Ravenya003

Oh yeah, I forgot about that. In that case, I've no idea who's behind all this.

I guessed a few weeks back that Ian's need to get his hands on the laptop was because of spyware, which (though a real dick move) takes him off the suspect list. Yet I've honestly no clue who the culprit is, though by this time in the last two seasons I had already guessed the solution. So well done in that respect. My shot in the dark is that it's the cabby's son, simply because he's been noticeable, but flying under the radar all this time. He had easy access to all the material, a shitty home life (Freudian Excuse) and (if memory serves) is the one spreading the porn around school. He could be a sex addict of some kind. Along with the bollocking Hardy gave the teenage boys, I enjoyed Beth's vent to Paul in the church. I get that Mark is depressed and suicide is a delicate subject, but I can totally understand why Beth would think he was being selfish not to think of the effect his death would have on Chloe. And she gave a very succinct description of "manpain" (a term which has lost most of its meaning in recent years) by describing Mark as someone who believes his grief is greater than everyone else's - constantly sucking up the attention and oxygen in any given situation. I can relate. I loved Cath/Trish's "forgive me" exchange, given both had been fairly horrid to the other - I like to think Trish's daughter set that up. With one episode left to go, I'm interested to see if they can wrap all this up. It feels like there are still a lot of balls in the air.

I got to show off my ancient mythology geek credentials in front of the people I was watching this with: when Quinn identified the statue as Cronos, I commented: "it looks more like Laocoon". Seconds later, Ryder backed me up.

One thing I liked: that Anne got the last line. Given that she probably had the LEAST amount of dialogue in this show (especially compared to the endless monologues of Flint, Silver, Rackham and Max) she deserved it. Really interesting discussion regarding whether the Thomas/Flint reunion was real or not. I think there's plenty to support either scenario, and it simply comes down to what you want to believe.

Okay, I'm going to post my quick thoughts before going back and reading everyone else's: Pretty satisfying ending. I had an inkling that Thomas would still be alive, ever since he first "died" (by word-of-mouth, with no body in sight). I felt Silver/Madi needed a little more closure given the depth of Silver's betrayal. Just a wordless montage of them opening an inn together and secretly flaunting the treaty by using at as a base of operations for escaped slaves would have gone a long way for me. As it is, I'm not sure why exactly Madi would forgive Silver so quickly - though I suppose any length of time might have passed before she met him on that cliff edge by the sea. Things didn't align with Treasure Island as much as I wanted them to. It was Billy, not Ben who ended up stranded on Treasure Island. Huh? I was half-hoping the surviving characters of this show would do an adaptation of Treasure Island at some point down the line, but that switcheroo has thrown a spanner in the works. How would Billy end up back on the mainland with a map to the treasure given to him by Flint of all people? And how would Ben get back on the island? And who arranged all the dead bodies to point to the treasure? I suppose all the episode's talk of fact/fiction in our stories was meant to cover for these inconsistencies. (Though as corny as it sounds, I'm sorry we never got to see Silver get his parrot). Genuinely surprised that Jack survived this, though giving him and Anne the last scene was fitting - in many ways, they're the only pirates left. I actually held it together when James/Thomas reunited, but burst into tears at the scene of Mrs Hudson and her children. I have a tendency to over-invest in minor characters, and I'm so glad they didn't forget her. And that she was reading them a book of pirates was the perfect capper. Ditto Featherstone, Idelle and Mrs Mapleton at the Nassau tavern (didn't see Eme though). But Mary Read! I clapped out loud. I KNEW they wouldn't forget her, even if it was just to slip her in at the last second. Bless.

I hate to say it, but my money's on Ed. He's clearly got a bad temper and a crush on Trish, and the simple fact that he seems decent (while every other man is a raging asshole) makes him my number one suspect. Also, they're setting up his arrogant daughter as someone who needs to be taken down a notch, which does not sit well with me. I really hope I'm wrong.

Yeah, in the episode it happened I thought the whole ear came off (like Judith in Vikings) though it seems it was just his earlobe...

The scene where Ben claims to have heard a woman's voice on the island? Because it gives a shot of both sides of DeGroot's head and both ears are definitely still intact. Unless it was just his earlobe that had been lopped off, but it still doesn't look particularly disfigured to me.

