‘Black Sails’ season 3, episode 5 review: The political calm before many storms

Saturday’s “Black Sails” continued what we would say for the most part has been an excellent trajectory, starting with a heartbroken Captain Flint struggling to take care of either himself or anyone else. With that in mind, it was nice to see him back somewhat to his old self, inspired by a grand new plan that he can use to not only save his crew, but form a widespread alliance against Spain to effectively save both his hide and the lives of so many others.

Effectively, what he has done is forge a temporary bond with the Queen, and brought some of his men together with the fellow pirates and slaves. Ultimately, he played to her ego, and how working with him and forming new bonds can help to expand her own reach in time. We’re not sure he really believes it, but who cares? That’s not really the point. This is more of the Flint we saw through two seasons to the recent, brooding version of the character.

Elsewhere, we saw Eleanor try to push Woodes in a way to that benefits his metaphorical pocketbook, and we are enjoying this whole manipulative side of her very much! We’re not sure we were fully aboard with what was happening with Jack this time around (it felt like we went around in at least a half-circle), so the more Eleanor we see, the happier we’re ultimately going to be. Also, her scenes with Max were so interesting and, in a subtle way, heart-wrenching.

While we would still contend that Nassau still has its work cut out for it trying to equal the level of excitement we’re feeling for Flint and company right now, Saturday’s “Black Sails” proved further that this show doesn’t need an excess of swashbuckling or torrential downpours to be interesting. Some of the world-building that is going on is excellent, and the fight against Span definitely feels earned. Grade: B+.