I don’t wanna do it. Don’t wanna live with it after.

I find this comparison really interesting, because Silver and Max have had parallel story arcs right from the start of the show when they teamed up to sell the schedule. They haven’t always been on the same side and they haven’t always had the same outlook, but they’re similar people in many ways and their character arcs—their rises and falls—tend to echo each other. E.g. in season two when she became the Madam of the brothel and he became quartermaster; and in season three, which opened with Max calling herself the queen of Nassau and ended with Silver being declared the king of the pirates; and on into season four when they both stepped away from that power, for love; while also being the people who crafted the plans that stopped Rogers and Flint, respectively. The Savannah connection fits right into that pattern. The season opens (more or less—I guess that was episode two, wasn’t it? But that’s close enough for me) with Max trying to send Silver to that estate, and it closes with Silver sending Flint there. So you’ve got these two characters bookending the season again, just like in the previous season. Silver and Max.

From “I think if he knew how close we were to the victory he gave his life to achieve he wouldn’t want me to. ” to “You asked me once what I would do, what I would sacrifice if it meant having Thomas back again… I honestly don’t know what I would have done”.

Just punch me in the face, it’ll hurt less than this.

Seeing Silver in such a similar situation is definitely making him rethink some things...

The Curious Case of Chekov’s Thomas Hamilton.

Thomas (2x03): The new world is a gift, Lieutenant. A sacred opportunity to right our wrongs and begin a new - and I do not want my family’s plot in it to be the reason for its fall. …well, about that, Thomas…. I hate to say it…. Miranda (1x07): This path you’re on, it doesn’t lead where you think it does. If he were here, he’d agree with me!

The following is a stupidly, stupidly long prolonged ramble about the whos/whats/potential hows on the justification for a Thomas Hamilton return, one that originally came about after I started doing a series rewatch. There are lot of questions, and not a lot of answers, but I decided typing it out was probably better than zoning out in the vegetables section of the supermarket again, trying to puzzle out the great mystery of Chekov’s Thomas Hamilton… which embarrassingly did happen. Twice. Once whilst staring at pumpkins.

Wherefore art thou, Mr Hamilton?

The following relevant quote is something @flinthamilton​ cleverly picked up on some time ago, which has been my soothing madness mantra ever since -

Thomas (2x01): They say it started with a man named Henry Avery, who sailed into the port of Nassau, bribed the colonial Governor to look past his sins, and camped his crew upon the beach -  and thus began the pirate issue on New Providence Island. Where and when will it all end - I suppose that’s where you and I come into the story.

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lots of resurrection stories on this show

I didn’t realize how significant a theme it was until just now. 

We have…

Vane

(x)

Billy

(x)

Eleanor

(x)

(“I suppose I should have seen this, that somehow your grip on this place would be too strong to be denied by a king, his laws, or even your death”)

Flint

(x)

(“I will come back from the dead and lay claim to what I am owed”)

Silver

(x)

… and now, possibly, Thomas as well?

Am I missing anybody? Let me know if I’m missing anybody.

This includes–I think–three times in which the other characters think the character is dead but the audience knows all along that they’re alive (Eleanor, Flint, and Silver); and three times in which the other characters and the audience are all led to believe that the character is dead (Vane, Billy, and Thomas; with Billy, the audience finds out that he’s alive before the other characters do but we still spend a few episodes thinking that he has drowned).

I’m not sure where I’m going with this, really, but it’s an interesting pattern. Also, the first season took place in the time leading up to Easter Sunday–the resurrection themes continue…

Aaaaand to round out the post, some Wild Speculation about Flint’s Treasure Island fate, which I’m sticking under a cut:

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And now after 4x05 we also have--

The Walrus!

(x)

(“Everything we’ve put that ship through and she just refuses to die”)

Assume his father was just as dark as you say, but was unable to murder his own son, assume he found a way to secret Thomas away from London-  He didn’t. Would you trade this war to make it so?

Would you trade this war to make it so? It is some kind of hell to be forced to choose one irreplaceable thing over another.

“When and where will it all end, I guess that’s where you and I come into the story.” 

