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Recently I was starting to have an interest in Shows that play in different historical periods.

After HBO's Deadwood and Rome I stumbled upon this show.

It is absolutely amazing. The actors are all great, the set design and overall world is beautiful and the action scenes are intense.

I want to also focus on Captain Flint and John Silver who have both incredibly great character arcs. Another highlight was Ray Stevenson as Edward Teach.

This show grips you and you want to continue watching and it's honestly hard to stop.

If there is a nitpick I have it's with Maxwell. Not her character or anything, but her fake accent was honestly painful to listen to at times. Everytime she spoke I cringed a little. She was also involved in a love triangle and I absolutely loathe those especially this one because it felt forced and the actors didn't have the greatest of chemistry.

But that aside Black Sails is an incredible show and criminally underrated!

Black Sails is absolutely one of the most underrated shows ever. It was so good that I binged the entire series in a week. Everything about this show is damn near perfect...the writing, acting, cinematography, production value, costumes, all of it! You can tell the effort they put into this show by the attention to detail in every scene. The acting and writing are so good that you really come to care about what happens to these characters. This is by far the best series I've ever seen about pirates and definitely a show that is for adults. I was hooked from the very first episode through to the very last. Every season is fantastic.

Black Sails is a thrilling and well-crafted series that elevates the pirate genre to new heights. Set in the golden age of piracy, this gritty and intense prequel to Treasure Island masterfully blends historical events with fictionalized accounts of legendary pirates like Captain Flint, Charles Vane, and Blackbeard.

The show excels in its character development, weaving complex and morally ambiguous arcs that keep viewers invested throughout. Toby Stephens as Captain Flint delivers a powerhouse performance, portraying a leader torn between his ideals and darker instincts. Each major character, from the fiery Eleanor Guthrie to the cunning John Silver, is layered, making their alliances and betrayals all the more impactful.

The writing is sharp, with intelligent dialogue that goes beyond the typical action-adventure fare, touching on themes of power, freedom, and loyalty. The show also doesn't shy away from exploring difficult social issues adding depth to the storytelling.

Visually, Black Sails is stunning. The high production value shines through in the meticulously detailed sets, breathtaking naval battles, and sweeping cinematography. Every sea battle is choreographed with precision, offering a visceral, edge-of-your-seat experience.

While the pace may be slow at times, especially in the earlier episodes as it sets the stage for larger conflicts, the payoffs are consistently worth the build-up. As the show progresses, the stakes only grow higher, leading to a finale that ties the narrative threads together in a satisfying and thought-provoking way.

In short, Black Sails is more than just a pirate show; it's a complex drama filled with political intrigue, intense action, and richly developed characters. It stands out as one of the best series in the adventure genre, blending history and fiction into a swashbuckling epic with real emotional weight.

I can't believe how low the score is on imdb for such a masterpiece. This show should be rated much higher.

All the actors were amazing in this show. You could really feel the passion for each individual character portrayed by each great actor.

The writing was top tier with the twists and turns in the entire story. Each and every writer involved in this series should give themselves a pat on the back, as they are all amazing and talented. You should be proud of your skills.

The camera and editing teams were amazing. You outdid yourselves in every way possible.

For the other team members such as costume, set and FX crews as well as the rest of the team, you all went above and beyond. Absolutely amazing!

This show should be above a 9 in my opinion and I personally rate this show a 10/10. I re-watch this show at least once a year, and as a writer myself, I don't think I could top such a plot with such skill involving the world of pirates.

This show is a 100% must watch! You won't regret it!

"Black Sails" is a gritty and immersive pirate drama that dives deep into the dark underbelly of the Golden Age of Piracy. The series centers on Captain Flint and his ruthless pursuit of power, weaving a narrative filled with betrayal, complex loyalties, and moral ambiguity. With strong performances, intricate character development, and high production values, "Black Sails" offers a refreshing yet brutal look at pirate life. While it takes creative liberties with historical facts, its compelling storytelling and intense atmosphere make it a must-watch for fans of action-packed, character-driven dramas.

