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a-man-for-hire-and-his-archives · 3 years

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Black Sails’ Toby Stephens on Captain Flint and the Final Season

Black Sails will return to Starz on January 29, 2017 for its fourth and final season. When we last left the pirates, Captain Flint (Toby Stephens) was beginning the revolution in Nassau and Long John Silver’s (Luke Arnold) star was rising. We recently got a chance to chat with Toby Stephens about the end of the series, what’s coming for Flint and working on this epic show. Check out his thoughts on season four below!

Here is the official synopsis:

The fourth season opens with hundreds of British soldiers dead in a forest… the Royal Navy sails back to England in retreat… the West Indies are now a war zone, and the shores of New Providence Island have never been bloodier. With the help of Eleanor Guthrie, Woodes Rogers transforms Nassau into a fortress without walls, as Captain Flint amasses a fleet of unprecedented strength, hoping to strike the final blow against civilization and reshape the world forever. Meanwhile, from within the island… an insurgency builds, fueled by the legend of its exiled leader, whose name keeps grown men awake at night… the one they call “Long John Silver.”

But as Flint, Silver and their allies are about to learn, the closer civilization comes to defeat, the more desperately and destructively it will fight back. Oaths will be shattered, fortunes will change hands, and amidst the chaos, only one thing remains certain: it has never been more dangerous to call oneself a pirate.

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Legion of Leia: I was in South Africa on the set when you were filming that crazy storm sequence in season three. What sort of set pieces are we going to see this time around?

Toby Stephens: It’s huge. There’s loads of stuff that will keep fans extremely happy, I’m sure.

Legion of Leia: Flint had a crazy few seasons. I’m curious about whether or not you think his destiny was set with Miranda’s (Louise Barnes) death.

Toby Stephens: I think yes, it kind of compounded the way he was going. I mean, I think before Miranda died, maybe people could reason him out of certain choices, but I think when Miranda dies, that’s the last nail in the coffin in terms of him going after England in this relentless way. And also, I would say, the other thing that compounds it is finding an ally in Silver. The fact that they become partners in this enterprise, it seems that Flint can only function when he has somebody who he’s allied with or is an alter-ego for him. Someone who can balance him and he can work through. So that is both good for him and bad for him in a way.

Legion of Leia: In the last episode, there is that conversation between Flint and Silver where they’re like, oh, we’re friends. But bad things happen to Flint’s friends. We know a bit about where this is going to go because of “Treasure Island.” What’s ahead for Flint here?

Toby Stephens: Yeah, well, I think it’s really the end game for the whole series, and we know it’s a tragedy because there was no great revolution in the pirate world. There was no emancipation of the pirates and the slaves. It didn’t happen, so why did it not happen and what happens to Flint at the end of that, when his dreams are crushed? What happens to Silver and him? How does that play out? And also, how does the Silver that we know become the eponymous Long John Silver of “Treasure Island?” How does that happen? And I think season four brilliantly leads us to a point where where, it’s a very satisfying ending, but also leaves you to fill in the gaps between there and “Treasure Island.” You kind of know who these people are at the end of this, but it’s a kind of really cool thing to allow people to do that themselves rather than go, look, this is what happens, all the way to the end. It leaves you to do some work yourself.

Legion of Leia: I love that. This show has sent me to Wikipedia more often than you would believe!

Toby Stephens: [laughs] I know!

Legion of Leia: How much research do you do for a role like this, or do you rely mostly on the script?

Toby Stephens: Do you know what? It’s a combination of laziness and there is method to it. I just go with what is in the script. I mean, like you, I’ll go to Wikipedia if I need to know something, if I don’t know what something is. But whether or not it has real historic context, for me is immaterial because I’m working in a fictive world. It’s a fictive world with dashes here or there of historic fact. A pinch here, a pinch there, and I need to work in that world, so it’s better if I stick there.

Legion of Leia: I did love seeing how much was actually built on the set and how many little touches were there, historical and fictive, both.

Toby Stephens: Yeah, what I love is the detail in terms of everybody else, the props, etc. There was a lot of care taken about what would have been there, what wouldn’t have been there, creating that texture of the world, where you can believe it.

Legion of Leia: When we were there, we were hearing stories of bugs in the walls!

Toby Stephens: We were always having problems with–there were these crickets. And they would get in. We would call them “sea crickets!” [laughs] You would be in a take and you would hear [makes cricket noises]. We’re supposed to be in the middle of something scene! [laughs] Or there would be birds up in the rigging going “cheep, cheep!” And you just go, oh my God, there’s another hour in ADR!

Legion of Leia: Did you have to do a ton of ADR?

Toby Stephens: Oh yeah! I have become the master of ADR. I breeze it now! I kind of like it because sometimes you can actually improve things. You know? There was a scene I did in the first season where it was with Gates (Mark Ryan), and it was a storm, and we’re having this conversation and we’re having a drink, and we’re on the set–it was the beginning when they used to gimbal the set. It was so noisy! There was water coming in, dripping everywhere. They wanted it to look authentic. Because it was quite a stressful set to be on [laughs], for some reason my [in a high-pitched voice] my voice was up here! I watched it–I mean, I had to loop it because there was so much noise there, but I thought, I sound like an hysteric! I managed to re-voice the whole thing and kind of couch it where Flint speaks normally. That’s a case in point where you can really improve on things.

Legion of Leia: I can’t imagine trying to speak clearly during some of those storm scenes!

