Black Sails
A pirate lovers treasure
Black Sails serves as a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. It tells the story of the Pirates that would later serve as the villains of that book as well as fictionalizing the lives of other well known Pirates like Blackbeard, Anne Bonny, Charles Vane among others.
A quick search of the series on Google will tell you all of this and for those who are interested in knowing a little about these pirates even if what we have here isn’t historically accurate, it may serve as some kind of hold that might make them want to watch it. Those are not the people I am here for.
I am here for those who love a swashbuckling adventure and want something a little more serious than what the Pirates of the Caribbean film series have to offer. Those who want something a little more grounded and mature and not something that always delves into the supernatural bits of the 1700s in relation to Pirates.
Black Sails focuses primarily on Captain James McGraw aka Captain Flint (Toby Stephens) one of the most feared Pirates of that time. It tells how he moved from being a thoughtful, considerate, tactical Pirate into a feared, brutal and merciless Pirate who would mow down anyone who would dare stand in his way. The series takes this in a progressive manner, showing us his beginnings and we root for him even if we know where he is going to end up eventually.
Sometimes is feels like watching Anakin Skywalker become Darth Vader; you know this is a bad person already but you are intrigued to know what makes him tick and what made him become who we know him to be. The series handles this really well.
What I like about this series is how it handles the characters. They drop characters on you without any explanation but slowly as you watch, through their conversations and the conversations of others, you begin to pick up on the history that these individuals share and at no time did it feel forced to me. The first season was a bit slow in this regard yes, but it moved along briskly and by the second season, you’ll be rushing to know what happens next and the story gets even better then. One particular character arc I liked was that of Charles Vane (Zach McGowan).
He is a very violent savage animal, but you can’t help but love him (at least I did). He is a villain true and true, but the way he interacts with the other characters especially Captain Flint, you see that there is a heart to him and that he truly believes in what he is doing.
Black Sails (I keep doing this a lot don’t I?) is an absolute beauty. It’s a period series so of course one would expect this but the attention to detail is astounding. Everyday I keep getting shocked at how good TV has become. This is what you’d expect from a big budget movie and now you get to see it every week on your screen. Now when I say attention to detail, I’m not just talking about the special effects, but also the sets and the costumes worn by the cast.
Viewer discretion is advised though. While a really good series, it does have a lot of violence. What you’d expect from a pirates series of course but this is no PG-13 stuff. Some deaths are really brutal and there is a lot of blood so if such things put you off, kindly stay away.
There are currently three seasons that have aired with the fourth season touted to be the last. So there isn’t much here and you can binge watch the first three seasons while you await the fourth and final season.
Watch Black Sails because you love Pirates and have been craving for some swashbuckling fun. Watch Black Sails because you enjoy a good story where black and white are subjective and there is a lot of grey in the mix. Watch Black Sails because you are a fan of good acting, rousing musical scores and because you want to see what Captain Flint was like before he became out and out villainous. I look forward to what Season Four has to offer and I hope that the series goes out with a bang.
PS: If everything I said above didn’t convince you to consider giving this series a shot, nothing probably will.
