(no subject)
* "New Trump era emboldens Putin, a perilous time for Putin critics:"
* "Persecution of Putin opposition a test for Tillerson:"
* It’s not an “error;” it’s a lie. "Kellyanne Conway Admits ‘Bowling Green Massacre’ Error:" https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/03/us/politics/bowling-green-massacre-kellyanne-conway.html?_r=0
* "Sources contradict White House on Yemen raid:"
* "Trump's ill-fated Yemen raid raises risk/reward questions:"
* "Bannon's 'Islamic State of America':"
* "Federal judge temporarily blocks travel ban:"
* "Tim Kaine: Trump is strengthening our enemies:"
* "Steve Bannon's Vision for a Holy War Is Coming into Focus:" http://www.gq.com/story/steve-bannons-vision-for-a-holy-war-is-coming-into-focus?mbid=social_facebook
* "Voters get creative reaching out to inundated legislators:"
* "GOP opts for fundraising over quick vote for hotly opposed DeVos:"
* Republicans are so opposed to ethics and the existence of consequences for their actions, that South dakota declared a State of Emergency. The emergency was that ethics laws existed snd a legislator had lost his job as a result, so they repealed the one voters put in place last election.
* "We All Have Racial Bias :"
* "Jon Stewart Reads Trump's Next Batch Of Executive Orders:"
* "This Is The Sound Of Journalists Keeping Their Mouths Shut:"
* "How Much Damage Could The President Do In One Week?:"
* "Lewis Black Rates Trump's First Week:"
* "Stephen Looks At Washington And Wonders: What's Happening?:"
* "Emerald City and Gender the Good the Bad and the Mediocre:" http://www.fangsforthefantasy.com/2017/02/emerald-city-and-gender-good-bad-and.html
* Black Sails Master Post: http://gwydionmisha.tumblr.com/post/142320219370/black-sails-master-post
* Black Sails XXIX:
* We start with the image of Silver from later in the episode struggling to cut himself free under water (womb imagery: water, heartbeat, rope ladder as umbilical cord literally suffocating Silver by holding him under water), while the voice over speaks of twin nations fighting each other and twins fighting in the womb. Alrighty then. A little on the nose as far as both the Nassau/England situation, the uneasy Pirate/Marroon colony alliance (Mr. Scott scenes set up the Madi/Eleanor Free Settlement/Nassau dichotomies as sisters of a sort last season which means this scene is suggesting one must die for the other to live and the process will be bloody), the arguments within the Pirate camp, and the twin and twined legends of Flint and Silver fighting each other, but I suppose a summery in a few lines and images of how fucked things are and are about to get. Flint segues the biblical twin imagery into his relationship with silver and the crew. "Twins... as close as two things can get to being the same one, and what's the first thing they do to each other? Fight over who gets to be the first one to see the light of day. And here I sit at the head of an army of men, each of whom, present company included, has probably at some point considered killing the man he now fights alongside, each of whom, present company included, has certainly considered killing me." See? Twinned and twined legends and Silver cutting himself free of Flint with a knife. I'm sensing a season 4 theme off the bat. Sure, silver isn't planning on killing him now, but his joke about it suggests the respite will be short.
* The Madi/Silver underlines the fragility of the alliance.
* This is the first time I've seen Blackbeard talk to Jack Rackham as if Jack were a man and not an annoyance. It's not respect, but it's progress. Blackbeard actually can see some use to him I think. "No, but we are emotional beings, after all, and rhetoric is the fuel that feeds the fire." Jack Rackham is yet again pointing out that Story has power and words can shape reality. Words are becoming his gift the way they are Flint's and Silver's and Billy's.
* "It's no wonder you don't say much." I am mulling this because it can be read so many different ways. Criticism of jack? Praise of her? Acknowledgement that she doesn't need to talk because Jack talks constantly? Blame for Jack talking constantly? Blackbeard is hard to read and so good at the cryptic.