Toby Stephens: I mean, it was mad! This job was amazing because I loved the people and I loved working on it, but there are aspects that I won’t miss. It was totally exhausting. By the end of this last season, I was literally hanging in rags, because it makes such demands on you. You’ve got enormous amounts of dialogue and enormous amounts of acting to do, and then at the same time, you’ve got all of this physical stuff to do, and it’s day in and day out. And you’re in the costumes and you’re in baking heat, and it was long, long days. No other job I would be able to do, in terms of acting–I mean, I’m not working in a coal mine–but there is no other job I could do that would come near this. It sort of made me immune to–it made everything else seem like a breeze. It was so arduous. And some of the stuff we did in season four, some of the stuff that I did towards the end, it was really difficult. Really difficult.

Legion of Leia: Having seen that storm scene and the tanks of water being dumped on you and the ship moving back and forth and the yelling–it was crazy!

Toby Stephens: Yeah, it was also the length of time it went on for. Because we also did two weeks straight, and then we kept on coming back for pickups because it was so particular. And also, it’s part of the reason why I’m so proud of the show, is that they had such exacting standards for what they wanted. They’d cut it together and realize they were missing bits, or that they could get bits better, but it was a drag. You had to get back on this deck and they were spraying you with stuff and they had the engines on. It was brutal. But you look at the end result and you go, that will stand. In ten years time, it will look amazing.

Legion of Leia: What are you going to miss the most, now that the show is over?

Toby Stephens: I think I’ll miss all the people that I worked with. One of the things about the job is, you create these very intense and very fun relationships with people, creative relationships with people, very creative, and then they dissolve and move on. I’ll miss that, and working with such great writers. John [Steinberg], Robert [Levine] and Dan [Shotz], you know, just brilliant writing, fantastic showrunners. They were so good and we had a really intense relationship. I’ll miss that.

Legion of Leia: What do you have coming up next?

Toby Stephens: So I just started doing the reinvention of Lost In Space for Netflix, so I literally just started working for them. I’m really excited for that. It’s a brilliant segue from one genre to another. [laughs] It’s a really fun reinvention of it. It’s really clever, and I’m really excited about it. I think this will be fun in terms of, it’s servicing fans, making a show for now.

Legion of Leia: Also, different costumes. Maybe not so much wool in the heat!

Toby Stephens: I think it will be differently uncomfortable. [laughs]

Legion of Leia: Those costumes were insane and it was so hot while you were filming.

Toby Stephens: Yeah, it was tough, and also in the brutal sun all day long. Standing on ships. It was killer. And the boots. I remember always complaining. I bitched and moaned about my boots all the time. [laughs] These things are killing me! Can you imagine these pirates going, “Jeeze, man! Couldn’t we have flip flops? Could we have a pair of thongs? Why do we have to wear these things?” [laughs]

Legion of Leia: I feel like pirates should have worn fewer clothes!

Toby Stephens: Yeah! [laughs] But apparently they didn’t. They didn’t, actually. The whole thing of pirates wearing all of that is baloney. They actually–they had very light shirts and stuff. Apparently they just didn’t wear much.

Legion of Leia: That was for fancy pirates.

Toby Stephens: And also, it was just for show. Also, what Black Sails kind of gets into is, a lot of it was p.r. It was p.r. by the English, because they wanted to demonize these people, but it was also their own p.r.–like Blackbeard having fuses on his beard and stuff like that. It was all to make people scared.

Legion of Leia: You can see that even with what Billy [Tom Hopper] is doing at the end of season three with Silver.

Toby Stephens: Yeah, and here’s a really fun thing. You get to the end of this season, and you take a screenshot of characters at the end of this season and you compare them to screenshots from the beginning of season one and they’re just like–the journey that they’ve been on, and the toll it’s taken on them is really cool. I mean, Luke just looks terrible at the end of it! And he was so beautiful at the beginning! [laughs] And the same with Tom Hopper who plays Billy Bones. You see he’s headed towards the Billy Bones of “Treasure Island.”

Legion of Leia: I wanted to ask you about Flint and Billy. There is such a tense relationship there with so much history. How is that going to shift this season?

Toby Stephens: Yeah, it really comes to a head. It comes to blows. They’re not going to be able to–it’s really interesting the way Billy goes, I think, in this season. It’s been a long time coming.

Legion of Leia: Do you think Flint has any of the idealism left that he had at the beginning?

Toby Stephens: Well, what’s really interesting at the end of it, one realizes how personal this is for Flint. And that, actually, it’s not really some altruistic scheme that he has to liberate everybody. He’s playing out his own psychodrama in reality. And how demented–how he will not stop. How it will go on and on and on. And somebody has to stop that. You know, it’s a tragedy because we know that there was no–it’s got to end somewhere. It’s not going to be good.

Legion of Leia: I do have to ask you about working with your family! [Toby’s wife Anna-Louise Plowman plays Mrs. Hudson and his brother Chris Larkin joined the cast as a Redcoat this season]

Toby Stephens: Yeah! It was wonderful, actually! It was so wonderful because I hadn’t spent so much time with my brother for a while. And was really great hanging out with him. And it was a bit strange. We had one scene where we were given direction to look at each other across–we had no lines together, but we had to look at each other across this town square. And I suddenly realized, this is really difficult because nobody on Earth knows me as well as my brother does. And to try and pretend with one another is just impossible! There cannot be any artifice! [laughs] So both of us, it was hopeless! I said, you look at my chest and I’ll look at your forehead. [laughs] It’s impossible! You can’t hide!

Are you guys excited for season four? Let us know in the comments! Black Sails will return to Starz on January 29, 2017.

sources: Legion of Leia (unfortunately I can't put link because it wasn't secured)

#toby stephens #interview #luke arnold #black sails

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scoobydoofenshmirtz · 2 years

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In my flop era (era where I watch the iconic Phineas and Ferb episode Flop Starz on a daily basis)

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palizinhaindanville · 3 years

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Watched Flop Starz yesterday when I couldn’t sleep. It had been too long since I watched a pnf episode. Best show.

