Black Sails is back with their season 2 premiere. Just like season 1, it features high stakes danger, and intrigue.
New bad boy in town
Actually instead of bad boy, make that total psychopath. Ned Low is the Captain of The Fancy, and by his own admission, he’s not that skilled of a sailor. What he is skilled at however, is leading by a reign of terror that has his men knowing he means business.
So far he’s slaughtered an entire ship, and threatened Eleanor to reconsider her price reduction on his “damaged goods.” Eleanor looked truly afraid after their conversation. Now, who will she rally to help her?
Strange bedfellows
Pretty much no one thought John Silver and Captain Flint would end up as willing partners, least of all them. Sometimes it’s just a matter of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”, or in this case, who else is going to save their sorry asses because they burnt all their bridges.
The best part of this misbegotten pair, was Silver proving that he isn’t just all talk. He managed to swipe the boatswain’s whistle, and to double-cross their captors. There’s more than just manipulation and pretty speeches in his arsenal.
In the end, these two are partners as long as it serves their own selfish interests, which at the moment is the Urca de Lima gold. The second that changes, they won’t hesitate to kill each other.
Back in merry old England
In a flashback sequence, we get to see how Thomas Hamilton, wearing a series of the worst wigs ever, met Lt. James McGraw (A.K.A. Captain Flint) ten years ago. Hamilton wants McGraw to help him clean up the pirate situation in Nassau and build a civilized world there; something McGraw thinks is laudable, but impossible.
McGraw later meets Mrs. Hamilton (A.K.A. Mrs. Barlow), who is totally under the do-gooder spell of her husband. For those of you who don’t remember, in the present timeline, Flint and “Mrs. Barlow” were supposedly outed by Mr. Guthrie as lovers on the run who killed to satisfy their own ends.
Eleanor’s problems
It’s bad enough that Vane has taken no interest in Eleanor’s new consortium, resulting in goods being stolen from the warehouse, but now on top of that, Max is selling trade secrets to Ned Low. Eleanor’s temper got the better of her last season, and now she’s paying for it. People she needs are disinclined to help her and/or are out-in-out looking to ruin her business. As inconvenient as Max selling secrets is, the real issue is Vane refusing to provide security, and letting Eleanor know that her meager defenses are lacking. Now that Eleanor has crossed Ned Low, security guarantees by someone like Vane are something she needs.
The decline of Jack Rackham
You’d think that running a brothel in Nassau would be like a license to print money, and the owners would be thrilled. Sadly, for Jack Rackham, he’s a surprisingly poor businessman who can’t control his partner Max. He also is being beaten up in the street by former crew members who blame Jack for their job loss. Both things result in his lover Anne Bonny threatening to kill his detractors. All-in-all, it’s a pretty emasculating day for the guy who by his own admission lives upon his name, reputation, and wits rather than his brawn.
Max makes her move
Max is always the gambler. She realizes that by screwing Eleanor, she’s in turn screwing her rescuers, which is something she can ill afford. How does she solve this? Well..by literally screwing her rescuer, Anne Bonny. It’s going to be fascinating to see where this one leads.