Killing Hamund.
Quotes from the Black Sails wikia are in italics.
There’s no plot line in Black Sails that’s 1/10th as horrible or as sexist as The Ranger crew’s abuse of Max. I’m not here to defend season 1’s mistakes, especially not this bilious streak… I’d happily bleach my brain when it comes to Hamund and the fuck tents.
But I am here to grapple this into chronological order so it’s not such a mess to shift.
Aside from the decent continuity of Flint, Silver and Eleanor, Season 1 feels like slippery cannon. You see characters that were altered along the way, personalities and motivations that looking back seem like they’re titling out of character. I’m not going to analyze here, because the inconsistencies throw me. But yes, there is some retconning when it comes to Vane/Jack/Anne. The Ranger crew were obviously something else before Zach, Clara and Toby took the lead.
HERE WE GO….
Having teamed up with Silver, Max approaches Jack and Anne and asks if Vane and his crew wish to buy information leading to the whereabouts of the Urca de Lima treasure galleon.
When Jack agrees, Max/Silver ask for 5,000 pesos.
Later Silver reveals he’s been found out by Flint and warns Max they’re in trouble. Both seem to agree they’ll be skipping town as soon as the deal is done.
Vane tells Jack it’s not a sound investment and that he thinks they’re being duped. Jack doesn’t give a shit, and so proceeds to his rendezvous with a portion of the money converted into pearls.
Vane later learns that Flint is chasing down the Urca de Lima schedule that one of his crew stole.
Jack and Max lounge at the brothel while an appraiser makes sure Jack’s pearls are genuine. Silver watches from a peephole. Things seem to be going well. Once finished, Jack and Max agree to meet at The Wrecks at sundown for the final exchange.
Before they can finish, however, Vane bursts in and tells Jack that one of Flint’s crew has the Urca de Lima schedule, not Max. Vane then shoves Max up against a wall and begins to choke her, feeling that she’s trying to play him for a fool. Rackham explains to Vane that Flint is just bluffing about finding the page as a means to end the mutiny that was brewing.
Jack notices someone at the peephole and tries to go after them, but fails to catch Silver. Vane warns Jack that if he’s made a bad bargain, he’ll be answerable to the crew. He tells Max, “If you’re lying, you’ll answer to me.”
Later, Eleanor confronts Max as she is convalescing and demands to that Max hand over the schedule. Max tries to convince Eleanor to come with her away from Nassau and start a fresh life with the money she will have earned from selling the schedule. Before they can settle the argument, Flint, Bones, and Gates arrive and Eleanor is faced with a choice: run away with Max or side with Flint. She decides to go along with Flint and forces Max into telling her the plans about the exchange. Max is devastated by Eleanor's decision and falls to the floor weeping.
Flint and Billy Bones head down to The Wrecks, as does Vane and Jack. The exchange quickly goes awry, and ends with Vane believing he’s been doubled-crossed. Silver flees. They all run after him. Jack-fucking-Rackham falls into the sea and looses all his pearls.
Silver is eventually captured by Flint, but it is revealed that he burned the schedule after memorizing its contents, thus securing his safety.
After the chaos at The Wrecks, Vane and his crew capture Max and give her over to Hamund and the other sadistic members of his alliance.
VANE: “You do understand I had no choice. What you did, it required an answer.”
Anne Bonny later tells Max that she believed the plan was to kill her for cheating them, not let the crew rape her. If that had been Vane’s intention, it’s left unclear. Max’s capture is never shown.
By morning, Hamund and the crew have located Jack…
Rackham was threatened by members of the Ranger crew who demanded that he replace the money he had lost. Desperately looking for some way to redeem himself, Rackham convinced Gates, the quartermaster of the Walrus, to let the Ranger act in tandem with the Walrus in the search for the treasure ship. This arrangement would eventually fall apart when Vane's former lover, Eleanor Guthrie, demanded that the crew of the Ranger switch allegiance from Vane to Flint.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Following the meeting, Vane and Rackham are walking down the street when Vane directs Rackham to a small hut. Inside is a naked and battered Max. The crew of the Ranger had apparently been raping her throughout the day. Vane approaches her and begins to talk to her. He asks why, even though Eleanor was offering her protection, she left. Max answers by asking Vane how he felt when Eleanor threw him aside. Vane leaves the hut and tells Rackham to take her out during the night and put her on a boat and to do it as quietly as possible. When Rackham asks what will happen if she comes back, Vane replies that she won’t.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jack and Anne’s attempt to free Max are intercepted by Hamund and his men:
“The captain might have brought her here... but it's up to us when we're done with her.”
Eleanor quickly realizes that Vane was behind Max's brutal treatment. She makes a public declaration to the Ranger's crew that she will not sell any food, supply any whores, or buy any goods from any of them unless they join Captain Flint's crew and grand him use of their ship. Most of the Ranger crew members walk over and stand next to Flint. Even Anne Bonny begins to make a move toward Flint, but Vane stops her by threatening to kill her if she moves any further. Eleanor then attempts to console Max, apologizes for what Vane did to her. Max corrects her, stating that it was not his fault this happened, but Eleanor's. Max then tells Vane that because she has cost him his prize, she will remain his until that debt is paid off.
[screaming into the void: Who’s fucking plot idea was this? That Max would stay with her abusers to punish Eleanor for her betrayal? Everything about this plot line is vile…uuuuggghhhh.]
FAST FORWARD TO ANNE BONNY:
At Eleanor's tavern, Eleanor is confronted by Anne Bonny who tells her that the treatment Max is receiving on the beach from Hamund isn't right and needs to be remedied. Bonny asks that Eleanor kill Hamund. Eleanor rejects this idea and suggests that they wipe out all of the remaining Ranger crew that are still loyal to Vane. To assist her, Eleanor enlists the help of John Silver, who is still locked up in Eleanor's office. Though he initially rejects the idea, Eleanor convinces him to help her when she tells him that he is eventually going to need friends to protect him from being disposed of once he has outlived his usefulness to Flint.
Silver approaches Hamund and convinces him that Jack Rackham didn’t loose all the pearls. He lures Hamund and the rest of The Ranger crew down to The Wrecks on the pretext that half of the loot is still there. Anne Bonny and Eleanor’s men ambush the crew and slaughter them. Anne thrusts her knife into Hamund and guts him (which is very satisfying).
Jack and Anne bring Max back to the brothel.
When Vane learns what happened he confronts Jack Rackham…
VANE: “So the street will know what you did. They will know you betrayed your brothers for a woman. That story will spread far and wide and you'll never sail beneath the black again. You'll sit in this place and rot with the rest of the whores. Something tells me that'll sting worse than dying.”
[AND HERE ENDS THE HAMUND PLOT LINE]
[UGH]
[BRING ME BLEACH]
There is a mountain range of difference between the presentation of Anne’s childhood abuse and the presentation of Max’s rape. It’s like S1 and S2 were written by two opposing creative forces. One is toxic and dumb, the other… incredibly mature, thoughtfully articulated and meaningful.
Too tired for analysis. Hope the chronological order helps. Just trying to make sense of the mess.
~ Cóz