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Black Sails

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Television Review: Black Sails (Season 4, 2017)@drax333d

(source: imdb.com)

Starz, while producing its series Black Sails, encountered similar production issues as it did with its earlier hit Spartacus. This should come as little surprise, given that both series share a narrative structure constrained by historical parameters, with Black Sails further limited by the need to adhere to the plot of Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novel set decades later. Naturally, this means a significant portion of the audience—even those unfamiliar with Caribbean history of the early 18th century—knows how certain characters will fare and how little many of their ambitious plans will ultimately matter.

In the fourth and final season of Black Sails, one such ambitious plan is devised by Captain Flint (Toby Stephens), a pirate who has finally secured the legendary treasure from the Spanish galleon Urca de Lima. Whereas he had previously dreamed of using that treasure to secure a peaceful retirement in a new British Empire-ruled world order, he has now, for deeply personal reasons, shifted his life’s goal. He pours all his energy into sabotaging this new order at its inception. The treasure from the Urca is meant to fund a Caribbean-wide uprising, uniting pirates and those who profit from piracy with the Maroons (escaped slaves) and those still toiling on plantations. According to Flint’s plan, this revolution should begin in Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, which had been lawless for a decade prior, serving as a safe haven for pirates. However, the enterprising sea captain Woodes Rogers (Luke Roberts) has recently established British authority there and, as governor, seeks to maintain order through a mix of carrots and sticks. Rogers, however, is not thriving; he has financed his entire venture from his own pocket, incurring massive debts. His control over Nassau also seems precarious due to the rebellion being orchestrated by pirate Billy Bones (Tom Hopper), whose figure is ironically overshadowed by the enriched, honey-tongued Long John Silver (Luke Arnold)—a man with his own personal motives for joining the cause and secret plans for the treasure.

The most significant difference between Black Sails and Spartacus lies in the fact that the four-season run of the former was not driven by producers’ ambitions but was forced by the health issues of the lead actor, causing the second season to serve as a prologue without its central character. For Black Sails, the decision to make four seasons was made to fill programming gaps, and, as things stand, without considering that creative resources might dry up over four years. This becomes evident, as the pirate saga’s conclusion feels predictably drawn-out. It is clear to everyone that no pirate-slave revolution will materialise, that the treasure will remain on a distant island (one, in a rare pleasant narrative surprise, revealed not to be the one previously hinted at in the prior season), and that Nassau will stay under British rule. The question left is how all this will transpire and which characters—those not documented in historical records or Stevenson’s prose—will survive the series finale. Their numbers, relative to earlier seasons, are limited, further restricting the writers’ options, forcing them to contrive their exits through unconvincing coincidences and melodrama fit for soap operas. The soapy elements are most glaring in the characters of Long John Silver and Eleanor Guthrie, whose Machiavellian strategies, which served them well in earlier seasons’ survival games, are undone by sentimental outbursts rendering them weak. Even the relentless attempts to create drama through betrayals and stabbing people in the back eventually grow tiresome and predictable, with only occasional scenes of spectacular, gory battles offering respite. These are too few to offset the damage caused by scenes where every character labours to justify their actions with a lexicon dominated by phrases more fitting a modern sociology dissertation than the words of an average 18th-century Caribbean pirate. Even the undeniable talent of the well-cast ensemble cannot rescue the show from the tedious impression akin to attending a press conference by a faceless Eurocrat. The audience will also be put off by the show’s insistence on wrapping everything up with some sort of happy ending, even resorting to soap-opera-style deus ex machina interventions. When Black Sails finally concludes, the overall impression of the series will remain positive, but with relief that a fifth season will not follow.

RATING: 5/10 (++)

(Note: The text in the original Croatian version was posted here.)

