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XXII.
Eleanor ships
Season 3
Number 22
Date Aired February 13th, 2016
Writer Jonathan Steinberg
Lisa Schultz Boyd
Director Steve Boyum
Previous XXI.
Next XXIII.

Civilization returns to Nassau, and sets its sights on Vane. Flint, Silver, and Billy encounter a new enemy. Rackham takes a stand against his crew. Scott finds his place in the new regime.

Synopsis[]

The episode opens on the uncharted island where James Flint's crew recuperate after weeks stranded at sea. John Silver and Flint discuss all the pardons Benjamin Hornigold offered. Silver fears this is the prelude to a bigger force attacking Nassau. If so, Flint fears the battle is likely already over. However, they are interrupted by a large force of well-armed maroons.

In Nassau, Jack Rackham, Charles Vane, Anne Bonny and their crew are stuck in the fort with men slowly gathering for the bounty on Vane’s head. With one man, (Paul), constantly demanding they open the door, Rackham finally does, shooting him point blank. Featherstone informs the three that the crew have voted to give up Vane. Rackham acknowledges Nassau’s defence is over and comes up with a new plan; to destroy a portion of the fort so Vane can escape.

Back on the Maroon Island, the whole crew is taken at gun point, through a trap infested forest, to a large settlement filled with possibly a thousand men, women and children. They are questioned by the Maroon Queen, who seems to react at Flint’s name. Silver explains how they ended up on the island and assures her no one else knows the location. They are imprisoned while the Queen corroborates the story, by torturing four of the crew to death. In the cell with them is another man, Ben Gunn, the last survivor of a slave trader crew captured before the Walrus.

XXII 2

Back in Nassau, Vane and Rackham exchange farewell pleasantries. Rackham wants to stay knowing Blackbeard does not respect him. He also reveals that a good portion of the gold has been put aside by Bonny. With a loud explosion Vane tries to fight his way to the docks, but is eventually trapped in a narrow alleyway. Thankfully, Blackbeard appears, and the two combine to slash, shoot and kick their way to Blackbeard’s ship. Afterwards, Mr. Scott meets with Hornigold and offers his services to repair the fort. Hornigold reveals the fort slaves have fled, but Mr. Scott claims he can get them to return as he can offer them fair treatment.

Back on the uncharted island, Billy Bones, Silver and Flint all deal with the direness of their plight in their own way. For Billy, he wants to escape through the trap laden forest with Gunn’s help. For Silver, he’ll talk his way out of it. And Flint, he doesn’t know if he has any more fights left in him. At night, Silver is taken to see the young daughter of the Queen, Madi. He tries to convince her that they have similar hatred toward England. It seems to no avail, but she goes to her mother and voices her concerns. The Queen rebuffs her, but Mali insists on talking to her father, the ‘away’ Maroon King.

On Blackbeard’s ship, Vane learns that Eleanor Guthrie is on Woodes Rogers’s ship, which is the reason for the price on his head. That night, with English fleet blocking any chance of escape from the harbour, Teach and Vane send one ship straight at their line. Confused by the ships intention, they delay firing until the pirates set it on fire and abandon the ship. The fire ship is hit a few times, but ultimately one of the English ships is set alight. Rogers’s fleet break their formation allowing Blackbeard to sail away.

In an isolated bay near Nassau, Mr. Scott is helping the fort slaves escape Nassau. He is the ‘away’ Maroon King who has been sending supplies and slaves to the unchartered island for years under everyone’s noses. Two English patrolmen come upon them, and a brief gun battle ensues, wounding Mr Scott in the crossfire.

Memorable Quotes[]

"The men must be prepared to return to an embattled Nassau." Silver on the beach. But at least nothing else can possibly go wrong, right?

"If this is what Nassau is to be, I see no value in resisting what is clearly inevitable." Mr. Scott to Hornigold.

"We were so close to accomplishing something that would have written our names into history. There's no piece of the world for sale that can replace that."

"We'll all face certain death with our own kind of lie. Billy's is that he can fight his way out of it. Yours is that you can talk your way past it. But for me... I don't know that I have any more lies left in me." Flint discusses their imprisonment with Silver.

"Your men are filled with anger towards England, as are mine, but my captain wanted England to see that anger and make them fear it." Silver tries to sway the daughter of the Maroon Queen.

Trivia[]

  • Maroons were escaped African slaves in the New World, who ran away and established their own communities. They often built their bases in extremely inhospitable environments (as seen in the show, where the Maroon Camp is located deep in the forest of a mountainous, uncharted island). Using guerrilla warfare, they posed an enormous threat to New World plantation colonies, which relied on African slave labor.
  • Dooley asks Flint and Billy if the fact that the crew has freed slaves will put them in good standing with the Maroons, but Billy remarks that the Maroons know they've sold more than they've freed, and even if it weren't true they'd assume it. In episode VII., it is noted that the Walrus Crew refused to simply free the slaves taken from the Andromache, and Eleanor had to bargain for and buy their freedom.
  • Rogers's flagship is named onscreen as the Delicia. This was the name of his historical flagship during his expedition to Nassau, however int real life it was a merchantman outfitted for war with 36 guns, not a 60 gun warship.
  • This episode marks the introduction of Ben Gunn, a Treasure Island character. His introduction on the show mirrors his in the book: trapped on an island.
  • During Silver's scene with Madi, he mentions that there are "two dozen men in a cage," referring to his crew. Considering the crew was split into two cages, that would mean there are about 48 men captured. This seems like a low number for the crew, given that Billy implied that there were close to 80 men on the crew in XIX (when he expressed shock that Hornigold had 80 pardons) and during Flint's speech to the crew that episode, there are at least 60 men on the main deck. If the 48 number is accurate, it would mean about 53 were captured (one killed in the forest, four tortured to death).
  • Teach is impressed that "Charles Vane sees past his anger to achieve the greater end" and asks how that happened, and Vane replies that he was taught a lesson once. This voices out loud Vane's character development, where he was betrayed by Eleanor and after Charles Town realized the error of his shortsighted way of thinking.
  • The escape from Nassau in the show is actually historically fairly accurate (although Blackbeard was not involved). On 22nd July 1718, Vane was in New Providence when Woodes Rogers arrived. He refused to accept the pardon, set fire to a recently captured French ship, and sent it toward Rogers's fleet. During the mêlée that followed, Vane escaped on the stolen sloop, the Katherine, with his plunder.

Gallery[]

Appearances[]

Characters[]

First[]

  • Maroon Queen
  • Madi
  • Ben Gunn
  • Lieutenant Perkins
  • Pardon Clerk

Deaths[]

  • Paul
  • Twitchy Pirate
  • Parker
  • Louis
  • Simon
  • Graves
  • Redcoat Patrolman 1
  • Redcoat Patrolman 2

Locations[]

Organizations[]

Ships[]

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