* "All of us have given some part of ourselves to reach this moment. Today, we reclaim what is ours. And we seek retribution for what was taken from us. Today there will be vengeance for the death of Charles Vane." Except, of course they won't. It's never that simple, is it?
* We always knew Woodes Rogers is an ambush hunter by preference, and that he'll use knowledge of his opponent's behavior to set traps. Flint is more direct in his rages, but he often does the same.
* Flint is using his knowledge of ship physics and risking men in the immediate for long term survival. Very, very Flint.
* Let us raise a glass to our beloved ship's memory.
* Rackham's rationalization actually makes sense, but it still smacks of rationalization.
* I'm still not convinced part of Woodes Rogers isn't setting up Eleanor Guthrie so he can feed her to the mob when it turns on him over his harsh tactics, but given the way he's damaged himself financially and politically back home, I'm suspecting he's doing it unconsciously rather than consciously as I first assumed.
* The shot of the three women waiting out the battle is another of the gorgeous painterly shots that I have come to expect from Black Sails. symbolic embroidery is symbolic. Max is warning Eleanor again. Eleanor blows her warning off again.
Max: It bothers me that this does not bother you.
Eleanor: What's that?
Max: This. That. All of it. The world is changing so rapidly and we with it. I fear the day will soon come when we will no longer recognize either.
Eleanor: We are who we are. Nothing so important changes so quickly.
I am debating who is right here. My inclination is Max, but I'm not sure Eleanor is entirely wrong either.
"And I told you before we ever set foot on this island I will do whatever necessary to ensure your success here. If the street understands us better when I sit among your men’s wives rather than your men, if the world makes more sense to them that way and your authority grows because of it, as uncomfortable as it may be, then that is a compromise I am willing to make." -Eleanor Guthrie, Black Sails XXIX
Tactical retreat or surrender? Is she losing her self or pretending to lose herself?
* Flint awkwardly trying to reach out to Madi in her grief. Ouch. There is a whole story in both of their faces.
* Featherstone turns cloak. Of course he does.
* The Silver/Madi flashback conversation is revealing in all sorts of ways. Silver's discomfort with becoming billy's story, his worry about what that does to the power balance, Madi's suspicions. The twins fighting theme is thoroughly entwined with the stories shaping reality theme. It is also another really beautiful shot, and could easily be a painting. "Who is John Silver?" really is a good question in the larger sense. I suspect we'll be finding out soon.
* "It ain’t fear to want to do a hard thing smart." You tell him, Anne Bonny, you tell him!
* Here we start to establish the fragility and isolation of Woodes Rogers' Regime.
* It's good to see DeGroot standing firm for all his qualms about Flint. The lack of support from home and on the street. "We that remain do so in violation of our orders to return home, a breach of our duty to His Majesty's Army. Someday, if we see England again, I imagine we'll have to answer for it." Woodes' men have become pirates and mutineers essentially, by staying to fight instead of going to the European Wars as they were ordered. Nassau makes pirates of everyone, eventually. Billy's tail of Berringer's tactics very much reminds me of Charles Vane's attack on Flint's Captaincy way back in season one. Woodes is now pirate captain of Nassau as Eleanor once was, ruling even more violently. Is this what it would have done to Thomas, I wonder? And Billy is fighting back with the same kind of violence. The bodies of assassins hang the way they hung Pirates in the Carolinas. Civilization in all it's cruelty and barbarity is here. "Never let it be said that civilization came to anyone easily here." *snort*
* Billy is a captain now, and Flint isn't liking it one bit. Madi is threatening to peel out. Twins are fighting to see who will be first out.
* If Woodes threatened me the way he is threatening Max, I'd give him surface compliance and smiles and would be quietly doing everything possible to betray and undermine him that I thought I could get away with. I expect Max will feel the same, and she's really got at politics and smart not hard strategic planning. He's robbing her of her goods and services and threatening her life and security. The Max we've seen up until this point has never responded positively to that. I expect her response to play out in the next few episodes, and Woodes Rogers will deserve whatever he does to her. Yes, he's under stress and fighting for his life, but backing allies into a corner and turning them into enemies is never the solution to that.