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›Television Review: Black Sails (Season 3, 2016)@drax366d

At the beginning of the third season of Black Sails, Captain Flint (Toby Stephens), who was not long ago one of the more pragmatic and reasonable pirates in the Caribbean, does everything he can to become what he once wanted to eliminate – a bloodthirsty pirate whose name strikes fear and dread. The reason lies in recent traumatic experiences that, along with financial motives, have added an insatiable desire for revenge against his former homeland, England, against which he wages something akin to a terrorist jihad, attempting to thwart its efforts to bring peace and order. His bloodlust, however, causes increasing concern in his closest associate, the smooth-talking but recently crippled John Silver (Luke Arnold), who still dreams of exchanging the hard life of a pirate for the comfortable enjoyment of the recently plundered legendary treasure from a Spanish galleon. Meanwhile, Flint's main base, Nassau on the Bahamian island of New Providence, finds itself under threat from a British Royal Navy squadron led by the celebrated adventurer Woodes Rodgers (Luke Roberts), whose intention is to dismantle the self-proclaimed pirate republic peacefully, offering the pirates a generous amnesty if they swear allegiance to the new regime. By chance, the main battle between the pirates and the British will not take place in Nassau but on some unremarkable, remote island whose inhabitants have good reasons not to attract too much attention to themselves.

The third season of the series quite effectively suggests that it is backed by Starz, not only because of its insistence on "rich" content involving explicit violence, nudity, and sex, but also because of its narrative structure that resembles Spartacus, the then most famous production of that media house. Similar to the story of the famous gladiator, the series about pirates combines fiction with real historical figures and events, but the script is also strictly limited by both unchangeable historical circumstances and the template of Stevenson's novel Treasure Island, of which the series is a prequel. In the third season, the titular treasure island finally appears, just as the third season of Spartacus finally showed the famous Spartacus revolt. In terms of content, similar to the second season, there are no dramatic revelations or flashbacks; their weak, but not overly irritating, replacement is provided by Flint's visions of Death, or conversations with Mrs. Barlow (Louise Barnes), a character deceased in the previous season. New characters, although history remembers them as colourful, are not particularly impressive – including Rodgers, who is quite bland and uncharismatic, and is much easier to accept as an efficient but faceless bureaucrat than as a sort of alter ego of Flint in his younger days. The same can be said for the character of Edward "Blackbeard" Teach, the most famous of all historical pirates, for whom the performance of the otherwise good Ray Stevenson does not help much. However, despite all these shortcomings, Black Sails in the third season maintains the quality level necessary to keep viewers glued to their screens and meet the high expectations for the final season.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

(Note: The text in the original Croatian version is available here.)

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›Retro Television Review: Black Sails (Season 2, 2015)@drax367d

“So close, yet so far” are the words that best describe the beginning of the second season of the TV series Black Sails. At least from the perspective of one of its protagonists, the pirate captain Flint (Toby Stephens), who watches from the shore as the wreck of the Spanish galleon Urca de Lima lies beached. Its cargo—legendary amounts of gold and other treasures—is unloaded onto the beach. His dream of seizing it and securing his future, however, remains just a dream due to some practical details, primarily involving his own ship, heavily damaged in a skirmish with the Spanish, and his crew, whose surviving members have deposed him as captain and are more inclined to finish him off quickly than to engage in new battles. Fortunately for him, among the survivors is the smooth-talking cook John Silver (Luke Arnold), who sees Flint’s desperate plan as his own ticket back to civilisation. Meanwhile, Nassau, the city on the Bahamian island of New Providence and Flint’s home base, has come under the control of the pirate captain Charles Vane (Zach McGowan), which complicates his relationship with his former lover Eleanor Guthrie (Hannah New), a trader who, thanks to the resale of plundered goods and connections with the civilised world, functioned as the unofficial mayor. Vane’s former crew member John Rackham (Toby Schmitz) has been boycotted by his colleagues due to his inconvenient actions for pirates and is forced to earn a living as the owner of a local brothel, where Max (Jessica Parker Kennedy), the madam, begins to attract the unusual attention of Rackham's girlfriend Anne Bonny (Clara Paget). At the same time, everyone in Nassau starts to pay attention to the intentions of the British authorities to bring the pirate island back under legitimate rule, as well as a newly arrived pirate ship whose valuable cargo, depending on its fate, could lead to either peaceful or extremely bloody developments.