To be honest, I'm incredibly relieved they didn't delve into Silver's backstory. He's a mystery in Treasure Island, and he's a mystery here. We know all we need to know. (Writers often go to the well too often when it comes to details and backstories - I think Silver is like Han Solo in that we don't NEED to know that story). The location scout needs a medal for finding Skeleton Island. Too often adaptations of Treasure Island depict it as this beautiful, colourful, exotic locale, when the original text describes it as very eerie and uninviting. I'm always impressed at how well the writers know the novel. Well, it looks as though Jack won't be turning up with the cavalry (as I half-suspected last week). You gotta laugh though: he has another of his self-important speeches and then is called on deck to find the guide has dropped dead. Toby's little: "mm-hmm" noises were hilarious. I suppose I have to give Billy credit for not shooting Ben in the water - but he has no qualms about taking out all his other shipmates, so I can't feel too badly for how I know his story will end. Joji! I knew he was a goner, but ... argh. Farewell Joji: your only job on this show was to look cool, but damn you nailed it. Also: DeGroot! I didn't realize how much I liked him until he was killed (though the show clearly forgot that they cut off his ear at the beginning of this season). Madi was a Queen as usual: however manipulative Flint is, he's right about her choosing the cause over Silver. But of course she does: to her it's a war against her people's enslavement. LOVED her pointing this out to a tool of the Empire (who is becoming increasingly aware of his own tool-dom. Britain is going to chew Rogers up and spit him out). As for Silver/Flint... whew. I honestly didn't know how that was going to end. At times they were a little too verbose, but when it finally got to their actions (that is showing instead of telling/pontificating) it spoke volumes that Flint shot Dooley to spare Silver, and Silver attacked him anyway. I think he's just had enough, and hearing Flint ONCE AGAIN try to manipulate him, even though he was telling him the truth about Madi. I can't believe we're at the last episode already. For Treasure Island readers, here's what's set in stone:

Awful thought: what if the light Trish saw during the attack was someone filming her? The show keeps drawing our attention to porn, whether it's being shared by school boys or pinned to garage walls, so I'm guessing that there's a greater conspiracy here. It would account for the weird behaviour of more than one suspect (the cab driver for example wasn't the rapist, but he drove the getaway car, neither was the teen in the fishing shop, but he's distributing the material, etc). Apparently the guy who's the convicted rapist was one of the guys from "Horrible Histories". A lot of people on Twitter are crying about their destroyed childhoods! (in a jokey way, not in the deranged Ghostbusters way) Broadchurch doesn't deserve Chloe. Seeing Nigel again only reminded me of how much I dislike practically everyone in this town whether they're a murderer or not. That said, I'm glad I'm liking Beth again this season. I always felt guilty for finding her annoying last season given what she'd gone through, but helping other people in need has been good for her. Loved Ellie's WTF face when she heard about the football match.

There's a lot of back and forthing over who is more to blame when it comes to the Flint/Silver breakdown, but one thing is certain: Silver would have watched Madi get shot in the head and tipped overboard if he hadn't secretly brought the cache aboard. He was right to doubt Flint's rescue plan.

Endgame is in sight, though I still feel they have an awful lot of ground to cover and characters to account for before reaching Treasure Island. It hasn't been mentioned yet, but Idelle had a beautiful scene when she confronts Anne about Charlotte's death (back in season two) and defends Max. In the first case it's beautiful continuity to bring up Anne's brutal murder of a defenceless woman, and a lovely vindication of Max who protected Anne in the aftermath. I can understand why fandom didn't much like Eleanor, but I've always been baffled by Max-hate. The woman has been beaten down by life over and over again, but she's kept her dignity and grace throughout all of it. And that Idelle picks up the knife and cuts the bread for Anne was deeply symbolic of where the end of the story is going for the woman: finally relinquishing their ambition and vengeance and choosing love. At some point the cycle of violence ends with someone just saying: "no more." It's the choice Silver is in the middle of making, and at this point (having seen what happened to Eleanor and the ongoing bloodshed in Nassau) I don't think anyone can say it's the wrong one. As Max said, they can't win a war against civilisation - at least not in the way they've been going about it. To quote myself from last week: So it was interesting to see Grandmother Guthrie put this EXACT proposition to Max, and for her to reject it in favour of making amends with Anne. Max's face when the man was being pointed out to her was inscrutable at the time (I thought she'd go for it) but I suppose she was also pondering the irony that despite how far she's come, she's STILL being pimped out to a man. Max will survive the show, because she's being given everything she ever wanted, the culmination of her ambition - and rejected it. I'm almost disappointed, but that has been the underlying theme of this season (especially in the lessons learned from Eleanor): that love is more important. I hope Mrs Hudson eventually gets home to her kids. I also hope Featherstone makes it out alive, though it's suddenly not looking so good for Joji. The debate will probably rage forever over who's most to blame for the Flint/Silver breakup (because despite some hopeful posts, I seriously doubt this is a ploy to fool Rogers) but this has been boiling for a long time. They're pirates: they'll doublecross each other to the grave.