- I really like Billy's Underhill plan. Fuck Flint. Billy is thinking like a Revolutionary; Flint is pure rage. This makes sense given their back stories and personalities. In a way this is what billy was born to do. Flint's face when he asks, "I have become so easily set aside, have I?" and billy's when he says, "Do you have value to me? Yes." Ouch. They are looking across such a big gap, and yet they still see each other. Something in the performances reminds me of Billy's return after his near drowning and capture. Flint tries Blackmail, Madi plays her ace.
- That poor goat!
- Anne correctly spots Jack's desperation to get Charles Vane's Pirate Daddy's approval. Jack Rackham's survivor guilt will break my heart, I think and likely end with him hanging. He's still trying to be thought a proper pirate by a dead man who's approval he can never win now. He's as doomed as Flint has been from the moment Thomas Hamilton was reported dead. Anne once again proves she listens and thinks and has more sense than the men. "I came here 'cause we all agreed we had a chance to take Nassau back, have a place of our own. I ain't here to prove anything! I ain't here to figure out who I am. And I sure as sh1t ain't here to pretend a dead man might think better of me for it." She can see it's already breaking.
- Eleanor thinks she has mutilated herself. I think she is correct. She calls Woodes on his shit. I think she is correct. He's been cutting her out of his private council instead of just his public as was their agreement, reverting under stress to a standard 18th century man instead of being how he presented himself to her in season three. Woodes then reveals the full extent of his isolation and likely impending ruin. I'm not holding my breath on the Guthries, but it will be interesting to see how it plays out.
- Is the cutting away of Randall's leg symbolic?
*****
* Full list of Resistance and charity links has been migrated to my profile as it was getting out of hand.
* Help pay for cat food, litter, meds, medical copays: Paypal Lethran@gmail.com
* Want Game of Thrones without the creepy? We desperately need new players. We are very inclusive. "Game of Bones MUSH:" gobmush.wikidot.com
This entry was originally posted at http://gwydion.dreamwidth.org/1868339.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
* "Persecution of Putin opposition a test for Tillerson:"
* It’s not an “error;” it’s a lie. "Kellyanne Conway Admits ‘Bowling Green Massacre’ Error:" https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/03/us/politics/bowling-green-massacre-kellyanne-conway.html?_r=0
* "Sources contradict White House on Yemen raid:"
* "Trump's ill-fated Yemen raid raises risk/reward questions:"
* "Bannon's 'Islamic State of America':"
* "Federal judge temporarily blocks travel ban:"
* "Tim Kaine: Trump is strengthening our enemies:"
* "Steve Bannon's Vision for a Holy War Is Coming into Focus:" http://www.gq.com/story/steve-bannons-vision-for-a-holy-war-is-coming-into-focus?mbid=social_facebook
* "Voters get creative reaching out to inundated legislators:"
* "GOP opts for fundraising over quick vote for hotly opposed DeVos:"
* Republicans are so opposed to ethics and the existence of consequences for their actions, that South dakota declared a State of Emergency. The emergency was that ethics laws existed snd a legislator had lost his job as a result, so they repealed the one voters put in place last election.
