review of Black Sails 2.9 

Black Sails 2.9 - after last week\'s very good 2.8, too, which I didn\'t get a chance to review - in which all relationships are torn apart and cast asunder, with the hope of some powerful union at the end, a union of the people least likely to want to work in concert, the pirates.

They\'ve been at each other\'s throats all season.   Vane, in particular, killed the mad Low, and is bent on revenge for what Eleanor did to him.   He has no love for Flint, either.  Yet, in a brilliant and rousing speech at the end of the episode, he proposes an alliance with Flint, against the British.

Vane has come to see the wisdom of Billy\'s argument that the admiralty sees no difference among pirates, and just wants to destroy them all.   And we\'ve seen the bloody brutality, if not of the governor himself, then his chief man at arms, who puts a bullet in Miranda\'s head, right in front of our, the Governor\'s, and most of all Flint\'s horrified eyes.  It may not be what the Governor wanted, but it\'s every bit consistent with the arrogant way of life that the pirates have been rebelling against in all ways.

The fate not only of Flint but of Eleanor and Nassau now hangs in the balance, to the extent that the Orca gold seems almost a thin memory.   And who would have believed, even through most of this very episode, that it would be Vane who steps up to be the savior of it all.

But who and what will he be able to save?   Will he even want to save Eleanor, if he gets anywhere near her?   I suppose he could be, if he makes way to where the Governor is, and if the King\'s men who took Eleanor bring her there.   How many armed men does the Carolina colony now have?  How many pirates can Vane deploy against them?   Billy is a great warrior, and Silver is cunning, but can they overcome the British forces?

Another important character will likely die.  It could even be Vane.   And, for the first time for much of this season, I\'m hoping it\'s not.

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

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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Paul Levinson, PhD, is Professor of Communication & Media Studies at Fordham University in New York City.  His 8 nonfiction books, including The Soft Edge (1997), Digital McLuhan (1999), Realspace (2003),  Cellphone (2004), and New New Media (2009, 2nd edition 2012), have been the subject of major articles in the New York Times, Wired, the Christian Science Monitor, and have been translated into 12 languages. His science fiction novels include The Silk Code (1999, ebook 2012), Borrowed Tides (2001), TheConsciousness Plague (2002, 2013), The Pixel Eye (2003), The Plot To SaveSocrates (2006, ebook 2012), and Unburning Alexandria (2013).  His short stories have been nominated for Nebula, Hugo, Edgar, and Sturgeon Awards.  Paul Levinson appears on "The O'Reilly Factor" (Fox News), "The CBS Evening News,"  “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” (PBS),  “Nightline” (ABC), NPR, and numerous national and international TV and radio programs. His 1972 album, Twice Upon a Rhyme, was re-issued in 2009 (CD) and 2010 (remastered vinyl). He reviews the best of television in his InfiniteRegress.tv blog, and was listed in The Chronicle of Higher Education’s “Top 10 Academic Twitterers” in 2009.

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