Black Sails Wiki
Register
Advertisement
XXXV.
XXXV-3
Season 4
Number 35
Date Aired March 12, 2017
Writer Robert Levine & Brad Caleb Kane
Director Lukas Ettlin
Previous XXXIV.
Next XXXVI.
"Progress cannot begin and suffering will not end until someone has the courage to go out into the woods and drown the damned cat."
―Max

Flint urges caution on an enraged Silver. Max leads Rackham and Bonny up river. Billy finds a survivor. Rogers learns the truth.

Synopsis[]

XXXV-4

The episode begins on the Maroon Island, where pirates and slaves from all over the West Indies and beyond have gathered to join the cause to free the New World from colonial rule. However, first John Silver must inform the Maroon Queen that her daughter is dead. The pair share a nice moment together, with Maroon Queen seemingly having softened somewhat towards the pirates.

XXXV-1

When he rejoins his men though he finds that the ambition or madness of James Flint has spread; there’s now talk of taking the fight to Boston. Only Julius, the leader of the plantation slave revolt, opposes the plan seeing only a tragic end. Silver turns on him and tells him to leave if he no longer wishes to join in their cause.

On route to Philadelphia, Jack Rackham tenderly ministers to the bedridden Anne Bonny. Anne notices that Max has not returned to try and see her, and realizes that Jack has told her to stay away. There is nothing worse than having too much time to think and that is all Anne has had. She is torn on the subject of Max.

XXXV-6

In Nassau, the aftermath of the Spanish raid finally hits home. Woodes Rogers sits devastated, angry, and looking to blame someone else for his loss. He turns on Mrs. Hudson, who had acted as a liaison with the Spanish, but the surrender of Jack Rackham was never a Spanish demand. He believes that Eleanor Guthrie would never have betrayed him without being coerced by Mrs. Hudson. Before she can defend herself, the coroner arrives with some distressing news; Eleanor was with child.

Arriving in frigid Philadelphia in mid-winter, Jack plans to speak with the Eleanor’s grandfather and win him as a partner in revitalizing Nassau, while imprisoning Rogers for causing the death of his granddaughter. While waiting for the senior Guthrie, Jack is greeted by a young woman eager to hear tales of pirate. She asks Jack if he knew all the giants like Blackbeard, Charles Vane, and Jack Rackham. She describes the things that the newspapers are printing of the determinedly evil things that Vane did. Jack simply responds that “Charles Vane was my closest friend in the world.”

Jack tries to appeal to Joseph Guthrie’s business side, saying the Guthries would gain a significant stake in Nassau’s legitimate trading operations if they help retake the island from the Rogers. However, Guthrie is in the company his business partners, and wants to be seen as respectable. He rejects Jack’s offer, and shows him the door. However, Eleanor’s grandmother meets Jack outside. She’s the real brains behind the Guthrie business, and see merit in his proposal but will need convincing.

XXXV-8

Back in Nassau, Rogers is informed that someone has turned himself in to the redcoats; Billy Bones. Billy’s angry and wants to make a deal with Rogers. He wants the pirates to pay for betraying him and reveals that Rogers has the means to do it in his cells; Madi.

Back in Philadelphia, Jack decides to bring Max to help make their case with Marion Guthrie. With the help of Max’s financial ledgers and feminine wiles, they convince her… but there is a catch. Jack Rackham must kill the one man who will continue the never-ending circle of violence in Nassau; James Flint. With the deal struck, Max and Anne stay behind in Philadelphia, while Jack heads back to Nassau to try and end Flint’s life.

XXXV-2

On the Maroon Island, Silver receives a letter from Rogers offering a deal; Madi for the cache of Urca gold. Silver, reeling from the news that Madi is alive, wants to do the deal, but Flint has a plan to infiltrate the fort under the cover of night and rescue Madi themselves. Sometime later, Flint and Silver are sailing to Nassau. On the foredeck, Israel Hands quietly talks with Silver about Flint. Silver has dug up the cache, and if Flint’s plan fails, he’ll hand it over whether Flint agrees or not.

Memorable Quotes[]

"They are strong when Flint and Silver are united. But separate the two of them, turn them one against the other, and their world collapses."
―Billy Bones
"He’ll have won. Woods Rogers will sit in Nassau and grow old knowing that he was measured against us and proven the better man."
―Jack Rackham
"No one changes the world. Not like this. Not all at once. The world is too strong for that. "
―Julius
"Because if you don't, I will see to it that every man, woman, and child in that camp is put back into chains. I will see each of them sold far and wide, cast out into the world alone. And then I will burn everything that remains to the ground. From here, your outcomes are bad or worse. That's what defeat looks like."
―Woodes Rogers
"I do it for us. That's how it started. That's how it's going to end."
―Jack Rackham
"You're confident in his plan, maybe because it's a good plan. Maybe because it's the only plan. But maybe it's just because if his plan don't succeed, you'll have to show him that you prepared for the failure. That the world ain't gonna be what he wanted. And that a treasure he wanted left in the ground ain't in the ground no more."
―Israel Hands

Trivia[]

  • During the meeting at the Camp between the pirate and Maroon leaders, one of them mentions that Barbados has fallen, presumably to a slave rebellion. However, most of Barbados' significant slave rebellions occurred in the late 1600s.
  • Flint references Henry Morgan, a British privateer who in 1671, successfully attacked Panama City. Morgan famously attacked Panama and several other Spanish cities, stripping them of their wealth. He later became the Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica.
  • Rogers's belief that Eleanor would have never betrayed him without being coerced mirrors Eleanor's belief that he would have never betrayed her by siding with the Spanish. Both are incorrect, believing in idealized perceptions about each other rather than reality.
  • The population of Boston at this time was about 7000, with a total English population in the New World in the region of 250,000.
  • Jack imitates Max's accent for the second time in the show, the first being X.
  • During the scene when Rogers's men deliver the ransom letter to Kofi on the beach, a sloop can be seen anchored offshore. It is unclear if this is the Gloucestershire or the sloop sent drifting into the harbor by Teach in XXX.
  • This episode marks the beginning of the infamous rift between Captain Flint and Long John Silver that is present in Treasure Island.
  • The actors who portray Joseph and Marion Guthrie, Guy Paul and Harriet Walter, are married in real life.
  • Like Eleanor's introductory shot in this season, Marion, her grandmother, is introduced using an embroidery hoop. In contrast to her granddaughter, Marion is at ease with her position, while Eleanor struggles to contort herself into the role, and with the embroidery.
  • During the final scene, in the first quick shot of the cache in the hold, Kofi is seen sitting on top of the box while Joji is sitting by the door, while in the final shot it is Obi sitting by the door.

Gallery[]

Appearances[]

Characters[]

First[]

  • Joseph Guthrie
  • Marion Guthrie
  • Footman

Locations[]

Organizations[]

Ships[]

Advertisement