For what it's worth, I always thought it was a little strange that Rey kept saying "my family" as opposed to "my parents." Perhaps the writers were just keeping their options open considering "family" is less specific than "parents", but if it was a deliberate choice of words then it suggests a wider group of people were involved in leaving her on Jakku: like say, a bunch of other Jedi students. Maybe I'm just overthinking it, though I also think that everything about the way Rey spoke about her family and interacted with the Force was HIGHLY suggestive of a young woman whose memories had been suppressed/tampered with: in which case she would be able to vaguely recall that there was a family as opposed to just two parents involved in her abandonment. And her skill in the Force is because she's already learned how to use it; she's only just now recalling how.

I'm always a little befuddled by the argument that Rey can't be a Skywalker because Luke dumping her on a desert planet would make him a terrible father. There are a million reasons as to how/why she could have ended up on that planet that don't involve Luke leaving her there, and which wouldn't automatically rule him out as her father. For instance: she's enrolled at her dad's Jedi school, Kylo attacks with the other Knights of Ren, an older student rescues her from the massacre but is chased through space by the First Order and so ends up dropping her on the nearest planet before jettisoning off again in order to lead the Knights away from her, only for his/her ship to get shot down and everyone on board assumed dead. I'm not saying that's how it will go down, only that there are plenty of ways to reconcile her abandonment with her hypothetical parentage.

Certainly a lot of threads drawn together tonight: not only is Tom's friend the stepson of the taxi driver, but Trish's ex-husband knows the guy at the fishing place - and has something on his laptop that he wants removed. I'm guessing ... something to do with surveillance of his wife/daughter? Secret cameras in their house? Or maybe I've still got Kellyanne Conway's ludicrous proposition of microwave cameras on the brain. Loved that tiny scene of Ellie walking past the nighttime dog-walker with apprehension on her face, only for him to give her a friendly "goodnight." What woman hasn't gone through a similar experience of split-second nerves/relief/vague sense of guilt? Tom certainly turned out to be a right little sleazebag. Poor Ellie. So Mark brings a lawyer to the house to discuss reopening the case against Joe without prewarning his wife and daughter about it? WTF is wrong with these people? God, I'm so over the Lattimers.

A little OT, but this reminds me of the key difference between Margaery Tyrell and Cersei Lannister over on Game of Thrones. I think it was Natalie Dormer who pointed out that Margaery was nurtured by a matriarch, while Cersei was oppressed by a patriarch. It made all the difference in their dealings with others (Margaery being sweetly manipulative, and Cersei wielding her power like a blunt instrument). You can see the parallel between them and Eleanor/Madi.

I'm pretty sure that Flint is the tomcat. Like the cat, he's the instigator of events, forever causing a disturbance. Max then says someone has to have the courage to go and "drown the damn cat" and Jack is subsequently told to go kill Flint. To extend the metaphor, I'm assuming that Grandfather Guthrie is England/civilization that keeps beating Richard for feeding the cat, and Richard is all the other pirate allies that can't help but heed Flint/the tomcat's crying. One more thing: we know it's true, but it's surprising that neither Flint or Silver questioned the veracity of the letter telling them that Madi was alive. It could have easily been a trap to lure them in. Likewise, they should also be questioning how Rogers knows how important Madi is to them (which they'll probably do at some point considering it will lead them straight to Billy and line things up with TI).