#phineas and ferb #also it had been ages since I listened to the song in portuguese

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miragold123 · 3 years

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A collection of my favorite Phineas and Ferb quotes

I, for one, am starting to get bored and boredom is something up of which I will not put. (Rollercoaster)

Is my nose really that pointy? (Are You My Mummy?)

Follow-up single? Who do you think we are, some two-bit hacks who will keep writing new songs just because you pay us obscene amounts of cash?! Phineas and the Ferb-Tones are strictly a one-hit wonder! Good day to you, sir! (Flop Starz)

Um, that man isn't wearing any clothes. (Toy to the World)

You won't tell me? Is this because you don't speak or are you just being a jerk? (One Good Scare Ought To Do It!)

Of course, then I discovered girls and the rest is a blur. (The Ballad of Bad Beard)

Hey, Dad, can we help? Well, I'm afraid not, unless you can preform miracles. What's your budget? (Dude, We're Getting The Band Back Together)

Think of all the practical applications a caveman can have in the modern world. ... Actually, you know, besides politics, I can't think of anything. (Boyfriend from 27,000 B.C.)

I can't hear you! My cheeks are covering my ears! (Out to launch)

I lost her to a boy bigger fingers... (Out to Launch)

It got up... and it danced away. (Out of Toon)

Hey, wait a minute. Everyone. That British kid is saying something really, really... boring (The Lake Nose Monster)

Your hot dog is no match for my bratwurst! (Backyard Aquarium)

Nothing says "mothers love" like a giant robotic platypus butt. (Perry Lay's an Egg)

I'm sorry, all questions must be phrased in the form of an answer. (Let's Take A Quiz)

So, how about that airline food? (Cheer Up, Candace)

It occurred to me while I was on fire. (Cheer Up, Candace)

Well, if you reverse engineer the human heart, you're bound to find love at its core. And gross, smushy red stuff. Yes, love and gross, smushy red stuff. And ventricles! Actually, I think ventricles is already included in gross, squishy red stuff. (What Do It Do?)

Well, next time you can do all the cooking, and I'll stand around coming up with evil plans that ultimately fail. (Nerdy Dancin')

Nice? Aw, now I got to go do something to balance out the universe. See you on the news. (Hip Hip Parade)

The problem with you is: you're completely delusional. (Wizard of Odd)

Yeah, see, 'cause, 'cause he hit him. I'm not an idiot, Charles. (The Beak)

There was no rug, sir. (Phineas and Ferb-Busters!)

Give up? Give up?! The day may come when we'll give up on fruitless searches after a mere eleven minutes, but that day is not today! The day may come when our favorite reptile may be lost from our memories and his enduring love of mushrooms forgotten, but that day is not today! Today we search! We will search for him in the streets, we will search for him in the trenches, we will search for him in the alleys and the mini-malls and the cul-de-sacs of this fair land. We'll search for him in the multilevel car parks and municipal recreational facilities. And we few. We happy few. We small band of brothers — and girl from across the street. We shall not cease 'til he is found! (The Lizard Whisperer)

If the molecular splitter doesn't just disappear when this is over, we should really consider destroying it. (Split Personality)

I'm kicking my own butt! (Brain Drain)

Look! A sponge and a starfish! There's gotta be something we can make out of this! (Summer Belongs to You)

Maldito seas, Perry el ornitorrinco! (The Great Indoors)

If I had a nickel for every time I was doomed by a puppet, I'd had two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice, right? (Across the Second Dimension)

You know, my crimes against humanity had just completely slipped my mind. (Across the Second Dimension)

I've got a date with destiny, and it ain't going to end with a kiss! (The Belly of the Beast)

"Don't believe everything you read." Words to live by. (Magic Carpet Ride)

So what would you do with my hair? Nothing. It's perfect the way it is. Wow, you are good. Girlfriend, please. (Bad Hair Day)

Now, Candace, your brothers have issued a gold-based currency which has seriously devalued the euro. What do you do? (Perry the Actorpus)

Oh! I am sorry, Phineas. I seem to have broken your fire. (Phineas and Ferb Family Christmas)

Space is cold and unforgiving, like my father. (Ferb TV)

Woah, hey, hold it! What's with the banjo? Traveling music. Where are they going? Alabama? (Excaliferb)

You know what I like about our friends? We say things like, "We're gonna douse you in ant pheromones." And they're just like, "Okay, whatever." They're so cool. (Gi-Ants)

He's gonna John Wilkes my Booth! (Let's Bounce)

Phineas, go! Ice chalet! (Bully Bromance Breakup)

Tell me she was deported! (Buford Confidential)

Aw, look at the little guy. What's the fastest way I can transfer all my assets into his name. (Meapless in Seattle)

Why, yes. How about a romantic dinner for two? Wanna sip, Phineas? Oh, no, thanks. Oh, okay. I understand. You know, you want to keep yourself open to other drink options. I get it. Actually, I didn't want to say anything in front of anybody, but, it's, I don't like zucchini. Oh. (Doofapus)

Dr. D will be so proud! Assuming he survives the cataclysm. (Norm Unleashed)

Hey, guys, I landed up here. Should I come down? No! Throw down that vine. ... NO! Just one end. Okay, but I don't know what you're gonna do with half of a vine. Is it me? It is him, right? Buford, pull. ... On the vine. Oops, sorry. It's him. (Where's Perry? (Part 2))

It was at that point I decided to stop narrating. (What'd I Miss)

Ha-ha-ha! We're just having fun with you! That wasn't the real Balloony! It wasn't? No, of course not! The real Balloony popped three weeks ago! (This is Your Backstory)

