A Yurt of One’s Own

“You know that just cause we were born here, doesn’t mean that we end up here.”

Where do I start with this one? I guess I’ll just break it down by characters out of story continuity.

Lip is first because his is the simplest this week. So much for “awesome” Lip being back. He’s an embarrassing mess.

V and Kev’s new plot line kicks off by rubbing a patron at the bar the wrong way. How to save Svetlana from deportation? The solution: V and Svetlana get married. It could work if Kevin can get over his temper tantrums.

Frank, Queenie, Debbie and Chuckie take off for Queenie’s hippie commune. Frank sees this as a great way out as he’s being hunted from last weeks bad decisions. When they get there, it looks like Debbie will be the first one to tap out and head back to civilization, but she has a turn of heart by the end. Her “eeew” looks at the start were great and given the close attention and advice from Queenie (having your own swank yurt helps too) makes her decision seem like a good one for now. Frank sticks it out among many un-Frank-like trials and tribulations but leave it to a drug source to keep him happy. Poor Chuckie, not sure what’s going to be left of him.

Carl and Dominique hook up! How does it happen? Toss all his poser behavior away and what do you get? Someone Dominque wants to be with! Loved the quick scene he when he runs down to the kitchen where he asks his brothers if they have any condoms.

Fiona’s a mess for a good part of this episode. Trying to patch things up with Sean, she makes no headway. More to the point, it gets ugly and a break up looks all but said on screen. Gus swings by the diner and calmly says they should get divorced. “Here’s my lawyer’s card, meet me there tomorrow at 2,” makes Fiona talk to a divorce lawyer for advice. That spirals out of control real fast and makes for a hilarious meeting. In swings Sean to lift up Fiona in a rather beautiful way.

Mandy Milkovich returns! I was so happy to see her despite the horrible circumstances. I loved seeing Ian come through for an old friend, reminds me of the good old days. She’s working as an escort now, something Ian can relate to, so he kept it judgment free. The look on Lip’s face when he sees her leaving the house was something else.

The further into the episode, the better it got. Liked this one a lot and I hope we see Mandy some more.

Rackham gets a lot of mileage this week. He starts off by giving some rather prudent advice to his rat cellmate before he’s taken away in the coach with Rogers to meet the Spanish.

Bobbing around right on the outskirts of Nassau’s vision, Silver has to deal with a small mutiny aboard his ship throwing the tenuous treaty with the other half of the rebellion. He decides to go with the truth and brings Madi in on it right away so they can work it out together. It proves to be the right move, but Madi flexes her authority, putting Silver in his place (one of my favorite scenes).

Good old Max can smell a trap from a mile away when Eleanor tells her how the meeting with Anna went. It helps to really know the people you are up against. In fact, Max has her eyes wide open this episode while Eleanor is showing her rust. With her ears all around, Max also realizes that if she can figure out what the caravan route is, anyone paying attention can. Max also puts her new mistress on notice that she’s an amateur and recognizes that the three-way trust triangle between her, Eleanor and Rogers has been compromised by a spy. Eleanor and Max try to raise the alarms with the English about the pirate plot but are dismissed.  Good old Captain Hornigold can put two and two together.

This brings us to the fantastic coach scene.  Rackham’s great origin story, telling Rogers of his personal disgust with England and thus, Rogers himself. It gives way to why Rackham feels so strongly about the importance of his last name, of leaving a legacy. Rogers pulls the “You think you know me, but you have no idea,” speech just before the attack pops off. Awesome attack scene flying down that dirt road in one long, up close and personal sequence. Second only to the typhoon set piece a few weeks ago.

Bringing the events to a close, the pirates plan almost went perfectly. Treasure and Rackham in hand, they lost Vane to the clutches of England thanks to Captain Hornigold and have to figure out how to get him back. Embarrassed by what happened on the boat, Silver figures out a way to silently punish the man who attacked Madi’s man. Max is in full business mode, shoring up her plans with Eleanore. They have to stick together to make it through another day. There’s a lot of trust issues going around.