He Said James My Truest Love Know No Shame And You Forgot - Tumblr Posts
no wait i’m still not ok. sorry if that was already said but i just-
i have a lot to say about how starz main shows (spartacus and black sails) treat their queer representation, from both good and bad points of view, but honestly i can discuss these for hours (i did once), so let me just take a look at the wound that hurts the most
that being thomas hamilton and his relationship with flint
we don’t know that much of him, beyond his plans for new providence and his overall views on how colonialism should actually work, his relationship with his father and some other people, with miranda and, of course, with james. even more so, season 2 builds it’s narrative the way it fools us into thinking miranda was the reason james was practically banished only then to reveal it was thomas all along and james’ love for him.
just, just think of it, of how they were perfect to each other, both complementing each other’s strengthens, differences and similarities. they were one soul indeed, we can’t help but see these, these gleams of thomas’ vision in flint’s ideas, the way he sees nassau’s future in practically the same as thomas described it. flint is literally built and ruined by the man he loves the most, and the show practically dedicates the whole season portraying this, maybe in a slightly toothless way, but portrays nevertheless, creating one of most tragic love stories in modern media
only to completely abandon it in season 3 & 4, along with thomas’ character, right till the very last episode.
sure, they keep mentioning him from time to time. but it just ceases being such a huge plotpoint. sure, you might say it’s this way so the show might focus on issue on hand, developing the plot in present. but it just bugs me how it’s only miranda haunting flint’s mind. how the very base of flint’s rage is never brought up, even in the most subtle way possible. how the show just… forgets about one of its most important characters, because even though miranda’s character is also crucial for flint’s later character development, thomas is crucial in a same relation. there would be no flint without thomas, and i’m not exaggerating for the sake of ship, don’t make me explain twice
and this whole deal is probably the thing that stops me from calling starz vision of queer representation “good”. because sure, not only they make their main character explicitly queer, actually pay attention to mlm storyline and make it crucial to the main plot, they also provide thomas and james to reunite at the end of the show, no matter how you interpret the ending. but the way they just leave this huge black hole between this point A and point B leaves thomas and flint story feel abandoned and incomplete and it shutters my heart
and thomas. the way they just use him for the sake of exploring flint’s motivation and downfall is just- i, i can’t, we’re talking about the man whi was the BARE REASON FLINT WAS EVEN BORN, AND THEY NOT ONLY DON’T EXPLORE HIS IMPACT ON FLINT PROPERLY, THEY PRACTICALLY ABANDON HIM IN A MIDDLE OF THE PLOT
sorry if this was too incoherent. i love black sails with my whole heart, but i also love james and thomas story and i can’t help but realise how much missed potential they had with these two. Like, Ann, Max and Jack story was not perfect, but i felt complete watching the way it turned out, i saw every stage of their relationship development, i did not feel like it was rushed or brought up to end without a proper build up. and that was practically a secondary plotline!! and… man i just needed them to treat thomas and his love for james properly, honestly. i just needed the show not to forget why they introduced us to their story in season 2 in a first place