Norm you monster! Can't you see I'm in pain?! (This is Your Backstory)

I was heading to a golden land of opportunity; a land with a pioneering spirit which welcomed misfits like me! But I ended up in America instead. (This is Your Backstory)

Yeah, we all know the song... But I'm not exactly sure how. (Fly on the Wall)

Ooh, I hope they do not have a male dancer popping out of it. They asked, but they couldn't afford me. (Happy Birthday, Isabella)

Don't ever make Phineas angry. You wouldn't like it when he's angry. (Mission Marvel)

I want your father to disown you and adopt me! (Thanks, but No Thanks)

Yes, the universe is constantly expanding. But what is it expanding into? Oooooooh... Okay, now my mind is blown. (Cheers for Fears)

We can formally begin courting. (Steampunx)

Behold! The I-Don't-Care-inator! (Live and Let Drive)

Yu-rah-noose, check. Buford, that is not how it is pronounced. It is on this channel. (The Inator Method)

Seriously? Someone moved the Earth and it wasn't you? Not this time, no. (Phineas and Ferb Save Summer)

This must be a special episode. He's yelling at his sister again. (Phineas and Ferb Save Summer)

Look, I'm shakin' bacon! You like that? It's a call back to something I didn't even hear! (Night of the Living Pharmacist)

🎶It's just about the time spent together. With you~ 🎶(Last Day of Summer)

#pnf #phineas and ferb #phineas and ferb quotes

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forgottenpnffacts · 4 years

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I didn't really like the new movie because It didn't fit kn the PnF timeline, with Bufford and Candace not recognizing Doof or Perry not knowing that that Doof wouldn't recorgnize him without his hat. Where do you think that this movie takes place in the timeline? (And what is your opinion on the movie as a true PnF fan?)

While I do like the movie, i’m not considering it canon at all (especially since Phineas and Ferb officially ended in 2015)! If anything, it takes place in an alternate timeline where Candace was in the right position to notice the pod before it went back, or even in just a similar alternate dimension in general like the ”Lost in Danville” and Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension ones (as then the various inconsistencies seen in the movie wouldn’t be such).

Even beyond everything I said in the second linked post above (which I strongly urge anyone who’s interested to read before this part) about the various errors/inconsistencies and the drastic developments from the movie not fitting in with the entire rest of the series: when would Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe be able to happen in the existing timeline? You nailed it that Doof and Buford teamed up in “Bully Bromance Breakup,” but didn’t initially know each other in that episode. If CATU came before, they would have recognized each other then. If CATU came after, they would have recognized each other from that. In “Night of the Living Pharmacists” (which takes place after “Phineas and Ferb: Summer Belongs to You!” since Phineas references their bouncing around the world in NOTLP, and is the last episode set in the show’s universe/summer before “Last Day of Summer”) the kids (sans Baljeet and Buford since they were already infected by then) don’t know who Doof is. If CATU came before, they would have recognized each other then. If CATU came after, they would have recognized each other from that. Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension takes place around mid-July due to a reference to the July 11th episode “Candace Loses Her Head.” When Phineas and Ferb talk about making Candace a gift in CATU, they also reference “Candace Loses Her Head,” which means CATU would be at least in July or later. If CATU came before ATSD, then Phineas and Ferb would have recognized Doof then.

If CATU were canon, Dwampy say that it would be set in the middle of the summer that PnF takes place in, which means definitely after “Phineas and Ferb: Summer Belongs to You!” in June since all the kids are supposed to know Vanessa already but not Doof (this makes Candace singing at the end of CATU about learning how Phineas and Ferb aren’t the bane of her existence inconsistent with how she already learned/sung about that in “Phineas and Ferb: Summer Belongs to You!”). ATSD being in July means that it already took the spot of being set roughly in the middle of summer (not to mention Candace singing in CATU about the growth elixir from “Attack of the 50 Foot Sister” means that CATU would definitely take place after the middle of summer). If CATU took place after ATSD, then aside from the issue of it no longer being in the middle of summer, we also just run into the problem again of the events and developments that happened in the movie never having any impact or being mentioned/referenced again (compared to the events of ATSD being referenced at least three times in Seasons 3 and 4, even with the mind-wipe that everyone but Perry went through). Additionally, Dwampy have been shown to be wrong about PnF before (and in general tend to dig themselves into plot holes when releasing information outside of the show), so i’m not putting much stock in their word on CATU.

Bonus thoughts regarding Seasons/episodes without hard dates: Candace learned by “Sci-Fi Pie Fly” in Season 3 that she can take a break from busting to the betterment of her mental health sometimes. When does this movie take place? Candace mentions pyramid sports and a Trojan horse in her CATU "Such a Beautiful Day” song, and those projects were respectively from “Thanks But No Thanks” and “Troy Story,” which are Season 4 episodes. In “Thanks But No Thanks,” Vanessa is dating Monty, which only happened after “Sipping with the Enemy” in Season 3. When does this movie take place? Also in "Such a Beautiful Day,” Candace references “Buford Confidential” (which takes place after “Phineas and Ferb: Summer Belongs to You!” and around “This is Your Backstory,” in which ATSD gets referenced) as “other nonsense coming soon.” When does this movie take place? Candace says she's feeling for the first time ever like she's someone/that she matters, but she was a person of importance in “Lawn Gnome Beach Party of Terror”/“Flop Starz”/“Run Away Runway”/“Lights, Candace, Action!”/“Unfair Science Fair Redux (Another Story)” (which gets referenced by Baljeet in CATU)/“Gi-Ants” (”Gi-Ants” taking place in May). When does this movie take place?

My verdict? it doesn’t.

