Finally finished Black Sails after sorta binging. I prefer not too watch too many episodes of a series that I’ve never watched before, and, let me tell you, this was a great show. I highly recommend watching this, but, then, I do love a good pirate movie or show, just like I love horror and science fiction.
I won’t repeat what so many have written about it, suffice to say great characters, great scenery, and great story. You really do get a sense of what the Golden Age of Pirates was like, and they talked in a flowing way that people did in that era.
Obviously, it mixed quite a bit of fantasy with reality, always pointing to Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. Interestingly enough, there is a small island in the Manasquan River where I grew up that is called, informally, Treasure Island, as Stevenson visited the area 5 years after he wrote the novel, dubbing it that name.
Some apparently did not like the ending, but, I thought it was perfect: spoiler ahead
It pretty much ended almost exactly the way it started: a strong women running Nassau backed by a figurehead male, with a governor who turned a blind eye, and even profited, from piracy. It was tolerated as long as it didn’t get too bad. Did John Silver reconcile with Madi? It looks like it. Did Captain Flint give up the treasure? They never truly said. Things were mostly back to normal, with just new people running the show.
And Calico Jack Rackham was back to piracy, with Ann Bonney, and Mary Reade, in disguise, joining up. It was a good ending. Of course, things would soon come crashing down in the near future, with Jack and Ann captured, Jack being hung, the British truly cracking down on piracy in the Caribbean, driving pirates out, with many moving to the east coast of Africa.
It’s always nice when a show ends exactly as it should. Wings, with Joe and Helen flying off to France so Helen can pursue her dream, while Brian accepts responsibility to keep the airline running. Continuum, where Kiera saves the timeline for her child, but, is now out of time herself, and can only watch the “original” Kiera raise her son. As time travel should be. Psych, with one last mystery.
Black Sails: 5 out of 5 stars.