Intimacy on Black Sails is unconcerned with the trappings of traditional heterosexual relationships, i.e., marriage, monogamy, and power skewed toward men. Open relationships abound. Four lead characters are sexually fluid, and two of the show’s primary romantic relationships are threesomes. Even more astoundingly, Black Sails doesn’t treat them salaciously. Rather, it legitimizes those nontraditional relationships involving more than two people by exploring their true emotional weight.
[…] In true anti-establishment pirate fashion, Black Sails audaciously builds itself on territory that holds a middle finger up to societal norms — both in the 1700s and today, when bedroom activities are still a political issue. Pirates don’t give a damn, neither does Black Sails. No other adventure show covers such an area with this degree of depth. It’s also nonchalant about it: It doesn’t laud itself for being “edgy.” It simply tells the story it wants to, almost charmingly unaware of its own uniqueness.