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XXIX.
Trailer 2560x1440
Season 4
Number 29
Date Aired January 29, 2017
Writer Robert Levine
Director Lukas Ettlin
Previous XXVIII.
Next XXX.
"If it makes you feel any better, I haven't considered killing you in months."
―John Silver

The invasion of Nassau meets with catastrophe. Teach and Rackham seek revenge for the death of Charles Vane. Eleanor adjusts to her new role.

Synopsis[]

After their victory on the Maroon Island, the alliance of pirates set their sights on retaking Nassau. As they approach, Captain Flint worries that the fragile alliance won’t hold, but John Silver reassures him; he himself hasn’t considered murdering Flint in months.

EpXXIX-1

What was supposed to be an invasion of overwhelming force, only ended in disaster. Woodes Rogers continues to demonstrate that he is Flint’s intellectual equal; before the approach, he set a trap by intentionally sinking ships as a hidden blockade. Most of Flint’s fleet run aground on the underwater wrecks, within range of Nassau’s cannons. Bloody carnage quickly ensues. The only ship not caught is Blackbeard’s, with Jack Rackham and Anne Bonny on board. They make a tactical retreat to draw Woodes’ fleet away from the survivors.

Flint orders his men to abandon ship and retreat. However, while abandoning ship, Silver is blown into the sea and pulled underwater. Flint prepares to go in after him, but looking around he’s forced to stay with the survivors still scrambling to get away on lifeboats.

EpXXIX-2

While the battle ensues, Eleanor Guthrie, Max and the other civilians are holed-up safe under Fort Nassau. Eleanor has reinvented herself as Woodes’ genteel and docile wife, sitting silently with her needlepoint, although Max refuses to play the pacified role.

John Silver’s metal prosthetic boot has become tangled in the rigging, and begins dragging him down to the seabed. Looking up at the carnage on the sea's surface, he finally frees himself.  With his lungs bursting and heart pounding in his ears, he swims up into the breached ship for air.

On Blackbeard’s ship, they are quickly being chased down by the nimble navy sloops. Rackham insists on fighting in the vanguard as they repel the boarders, risking his life seemingly to become worthy in Blackbeard’s eyes. In the aftermath, Bonny sets him straight; stop beating himself up over Charles Vane’s death, and honour his sacrifice while doing things his own way.

EpXXIX3

On an isolated beach near Nassau, Madi and Flint watch dejectedly as the last of the bedraggled pirate survivors reach their rendezvous, with no sign of Silver. Billy Bones arrives and leads them into the interior where his pirate rebels hold out. However, mourning Silver and the others quickly turns to tension. Billy does not trust Flint, and will not allow him to dominate the pirate alliance; he has built the rebellion around “Long John Silver” so that Flint is no longer indispensable. Flint faces off against Billy in a test of wills, holding the location of the Urca gold over Billy’s head. However, Madi corrects him; she was also told the location of the treasure by Silver, who is now her lover.

In Nassau, Woodes’ new second in command, the psychopathic Captain Berringer, informs him that they have 121 captured pirates, including Mr. De Groot and Doc Howell. Woodes bluntly informs Max that her tavern will be commandeered to host all the trials, with no financial compensation or recognition of their handshake partnership. Later that night, Eleanor dresses him down for turning on Max. Woodes confesses that he’s in massive debt, and his spiteful ex-wife has pushed his creditors to foreclose on his loans.

In the end, John Silver drags himself from the surf and onto a flotsam-strewn beach. Lying gasping on the sand, an unknown man, who has been searching the wreckage by torchlight, finds him. Whoever this man is, he knows Silver.

Memorable Quotes[]

"And the Lord said unto Rebekah, ‘Two nations are in thy womb, two peoples within you who shall be divided; One shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger.’ … "
―Genesis 25:23 ... Esau was the elder brother of Jacob. When the time came for Isaac to bestow his blessing on his sons, Jacob deceive their blind father into blessing him in Esau’s place.
"I thank you for your aid today. It is, I believe, to be expected, today, tomorrow, every day till the war is won."
―Woodes Rogers … as Rackham explained it best, everyone in Nassau is a villain.
"My word will govern."
―James Flint

Trivia[]

  • Woodes Rogers’s new right-hand man, Berringer, is portrayed by actor Chris Larkin, who is the real-life brother of Captain Flint actor Toby Stephens.
  • Luke Arnold assured fans on Twitter that "the goat is fine. Never even got wet."
  • David Wilmot, who plays Israel Hands, also starred in the 2012 TV movie version of Treasure Island, the novel that inspired Black Sails.
  • Two of the ships from the Pirate Fleet are finally given names, the Defiant and the Eagle. Oddly, Blackbeard's ship, Pirate Sloop 1 and Pirate Sloop 2 are absent from the invasion, although it is possible they were left behind to defend the Maroon Island. The fate of the Orion, captured during the battle, is also unaddressed.
  • After appearing in three seasons with no name, the Spanish Man O' War is finally given a name- the Revenge, likely in reference to Teach's desire for revenge against the Rogers for Vane's death. It also serves as a reference to two ships, Teach's famous flagship, the Queen Anne's Revenge, as well as the Revenge, Stede Bonnet's sloop which he temporarily ceded command of to Blackbeard while he was recovering from wounds.
  • In real life, Chamberlain did abandon Rogers during the early stages of rebuilding the colony, saying that he had no orders to stay after helping Rogers secure the town, taking most of the ships of the fleet with him.

Gallery[]

Appearances[]

Characters[]

First[]

  • Captain Berrringer
  • Lieutenant Utley
  • Lieutenant Burrell
  • Lieutenant Kendrick
  • Judge Adams
  • Obi
  • Israel Hands

Last[]

  • Pastor Lambrick

Locations[]

Organizations[]

Ships[]

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