John Silver (as written in Black Sails) is an impossibly demanding character for an actor, tbh. Yes, he has to be extremely charismatic for the basic function of his role in narrative. BUT when a character like that appears, it usually goes one of two ways
1) Despite being WRITTEN as a charming, supernaturally charismatic character, the actor simply isn't up to the task. As a result, the characters who are influenced by them seem unbelievably stupid in service of the narrative and it completely breaks audience immersion.
2) The above happens, but the audience is forced to suspend their disbelief (about the character's charisma and influence) so far that the story and characters no longer feel grounded in human reality. Immersion isn't necessarily BROKEN, but it's a lot harder to be emotionally invested in a story that constantly reminds you it's a story and characters behave in ways that just don't line up with the human experience.
What Luke Arnold does as John Silver is something truly special. Not only does he make the audience 100% understand why even hardened, wary, intelligent characters like Flint are influenced by him and care about what he thinks, but the audience itself remains charmed by him no matter what he does. When he's spinning his stories to the crew, to Flint, to anyone else, he's spinning his stories to the audience too. Despite the fact that we in the audience usually KNOW when Silver's lying or manipulating a situation in his favor, it's hard not to be charmed by him like everyone else on screen is.
I'm over halfway through season 3 now and he's showing more of his emotions and inner world beneath the smooth, silver-tongued surface. Still, as an audience member, there's always one rather uneasy question at the back of my mind: can we, the audience, trust that this side of Silver isn't yet another skillful manipulation from a master storyteller who's had us in his grasp since the beginning of the series?
Personally, I'm not sure and I love that. I still can't see his true, endgame motivations (besides the obvious wealth), and maybe we will never truly understand who he, John Silver, is. We don't know his past, his true motivations, how he sincerely feels about anyone or anything, etc. Isn't it crazy how Luke Arnold made us love and empathize with this character when we, just like all the characters we've seen Silver manipulate, truly know absolutely nothing about John Silver as a person?
