I looked through the forum, and surprising there wasn't a thread for this so I thought I'd make one.

Black Sails is a chronicle of the adventures of the infamous pirate Captain Flint, his shipmates and his rivals in the early 18th-century Caribbean. The series is a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island," and is set 20 years before the events depicted in that literary classic.

Network: Starz

The above summary is an edited form of the one on IMDb.

Most of us who've read Treasure Island remember Long John Silver. While Black Sails is marketed as being focused on Captain Flint, the story seems to mostly revolve around Long John Silver (not called Lon yet) and his machinations. He doesn't have a wooden leg or his parrot yet, but this series is set 20 years before that so we might yet see it.

It's directed by Michael Bay and in certain ways it's typical Starz fare - gratuitous tits, nudity and violence (not that these are bad in anyway). I tried the show after watching the trailer Black Sails, and I was hooked.

The show starts of Flint and his crew attacking a ship. The crew assume its 's for loot, but Flint is after the schedule of a treasure galleon Urca de Lima. Silver's a member of the attacked ship, and he manages to procure the packet just before they're attacked. After discovering that that's Flint's after, he tries to sell the packet to another pirate, but the scheme blows up in his face - with Flint and Charles Vane both gunning for him.

Spoiler

In the end to save his own skin, he memorizes the schedule and burns it so Flint has no choice but to keep him alive

So far my favorite character is Long John Silver - it's fun to watch him manipulate and worm his way in and out of trouble. Complex characters aplenty, and the storyline thus far is proving to intricate with interesting subplots. So far pirates such as Captain Flint, Charles Vane, Jack Rackham, Anne Bonny, and there's one mystery guy who is almost certainly Blackbeard, as well as characters from the book such as Billy Bones and Israel Hands have made appearances, and all have parts to play in the tale. There's also Eleanor Guthrie, the woman who runs most of the trade on Nassau (where all the pirates are based) and a woman not to cross, as well as the myterious Miranda Barlow, whose part has not been established yet but so far it seems she has a big hand to play in a lot of the stuffs that's happening.

I won't ramble any longer. Give it a try and lemme know your thoughts.

 

I'll have to disagree with you. The show is about Flint and I don't get where you're getting that it revolves around Silver. I mean the only thing he has going for him as of now is still being alive and having the plans, other than that he hasn't been involved in any important plot points and has interacted with anyone in any meaningful way.

He's just an asshole who'll betray anyone at the drop of a hat to get what he wants. I can't see how he's compelling but I will agree that the actor plays him well.

Now Jack on the other hand is the best character so far he's smart, he's loyal, charismatic and manipulative(has the best lines by far). I still don't get why he's still following Vane but he's by far the one character who seems to actively do shit.

Spoiler

Loved the reveal that him and Bonny were together.

The show itself isn't great it has its up and downs but if you like anything pirates you'll like it and it mixes in real life pirates with fictional pirates well. Plus thanks to Black Flag I understand so many things that I wouldn't have known about and I love it.

Spoiler

Do you think that Flint really tried to get Billy? From the books Billy and Silver were really loyal to him weren't they?

 

The main driving action behind the story is Flint's quest for the Urca and Silver's the only one with the know-how to get him there. Yes Flint is still the main focus, but what I meant was that I get the feeling Silver'll become more prominent once Flint has his guns and the actual quest starts. So far he's playing everyone against everyone, and no one is quite aware of it.

I'm not sure about the asshole part and he hasn't quite betrayed anyone yet. The actor who plays him does a good job, but Silver's manipulative you-think-I'm-harmless-I-can-stick-a-knife-in-your-back characterization is canon, at least from the Treasure Island. So far he doesn't seem to be much of a fighter but he slips away from far more dangerous opponents by using his wits which is why I find him compelling.

Jack is awesome, but I'm not quite sure he's as loyal as you think he is. It's every man for himself and if anyone follows that dogma it'll be him and Silver. I don't know why he's sticking with Vane yet but we'll see. Bonny is awesome.

Spoiler

Silver's only looking out for himself, and we never saw enough from Billy in the books afaik to say that he was loyal to Flint, only that he was on Flint's crew. That said he is/was loyal in this series and look where that got him. I was quite surprised, but Flint has shown himself to be quite cutthroat so far. Still why do I get this feeling that Billy Bones might not be dead? I liked his character well enough.

 

He didn't even think twice about trying to turn Flint against Billy, who was the only one who treated him with any sort of decency. I don't know sometimes it works but for me here the guy just comes across as really unlikeable.

Spoiler

remember him not really giving a shit about what happened to the whore?

Jack is loyal to vane though, isn't he? I mean he could have left when Vane was banned but he stuck around.

 

Not with Hammond and his cronies waiting to stick a knife in his back for losing all that money. And where would he have gone? To Flint? I doubt Flint trusts him.

 

Eh Flint needs all the able bodied people he can and Jack could convince Hammond that going with Flint would be the best way to get their money back and then some.

Spoiler

It seemed to me that the letter Billy found was a false and it was what the captain of the ship was writing when he's first mate came to warn him and it was left there purposely to trap flint. Which is why I still don't get Flint's actions

Historically Bonny was captain of a ship right? I really want to see her do something that shows how a woman would survive in such a world and actually become feared.

 

I'm enjoying this show. It has adequate amounts of pirateyness.

But I also feel like nothing really interesting happens in any given episode.

 

Spoiler

You mean the whore that he just met and barely knew, who forced her way into the situation? I mean she quite literally threatened him into allowing her to be his agent. To him she probably brought it upon herself.

I quite like Silver though, and I'd agree that he's probably going to take a larger role soon. Or at least I hope he does.

 

Roommates have been watching this, and I've been half-paying attention.

Not a fan. Very boring, nothing exciting to me has happened, and the lesbian relationship just feels like it is there for HLA, which turns me off.

Also some of the accents are terrible.

 

What happened to make you feel that it wasn't genuine?

 

Nothing really in particular, it just reeks of 'people think lesbians are hot, let's have lesbians!' Could just be bad acting, but it just felt forced.

 

'Lesbians are hot, let's have lesbians' is a Starz Network staple.

 

That is some vile fucking cliffhanger for a season finale.