Deal of a lifetime.
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
After it seemed like Silver and Flint were one unit, one confident and united front, Chapter "XXXII" worked to start tearing their alliance apart right at the seams as Bones found a way into Silver's psyche and Flint went ahead, against Silver's wishes, and made a giant deal to end the entire conflict.
Not only do we have the inevitable Silver/Flint rift beginning, but the buried treasure is right at the heart of it. So while "XXXII" may not have been as roaring or thrilling as the premiere, or even last week's installment, it gave us some big storyline moves that definitely now show us a clearer picture of the fast-approaching endgame.
I'm really happy that Eleanor was the one to come up with this treasure plan too. Whether or not it was so she could knowingly drive a stake into the heart of Flint and Silver's dual-rule or use the gold to run off with Max or, least interestingly, take the money to pay off Woodes' debts, this story needs someone to come out of this entire ordeal with some humanity left. Perhaps with even an acceptable future. Right now, most of the pirates seemed gloriously doomed so it just may be Eleanor who lands on her feet. With Max, hopefully.
I'm not betting on this outcome, but it would feel right if everything circled back to the Eleanor/Max relationship. Even though Eleanor is pregnant now, her winding up with Woodes in the end, after everything, doesn't feel like it'd be the most satisfying outcome. It's a "low chaos" ending for sure, but not the best story. Granted, it's likely that no one's getting a happy ending here, though we do know who stands the best chance of surviving due to who shows up in Stevenson's Treasure Island.
Eleanor (maybe) finally being able to be with Max feels right, though an argument can be made that Eleanor's missed her opportunity to walk away from everything too many times for her to be rewarded in such a way. Even Max brought this up here, along with the fact that Eleanor and Woodes constantly ignored Max's many warnings about -- well -- just about everything they'd done since capturing Nassau. That was a very cool moment, her being able to bring that up. All Max has ever done is tried to keep everyone as appeased as possible while the world rages around her. Of course, it's done out of her need, and will, to survive, but she's one of the wisest characters on the show and no one ever listens to her because of her gender and station.
So now what? Why would Flint agree to this deal knowing that Silver objected to it? Silver was literally saying "No" right there on the spot and Flint's now trusting that Silver will go and fetch the treasure to secure his release? This seemed unwise. As in, more conferring needed to happen. A side conversation, at least. Especially since Silver had just admitted to being more than a little affected by Bones warning about Flint possibly placing Madi in danger. I know Flint values Pirate Paradise above all else, but the cracks in this plan seemed pretty large.
I do wonder what Flint's fate will ultimately be though. Especially with the seeds planted this week that Thomas, perhaps, was shipped off to a labor estate that specialized in making troublesome family members vanish. Maybe he'll get the coveted happy ending here, out of everyone. That'd be freakin' something.
Now, let me not mislead you into thinking this chapter was devoid of violence. Jack and Anne had a hell of a time out on the open water with some vengeful guards who kept feeding Jack's crew to a monster named "Mr. Milton." In the end (quite awesomely) it was up to Anne to get the job done. And by that, mind you, I mean desperately facilitate everyone's release while getting pummeled to near-death. Good grief, this was hard to watch. It was slow and methodical punishment akin to the keelhauling almost. Can Anne even recover from this? For a second there, I thought she'd actually been killed off but I shook it off because it definitely didn't feel like her tale was done.
The Verdict
"XXXII" complicated matters for Flint and Silver in a huge way under the guise of a deal that, in appearance, could work to solve everything. You know, if everyone were on the same page and fully trusted each others' motives and intentions. Unfortunately (for them, not for the drama), we're dealing with a bunch of pirates who all at one point or another were at each others' throats. Now sacrifices are required and there won't be any easy choices to make.
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