The visuals, the acting, the writing, it's all perfect and there are very few TV shows that close off leaving you wishing they never ended but Black Sails is that TV show. It's a masterpiece from beginning to the very end. I like how the end is shrouded in mystery. You feel bittersweet like many the good guy didn't win but you hope that the good guy is in a better place, maybe a place he'd rather be. This is one of those stories that I think fall into the Shakespearean Tragedy category. These are rare stories but the very best. A tragic hero is a protagonist of a tragedy who usually has a fatal flaw or uses bad judgement, which ends in death or downfall. Usually the hero actually dies in the end. In Black Sails, we just don't know but we are left wondering how it all really ended. This is the best TV series of all time. Better than Breaking Bad, better than Game of Thrones, better than them all.....from beginning until the end.

It's impossible to over-rate this series. Black Sails is pirates done right, at last, putting to shame all other video renditions (especially the over-the-top Disney fantasies).

A few comparisons are in order. For example, Black Sails is highly reminiscent of the series Deadwood: both are dark, violent and based loosely on real people and real events. (In both series, some of the most unbelievable events are the true ones.) There are also similarities to the series Rome, as far as the strong characters, ongoing rivalries, and evocative period detail. But Black Sails out-does these predecessors in several ways.

First, the characters are, without exception, brilliant. Captain Flint, Jack Rackham, Anne Bonny, John Silver, Charles Vane - these personalities are truly memorable. Larger than life, yet always credible, always consistent. You probably won't recognize the actors, but they *will* make you forget Errol Flynn and Johnny Depp.

Second, the dialog is amazingly literate, almost Shakespearean. Without seeming artificial. Characters constantly engage in deep, intense discussions that are often more engrossing than the ship-board action.

Third, the intertwining tensions and plot-lines are maintained with absolute logic throughout all four seasons. We see winners, losers and casualties, all utterly believable within the bounds of the show. Power ebbs and flows among the various factions, and the conflicts always feel real.

Fourth, the ending is one of the most satisfying I've seen for any multi-season dramatic series. Everything comes together, as if you'd been watching a single, very long movie. What's more, despite the deaths, the violence, the many defeats that end this story, the series wraps up on an upbeat note and leaves the audience with a big grin.

As a bonus, the historical underpinnings are used cleverly. The show isn't constrained by the facts - it expands on them in a way that's both plausible and enthralling. Black Sails seamlessly blends history and myth, and even finds time to comment on the way they interact.

The staging is impressive, by any standard. The naval battles are believable, and depicted on a grand scale. The inevitable computer graphics look real enough to keep viewers immersed. The hot Caribbean sun permeates every frame of the series.

In short, Black Sails is one of the most thoroughly enjoyable dramatic series ever. It's great adventure, great drama, and by far the best screen representation of the great days of nautical piracy. This is one series you don't want to miss.

The story is very good; despite the annoyance of several characters whom one would wish to see them dead, but the continue to live throughout the season !

Nonetheless, it's all part of the act I suppose; and the cinematics and filming was beyond incredible.

When viewed on 720 or 1080p quality, the viewer actually feels they are in the Caribbean in the time where the filming took place. The Nassau island looked just as real as it did in the past centuries.

Other than that, I'm sure all viewers appreciated the fact that it took more than 300 people to build one of those ships used for filming the series.

Overall, I'm sure looking forward for another season.

(Review updated after Season 4).

A prequel to the (fictional) events of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island". The series centres on a group of pirates operating out of Nassau in the Bahamas. We meet characters from history - Captain Charles Vane, Governor Woodes Rogers, Jack Rackham and Anne Bonny - plus characters from fiction - Captain Flint and, of course, Long John Silver.

Starts weakly, gets really good in Season 2, manages to retain that form in Season 3 before ending with a very weak Season 4.

Season 1 of Black Sails was lacklustre - seemed to plod along with no point or direction. I almost gave up on the series after Season 1.