* "We All Have Racial Bias :"
Click to view* "Jon Stewart Reads Trump's Next Batch Of Executive Orders:"
* "This Is The Sound Of Journalists Keeping Their Mouths Shut:"
* "How Much Damage Could The President Do In One Week?:"
* "Lewis Black Rates Trump's First Week:"
* "Stephen Looks At Washington And Wonders: What's Happening?:"
* "Emerald City and Gender the Good the Bad and the Mediocre:" http://www.fangsforthefantasy.com/2017/02/emerald-city-and-gender-good-bad-and.html
* Black Sails Master Post: http://gwydionmisha.tumblr.com/post/142320219370/black-sails-master-post
* Black Sails XXIX:
* We start with the image of Silver from later in the episode struggling to cut himself free under water (womb imagery: water, heartbeat, rope ladder as umbilical cord literally suffocating Silver by holding him under water), while the voice over speaks of twin nations fighting each other and twins fighting in the womb. Alrighty then. A little on the nose as far as both the Nassau/England situation, the uneasy Pirate/Marroon colony alliance (Mr. Scott scenes set up the Madi/Eleanor Free Settlement/Nassau dichotomies as sisters of a sort last season which means this scene is suggesting one must die for the other to live and the process will be bloody), the arguments within the Pirate camp, and the twin and twined legends of Flint and Silver fighting each other, but I suppose a summery in a few lines and images of how fucked things are and are about to get. Flint segues the biblical twin imagery into his relationship with silver and the crew. "Twins... as close as two things can get to being the same one, and what's the first thing they do to each other? Fight over who gets to be the first one to see the light of day. And here I sit at the head of an army of men, each of whom, present company included, has probably at some point considered killing the man he now fights alongside, each of whom, present company included, has certainly considered killing me." See? Twinned and twined legends and Silver cutting himself free of Flint with a knife. I'm sensing a season 4 theme off the bat. Sure, silver isn't planning on killing him now, but his joke about it suggests the respite will be short.
* The Madi/Silver underlines the fragility of the alliance.
* This is the first time I've seen Blackbeard talk to Jack Rackham as if Jack were a man and not an annoyance. It's not respect, but it's progress. Blackbeard actually can see some use to him I think. "No, but we are emotional beings, after all, and rhetoric is the fuel that feeds the fire." Jack Rackham is yet again pointing out that Story has power and words can shape reality. Words are becoming his gift the way they are Flint's and Silver's and Billy's.
* "It's no wonder you don't say much." I am mulling this because it can be read so many different ways. Criticism of jack? Praise of her? Acknowledgement that she doesn't need to talk because Jack talks constantly? Blame for Jack talking constantly? Blackbeard is hard to read and so good at the cryptic.
* "All of us have given some part of ourselves to reach this moment. Today, we reclaim what is ours. And we seek retribution for what was taken from us. Today there will be vengeance for the death of Charles Vane." Except, of course they won't. It's never that simple, is it?
* We always knew Woodes Rogers is an ambush hunter by preference, and that he'll use knowledge of his opponent's behavior to set traps. Flint is more direct in his rages, but he often does the same.
* Flint is using his knowledge of ship physics and risking men in the immediate for long term survival. Very, very Flint.
* Let us raise a glass to our beloved ship's memory.
* Rackham's rationalization actually makes sense, but it still smacks of rationalization.
* I'm still not convinced part of Woodes Rogers isn't setting up Eleanor Guthrie so he can feed her to the mob when it turns on him over his harsh tactics, but given the way he's damaged himself financially and politically back home, I'm suspecting he's doing it unconsciously rather than consciously as I first assumed.
* The shot of the three women waiting out the battle is another of the gorgeous painterly shots that I have come to expect from Black Sails. symbolic embroidery is symbolic. Max is warning Eleanor again. Eleanor blows her warning off again.
Max: It bothers me that this does not bother you.
Eleanor: What's that?
Max: This. That. All of it. The world is changing so rapidly and we with it. I fear the day will soon come when we will no longer recognize either.
Eleanor: We are who we are. Nothing so important changes so quickly.
I am debating who is right here. My inclination is Max, but I'm not sure Eleanor is entirely wrong either.
"And I told you before we ever set foot on this island I will do whatever necessary to ensure your success here. If the street understands us better when I sit among your men’s wives rather than your men, if the world makes more sense to them that way and your authority grows because of it, as uncomfortable as it may be, then that is a compromise I am willing to make." -Eleanor Guthrie, Black Sails XXIX
Tactical retreat or surrender? Is she losing her self or pretending to lose herself?
* Flint awkwardly trying to reach out to Madi in her grief. Ouch. There is a whole story in both of their faces.
* Featherstone turns cloak. Of course he does.