The creators of Black Sails in the second season did not try to reinvent the wheel. They provided the audience with mostly the same content that had been on the menu a year earlier—a mix of adventure, melodrama, political and business intrigue, all spiced up with explicit violence and sex. The series’ basic concept—that it is, in fact, a prequel to the classic adventure novel Treasure Island—still clearly suggests the ultimate fate of some characters to the more knowledgeable viewers, and the same goes for characters that the series’ creators Jonathan E. Steinberg and Robert Levine borrowed from historical books. Although they allowed the new season to be two episodes longer than the previous one, there are no new characters—at least none important enough to last more than a few episodes. Despite all this still boiling down to scheming, deception, brawls, betrayals, and “shocking” revelations about someone’s sexual orientations, Black Sails still looks fresh in its second season.

The most intelligent decision was to reserve the dramatic twists not for the present but for the past, with the most intriguing scenes in flashbacks that show Flint’s past as a promising officer in the Royal Navy, the role that the fatal Mrs. Barlow (played by Louise Barnes) played in the downfall of that career and his turn to piracy, and how romantic idealism and noble intentions clashed with reality in the worst possible way. The screenwriters also had the interesting opportunity to depict the microcosm of Nassau and the pirate world of the early 18th century from the perspective of an outside observer, but this opportunity, except for small hints in one episode, was not utilised. The disappointment is somewhat less in the season finale, which, with its mix of spectacular action and melodrama, somewhat too much resembles similar, not very convincing situations at the season finales of Spartacus. On the other hand, this finale also convincingly removed from the agenda one of the important details in the history of a certain character, but in a way that showed the authors having a sense of black humour. The cliffhanger at the end of the second season is less or, at worst, equally irritating as the one that ends the first. For series like Black Sails, that is more than enough for a thumbs up.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

(Note: The text in the original Croatian version is available here.)

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›Retro Television Review: Black Sails (Season 1, 2014)@drax367d

In the modern world, those who have the hardest time are the conservatives wanting to promote traditional family values in popular culture. One example that shows how challenging their task might be is provided by Treasure Island, the adventure novel by Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson, which enjoys the status of one of the most famous works of young adult literature. However, its most recent—and, given the attention span of the youngest generations, probably the most well-known—incarnation comes in the form of the Black Sails TV series, which, by being produced by the Starz network, suggests that Stevenson's template has received a treatment that, at the very least, could be called an "adult series."

Its creators, Jonathan E. Steinberg and Robert Levine, did not adapt Stevenson's novel directly, but the series serves as a sort of prequel, set roughly a few decades before its events. This is an "interesting" and quite dramatic period, at least when it comes to the Caribbean. In 1715, those sugar cane and other agricultural crops unknown in Europe could make anyone with a bit of land, slaves, and an entrepreneurial spirit an immensely wealthy man, but the insatiable treasuries of European courts also drove the great powers to war over control of those islands and colonies. This created chaos, exploited by even more enterprising individuals in the form of pirates, who would then have their golden age. One of them is Captain Flint (played by Toby Stephens), an experienced sailor who seems more far-sighted than his colleagues and knows that times are changing. England, recently fused with Scotland into the United Kingdom, will begin to create the British Empire and bring law and order to the world's seas. Flint, like many other criminals, dreams of ending his career with one big lucrative job that will make not only him but also his crew rich enough to spend the rest of their lives as peaceful and respectable citizens. The opportunity for this comes with the Urca de Lima, a Spanish galleon that transports a fabulous wealth from the New World to its home country. Its successful interception, however, depends on the information stolen by the enterprising sailor John Silver (played by Luke Arnold). Meanwhile, Flint must also deal with the logistical preparations for his venture, in which the Bahamian island of New Providence plays a key role. Pirates have seized it a few years ago and created something akin to an independent state. There, the main authority is Eleanor Guthrie (played by Hannah New), the owner of a local shop who, thanks to her father and other family connections, serves as the main intermediary for pirates in fencing plundered goods.

