Black Sails Season 3 Episode 8  Yes, we start out with more talking, but this week at least the pirates have something to say. I found the opening conversation between Flint and Vane to be very enlightening. And, probably, true to the time period. The distinction between rich and poor in 1716 was absolute. A man who lived his life as Vane has lived his life would probably never have been in a place as “normal” as Miranda’s house. A dinner table with china place settings, silverware, and an effort to make the whole attractive would be something he lived his whole life without seeing. I could believe that the Black Sails crew wouldn’t be found, but damn it’s annoying when Billy Bones comes in. This is a neighborhood where no one new has moved in for perhaps a decade. You bet Billy Bones was noticed. (Not plot important, but still…)  And why is it that Jack Rackham’s conversation with a rat is more interesting than any of the conversations last week? Difficult, but true. At this point, the New World itself is conspiring against Woods Rogers and his men. They don’t know the players, and they don’t know the field. New World sickness is stalking them. (Including Rogers, but thank god this time we don’t get clubbed over the head with it.) I also like Jack Rackham’s statement about how he became a pirate. Jack’s definitely got a pair of pirate balls now. But he’s also got the brains and background to argue with Rogers at Rogers’ own level. Historical fact – the rise in piracy in the Caribbean was a direct result of a crash in the wages of working-class folks, while the rich suddenly got richer. Jack’s story would have been a standard one, just as Vane’s story—a life of hard labor, relieved only by drink and a few pleasant hours in the bed of a whore was the common reason—is why the men became pirates.  Silver’s story feels like it was dreamed up just to give Silver something to do. But I don’t mind. This kind of problem in integrating two groups is very believable. It also gives Eme a place to shine. Eme is good – historically believable, well played, and strong. This is where Silver gets a look at royalty. Eme was raised to be a queen, and she acts like one. The solution to the problem is good Black Sails tradition. Things just slide sideways, but with a twist at the end. They aren’t backing off the slavery card, either. Nobody comes to Nassau baggage-free, and the Maroons are no exception. Rackham grasps the economic situation that makes it so easy for the working class to lose everything, and how impossible it is to get it back. Eme knows that every one of her people needs to win an individual fight against the past, when they were enslaved by white men and became non-persons. Because she speaks vividly, we see the size of this struggle. It remains a struggle today.  This episode’s set piece, the battle over Roger’s carriage, is just what we’ve been looking for. I realize that it’s a TV show, and the budget gets eaten up by these things. But damn it was good. Kudos for the carriage crash. (And extra credit because the carriage didn’t blow up for absolutely no reason.) But multiple riders just leaving the scene is Flint’s hallmark: Stupidity. It’s no use at all to take a target if you can’ hold it. As everyone else has said to eloquently, it’s all or nothing. So what does Flint do? He exits the scene before Rackham is secured. A real rookie move, by a character who couldn’t organize a trick-of-treat expedition, let alone a pirate raid. Thank goodness Billy Bones talks some sense into him. When we found out that Bones is a political pirate, a literate man who was essentially enslaved because his family disagreed with the status quo, he became just the person to sway public opinion. Flint didn’t see this of course, but Billy was kind enough to point it out.