#as i've said before: You Can't Retroactively Change A Show That's Already Over #like if you bury a time capsule you can't dig it up years later to add something to it and then bury it again #anyway i don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater so the original run of pnf is the canon i stick by #(i don't consider the new chibi shorts or the old doof's daily dirt series to be canon either)#i think of pnf's canon like a jigsaw puzzle: we already have all the pieces & these new ones being thrown in don't match the box's picture #if any of you still want to believe it's canon then best of luck with reconciling the movie with the rest of the series (i couldn't do it)#just be prepared to retcon all of PnF in the process #jacky1-4ever #asks #long post

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lady-plantagenet · 3 years

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What hasn’t already been said: The Spanish Princess 2

Episode 3: GOOD Grief! (we finally have a good episode on our hands)

To all those of you keen enough to have come back for another segment of ‘what hasn’t already been said: TSP’, as opposed to have just been scrolling when you see this - welcome back! (Scrollers you too <3)

Drawing of Thomas More’s Son AKA who Margaret Pole at this point wants to be the step baby momma of ;).

To anyone who’s seeing this for the first time: what this is a list of observations, jokes, reactions and criticism which occur to me upon a rewatch. I wait every week until Saturday to do this so that I have had my fill of scrolling through the tag and aggregating what has already been said. I tried doing a whole spoof (here where I gave up 10% in) but tbh a) I don’t know the history well enough b) it’s more time consuming than I thought and c) this series is just not as funny or as crazy as TWQ, so it’s untenable. Having said that: This is not a hatepost. I’m not hatewatching this series and nitpicking on purpose but expressing my honest views and trying to find the good in it as well as the bad.

Without further ado...

First Scenes:

LMAO the way Wolsey suggests they break their alliance with Spain is freaking hilarious because the actor delivers the lines as if he were a high school girl making a personal attack by suggesting the prom change its theme to 70s disco to the chagrin of the peppy up-and-coming rival.

Also @ Henry VIII looking like the peppy up-and-comer’s bff and shy stan with that pencil bite and small smirk when Catherine loses her cool against Wolsey.

I’m sorry... who is Henry married to again?

Also what is Margaret Pole doing at the council meeting?? I’m not saying I don’t like it.

Margaret Pole warning against certain repetitive thinking creating madness :(((

Attempted Naked Twister:

Oh Catherine, what is with you and all the other STARZ protagonists and that weird politcky bedroom talk? Who actually finds this sexy?

‘Catherine you are unnatural’ ooof that line delivery was somehow haunting.

Was the whole ‘I can’t be rushed you are off-putting with your overpowering’ a callback to Arthur and Catherine? Apparently there’s another writer for this episode so I won’t put all subtly past them.

Scotland:

‘Shitey men’ asdkjashd

Look I’m tired of all this ‘my children won’t be safe’ line getting repeated. Look mate, murder of royal infants and children was not exactly a common occurence, even in cases of deposition. The Princes in the Tower are an exception to this but a very infamous case for that reason. Child murder was extremely taboo. In situations like this with an infant kid, no one is going to bother murdering the babies and taking their thrones, the lords will just vie for power and make themselves de facto rulers and oust the queen. It’s not a question of safety but a question of holding power. Stop giving all women characters perma mummy brains.

Maggie being all caring:

‘Barnaby’ *scoffs* ‘Such an English name’ - OH MAN 0_0 is Catherine mocking them for trying to adapt ? Like I know it’s meant to show her envy for Lina, but it’s coming out all messed up.

Our girl Maggie’s smile screams I’m beating your ass in chess.

Anyhow this is the least histrionic we’ve seen Catherine so far.

Chaplain vs Catherine:

I’m interested how Catherine will feel at Stafford’s execution given that I have noticed this show build up to a friendship between them.

Why is everyone laughing at the whole ‘will you delight us with new schemes’ line was not that funny?

LMAO at Thomas Boleyn’s attempted brown-nosing.

You know what? Ruairi is a decent actor. When he says ‘so you admit it? you lost the child because you tried to be a man?” the actor conveys Henry’s troubled mind, lowkey scare towards Catherine and bewilderment all in one. The way his eyes do not move but just widen emotionlessly also gives this sense that he is being manipulated (which I guess they are going for with Wolsey). Then the whole choir music in the background.. I don’t know.. I’m liking this, it’s creating a vibe of a king of haunted and increasingly paranoid Henry. I’m sure they are going for that, so good.

Ursula Pole and Mama:

Maggie Pole say ‘riches don’t keep you safe’ with tears in her eyes :’(. Please tell me how this is not her thinking on her parents and granddad Warwick and what befell them ;’(.

I find Ursula refreshing actually, don’t get those types of heroines often. But they are making her similar to a gold-digger, an exhalted marriage was first and foremost considered a thing of honour. Noblepeople wouldn’t speak in such mercenary terms regarding their marriages.

Post Mary Defiance:

I love the ‘horse’ nickname from Brandon n’awwww

Also just realised what made TWQ so atmospheric - that wierd ‘oooo’ sound effect in the background when a character was being paranoid or worrying. They are using it during Henry’s ‘How is it that I have no sons?’ and it is just... so effective.

Catherine calling them ordinary children... she just keeps striking me as more and more classist. Like ok, I know every royal was... but still, I thought she was meant to see Lina as a friend and equal despite her race and status. To add the race element, this kind of rubs me the wrong way.

Also it is so clear by the end when Catherine states how the king is upset with her, she expects Maggie to ask her about it.. but she doesn’t lmao.

Back to Scotland until Sexy boy fencing:

I love me this soft boi. Angus <3 <3

I like how they address that some men don’t really like killing and that violence isn’t inherent in a man’s nature.

Oh man, are we supposed to look at Lina’s house and deplore the impoverished conditions? It would go for at least 3,000,000 pounds in today’s property market?

