“Beggarman” was probably the best episode of Crossbones to date. It’s remarkable that the show was able to pull this off, considering that Blackbeard was largely absent from the proceedings, still recovering from last week’s surgery. I give a lot of credit to Dan Attias, a veteran of The Americans and Homeland, for the way he was able to build tension and raise stakes. The flashbacks were a little campy, but I relish being in the position to nit-pick this show, instead of making sweeping generalizations about its quality. “Beggarman” worked so well because it involved pirates but it didn’t have to; these weren’t pirate problems, like a Spanish treasure fleet or a mad Englishman on their trail, these were people problems, and “Beggarman” concerned itself with loss, blame, grief, and vengeance. It didn’t necessarily have anything new to say about any of those concepts, but it still made for very entertaining television.
With Blackbeard out of commission, this week focused on the other inhabitants of Santa Campana. “Beggarman” was all about the resolution (for now) of the Rose/Nenna blackmail subplot. With Thomas still persona non grata, he is nevertheless called to Nellie’s chambers. Nellie knows about the letter, and what’s more, she has it. Thomas reads it, and correctly deduces that Nenna is a dangerous enemy to make. Thomas, Nellie, and Fletch confront her, and Tracy Ifeachor wears a smirk on her face the whole time, like she’s been to the Once Upon a Time School of Acting Like a Villain.
In trying to incriminate Nenna, Thomas is – for once – outwitted, as she turns the tables on him, even going so far as cutting off her finger to make it look like his work. Fletch brings the letter to James, who subsequently burns it. You see, Thomas was the one who had James arrested and tortured, resulting in his crippled condition.
Thomas, while living in Scotland, was once the ringleader of a group of informants, and at the time he used the alias “Beggarman.” James doesn’t want Thomas alive, but when pressed by Fletch and called out for his cruelty, he stops the execution. James is given the punishment of forty lashes for falsely accusing Thomas, and naturally Thomas volunteers as scapegoat. This is one of the only times in “Beggarman” that I rolled my eyes, because of course Thomas would take James’ punishment. But he actually has a good reason! If James is willing to save the life of a man who he hates, the very least Thomas can do is take his punishment, so they can start with a clean slate.
The major stumbling block in “Beggarman” are the flashbacks. We see Blackbeard with his titular dark facial hair, held in prison by William Jagger, who taunts him by saying that when his wife Antoinette learned of his imprisonment, she threw both of their children into the ocean. This was a little too reminiscent of Shutter Island to be effective, and when Blackbeard escapes – aided by Charlie Rider and a ridiculous Joe Dirt wig – he passes by Antoinette’s cell, and she’s in there…screaming different names for the devil. “Beelzebub! Belial!” and so on and so forth. I’m sure this looked creepy on paper, but in execution (see what I did there?) it’s just another highlight of Lauren Shaw’s overacting sizzle reel.
“Beggarman” was the only episode of Crossbones‘ first season that felt like it was created by the talent behind Luther
(creator Neil Cross wrote this installment). Blackbeard’s absence was a blessing in disguise; not to say that he’s a bad character, because he isn’t, but this show has grown so fond of him and of John Malkovich’s performance that sometimes it forgets there are other stories worth telling. It’s nice to see Crossbones remember.
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