* The Silver/Madi flashback conversation is revealing in all sorts of ways. Silver's discomfort with becoming billy's story, his worry about what that does to the power balance, Madi's suspicions. The twins fighting theme is thoroughly entwined with the stories shaping reality theme. It is also another really beautiful shot, and could easily be a painting. "Who is John Silver?" really is a good question in the larger sense. I suspect we'll be finding out soon.
* "It ain’t fear to want to do a hard thing smart." You tell him, Anne Bonny, you tell him!
* Here we start to establish the fragility and isolation of Woodes Rogers' Regime.
* It's good to see DeGroot standing firm for all his qualms about Flint. The lack of support from home and on the street. "We that remain do so in violation of our orders to return home, a breach of our duty to His Majesty's Army. Someday, if we see England again, I imagine we'll have to answer for it." Woodes' men have become pirates and mutineers essentially, by staying to fight instead of going to the European Wars as they were ordered. Nassau makes pirates of everyone, eventually. Billy's tail of Berringer's tactics very much reminds me of Charles Vane's attack on Flint's Captaincy way back in season one. Woodes is now pirate captain of Nassau as Eleanor once was, ruling even more violently. Is this what it would have done to Thomas, I wonder? And Billy is fighting back with the same kind of violence. The bodies of assassins hang the way they hung Pirates in the Carolinas. Civilization in all it's cruelty and barbarity is here. "Never let it be said that civilization came to anyone easily here." *snort*
* Billy is a captain now, and Flint isn't liking it one bit. Madi is threatening to peel out. Twins are fighting to see who will be first out.
* If Woodes threatened me the way he is threatening Max, I'd give him surface compliance and smiles and would be quietly doing everything possible to betray and undermine him that I thought I could get away with. I expect Max will feel the same, and she's really got at politics and smart not hard strategic planning. He's robbing her of her goods and services and threatening her life and security. The Max we've seen up until this point has never responded positively to that. I expect her response to play out in the next few episodes, and Woodes Rogers will deserve whatever he does to her. Yes, he's under stress and fighting for his life, but backing allies into a corner and turning them into enemies is never the solution to that.
- I really like Billy's Underhill plan. Fuck Flint. Billy is thinking like a Revolutionary; Flint is pure rage. This makes sense given their back stories and personalities. In a way this is what billy was born to do. Flint's face when he asks, "I have become so easily set aside, have I?" and billy's when he says, "Do you have value to me? Yes." Ouch. They are looking across such a big gap, and yet they still see each other. Something in the performances reminds me of Billy's return after his near drowning and capture. Flint tries Blackmail, Madi plays her ace.
- That poor goat!
- Anne correctly spots Jack's desperation to get Charles Vane's Pirate Daddy's approval. Jack Rackham's survivor guilt will break my heart, I think and likely end with him hanging. He's still trying to be thought a proper pirate by a dead man who's approval he can never win now. He's as doomed as Flint has been from the moment Thomas Hamilton was reported dead. Anne once again proves she listens and thinks and has more sense than the men. "I came here 'cause we all agreed we had a chance to take Nassau back, have a place of our own. I ain't here to prove anything! I ain't here to figure out who I am. And I sure as sh1t ain't here to pretend a dead man might think better of me for it." She can see it's already breaking.
- Eleanor thinks she has mutilated herself. I think she is correct. She calls Woodes on his shit. I think she is correct. He's been cutting her out of his private council instead of just his public as was their agreement, reverting under stress to a standard 18th century man instead of being how he presented himself to her in season three. Woodes then reveals the full extent of his isolation and likely impending ruin. I'm not holding my breath on the Guthries, but it will be interesting to see how it plays out.
- Is the cutting away of Randall's leg symbolic?
*****
* Full list of Resistance and charity links has been migrated to my profile as it was getting out of hand.
* Help pay for cat food, litter, meds, medical copays: Paypal Lethran@gmail.com
* Want Game of Thrones without the creepy? We desperately need new players. We are very inclusive. "Game of Bones MUSH:" gobmush.wikidot.com
This entry was originally posted at http://gwydion.dreamwidth.org/1868339.html. Please comment there using OpenID.