn’t have stood a chance of staying balanced. It would have been cool to see them having to work together to save each other, but alas TV magic only has so much time so they catch TWO of them and return to the ship.

As Billy and the others are eating sushi style, they notice a wind starting to blow. Their fates have changed and they will be able to go somewhere now! They travel to a nearby island, being unable to make it back to Nassau with almost zero supplies. It seems to be an uninhabited island, but we soon see that there are some natives and they do not look pleased to see Flint and his crew on their shores. I wonder if this could be Treasure Island? I didn’t know when they would introduce it, but it would be rad if it was.

I certainly enjoyed this episode of Black Sails, did you? Tell me below in the comments or go over to twitter and find me @quietlikeastorm or our main twitter @thenerdygirlexp. Seriously I need some fellow pirates to talk about this show with – all I have is land lubbers around me!