The outcome is only uncertain for those who disbelieve.

One of the MANY things I find really cool about black sails season 2 (seriously, I think its absolutely the best season of any TV show ever) is they way they use Ned Lowe and peter Ashe as sort of bookend villains.

The season starts with this guy who looks and acts like he got lost on his way to the game of thrones set. They make it seem like he’s going to be the big bad of the season, he’s the epitome of cartoonish villainy. He’s got an evil scar, he gets a creepy villain monologue, he makes gross rapey threats, he carve a dudes head off in broad daylight, he is 100% aware of his own villain status… then his over the top psychotic antics get him killed three episodes in (in any other show he’d inexplicably last 5 seasons just to manufacture cheap tension and drama and it would be boring as hell)

Then there’s peter Ashe, the only other true (living at least) antagonist of the season, and he only shows up (in present time) for the last three episodes. If Lowe seems like a typical TV villain, Ashe is exactly what real world “villains” are. He doesn’t get a villain monologue, he doesn’t ACTIVELY do much of anything, and that’s kind of the point. Its terrifyingly easy for someone to be a peter Ashe. He’s a passive, lawful good citizen. He’ll act helpful when it doesn’t cost him anything, but the moment things get rough, he’ll throw his friends under the bus and say he had no choice. He may not be actively homophobic like Alfred Hamilton, but he’s also to weak to stand up to him, and for that the show treats him as just as much of a villain. He’s the ultimate bystander, horrible things happen because he steps back and lets them, not because he actively causes them, and I fucking LOVE that this show makes it very clear that that is just as bad.

Lowe was a red herring; the real villain of the season was just a dude who repeatedly allowed injustice happen because it was easy. THAT’S how you do an amazing and unsettlingly real villain, you don’t need cardboard cutout psychopaths.

Tbh this show never resorts to the lazy villain tropes that the majority of TV shows use, but season 2 does such an amazing job of teasing that cliche and then completely turning it on its head.

My mistakes can only make me stronger

Can’t   you   see   it ? It isn’t utility that’s behind his investment in me…nor necessity, nor dependency. I understand you fear a false motive. But this much is clear to me now… I have earned his respect. And after all the tragedies that man has suffered… the loss of Thomas, the events of Charles Town… I have earned his trust.                                        I have his   t r u e   f r i e n d s h i p   and so he’s going to have mine.

They took everything from us. And then they called me a monster. The moment I sign that pardon, the moment I ask for one, I proclaim to the world that they were right. This ends when I grant them my forgiveness, not the other way around.

#oh my god okay i dont know if this makes sense#i dont know if my thoughts translated all that well onto screen#but here it is anyway#the point of this gifset is that their story was very much similar to silver and flint’s story#james and miranda both went through a drastic change in the past ten years#they both became monsters in their own way#flint was the villian in the story the world has been writing and she the cheating wife before they named her the devil’s accomplice#(thomas was the tragic character; the victim of their monstrosity)#like silver and flint they were on the brink of a major change.. they stumbled upon a chance for absolution and justice#and they failed because someone else wanted to continue writing their life in a way they did not want it to go#but what breaks my heart the most is that miranda was so close to something resembling a life again#(she didn’t even know just HOW CLOSE.. literally.. thomas was just a few days ride away and peter knew)#she had long ago made peace with being the victim of scrutiny and rumors#but in that one and only moment when letting go and forgiving those who hurt her mattered the most.. she couldn’t#because she loved too much; cared too much; hurt and witnessed her loved one get hurt too much#for that one fleeting moment she took back control of her life and soared before they silenced her for good#when the same thing happened months later.. flint facing another betrayal from a friend threatening with a gun aimed at his chest#flint chose peace#but at the cost of everything else he stood for#in the end neither he nor she got justice for the accusations thrown at them for all those years; no apology#they both went down in history as the false characters the civilization had created#and while in the end flint got some measure of peace.. there is still a tragedy underlying his journey towards that end#anyway im dead (via @captain-flint)

I understand this is the place cowards come to beg forgiveness from a king.

#I come as his right hand #I come on a mission of mercy #I come on behalf of captain flint #LITERRRRRAAALLLLLLY POETRY!!!! #'not anymore he's not' <--- I LOVE THAT!!! SO ENTIRELY!!! #not 'he was never dead ya ding dong' #but an echo of 'SO I WILL COME BACK FROM THE DEAD AND LAY CLAIM TO WHAT I AM OWED' #it's not just a recognition of the story that has been told about flint's death and an insistence on this new story they're creating #in which captain flint has 'risen from the grave' more powerful than ever #it's also an acknowledgement of flint's change in state of mind/personal growth #he essentially DID consider himself dead; he was on that boat with ghost!miranda ready to walk through her door and join her #he was DONE. he was finished. 'let this be the end of captain flint' #and then he gets a second wind and decides to live. he comes back to silver and his crew. he comes back to the war he's been fighting. #HE REALLY DOES COME BACK TO LIFE #james mcgraw and captain flint both #because (perhaps unfortunately) right now one cannot do what needs to be done without the other #and so flint goes on to do battle as Captain Flint™ and reveal his heart as James McGraw all in one episode #*sighs* THIS SCENE IS SO GOOD 👏🏼 #and ivana's gifs are beautiful and perfect and 10/10 stars as always 💕 (via candlewinds)