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“Black Sails” recap (2.3): Turning the Tide

Previously on Black Sails, Vane told Eleanor he wanted to be her partner, Ned Lowe stirred up all kinds of bloody trouble for Nassau, and Mustachio Jack decided to team up with Anne and Max to start a new crew, while Flint regained control of his old one.

Throughout this episode, we are shown flashbacks of how Flint first met Mrs. Barlow, how their flirting began over a Spanish translation of Don Quixote, and how she won him over despite his hesitancy to go against his honor.

Present day Flint is sitting pretty on his shiny new warship with his shiny old new crew. John Silver’s plan worked and his daily announcements are not only well-received, but the men are stomping for him in anticipation. Silver tells them of Flint’s plans, and at first they’re grumpy; they want to go home to Nassau, but Silver reminds them that they can’t just casually roll up to the island on a Spanish warship and expect it to go smoothly. Thanks to his quick thinking and silver tongue, the men calm down and no riot ensues.

Back on Nassau, Ned Lowe finds Vane and tells him that his reputation precedes him, and it is known that Vane is not someone you should cross. Ned knows Vane was in Eleanor’s bar when he slayed her bodyguard, and wants to know how much trouble Vane will be during this feud with “the Guthrie woman.” Vane promises not to get involved, and in return, Lowe gives him 10% of his latest haul. Vane keeps his cool until Lowe is gone, but then throws down the blood money, knowing it could be the mark on Eleanor’s head.

Mustachio Jack wakes up to find Anne not back in his bed like he asked her to be. He goes off to find her, and a prostitute tells him that they haven’t opened the door all morning. And Jack knows exactly why.

Max and her tongue give Anne a lovely morning wakeup, and the pure joy of it almost too much for Anne to bear. Her chin trembles and she can’t even look at Max, but she reaches for Max’s hand and pulls it around her, and Max holds her, looking a little worried.

On the Spanish warship, Flint sends two men to watch the men who are watching the Urca gold, and then takes his own longboat to Nassau. None of this pleases grumpface Dufresne one bit.

On the quiet side of Nassau, Mrs. Barlow is fetching water from the well when men on horseback appear. Behind them, the lovely Eleanor Guthrie, here to pay Flint’s old flame a visit.

Mrs. Barlow tries to be sweet and praise Eleanor’s accomplishments, but Eleanor is here to talk business. She asks Barlow why she tried to sabotage her, and asks what Barlow holds over Flint. Barlow launches into a spiel about how she knows Flint’s demons in ways Eleanor never will, and that not one of them resembles Barlow whatsoever. Eleanor tells her that she’s here to get repayment for the damages Barlow caused, but not in money; Eleanor needs to talk to Underhill, but is having a hard time getting him to answer her letters. Barlow agrees to help her, and Flint’s favorite gals are officially in cahoots.

Speaking of Flint, he’s having Silver get more rum for his men, because he wants them good and drunk when they find out they’re not going to be allowed back on Nassau until they’ve secured the gold; he can’t risk loose lips sinking ships. Plus, their window of opportunity here is only about a week at best, so they have to hop to. When they get to shore, they see that Vane and his men have taken over the beach, and Flint is none too excited about it.

Vane heads to the inn and finds Max, who hesitates as she watches him slowly approach. He tells Max that he heard that she has a way of getting secrets from men, and asks her to use that particular set of skills to find out what the asset Ned Lowe’s crew is hiding is. Max knows what he’s up to, and confesses that recently she let all her feelings loose on Eleanor, and got a strange thrill when it was obvious she was shaken by it, but that as soon as Eleanor started to walk away, her instinct was to rush after her and hold her again. She literally says, “It’s amazing, isn’t it, the spell she cast on us?”

Max admits that she does indeed possess the aforementioned skill, and therefore she knows Ned loves talking about all the horrible things he’d like to do to Miss Eleanor Guthrie. Max is smarter than people give her credit for, and knows exactly what Vane is up to. Vane looks at her and pities the fool who takes her for granted, or worse, would dare cross her. Max knows finding the asset is pretense to call it business when really it’s just protecting Eleanor, but Vane knows they both have the same goals, so he gives her the purse of money Ned gave him and assumes they have a deal.

Max doesn’t want the money, though; she tells him that Jack and Anne want to form a new crew, but that it would be impossible with Vane’s very public disowning of them. She asks them to put them in good favor again to improve their chances. He takes back the money, a silent agreement. As he starts to leave, Max calls out and says she found a way to stop caring about Eleanor, and is willing to tell Vane how, but he is not interested.

Eleanor, meanwhile, has no idea two of her past loves are cutting a deal, because she’s trying to find a new bodyguard. She warns him about Ned Lowe, and that he’s still a real threat to him, but he doesn’t seem to mind.

Flint returns then to the tavern, and Eleanor is thrilled to see him-until he tells her that he doesn’t have the gold he set out for.

She was sure he would either come back with all the gold that would solve her problems or not come back at all. She wants to know what they’re supposed to do, but Flint is more concerned with the fact that Vane has taken over the beach; he’s sure Vane would take the gold before he got it to Eleanor’s desk. Eleanor stands firm in her decision to let Vane stay; Vane wasn’t here, he didn’t know the sacrifices she had to make, didn’t know how tough the call was, how big the risk. Eleanor asks again what happened while he was gone, but when he gravely responds that he did “what was necessary,” Eleanor looks like she finally knows she’s dealing with a madman.

