After killing Ned Low, Stede's popularity is on the rise. Ed rethinks his life and his relationships.
Tropes include:
- Acquired Situational Narcissism: Killing Ned Low makes Stede very popular among the Republic of Pirates, which rapidly goes to his head and alienates Ed from him.
- Bullying a Dragon: High off his new popularity and depressed by his recent fallout with Ed, Stede sees Zheng trying to recruit his crew and pulls a sword on her. She hands him his ass.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends with Zheng's fleet being destroyed and the British ships descending on the Republic of Pirates, firing cannonballs into the town as everyone tries to escape.
- Foreshadowing: Zheng tells Stede that she hates mediocre men who pretend to be exceptional, and Stede tells Zheng that the thing about being mediocre is that no one sees you coming. The ending reveals this to be true of Ricky Banes, who Zheng judged as an aristocrat with an overinflated ego but who destroys her fleet.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Scared by his new intimacy with Stede and feeling uncertain about his life, Ed quits to become a fisherman.
- It Gets Easier: After killing Ned Low and being praised for it, Stede casually immolates a man about to kill him and later picks a fight with Zheng.
- Time Bomb: Ricky gifts grandfather clocks to each of Zheng's ships. When the Clock Strikes Twelve, they go off, annihilating her fleet.
- Uncertain Doom: The last shots are of Zheng looking out and up, and a cannonball comes flying towards the camera, leaving it unclear if it hit her or not.