The pirate genre, given that it contains action, adventure, exotic costumes, and locations, should, at first glance, be quite attractive to film and television producers. On the other hand, the costs of reconstructing ancient sailing ships, as well as the logistical and technical difficulties that come with filming at sea, or commercial risks such as those that destroyed the Hollywood studio Carolco in the case of Cutthroat Island, are the reason why there are relatively few pirate stories on big and small screens today. Only megastudios like Disney, which have enough money to burn on Pirates of the Caribbean, or Starz, for which early 18th Century piracy serves only as a framework for a much simpler formula of offering explicit sex and violence to cable television viewers, can indulge in this genre. Although it cannot be said that Black Sails, filmed on locations in South Africa, looks bad, the first season clearly suggests that naval battles will be a secondary part of the content. Almost all the action takes place not at sea, but in New Providence, with a fictional microcosm of vivid characters and subplots, which many critics have compared to David Milch's Deadwood. Comparisons between the two series are unavoidable because Black Sails, like the previous series, contains both fictional characters—those from Stevenson's original and those created by the series authors—and real historical figures, among whom stands out the imposing pirate captain Charles Vane (played by Zach McGowan), his smooth-talking assistant Jack Rackham (played by Toby Schmitz), and Anne Bonney (played by Clara Paget), one of the few female pirates who entered history books.

Given that this is a Starz series, the depiction of life in New Providence cannot go without “spicy” content. So, one of the most memorable characters is the prostitute Max (Jessica Parker Kennedy) whom we occasionally get to see in the birthday suit, and a relatively large part of the plot takes place in a brothel. There is also the standard explicit lesbian scene among the main characters. Similar to Starz's Spartacus, Black Sails attempts to prevent potential feminist backlash over exploitative portrayal of women by also having male actors display certain parts of their anatomy for those viewers who are interested.

Much more valuable in Black Sails, at least for that part of the audience that likes a bit "deeper" content, is the way in which screenwriters succeeded in filling eight episodes of a pirate series in which, in fact, there are few pirate battles. This was found in the exceptional care for historical and other details related to some practical problems related to pirate activity and lifestyle. In this world, pirates can expect to get rich relatively quickly and easily, but only if they agree to exceptionally high risks of execution or mutilation, while at the same time having an incredibly hard time on ships where captains have almost absolute power over them. On the other hand, Black Sails also provides an interesting insight into how pirates created their own socio-political system that some contemporary observers might call socialism and democracy, while the economic aspect of their activity, or the need for self-organisation, can be interesting to libertarians.

None of this, however, would work if the producers of Black Sails had not gathered a quite diverse but talented and energetic acting ensemble. Toby Stephens, one of the princes of British theatre, is imposing in the role of the nominal protagonist torn between noble ideals and morally dubious actions. Luke Arnold is quite interesting in the role of the smooth-talking antihero, while the imposing Zachary McGowan manages to overshadow even the nominal protagonists. Jessica Parker Kennedy, on the other hand, is in a quite ungrateful position where the audience remembers her more for her "exotic" appearance and nudity, while Toby Schmitz (who also appears naked in one scene) is provided with much more vivid lines by the screenwriters. The biggest discovery of the series is Hannah New, who could be considered a sort of heir to Keira Knightley, and older fans of the genre would proclaim her the most beautiful and charismatic pirate princess since Carol Andre played the role of Lady Marianne in Sandokan. The most impressive performance is given by the character actor Mark Ryan in the role of Flint's assistant Gates, probably the only character in the entire series for whom it can be said that he possesses something akin to a conscience.