Gee, I wonder if Jack and Silver are going to face the same level of fandom backlash as Eleanor and Max did for betraying Flint/Jack. Haha, of course they won't. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when Madi was revealed to be alive (though seriously, will we ever learn how she escaped that house and ended up captured?) I've been tense all week, even though I was 99% sure they wouldn't really go through with it. Still, this was a masterstroke by Billy and Rogers: she's the only thing that could possibly come between the Flint/Silver alliance. Well, that and Israel Hands dripping poison in Silver's ear. That was Harriet Walter - not as famous as the likes of Judi Dench or Helen Mirren, but definitely considered one of the great actresses of her day. The moment I recognized her I knew she'd be important, and she didn't disappoint! You could write an essay on the women in this show and how they use soft power to govern the world - I also noticed that between the white makeup and the embroidery, they were definitely trying to create a visual parallel between her and Eleanor. I'm glad that Featherstone stood up for Max: not only pointing out that she spared him after his/Idelle's betrayal, but telling Jack that she doesn't cross anyone who doesn't cross her first (if it weren't for Jack's insane obsession with his legacy, he and Anne would be on a Bahamas cruise by now). Speaking of which, that conversation between Jack and the young woman was interesting: he's got the notoriety he's always dreamed of, but at the same time realized he and his brethren will be remembered as bloodthirsty savages, best used to scare children and thrill women. Were it not for his role in Treasure Island and the fact he killed Berringer in front of everyone, I'd be tempted to believe Hands was Silver's ID, subconsciously warning him to follow his instincts. Just to confirm, are we meant to assume that Silver has secretly had the treasure dug up and has it on board in case Flint's plan doesn't work? Because there's still some final steps that need to be taken before we're lined up with Treasure Island... In defence of Eleanor, ALL the women of this show have (by necessity) hitched their wagon to a man. It's not an affront to girl-power, it's just the way the world worked back then. Max could only get as far as the madam of a brothel by herself; after that she had to ally with Silver and then Jack to become the "queen of Nassau". Grandma Guthrie can't run her own business, she has to do it hiding behind her husband. I don't think Anne is comparable to Eleanor considering one is a pirate and the other was a businesswoman, but even Anne has expressed on occasion her frustration that she and Jack are linked in everyone's minds: "like we're the same person." The Maroon Queen and Madi are really the only women who command hard power, and even then they're surrounded by male bodyguards. Where Eleanor went wrong was in her attitude: she was haughty and high-handed. Men resent being told what to do by a woman - her last fatal mistake was in believing Rogers would listen to her (and Mrs Hudson) instead of seeking out a new, violent, even more destructive method to get what he wanted. So basically: I don't criticise Eleanor for seeking out male allies/partners (EVERYONE on the show does this, including other men), but in not doing it with more subtlety. As Jack described Max this episode, women in these times needed to exert power over men without them knowing it. Unfair, but the difference between life and death.

I feel the ex-husband is being setup as the first red herring of the case: he looks incredibly suspicious, but it's too early to have a solid lead. But I reckon the cab driver is involved, not as a rapist but as someone who drove Trish home afterwards (she's not entirely aware of how she got home, which means he's probably covering for someone). I found the actor familiar, then laughed when I realized he was in Star Wars: TFA as the guy Kylo Ren force-grabs by the throat. I feel Beth has improved as a character: she was wholly sympathetic in season one, but got impossible to deal with in season two (which made ME feel bad, as naturally the grieving process is a messy, unpleasant business). Now she's actually helping someone else in need, and so far hasn't made it all about her. I also found myself agreeing with Mark about what they should have done with Joe. Which naturally isn't the "right" thing to think, but there are so many loathsome people crawling out of the woodwork in the real world, I wouldn't be too sorry to see a few of them chucked off a cliff. Best scene was Trish telling her daughter what had happened to her. That's such an awful thing to have to do. I had to roll my eyes when it turns out the only two black people on the show are related. Did they really have to have the newspaper editor woman eating while she was talking to Maggie? The poor actress looked awful as she tried to talk around the food she was eating. (Sorry, I hate watching other people eat).

