Previously on Black Sails, Silver was worried that he was starting to follow Flint and his insanity a little too quickly, Max convinced Jack to trade their gold for smaller, more manageable things, Teach wanted to start a fleet of his own, Eleanor is acting as advisor (by force) for Rogers, who fancies himself the new governor of Nassau, and Hornigold tells everyone Flint is dead when in reality he’s just stranded at sea.
We open on a beach, where man is receiving fellatio from two women while Max and Anne stand nearby and try not to throw up. Anne growls about how these men are animals, yet pirates are called savages, and how she’ll never understand why.
When the man is…finished, Max asks if he liked her gift, and he sure did. An accountant says he’s finished appraising the black pearls and determining how much gold they’ll take for them and says he wrote down how he figured it out should anyone want to check. Max does, of course.
This surprises the other asshat, who makes some racist remarks that piss Anne off to no end. Max tells her to ignore it, even as he goes on to express his surprise that she can act so “civilized.” THEN after making all those comments-which I think he thought were compliments????-he says that if she plans to flee when the governor arrives, she can come work for him. The nerve! I’d like to think that if she didn’t need more information about this governor he speaks of, she would have let Anne go at him, but she has questions.
She takes the answers she gets back to Jack and Vane, saying that there’s a man who has been appointed governor and he’s on his way with at least 700 men. They’ll be here in 12 days, and Nassau has six guns at the fortress. They’re doomed.
Unless…Jack says that if they can organize all the crews on the island in the harbor, they could have a show of force. If they show a united front, it would be too risky for the invaders to attack. Jack is emphatic, desperate for support.
Max looks concerned, like her regime might be coming to an end.
On Rogers’ ship (which I keep wanting to call the Jolly Rogers but I fear that’d be too confusing on a pirate show), he tells Eleanor that they’ll land in about two weeks, and the fate of the island will be determined in a few short hours after landing. It will all depend on a speech he plans to give, a speech he hands to Eleanor. She thinks his plan is hilarious, that he’s going to ask a bunch of pirates politely if he may please take over
But he says that without Flint they won’t have an organized defense. Eleanor points out that they could still make a disorganized one. Rogers says that either the pirates will take the pardon or Nassau will be considered hostile territory, and it will no longer be a peaceful takeover. Rogers needs Eleanor’s help to win them over.
She asks why he doesn’t just fight, and he says he’d rather spend his first few months building commerce. She prods some more and realizes that it’s not that he’s afraid to fight, it’s that he doesn’t want to take the time to do it. He’s getting frustrated that she continues to outwit him but admits that he made some people some promises about schedules-including promising Spain he’d get the Urca gold back to them in eight weeks-so he has to take over the fort first and foremost, and then everything will be fine.
On Flint’s ship, there’s still no wind to help them along, and everyone is weak. Flint says they still have over a week before they find land, so they’ll have to cut rations again. He decides he wants to make two lists-the people important to manning the ship, and those who aren’t. One list will get fed, the other won’t.
Silver hates this plan quite a lot and storms out, and Flint tries to blame dehydration, but Billy says his faith in his captain has been wavering for a while. Flint ignores that fact and keeps making his lists.
On Nassau, Jack calls the captains together to pitch his plan. Vane points out that they’ll fight if they have to, but it’s mostly just a scare tactic. The only problem is, no one thinks anyone but Flint can lead a fleet like this.
Jack then tries to channel Eleanor’s spirit of leadership and says that he’s going to convince everyone on this island to stand with him and that any captain who seems too afraid to join him will likely not remain captain much longer. He reminds them of the gold they possess, and how really this is the least they can do, is help him out this once.
Edward Teach comes in to tell everyone that Flint is dead. He pulls Vane aside and says that he’ll be the new Flint if Vane promises to join his crew when this is all said and done. He calls Jack a dog, someone who promises loyalty in exchange for protection, and that it’s not enough for Vane to stay. Teach never had any songs, but he wants to leave a legacy behind, and he wants that legacy to be Vane.
Anne goes to see Jack, who is looking out over Vane giving direction to the slaves who are rebuilding the fort.
Jack says that Vane is leaving with Teach, but Anne already knows. Jack is bothered, but doesn’t know why, and Anne points out that he always cared about what Vane thinks of him. He’s been seeking Vane’s approval for so long, he didn’t even realize it’s his main motivation in life.
On Flint’s ship, Silver is still having a crisis of faith. He says Flint has too much power, that no man should be able to convince a group of otherwise rational humans to sail into a storm. He says they’re all living in Flint’s reality, but it’s not actual reality. Billy begs him to stop refusing his water rations because he’s sounding half mad.