The first season, which was quite economically reduced to eight episodes, ends in a way that is quite irritating to today's fans of television - with a sort of deus ex machina cliffhanger. This, in fact, will not present any particular surprise to the audience familiar with Stevenson's template. The subplot related to the puritanical Flint's lover (whose role is played by the South African actress Louise Barnes) also seems like a “soapish” element in a much more compact and serious story. Despite all these shortcomings, Black Sails deservedly kept the audience's attention and secured its future for three more seasons.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

(Note: The text in the original Croatian version is available here.)

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›Review - Black Sails, Season 1, Episode 1@thunderjack1016d
Recently I learned about a series called Black Sails, which is about the Golden Age of Piracy, and set in the year 1715, taking place in the Caribbean. Intrigued by the premise, I found that the first episode was freely available on Amazon (the rest of the episodes are not free). My Bonnie Bride and I were both game to give it a shot.
Black Sails - [IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2375692/mediaviewer/rm441349120/?ref_=tt_ov_i) First off, all though it takes place in 1715, and involves a number of historical figures, it is less than historically accurate. Anne Bonny, for instance, was a teenager in 1715, and had not yet married James Bonny and taken his name. Side note – Anne Bonny became a historical figure of note for me due to playing Pirate101 with my daughter, where we meet a pirate named Bonnie Anne whois named after Anne Bonny. Other historical inaccuracies probably abound. So, suspend your knowledge of history, and you’ll get past that. The series is also considered a prequel to Rober Louis Stevenson’s novel *Treasure Island* (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sails_(TV_series)) – certainly several characters are lifted out of the novel and placed in the series. Ships at sea, nearing battle - [IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2392996/mediaviewer/rm1865009921?ref_=ttmi_mi_all_sf_8) For the episode itself, it opens with an act of piracy on the high seas, all well and good, with the predictable pirate victory, which is expected as the show is about pirates. What I found a bit too predictable was tha after the initial assault and boarding of the merchant ship, the survivors barricaded themselves in a room with gun slits. I guess they didn’t think that tactic through as it was a surprise to no one when the pirates rolled a keg of gun powder against the chamber the crew was holed up in, and blew a big, gaping hole in it. The battle ended shortly there after. The story is then set into motion with the focus on Flint’s (Toby Stephens) pirate crew and a various other events. There are a few weird plot devices that make zero sense, and I won’t elaborate on them as they are integral to the overall story. Toby Stephens (right) facing off against Anthony Bishop (left) - [IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2392996/mediaviewer/rm3744385793?ref_=ttmi_mi_all_sf_4) Although the story itself is reasonably good and well constructed, good performances by cast, there is, for my taste (and that of my Bonnie Bride’s) way too much profanity and a lot of unnecessary nudity and sexuality. Okay, maybe if I were a teenager still, I’d dig those elements more. But I am long past that stage in life, and my Bonnie Bride has zero interest in seeing women’s boobies bouncing around. And we were both very glad our daughter, Little Miss, chose not to watch it with us (she had homework to do).
We did learn one interesting bit of history from the show: the pirates talked about how much money they pillaged from the cargo of the ship they looted in terms of Dollars. We were both – “say what?” - as it made it sound like they were talking in terms of U.S. Dollars, which didn’t exist in 1715. Off to wikipedia. And low and behold, they were referring to the Spanish Dollar, which was considered a global currency, and was more commonly referred to as “Pieces of Eight”, a term more common in usage films involving pirates – check it out at - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_dollar.

Although the Black Sails is not something we plan on continuing with as it is not our cup of tea, it may be a show that others will enjoy a lot more than we did. As always, just because I didn’t care for a film doesn’t mean you will agree with me. Make your own call on it. At least the first episode is currently still free on Amazon.

Thanks for stopping by.

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