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XXX.
Eps402-4
Season 4
Number 30
Date Aired February 5, 2017
Writer Dan Shotz
Director Alik Sakharov
Previous XXIX.
Next XXXI.
"I’m no one, from no where, belonging to nothing. I’m a wretch like you. Yet mountains of gold have changed hands because I chose it. Thousands of men in Nassau are living in fear of my return because I decreed it. Hundreds of dead redcoats in a forest not far from here because I made it so. I am the reason grown men lie awake at night. I am a new beginning for Nassau. And you’d trade all of that for, what? 500 pieces?"
―John Silver

Flint accedes to Billy's authority. Eleanor has a plan for Rogers. Silver seeks help from an unlikely source. Max is put on notice.

Synopsis[]

The episode opens with John Silver being unceremoniously dragged along the sand to a secluded cobbled together shack outside Nassau, and chains up. It gradually becomes clear that the mysterious man is Israel Hands, a bounty hunter keen to turn-in Silver for the bounty; 500 pieces. He kindly adds one more crime to Silver’s accomplishments by killing one of the Governor’s redcoats himself, then demands Silver write a confession to the crime.

In Nassau, the gallows are being prepared for the impending trials of the capture pirates. Max finally confronts Idelle and Featherstone that she’s known all along about their spying for the pirate rebels; it was she who intercepted the warning about the underwater wrecks. She’ll let it slide, but no more, if they value their lives.

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Meanwhile, desperate for money, Eleanor Guthrie suggests reaching out to her family in Philadelphia; to use the leverage of Woodes Rogers’ respectability to repair their scandalised family name, in exchange for her grandfather clearing his debts. There’s just one problem; Blackbeard. Blackbeard has returned to blockade the port of Nassau. He sends a message in the form of a ship full of hanging corpses, and demands one thing … Eleanor at the end of his sword.

Deep in the interior of New Providence, Billy Bones, James Flint, and Madi launch their raid of Mr. Underhill’s plantations, to liberate its slaves and bolster their men power, during the battle Flint kills Underhill but spares his wife and daughter (but they will be killed by Billy's men offscreen). However, there’s a snag; to protect their assets, the loved-ones of the slaves have been spread amongst all seven plantations on the island. All seven must revolt at once, for the pirates to have any hope of adding to their numbers.

Back in Nassau, in order to run the blockade, Rogers is to head for Port Royal to lead Blackbeard away, while Eleanor sails to Philadelphia for aid. Someone less than keen on this brilliant plan is Max, who would be left at the mercy of the odious Captain Berringer.

Meanwhile, John Silver turns his silver tongue on Israel Hands. Hands was one of the founders of pirate Nassau, until he was tossed aside by Blackbeard, in favour of Charles Vane. Rather than betray Silver to the enemy of his pirate brethren, Silver thinks he knows someone that owes him money … Max.

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Back on the Underhill plantation, Flint orders a tactical retreat, but Billy’s lingering resentment of Flint blinds him to fact that retreating is the right choice. Before we know it, the raiding party is split in half, and taking swords and pistols to each other. In the end, Billy and his remaining men are forced to retreat anyway as the local militia arrive.

On Blackbeard’s ship, Blackbeard orders Anne Bonny to lead a vanguard into Nassau to kidnap Eleanor, instead of pursing the Governor’s ship which is preparing to sail. However, Bonny confides that she no longer has any room in her heart for vengeance; not on Eleanor, nor on Max. It’s up to Jack Rackham to relay Bonny’s sentiments back to Blackbeard. Rackham eloquently persuades him by invoking their mutual fondness of the late Charles Vane; Vane always focused on the best move to get them to their ultimate goal. Go after Woodes Rogers it is.

In the end, under the cloak of the night, Max meets with Silver and Hands. Silver tries to make a deal with Max; the money for his favour when the pirates retake Nassau. However, Max is invested in going straight, and pirates are bad for business. In acknowledgement of their former friendship, she won’t hand him over to redcoats, but will detain him and take him far far away from Nassau. As her men move in, they are single-handedly cut down by Israel Hands. Max barely escapes with her life, and Silver realises he may have a new formidable ally in Hands.

Memorable Quotes[]

"You and I both know that there are men on both sides of this war whose identities are so enmeshed in this conflict that they are more afraid of ending it than they are of losing it."
―Max to Eleanor

Trivia[]

  • Israel Hands is officially introduced in this episode by name. Historically, Hands was the second-in-command to Blackbeard. He was eventually shot in the knee by Blackbeard. After Blackbeard was killed by soldiers from Virginia, Hands was captured. However, he was spared in return for testifying against corrupt North Carolina officials who had aided Teach. Hands is also a character in Treasure Island, having formerly been Flint's gunner.
  • Woodes Rogers is seen reading his own memoir, Voyage Round the World
  • Edward Teach mentions that his mother is from Clifton, a suburb of the city of Bristol. Little is known of Teach's early life but it is believed that he was raised in Bristol, which in the 18th century had become an important port city.
  • The needlepoint in the master bedroom of the Underhill Estate says "Anno 1722," which is seven years after the series takes place.
  • John Silver begins using a crutch in this episode to replace his lost peg leg. In Treasure Island, Long John Silver notably uses a crutch, and is described as doing so with great dexterity.
  • When Max sees Silver, she says "Long John Silver, so big a name for so small a man." In Treasure Island, Silver is described as tall, "long" being a common nickname for tall people at the time. However, Luke Arnold is only 5'9", and within the show the name seems to be a reference to his declaration that he has a "long fucking memory" in XXV. This line appears to be a tongue-in-cheek reference to this.

Gallery[]

Appearances[]

Characters[]

Deaths[]

  • Militia Sentry
  • Haines
  • Underhill (offscreen)
  • Margaret Underhill (offscreen)
  • Audrey Underhill (offscreen)
  • Captured Redcoat

Locations[]

Organizations[]

Ships[]

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