They’re interrupted by a tussle above deck; a day’s rations are missing, and two men accuse each other. Silver is trying to coax one of them into confessing when Flint comes and shoots one square in the head. He starts packing his gun to shoot the other when instead he sees Miranda.
But he shoots him anyway. Flint whispers a warning to Silver to man up, then goes to his captain’s chambers to cry.
On the island, Max and Anne go to a cave where they have a treasure chest. Max pulls out a balance; she wants to be prepared for the day they’ll have to part ways and wants to split their treasure equally now. Anne says they’ve talked about why Anne won’t stay if Jack leaves, but wants to know why Max won’t come with her when everything goes to hell.
Max says that when she was small, she’d sneak out of her slave quarters to watch a little girl in her parlor. The girl would dance and read and sing and sleep, kept safe and warm by her father. Who also happened to be Max’s father. Which is a devastating thought. Max says that just like Anne didn’t choose to fall in love with Max, nor did Max choose to fall in love with this island, but here they are. And now it’s time for Max and Anne’s paths to uncross.
Max says, “Let it be now so we may not live in fear of it.” Which is one of the most tragically beautiful lines this show has given us, and I feel like Max is breaking our hearts every week. Anne is very sad, but she’s not angry. She understands even though the truth hurts.
Anne kisses the top of Max’s head and starts to leave. Max calls after her, saying she should stay and watch the treasure be divided evenly. Anne can’t turn back around, not now, not if she has any hope of leaving. She tells Max she trusts her and continues on her way.
And I can’t help but wonder if Max understands why Eleanor did what she did now, why she wouldn’t come with her when Max wanted to run.
Flint’s men are still in bad shape, and Flint might be getting the worst of it. He starts hardcore hallucinating, this time not just Miranda, but he’s in a big fancy house with her, and she’s bullet wound free for once.
He says that when he lost his boyfriend, he raged and wept, but without Miranda he’s ruined. Miranda says she helped birth Captain Flint, that she was a lover, wife, mother. (Which, one of those things is not like the other.) Miranda says she’ll guide him, but eventually, he must leave her behind. Once he sees the truth, finds his answers.
When he snaps back to reality, his men have spotted a whale carcass. One man points out that if it’s floating, it’s rotten, but Silver thinks they have to check. He and Flint are the only ones who can go because they’re the only ones on full rations.
Once on the rowboat, Silver admits all the shenanigans he pulled last season re: the Urca gold. Silver is telling him this so Flint will stop underestimating him. He wants to be partners, not rivals. Flint asks about Silver’s share in the gold, and Silver says he gave it up to be part of Flint’s crew. That’s enough for Flint, so he says no more about it, and they continue on to the whale.
The whale is, indeed, too rotten to eat, but they see sharks swimming around that would do just fine. They spear one and bring it back, and everyone enjoys some shark sashimi. And just when they think things can’t get any better, the wind starts to blow.
On Rogers’ ship, they can see Nassau just on the horizon, but there’s something strange on the horizon. Rogers asks Eleanor to look.
When he asks if she recognizes any of the banners, she just looks worried.
Rogers’ pal in a powdered wig says they can’t go in as a fleet, not with that many pirate ships at the ready, so Rogers wants to go in alone to read the pardon. Powdered Wig says it’s too risky, but Eleanor has a solution. Someone the men already know should do it. Of course, it couldn’t be her; she has too many enemies.
But Hornigold is respected among the pirates, and would be let onto the beach. Plus, he’s expendable.
So Hornigold and Dufresne row row row their boat onto the shores of Nassau. Teach says that attacking such a well-respected captain coming in under the truce flag would be bedlam, so they have no choice but to let him through. Hornigold reads Rogers’ pardon, highly edited/improved by Eleanor, that promises that everyone who peacefully accepts Rogers’ attempts at civilization will be granted full pardon, and that there is a reward of £10,000 for anyone who brings them Charles Vane, dead or alive.
After a heartbeat, one of the captains puts his weapon down and goes to shake Hornigold’s hand. Many other men soon follow suit, much to the dismay of Jack, Anne, and Vane.
Flint’s men finally arrive on land, but there are only trees to be seen, and the island’s inhabitants don’t seem particularly excited by the prospect of visitors.
What did you think of “XXI”? Do you think we’re getting closer to a Max/Eleanor reunion? Do you think we’ll have a love triangle face-off, or will Anne be long gone by then?