Is Catherine being particularly classist again with ‘Why u not becoming a butcher Wolsey, ey?’.

Though I will admit the ‘but giving meat to the poor is also good’ was one of her only smart comebacks.

Just realised, Catherine’s pink dress pretty as it is, looks straight out of the 1570s... why?

Montage and After:

You guys are right, there is this weird longing between Henry and Wolsey lmao. It is actually insane.

So basically Catherine is officially depressed

OOOFF we have Stafford as regent instead of Catherine. (edit: I suppose it’s cause they go to France which they didn’t historically? Also if Stafford is at home then what is his son later doing in France, why would he be there without his father. This show didn’t think this through)

Meg Singing:

An impassionate speech is not too anachronistic. But despite the title of this post (what hasn’t been said) I will reiterate that 16th century and Medieval people’s problem wasn’t that they were ashamed of their grief and didn’t cry. In fact, crying was somewhat more socially acceptable then than it even is now! Even manly men like Arthur were written as crying in literature such as Malory’s Morte d’Arthur. Obviously you couldn’t go overboard, but in truth crying was indeed often too performative rather than hidden too much behind doors.

Pole and More UWUWU in France and after:

I LIKE THIS INTELLECTUAL FLIRTING

It’s nice to see a depiction of romantic feelings between mature and level-headed subjects.

God Mary Tudor is so beautiful in this scene jesus. and the music when she was being presented was also very beautiful.

Maggie Pole getting given ‘a modest income’ yeah... she was one of the wealthiest peers of her day.

Also Maggie’s lady cousin not lady aunt Frost!

‘shaking of the sheets’ lmaoooo

William Compton cracks the hell out of me. I love this guy. He is just so creepy and twisted yet super keen and friendly. ahaha He looks like a riot, I hope we see him more. lmao tiles.

Also this palace feels very anachronistic almost 18th century-ish.

I like the Louis and Mary sequence, it’s nice seeing him trying to make her feel less scared, but OMFG when he lay on that chair.. for one second I thought they were trying to kill him off already.

Scotland: ‘Love is an open doooooorrrrr’ + Last Scene:

I ship Meg and Douglas ahhhh this soft boi x strong woman match is everything Henry and Catherine could have been.

I wonder... why is Lina speaking in Spanish more than Catherine. hmmm Are they trying to foreshadow Lina’s eventual return home and how Catherine become a true englishwoman?

Conclusion:

7.5/10

I cannot in all fairness believe it. This was actually decent. I’ve given up on historical accuracy long ago so by this point I’m focusing more on how it stands as as drama. I mean, TWQ was also a flop when it came to grasping the complex issues of that era but why do I feel compelled to rewatch it every year? Because it had atmosphere when it came to acting, music, certain aesthetics (though the costumes let me down often). It felt adequately gothic and dark, yet bright and jewel-lish when it had to be, sometimes both at the same time. Some one-liners were also memorable etc...

So far TSP 2 did not have any of this. Everything felt way too off and anachronistic. But not even consistently anachronistic. The music was also often very meh (though I just noted the absence of the spanish stringy theme that kept playing in season 1 - I guess I understand why), the dialogue very clichéd (‘alright lads let’s throw in the words: king, crown, power, fight, battle + other buzzwords and we have ourselves Shakespeare’) and so on... but I saw a change in this episode and I couldn’t initially point out what it was.

Upon rewatch, I identified some of the improvements (noted above) but above all: The producer was different! Boy does it show. Unfortunately, I think she is only for this one episode which really sucks. Come back! There is more chemistry between the couples, less predictable interactions, pervy Compton, cinnamonroll Douglas, better music, more scenic shots (e.g Douglas and Margaret in church) e.t.c. I hope it will match the rest of the STARZ productions in getting better towards the end.

Look it’s no masterpiece. But I’ll give credit where it’s due because at least this time it didn’t leave me feeling wanting and unsatisfied (if that makes sense).

#the spanish princess #the spanish princess 2 #lady plantagenet's series reviews #catherine of aragon #henry viii #mary tudor queen of france #margaret tudor #charles brandon #margaret pole

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esoanem · 3 years

Text

II.

“That’s all I want – to walk away from the sea and find some peace”

Major Content Notes:

Blood: Singleton’s bloody body is seen

Disfigurement: there is a brief shot of a severely disfigured man in the dark, seemingly from tertiary syphilis. It’s played for a jump scare

Wikipedia Synopsis

After Captain Flint reveals Singleton as the thief in front of his crew, he has Gates convince Billy, who knows the truth about his captain, that this is for the good of the crew. Meanwhile, Silver and Max are forced to hide in the brothel when they put themselves in danger as Captain Vane and his partners, Jack Rackham and Anne Bonny, are determined to get a hold of the missing page in the hunt for the Spanish galleon, Urca de Lima. Also, Eleanor is given an ultimatum by Max and has to decide between wealth or love.

