Episode Overview:  The pirates still find themselves locked under the rule of captain Azmyth Kaminski and his officers.  While he might be sharing the wealth, he's hoarding the power.  With Louie Frase as the only man left on Pirate Master to oppose the "Triad," the crew is feeling bleak about its chances at overturning them without mutiny.  However, their chance comes in the form of a new expedition and some "ghostly" visitors.  Will it be enough to bring about a regime change?

Seven pirates have been set adrift on Pirate Master, with the last one to go being Joe Don Norton.  Nessa Nemir, who planted a kiss on him before he departed, is missing the man.  So is Louie, although for completely different reasons: now he's feeling the pressure to be the muscle in the next expedition, and get a win to help unseat the Triad.

Meanwhile, the Triad continues to flex its muscles.  Jay Hatkow calls out Kendra Guffey in front of the crew for going back on her promise to vote Joe Don off in exchange for not receiving a black spot.  She doesn't regret her decision, though.  She is yet another crew member irritated by the strong-arming by the captain and officers.

Expedition time!  This episode, host Cameron Daddo is the one to open the Chest of Zanzibar, and there's a reason for the change.  Finally...finally...there's going to be a switch-up.  It's about time, but actually, it's almost too late.  The repetition of the prior episodes of Pirate Master have become so tedious that it's hard to continue any real enthusiasm for the show.

But we'll take whatever twist we can get, and this one comes in the form of the seven cast-off pirates, who clamber over the side.  They will be the "ghost" crew and they will be competing in the expedition against all of the remaining pirates, who will compete together for once.  If the ghost crew wins, they will keep the loot, and leave the ship without a captain and officers until the next expedition.  If the regular crew wins, it's business as usual.

Louie is thrilled - either way he's in good shape he thinks.  Not sure how he reckons that; if the regular crew wins, black spots will still be handed out and his name could still be on that list. 

But what many of the pirates are hoping for - and many of the Pirate Master viewers, probably - is that the ghost crew will win and finally get some fresh leadership in place.

And at first, it seems possible.  Although the pirates lead at first, they take a wrong turn that puts them off course.  The ghosts are way ahead then, until they realize that the very first castoff - scientist/exotic dancer John Lakness - lost the key they need to unlock the treasure.  They have to head back and search for it in the water.  They lose their lead, the pirates find the treasure, and everybody's hopes for a regime change are dashed.

So guess what: back to the usual.  After a dinner in which Jupiter Mendoza, thinking she's being a pal to Azmyth, informs him how close to mutiny the crew is, the Triad assigns the black spots.  Jupiter has unwittingly put herself on the list.  Laurel Schmidt is in their sights as well for her poor "attitude" (which might also be referred to as her "not liking Azmyth"), and Jay isn't going to let Kendra's rebellion at the last Pirate Court go unpunished.

After the black spots are distributed, the jockeying begins.  Louie tries once again to arrange for mutiny.  How many times is he going to talk about this and then wind up changing his mind come voting time?  It seems like he might be able to sway Jay, but Ben Fagan remains cagey.  I'm not buying any of it.  Nessa is open to mutiny, but also aims for Jupiter, thinking she is too much of a wild card.

At Court, it's more of the same stuff as always.  The only entertaining bit comes during Laurel's rebuttal, when she tells Azmyth to, essentially, shut it.  She also points out that his wealth-sharing isn't generous or unique, it's common sense, and all of the other pirates would do the same.

Kendra's bid won the pardon, so she is safe, but it turns out she didn't need it anyway.  Nor did Laurel.  Neither got any votes at all.  It's down to either mutiny or Jupiter.  And...surprise surprise, it's Jupiter who is cut adrift.  Not a single vote for mutiny.  And the audience yawns.

Unless producers throw a curveball in there that the crew can actually hit, it looks like we are in for a few more episodes of Azmyth in the blue coat.  That is, if we can all stay awake for it.

- Leslie Seaton, BuddyTV Staff Columnist