Https://archiveofourown.org/works/64803721/chapters/166533523

Yeah, it's not really fair, right? I watched ep.1 years ago thinking I was going to see a pirate show and then said 'pirate show' turned into a social analyses of humankind throughout history, pushing me to do social/historical/political/ideological reflections I never felt the need to do before in my life.

Yeah, that's not fair, that's Black Sails.

:) come closer I’m just a normal pretty-good raunchy pirate adventure macguffin caper show I’m just a regular little “prequel to treasure island” Im not a thesis about the very nature of fiction itself or one of the most devastating brain rewiring existential things you’ll ever watch or anything that’s ridiculous. come on pspspsps you can trust me

There’s nothing in Nassau but horror. You said it was just a transition. That something better lay beyond it, something meaningful. But what if that isn’t so? What if the result of this war isn’t beyond the horror? What if it is the horror itself? Have you given this any thought at all? If we are to truly reach a moment where we might be finished with England… cleared away to make room for something else… there most certainly lies a dark moment between here and there. A moment of terror where everything appears to be without hope.

BLACK SAILS 4.08 “XXXVI.”

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Absolutely yes to all of that.

(warning: black sails spoilers)

every time I see a bad Miranda Hamilton take I have to try so so hard not to engage. I see so many people blatantly misunderstand her character or call her ‘annoying’ (especially when talking about season 2 episode 9 and her rant at Peter) and it pains me so much. She is just as much forged by loss as Flint, she is just as traumatised. And, on top of it, she is expected to sit around and wait for deliverance, she isn’t afforded the same opportunity to take matters into her own hands. Call her annoying all you want, but know that you’re wrong. Her rant in s2e9 is not unnecessary and it’s not overly emotional, it’s actually very fucking justified. It’s one of the only times she actually breaks her cool, allows herself to be angry, and she is killed for it. It’s a response to the revelation that Peter, once her friend, sold Thomas out for status, colluded behind their backs with Alfred fucking Hamilton to destroy their happiness. And he dares to claim it was a ‘civilised’ solution? So she says fuck your civilisation. Fuck your solutions. Fuck your pardons, your country, your empire. It should all burn for what you’ve done. And don’t miss the connotations of burning: purifying, cleansing, starting fresh. You know who else was being ‘purified’? Thomas. Rotting in a mental hospital for being queer.

She has every right to be angry. And it makes sense that she is killed for it, as empire cannot abide any challenge to its official narrative. The mere fact of her raised voice is enough to condemn her to death, yet she and Flint are treated as monstrous for their killing of Alfred Hamilton. The man who destroyed their lives and orchestrated their tragedy.

So fuck your takes. I’m so so fed up of people talking about her as if she’s just some irritating tag along. She is integral to the show’s message, and in this particular episode, Flint’s realisation that empire is not the answer. He learns that, whilst he is villainised for his use of violence in service of a noble goal, empire is allowed to practice violence with no consequences. It takes Miranda from him just as it took Thomas from them both.

no the POINT is NOT that rio was the first person to ever show agatha love blah blah soft girlfriends battling the trauma of abuse NO

the POINT is that THE PERSONIFICATION OF DEATH saw a human being so DEVOTED to the act of living that they COULD NOT comprehend dying and fell in LOVE with her and that HUMAN BEING saw this entity that NO ONE is meant to survive and and fell in LOVE with her

the POINT is that they EXIST in PERFECT tandem and in COMPLETE contradiction to each other. the POINT, the IRONY, is that they give each other exactly what they need, but must take from each other the only thing they want.

"The sustained heat of an intense fire"

...and it's just Lestat's gaze.

"She loved the sea for its storms alone, and the green only when it grew scattered among ruins."

G. Flaubert

Miranda Barlow's aesthetic.

I love so much this character and her story and I think she would have liked very much Madame Bovary if she had the chance to read it.

(We all know what was written in that burning letter, don't we? I think it was important to include that too about her)

Poison Ivy #15 variant cover by Seb McKinnon

😘💋

there's something to be said of flint's anger in the scene he beats singleton to death.

but.

i think we should recognize that part of it stems from strategy as well.

the conversation with billy at guthrie's house-

"but now it seems they feel i'm..." "too weak." "i was gonna say unlucky. so that's the thinking. we've been attacking ships with lighter loads because i'm too weak to do otherwise."

up until this moment flint didn't know that's how he was perceived. but now he does, and that he needs to prove to the crew that that's not true. and what better way to prove your strength than beating a man to death with your bare fists?

of course the anger played a huge role in it, i'm not going to deny it. but it didn't have to.

the puzzle pieces fit neatly together to set the scene. flint came into that fight with the full intent of unleashing that rage, not merely because he needed an outlet, but also because he knew it would help his image.

this, plus going after a ship like the urca...

afterwards, the crew could think what they wanted about flit's mental faculties. they could think what they wanted about his arrogance, his pride, his lies and schemes.

but not one of them would think him weak again.

Outcast, fallen angel, you are loved. You are forgiven. You are redeemed. You are loved. - The Exorcist [insp]