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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