I wasn't too impressed with season two of this show, but given that this is the last season, I can't deny myself the Olivia Coleman/David Tennant team up one last time. The two of them are excellent together, and really are the reason to watch. The look on Alec's face when he realized Ellie had given Trish her number was golden. Already there are some intriguing elements to the case: that Trish waited before reporting the attack, that it was clearly premeditated, and that it occurred at her best friend's birthday party. However it pans out, I just hope it doesn't turn out to be a fake rape case (as the young cop predicted) - the world just doesn't need that story at this point in time. Nice to see Julie Cox and Sarah Parish - I've seen them in plenty of British dramas over the years. I groaned when I realized that Beth was being assigned to Trish's case. The woman has been raped, now she has to deal with Beth Lattimer? Hasn't the poor woman suffered enough? Oh and here's Mark, complaining as usual, this time about a book that he helped write, publish and distribute. I'm not sure why the Lattimers are still part of this show; their story felt pretty complete at the end of last season.

I have a thought: Billy rescued Madi. Billy gets freed by Ben Gunn, and naturally he knows where Miranda's cottage is so he heads there for supplies. He finds the place under attack/on fire and pulls the women out (this is why Eleanor was clear of the house) and takes Madi hostage, knowing it's the perfect way to get back at Silver for his perceived betrayal. Granted, this doesn't explain why Eleanor didn't tell Flint this, but perhaps her words: "I tried to save her" were referring to an attempt to get her free of Billy rather than the fire.

It's hard to believe we're halfway through already! Regarding Eleanor's death: I'm okay with it. I actually rooted for Eleanor throughout most of this show, largely out of spite at all the over-the-top haters who held her to a MUCH higher standard than all the equally back-stabbing male characters, but I only just realized last week that Mr Scott had been her slave, which kind of threw me a little (rape and slavery are the two dealbreakers for me when it comes to liking/disliking fictional characters, which is why I never cared much for Vane or Rackham either - they didn't rape Max, but they sure as hell didn't do anything to stop it either). Her death caught me by surprise considering her pregnancy and the rekindling of her relationship with Max seemed to be indicators she'd make it out alive, but after my initial annoyance that her death seemed designed to punish Rogers, I took into consideration the scene with Madi (presuming she's still alive) and Max - her last words with Madi seemed designed to encourage her to accept a quiet life with John Silver, and her death has spurred Max to seek out her own revenge by going to Grandfather Guthrie. Basically, a white woman was killed to inspire a black woman and kickstart a mixed-race woman's revenge plot - you sure as hell don't see that everyday. Also, she got to go down fighting. There are worse deaths. (I'm just going to avoid all the obnoxious gloating from Eleanor haters on YouTube). One scene I really loved was when the Spanish were advancing on the cottage and Flint automatically took control of the men gathered there: it was subtle, but you could see the surprise on the British soldier's/Madi's black bodyguard's faces when they realize they're naturally inclined to follow his orders. I have zero problems with Rackham listening to Max. They have a history, he knows she's clever, he knows he messed with her the same way she messed with him, he knows Anne isn't interested in revenge and he's not a particularly vindictive man anyway. I think he was struck by her logic: you can't beat civilization from the outside in, but the inside out. Of course, the final scene throws that into a little bit of doubt. This will surely end badly for most of our main characters, but in this "fictional history" they'll be credited for uprisings all across the New World.

I ... don't think we're disagreeing here. On a Watsonian level (from within the story itself) Eleanor is upset that a man she trusted was keeping a very big secret from her. But from a Doylist point-of-view (that is, from the audience perspective) it doesn't sit right that a woman who legally owned another human being feels she has the right to be upset about things he did outside her knowledge - or that the writers could ask us to sympathise with her over this. If that was in fact their intention (there's every chance Madi will call Eleanor out in the next episode), then it's a jarring change of pace since the show has never before asked us to see slavery as anything but 100% wrong up till this point. Even Rackham putting the slaves to work on repairing the fort was framed as a really shitty thing for him to do, and part of the way they tried to make Vane more likeable in season two was by making him staunchly anti-slavery.

That's the reason I questioned whether he was actually her slave or not, because surely no writer could be THAT tone deaf. I thought they did pretty well with the slave ship in season one and the plantation revolt this season, but at some point they really dropped the ball on Mr Scott. Edit: Though I've just remembered that his final words to Madi were: "I only have one daughter", which was a pretty clear indication of where his loyalties always lay. Really looking forward to any sort of Eleanor/Madi interaction in the remaining five episodes.

Yikes, I have no memory of that. Pretty definitive though.