Black Sails: What is it and why should you watch it?

jadedbirch:

bisexualcyborg:

I currently have four asks in my inbox asking me to talk about Black Sails; I’m not going to answer them all separately, so you get this post.

Short version: Black Sails is a twenty-years prequel to Treasure Island, featuring characters such as Captain Flint, John Silver, Billy Bones and Ben Gunn, but also historical characters like Charles Vane, Jack Rackham, Anne Bonny, Blackbeard and Woodes Rogers. It’s not entirely faithful to either TI or historical events, but it manages to combine all those storylines in a believable and compelling way. The cast is impressively diverse (especially for a historical show, where writers tend to jump on the “but historical accuracy!!!!” excuse way too easily) and all the characters are well-rounded, complex and original. There are no “good” or “bad guys,” since there are main characters are on all sides, which makes the moral complexity of such events very apparent. The writers also play with narrative and stories in a way I’ve rarely seen on TV.

Long version goes behind a cut bc this will get long (there will be spoilers, but the thing is some of the elements that make this show worth watching only happen in later seasons).

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@bea2me Starz.com has all 3 seasons streaming for free