Flint wants to remove Vane from the fort, but Eleanor says they should sleep on it. She distracts him from this by telling Flint she visited Mrs. Barlow, and that perhaps he should do the same.

Flint first stops to see Silver and Hornigold, saying he’s worried, because he no longer knows where Eleanor’s loyalties lie.

In the heart of Nassau, Anne Bonny watches as Mustachio Jack tries and fails to gather men for a new crew.

Anne asks Jack why he left to recruit without her and he says she was…occupied. Anne asks if he’s jealous of Max, and he says it’s not jealousy, because he doesn’t care about the sex; it’s that he fears Anne’s sharp focus is clouded, that now she has a bias toward the beautiful but manipulative woman. He’s sure Max means to break their duo up, and Anne doesn’t disagree. He asks why, then, she doesn’t stop being with her and Anne says simply that she can’t. It’s like trying to tell a tiger that’s been set free to get back in a cage; it’s just not possible.

Jack and Anne walk through the bar and are surprised when Vane invites them to sit and join him for a drink. Everyone stops and watches as they warily join him. Vane says, “Everybody be cool, it’s just a normal day” and tells them he’s surprised they’re still together; he’s sure they’ll either be on top or burn the world to the ground trying, there is no in between.

Jack asks why he’s helping them when, as if on cue, Max comes in and whispers the truth of Ned Lowe’s asset into Vane’s ear. Vane stands up and shakes Jack’s hand, a public display of forgiveness, and slaps him on the back in a hug. Vane turns to Max and asks if his debt is paid, and she gives him the okay, so he leaves, telling Mustachio Jack that it’s his turn to rise from the grave.

Jack turns and looks at Max like she just revealed she has magic powers.

Ned Lowe is hanging out on his ship when he sees Vane approaching in a little one-man row boat. Vane meets with him and offers him a partnership. Ned tries to decline, but Vane is like, “Oh, sorry-did I accidentally make you believe you had a choice in this?” Vane controls the bay, but he needs a ship. And while he’s at it, he’ll take Lowe’s cargo and weapons, too. Ned laughs, asking why he would agree to all this, but Vane says no one asked him to. Because as they talked, Vane’s crew swam up to the ship and attacked, silent but deadly. In a last attempt at triumph, Ned attacks Vane, but Vane overpowers the one-eyed pirate and beheads him in a moment of beautiful justice. He carries the head out to meet his successful crew, happy to hear the asset is exactly where Max said it would be.

On the island, Mr. Scott gets a secret note to meet in secret, and Eleanor finds him in a dark alley. She looks adorably happy to see her old friend.

She asks him for intel about Hornigold and Flint, but Mr. Scott begs her not to put him in the middle of her shenanigans. Eleanor admits she’s frightened of Flint, that she just wants to protect Nassau, but Scott gives her the tough love he’s known to give and tells her that she needs to sort out her priorities and loyalties, and decide who she can trust.

They’re interrupted by a scream in the distance, and Eleanor storms after it to find Ned Lowe’s head on a pike on the beach, with a scrawling banner below it that reads, “I angered Charles Vane.”

Eleanor goes to Vane’s camp and takes him into the quiet dungeons. Vane starts to protest that he didn’t do it for her, but Eleanor doesn’t care why he did it, all she cares about is that one of her more pressing problems was taken care of, without her having to give any direct orders. She rushes him and kisses him, passionately, and soon clothes begin to disappear.

Meanwhile, Jack Rackham is finally starting to have hope that their endeavor might actually pan out. Anne starts to walk away, and Jack looks defeated, sad she didn’t share his enthusiasm, when she turns and asks him what the hell he’s waiting for. He follows her and she leads him to Max’s room, much to both Jack and Max’s surprise. Anne doesn’t say a word, but she strips down and bares herself to both of them, exposing her deepest scars. Naked, she walks into the bedroom. Max and Jack exchange looks, and Jack waits for Max’s silent acceptance before the two of them follow Anne, a trio to be reckoned with.

Eleanor and Vane are in bed and Vane says there’s something Eleanor needs to see. He leads her down into a dungeon-esque rooms and shows her the asset: a girl. And not just any girl, but the daughter of Lord Ash, a governor of the Carolina colony, who would pay 250 pounds for her safe return. Eleanor goes to the girl’s side, but Vane assures her the girl is just sedated.

Eleanor warns him that Lord Ash’s favorite pastime is killing pirates, but Vane has a plan. And like Mr. Scott told her to, she found someone to put her trust in.

On the Spanish warship, Flint is about to give a speech, but before he does, Silver warns him about the one-wayedness of this proposal. Flint does what he wants to anyway, as he is wont to do, and tells his crew that as important as the gold is, they will never get it back to Nassau unless they first eliminate their one major obstacle: Charles Vane. So it’s official: the Battle of Flint vs. Vane will commence at sunrise.

The next morning, Eleanor wakes up to see the warship heading toward the shore, and knows it can’t mean good things.

What did you think of “XI”?

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