- Thomas Hamilton, 2x01

When the moment finally came I had put so much of myself into this place, in that moment, I honestly didn’t know where I ended and it began. There may be ways of severing oneself in that way sacrificing one part to save the other. But in that moment I honestly couldn’t find something sharp enough to make the cut. 

A very wise woman recently told me that one should not allow their personal feelings to cloud the reality of the situation, which in both that case and this… is that Billy has influence that is best not ignored.

Here is the problem I am having when it’s said that Thomas is automatically going to be upset at what James has become/ruining Nassau after the pardons were given out.

While it might be true that he wouldn’t like what’s happening now, the truth is what England/Woodes has done with Nassau and the pardons is not what Thomas wanted either.

What Thomas wanted, while on the surface it looks similar, there was a lot more to it than just “pirates getting pardoned and a return to the Crown’s rule.”

Thomas was explicitly against the way England governed and the way it treated people. Thomas wanted pardons for the pirates yes, but he also wanted changes to the system that was making people suffer ( his talks about changing systemic things, wanting to give people their lives back and help them, miranda’s quote about him doing things out of love, etc.) He didn’t want Nassau to just go back to British rule as it stands.

And that, ultimately, is why Flint still fights (at least in part, ofc he is still fighting because that is all that is sustaining him). Because this is not what either of them were trying to do. Because the civilization/status quo that exiled and destroyed him, the same one that killed Thomas and Miranda, is the same one that has returned to Nassau.

He openly wonders in 305 if he should give up fighting because he wonders if fighting now is going against everything he and Thomas and Miranda were trying to accomplish. And in 307 he then admits why he’s still fighting; because it’s not what Thomas was trying to do. Thomas was trying to change England, not bring it back to the same status quo.

and I’m fairly certain that if Thomas is alive he’d have a few things to say, about the system that’s kept him imprisoned for ten years, people change over the course of a decade particularly when it hasn’t been a kind one, we’re talking about a Thomas whose wife has been killed, whose lover has been put through hell, whose entire life was taken from him, and you want to tell me he’s going to want to prop up the system that did all that?, that he wouldn’t understand the rage that leads men like James to deny the pardon?, that he wouldn’t feel that way himself?  ( tags by @flintsredhair )

So, for Black Sails fans, about the whole Thomas speculation thing after today’s episode, a gentle reminder of this interview with Toby:

http://collider.com/black-sails-season-4-toby-stephens-interview/#lost-in-space-netflix

And I quote:

“Is there anyone that you’d say is truly loyal to Flint, and is there anyone he’s truly loyal to?

STEPHENS: Yeah, there is a character that ends up being truly loyal to Flint, and it’s wonderful. In the last few episodes, one of the characters comes into the fore that’s been in the background, and it’s interesting to see what happens there.”

So, was Toby talking about THOMAS?!!!

flint: literally just saying max’s name and acknowledging her existence

me: HUUUGE nut

I want to talk about something that’s been on my mind for a very long time. Namely, that there’s this idea that appears every so often, and that’s if Thomas ever knew what James became or what he’s done, that he would reject James or simply not love him anymore or that things would never work between them again. And I just for the life of me can’t understand where this idea comes from because I can’t see any canon backing for it and from everything shown with Thomas, it seems to go completely against what we were shown. And I’m not trying to stomp on anyone’s opinion; it’s just that Thomas is my favorite character for a myriad of reasons, so I am very passionate about this.

I have three motivations for talking about this: 1) Fanfic writing reasons; 2) This post, which has been in my likes forever and which I’ve always meant to answer 3) And this idea has been around awhile and still crops up every so often, and I’m here to make a rebuttal

But it comes down to this: you are never going to convince me that Thomas, who has shown himself numerous times to be an extremely loving and forgiving person, who was willing to fight for imperfect strangers at great personal cost, who watched an execution of someone who was deemed guilty and came to the conclusion that he was going to help these people, that were already known to be violent and dangerous, and whom he cared about despite their actions- you are never going to convince me this Thomas would not still love James all the same or not understand him.

Rambling under the cut.

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