So, the last episode put all the pieces on the board, and this episode sets them into motion so let’s dive into it. As before, below the cut are the timestamps of any scenes requiring any of the major content notes, and then the summary

Timestamps:

All timestamps are from the “Complete Collection” DVDs which includes a Starz logo at the start, as well as a recap. Depending on your source, timestamps may vary a little, which is why I’ve included the timestamp for the opening titles. Timestamps are only given for the start and end of scenes featuring any particularly warning-worthy content

00:57: opening titles

05:57-07:50: Singleton’s bloody body is seen, two pirates urinate on the body

37:14-44:04: a hooded man is turned around, revealing his severely disfigured face, likely as a result of tertiary syphilis. It is a brief shot (42:37-42:40 ), in low light, and is used as a jump scare

Summary:

Eleanor wakes up next to Max. She knows the Scarborough arrived yesterday, but not about the attempted arrest of her father. She goes to the balcony and wonders aloud if the arrival of the Scarborough means the end of their way of life, that the military will return and close down trade, installing her father as governor. Max suggests that that wouldn’t be so bad, that Eleanor could buy the brothel, and they could run it together, as well as commenting that soon she won’t need to worry what Mr Noonan (the proprietor) thinks. Mr Scott calls Eleanor down, but, as she goes to get dressed, Max calls her back to be instead

The crew on the Walrus are already celebrating as if they’d captured the Urca de Lima, as Dufresne tries to persuade them not to spend money they haven’t yet earned. Billy is still in shock, and shows Gates the blank page, wondering if he did the right thing as Flint calls them into the cabin. Randall unnerves Silver by commenting to him in particular that “we don’t like thieves. You shouldn’t steal. That’s what happens”, glancing back to Singleton’s bloody body which is propped against a beam having been pelted with vegetable scraps. As two pirates go to his body to piss on it, Randall reiterates that “you mustn’t steal”. One of the pirates next to Randall (below middle) defends him saying Singleton wasn’t a thief and starts to get up to stop the two pissing on Singleton, when his friend (below right) warns him not to do anything now

Flint tells Billy & Gates that he knows the schedule is still around, because of the feather, proving someone had come back to read the log and work out what it was they actually had, and therefore, somebody on the ship at that moment is the thief. Gates points out that none of their men would have known to look for the schedule, and as he starts saying that the men from the prize were all searched he realises that Silver wasn’t, and that being found in the armoury standing over a dead body he claimed was a suicide is quite suspicious

They leave the cabin to get hold of Silver, but move slowly to avoid arousing the suspicions of the rest of the crew, but Silver, already on edge tries to disembark onto a longboat. He’s informed by Dufresne that they disembark by seniority, at which point, wanting to avoid capture, he jumps off the boat with a big belly flop, before swimming to the longboat which he is helped into. The crew laugh that he “must really want to get laid”

Mr Scott tuts at Eleanor for coming down late. As she comes down, she pays the Madame for Max and notices her cleaning up bruises on one of the prostitutes. She’s told it was the crew of the Ranger (Charles Vane’s ship) & that Mr Noonan won’t do anything because they paid well. Mr Scott also tells Eleanor it was a bad decision to punch Vane, that it accomplished nothing, and that she can no longer afford to provoke his temper

“Eleanor, you can never forget who these men are. They are not our friends, they are not our subjects, they want your father’s business, that is the only reason we do not find their knives at our throats”

Rackham gets 5000 pesos in pearls to buy the schedule, leaving the Ranger with little in the way of reserves. Vane walks in with Anne and tries to dissuade Jack, pointing out that he has no proof the page is genuine, and for such a big price, the seller has every reason to lie. Jack says that the crew will be unlikely to see Vane’s side, as he hasn’t been able to present an opportunity to them for some time, since his falling out with Eleanor

Silver comes ashore and, seeing Flint, Gates, & Billy close behind in another longboat asks several people on the beach for directions, all to different places. When Gates lands and asks where Silver went, they all give different answers

Max is giving a client a handjob. He wants to have sex, but Eleanor pays for Max to only sleep with her. Just as he’s about to cum, Silver bursts in, and refuses to leave, leading the customer storming off. When he tells Max that Flint is on to him she worries that he will soon come after her, saying “when a man is being fucked, he wants to know whose cock is in him”. They decide they need to do the deal immediately, and sail for Port Royal that night although he wonders if there is something else keeping Max in Nassau

A new captain (James Bridge of the Demeter) has arrived at Eleanor’s warehouse, and he is disappointed to be met by a woman rather than Richard Guthrie. When she tells him she’s his daughter, he dismisses both her and Mr Scott making a racist remark. Eleanor blows past it, explaining her terms. Not liking that she’d take 50%, he walks away only to be met by Charles Vane who strongly implies that, if he doesn’t accept her terms, he (Vane) will steal the Demeter’s cargo and sell it to Eleanor anyway. When Bridge finds out who Vane is, he agrees to Eleanor’s terms. making another racist remark about Mr Scott

Vane and Eleanor get down to business in her office. He sits hunched, spinning a coin anxiously, his body language is completely different from every other time we’ve seen him. He nervously asks for her to start giving him information on potential prizes again, saying he believes her decision not to give him such information is personal, but that things are better when they’re on the same side. Eleanor rails against him for the poor discipline of his crew, saying that they cause twice as much damage as they bring in, and as he encourages it, he’s a poor investment, and that he has just last night interfered with her own plans killing one of Flint’s crew to try and depose him

"From where I sit, you coming in here means one of two things: either you’re under the illusion that with Flint gone I have no choice but to give you what you want, or you think that because you and I used to fuck, you can cross me without any consequences. I’m not sure which of the two is more stupid”

As he leaves, Eleanor walks out into the tavern as Flint arrives, still captain, shocking Vane

Billy finds Gates watching Frasier, the appraiser (below left), trying to explain to would-be forger (below right) why his forgery is worthless. He points out that if Silver sells he’ll need to pay to get off the island and, not wanting to arouse suspicions, will need the money to be easily portable e.g. in jewels like pearls, rathe than gold, and so, the appraiser will be called for. Billy wonders if Flint is going too far, and tells Gates what he said about needing a king

The appraiser gets called away to the brothel, and Billy & Gates see him enter a room guarded by Anne Bonny. He inspects the pearls whilst Silver watches from Idelle’s room next door through a peephole

Flint tells Eleanor about her father’s attempted arrest and, when she & Mr Scott are extremely concerned about their future (this likely meaning they won’t be able to sell their goods), he begins “let me tell you a story, about a Spaniard named Vasquez”

As Frasier seals the pouch of pearls, and the exchange is fixed at the wrecks after sundown, Vane bursts in, having now heard the story that Singleton stole the page and is now dead. He recognises Max as Eleanor’s new girlfriend, and aggressively accuses her of lying. As Max protests that Singleton isn’t the seller he shoves her against the wall. Silver, still watching asks Idelle (below left) for a weapon, suggesting several items that might be improvised as one, and is surprised when she just hands him a machete

Jack realises that she isn’t lying, Flint is

“She isn’t lying Charles, Flint is. He lost the page.

