review of Black Sails 3.7 

Black Sails 3.7: The Blackening of John Silver

Black Sails on Starz this past Saturday - 3.7, which I was too busy looking at politics to review at the time - with two important character developments.

The most important is what is happening with John Silver, not physically, which we\'ve seen with his peg-leg, but to his head - that is, psychologically, or, to be more precise,  his soul.   The television series takes place earlier than the Robert Louis Stevenson novel, in which Long John Silver is already hardened - and fearsome.

In episode 3.7, we see him really getting there, with his statement - chilling to himself as well as the audience - that he enjoys killing, or least gets some pleasure from it.   Given that Silver has been the moral compass of the show, this is an extraordinary if inevitable revelation.

Meanwhile, we also get a revelation of a very different kind from Eleanor:  she\'s sleeping with Rogers and enjoying it.   I suppose we could discover in the end that she\'s still loyal to the pirates, but her heart surely looks loyal to their enemy.  Of course, I\'m no expert in the wiles of spydom, so for all I know she\'s enjoying Rogers while still employing him, manipulating him for her own purposes.  But it doesn\'t quite feel that way.

And speaking of Rogers, the scene was him and Flint was memorable, too.  Black Sails excels in subtly different shades, usually of evil, and it was refreshing to see a bad guy, from our pirate perspective, having a realistic, admirable toughness of spirit.  This, in turn, makes Eleanor\'s attraction to him more believable.

See also Black Sails 3.1: Restored ... Black Sails 3.2: Flint vs. Sea ... Black Sails 3.3: Gone Fishin\' ... Black Sails 3.4: Mr. Scott\'s People ... Black Sails 3.5: Alliance ... Black Sails 3.6: The Duel

And see also Black Sails 2.1: Good Combo, Back Story, New Blood ... Black Sails 2.2: A Fine Lesson in Captaining ... Black Sails 2.3: "I Angered Charles Vane" ... Black Sails 2.4: "Fire!" ... Black Sails 2.5: Twist! ... Black Sails 2.6: Weighty Alternatives, and the Medium is the Message on the High Seas ...Black Sails 2.7: The Governor\'s Daughter and the Gold ... Black Sails 2.9: The Unlikely Hero ... Black Sails Season 2 Finale: Satisfying Literate and Vulgar

And see also Black Sails: Literate and Raunchy Piracy ... Black Sails 1.3: John Milton and Marcus Aurelius ... Black Sails 1.4: The Masts of Wall Street ...Black Sails 1.6: Rising Up ... Black Sails 1.7: Fictions and History ... Black Sails 1.8: Money

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