Arrr...and Argh
Black Sails 1.5
Actual piracy! This show is much more about piratical intrigue than actual theft on the high seas. That’s probably because piracy is expensive.
Chasing down the Andromache, Flint and the Walrus risk the ship.
Meanwhile, back on the island, the brothel changes hands and Eleanor has to deal with her dad telling everyone the truth and a fight against her own ethics.
Does she unban Vane despite what he did to her ex? Or does she stand firm against the ill-treatment of women?
The ethical thing to do is to let it stand. But is that even the right thing to do.
Oh, and we find out a bit more about Mrs. Barstow. A nice Puritan woman. Probably married to somebody else…
Black Sails 1.6
Does anyone on this show have a good plan? I see two kinds…bad and so terrible you want to yell at the screen.
Seriously, these are not stupid people, they’re just bad at actually properly planning their intrigue, as opposed to, I don’t know, just deciding to kill a bunch of people.
This episode has a bit of a body count, but it also feels as if everyone is at cross purposes. Nobody knows who their allies are.
Nobody knows if they have allies.
Which, I suppose, as they’re all pirates, makes a certain amount of sense.
Arrr!
The Handmaid’s Tale 1.1 “Offred”
I’m told the first season is the best and it drops off a bit after they run out of book.
This is not the first adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale. The first was a movie. It was not good. Attaching Hollywood tropes to this particular story weakened its power.
The TV show proves that almost anything is, in fact, filmable. The first episode includes the narrative devices from the book…flashbacks and narration…although with some slight changes to the plot. (Also, it being the 21st century, not all of the women are white. Unfortunately, them being white was part of the point of the book).
They keep this adaptation slow, quiet, and creepy. We also, unlike in the book, learn Offred’s real name. I think that weakens things, but I think they have plans that make it matter.
Dystopia is hard to do without being either depression or schadenfreude, and so far they’ve managed it.
The Handmaid’s Tale 1.2 “Birth Day”
Knowing what happens makes this particularly bittersweet. So far, they haven’t been afraid to do low action exploration of the society, which doesn’t feel like exposition because it’s shown through events.
Ofwarren, once Janine, gives birth to a baby girl named Angela…will she get to keep that name? And the Commander invites June to his office…to play Scrabble.
His wife is a true believer and would never do anything like that.
OR his wife refuses to play because he’s so good. They’re both kind of Scrabble sharks.
And the Ofglen she knows is gone…
They’ve added flashbacks not in the original, including somebody trying to steal June’s daughter, Hannah, in the hospital.
Really doubling down on the “infertility plague.”
Black Sails 1.7
I’m starting to think the smartest person in this show is the “half-wit” cook. In this episode, let’s see:
Randall accuses Silver of being a thief in front of the new quartermaster.
Mr. Scott storms off to join Captain Hornigold because he’s mad at Eleanor.
Rackham fails to make a profit in a pirate port…running a brothel. That’s almost as bad as bankrupting a casino.
Vane makes a lousy deal to borrow some men for his ship. Okay, it might have gone better if he hadn’t insulted their boss!
Nobody here is doing anything wise or smart. Except, again, maybe the “half-wit” cook who clearly isn’t…
The Handmaid’s Tale 1.3 “Late”
Offred is late with her period and Serena Joy decides this means she’s pregnant. Setting herself up for an unpleasant emotional roller coaster.
We’re supposed to hate Serena, but I always felt a bit sorry for her.
Janine thinks she’s going to be running away with her Commander and their child.
And Ofglen, it turns out, has not been arrested for being a member of the resistance, but for sleeping with a Martha.
The Martha is executed and Ofglen…well, they don’t kill Handmaids, typically. The original material did not include FGM.
So, they actually made it worse.
And when Offred turns out not to be pregnant, Serena Joy hits her and grounds her. Like it’s her fault.
She’s not a very stable woman.
The Handmaid’s Tale 1.4 “Nolite Te Bastardes Carborundorum”
Interestingly, they’ve made the Commander a bit more…sympathetic in this version. He’s not seducing Offred because he wants to seduce her.
He’s doing it because he blames himself for the suicide of the last Offred. Yet, at the same time, he’s benefitting from the system.
The flashback this episode shows them taking down all the signs to put new ones up…a visible signal of the transition from America to Gilead.
We also see how Moira screws up the escape. All she had to do was tell them she was escorting June to a posting in Boston. They might have bought that.
Seriously, these people…but, of course, they aren’t experienced resisters, that’s the point.
(June’s also decidedly prone to panicking, but I don’t blame her).