So what does he do?

He bluffs.

He makes Singleton the thief, and kills him to prevent counterargument, putting a tidy end to his mutiny in the process, and hopes he can recover it before anyone’s the wiser.

What is it Charles? Are we to believe that Singleton, whilst conspiring with you to depose Flint was using this whore to try and bilk your crew out of its money?

Say what you want about Singleton, but he was neither that clever nor that dumb.”

Vane still doesn’t believe Max and lifts her off her feet by her neck. As he does so, Max tries to signal to Silver, but Jack spots this, sneaks up to the peephole and stabs it. He runs round to the next door room which is now empty, but returns with a few drops of blood on his knife saying that, unless Singleton has risen from the grave to eavesdrop, this proves she wasn’t lying about Singleton not being the seller. Vane tells Max that if she’s lying she’ll answer to him, then storms off, leaving her gasping for breath on the floor

Flint has finished telling Eleanor & Mr Scott his story. When he dismisses her concerns about how heavily armed the ship is - a floating castle - she asks, why does he need her help, why not just take the money and run?

“What’s coming our way can’t be outrun, but with the money I strip from the hull, we could add 50 guns to the fort, build ships to defend our shores and train new men to sail them, work the land, grow crops, and raise cattle. Then whoever arrives on our shores first, be it England or Spain will be in for a most unwelcome surprise - a nation of thieves”

Mr Scott laughs at this

“If there’s to be a war, that would be Whitehall’s choice. I’d settle for a pardon, title on lands, and a governor that I could trust, and so would most of the men out there. They’re not animals, Mr Scott; they’re men starved of hope. Give that back to them, who’s to say what could happen”

And Eleanor asks why do this, and why in Nassau to which Flint responds

“Odysseus, on this journey home to Ithaca was visited by a ghost. The ghost tells him that once he reaches his home, once he slays all his enemies, and sets his house in order, he must do one last thing before he can rest. The ghost tells him to pick up an oar, and walk inland, and keep walking until somebody mistakes that oar for a shovel. For that would be the place that no man had ever been troubled by the sea. And that’s where he’d find peace. In the end that’s all I want – to walk away from the sea and find some peace”

Then Gates comes in, tells them they know where Silver is, and that he’s selling through a prostitute. At this, Eleanor seems concerned, presumably for Max

Eleanor goes to the brothel, finding Idelle putting ointment on Max’s injuries as Mr Noon (above centre) complains that “she nearly got herself killed by captain Vane”. Once alone, Max lets Eleanor know she’s about to make a lot of money, but Eleanor interrupts, demanding the schedule. They fight about it, Eleanor calls Nassau “all I have” (which Max takes great offence to, saying she loves her, and that “this place, it is just sand, it cannot love you back”. Gates, Flint, & Billy open the door, and Max realises she has little choice

“I want her to say it. I want her to say that she would sit there and watch as you beat the answer out of me to save this place”

Eleanor stands wordlessly, until Max tells them where the exchange will happen (the wrecks after sundown) and is left alone, crying & betrayed

Jack & vane are on the rocks near the wrecks. It is dark and they’re carrying a torch. We see several fires and, whilst Jack seems afraid, he tells us “there’s nothing in there but opium addicts, lunatics, and men who thought themselves too good to wear a condom” (condoms having become popular in the 18th century)

Silver hides among the rocks, but sends one of the men to Vane for the pearls. Vane shouts for Silver to come out and, when he doesn’t, kills the messenger, again shouting for Silver to come out. Silver sends another man out, who briefly glances at the dead body, before asking for the pearls. At this point, Billy drops down in the distance and shoots at Silver who runs off

Billy chases after Silver, as Jack & Vane try to find him, and Flint moves to cut him off. By hiding in a hollow, Silver escapes Billy and emerges by one of the fires. Putting on a blanket to blend in with the men around it (who appear to be in a stupor), takes the page out to read it, and commits it to memory.

Jack sneaks up to one of the fires and turns one of the men in blankets round. Instead of Silver, it is a severely disfigured man, apparently suffering from tertiary syphilis. This is treated as a jump scare and, as Jack stumbles back, he falls into the water, scattering the pearls, before we see him come back up for air

Flint catches Silver, who reveals that he burnt the page after memorising it, and so Flint cannot hurt him. Meanwhile Vane realises he’s lost him and gives up the chase

Max has decided to leave and, though Idelle tries to persuade her that with Mr Noonan & Eleanor’s men on guard Vane can’t hurt her. Max agrees, but says she still needs to go and, with Idelle distracting them, sneaks out, but is spotted by Anne who follows her

Billy & Gates bring Silver into Eleanor’s tavern where they keep him, with them watching guard, against Mr Scott’s disapproval

We a celebration on the beach. Men are dancing around a fire, there is music, and people stripping off to have sex in the water. Flint rides away inland, to a cottage, where a respectably dressed woman, Mrs Barlow (below) playing a harpsichord welcomes him, she tells him to take off his boots and that she’ll boil some water as he collapses against the door exhausted

#Black Sails #black sails content notes

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