A pirate leader fell as another one ascended this week as both sides of the war traded various victories and huge pivotal moments. The biggest win may have happened on land though as Flint, Silver, and an eleventh hour Bones all met up and took back Nassau, killing Captain Berringer and overtaking the city. It was as close to an Avengers moment as we'll get on this show.This was Silver's second notable moment, as a physical presence and not just a boogeyman, pushing him up into legendary Pirate King status. Even Israel Hands looked to Silver for the go ahead, the nod, before he dispatched Berringer. Everything aligned here so that Silver could claim his place at the top - a huge feat considering the giant loss he and Flint took back in the premiere. It was a thrilling and satisfying moment that really put a stamp on the series.
Berringer didn't have any direct opposition, pirate-wise, unless you count Max, and never really had a scene with an adversary, so it made sense that no one should claim him as their kill. Hands did it, on Silver's approval, and it felt right. We even caught a small little glimpse into Berringer's soul too, via his locket with a picture of a wife and child (dead? back home?) to shade him with some sympathy and to let you know that he, perhaps, wasn't always a bitter and vengeful man. That was cool to see.
"XXI." toyed with our morbid expectations a bit in a really effective way. We're in the final season, not everyone's going to make it out alive, so this chapter sort of let the roulette ball bounce a little bit. Would Max get executed for treason? Would Jack and Anne fall to Woodes and his trap? The honor here -- the gruesome honor -- went to Teach as the mighty Blackbeard suffered a powerful, visceral, and showy death by getting keelhauled THREE times before having to get shot in the head. What a moment.
The way it all played out too was perfect. Because those unfamiliar with the "ye olde" nautical tradition of keelhauling may have wondered what was happening the first time around. Which is why they showed us the awfulness -- Teach getting ripped up by the wood and barnacles under the ship -- the second time. Then, for the third time, we all knew what was happening, and we knew what kind of shape Teach was in, so we could wince together.
The fact too that Teach survived the keelhauling and ruined Woodes' grand moment, distracting him enough to forget all about killing Jack, was a nice, fitting fake-out. Characters face close calls all the time and it takes smart writing to make cheating death not feel cheap and this was very clever. Blackbeard just being a massively tough old bastard, essentially pissing all over Woodes' parade, was wonderful. You know, as grisly as the scene was.
What now though? Woodes has Jack and Anne, but he can't trade them back for Nassau in return. Plus, Eleanor never got to sail off to talk to her uncle so there's no movement for him on the debt front either. his plan worked, but Berringer screwed things up back at the base (especially by not listening to Eleanor), so Woodes is rather stuck at the moment.