However, I gave Season 2 a try and am very glad I did. It all comes together there. The action ratchets up several notches, the plot gets much tighter and edgier, the disparate characters and sub-plots all start to have a purpose.

Season 2 is a massive transformation from Season 1.

Season 3 retained Season 2's grittiness and watchability. Was maybe a touch less focused than S2 but this is a minor issue. The Flint- Silver verbiage overload and over-self-analysis of their relationship in S3 was irritating and made S2 better.

Season 4, the final season, promised closure and lots of action. There was heaps of action and there was some degree of closure but the plot felt very unfocused and contrived. The writing gets quite weak and sloppy in this season, with implausible and/or random turns of events. We also have double/triple-crossings just for the sake of them, to the point where you have about five different factions fighting each other. It became difficult to know who was on whose side. Seemed like complexity for the sake of complexity.

What's more, the verbose language of Season 3 continued and, in fact, got worse. Instead of saying something in one sentence we have these long drawn-out speeches. So boring you zone out and then miss an important twist. It's as if the writers were padding the script with dialogue, they were so bereft of ideas.

A pity, as Season 2 promised so much for the future.

Season ratings: S1 6/10, S2 9, S3 8, S4 6.

(Shortened summary in the bottom of the review)

(Black Sails) is a spectacular Pirates tale about the most beloved and legendary fictional Pirate King and Captain going by the name of Long John Silver and the Pirate Captain Flint where we get a deep look into everything of what happened before the popular novel of "Treasure Island" and it certainly does phenomenally in doing that, giving some of the best showings of Pirates in a live-action show/movie with only the likes of the "Pirates of The Caribbean" movies have been able to do better.

All in all a magnificent tv-show with fantastic acting and well written episodes all the way through and some fantastic set pieces and well done editing that you just have to watch if you love Pirates or something dramatic and adventures!!

(9.7/10)

Shortened summary: An dramatic, adventures and really well told original fictional story of the Pirate King Long John Silver and his close ally and friend Captain Flint.

You can read the other reviews. This is a good show for a pirate show and its not scared to make moves. It gets a lot of points for "how the hell are they going to get out of this one." Theres actually a lot of scenes on boats, which is nice and kind of gives a pirates life which is why I watched this show.

.... buuuut..... imho, it gets pretty darn talk about 3/4 through the seasons. Season 1 was good enough to pick up season 2 which was pretty good and pretty actiony I guess and drew me into season 3 which imo bogged way down with "politics" and the prostitutes story line which imo they should have just cut her out because I got to find her and her accent annoying. I won't lie in that I got like 3, maybe 4 episodes into the last season and I'll be honest I couldn't drag myself to finish this although I have read that it does wrap up well but I'd just jump to the last two episodes because it just becomes talk between people or teams of who is going to out game who.

Few couple seasons though, pretty good.

Blue eyed pirates with perfect teeth, half naked women with perfect breasts ruins the authenticity of this show I get a better feeling of truth from " the bachelor" I kept waiting for someone to hand out a rose

Black Sails is just a flat out awesome show that is so addicting that once you start watching it, you can't stop! It's the prequel to "Treasure Island." It didn't get nearly the attention that it deserved at the time and that's probably because it was on STARZ when they were just branching out into original tv shows. This was one of their first big budget tv shows and it's worth every second you put into watching it! People are finally starting to find out about it now that STARZ has become bigger and more well know with shows like Spartacus, the Power franchise, Outlander, etc and is on streaming sites like Hulu. We still got 4 amazing seasons out of it though.

Black Sails is a great series throughout, each season kept a level of intrigue and this made it series one of those rare shows where you count down the days until the new season.

The show was full of sex, violence, power struggles and everything you would expect for a show about pirates. The ending did a great service to the show and provided a meaningful exit to the characters.

I did feel the show warranted more seasons or a spin off series but it appears neither have come to fruition.

I would recommend watching this show as it is offering something different, will leave you desperate for more and despite the historical inaccuracies the characters are based on real historic figures which adds some authenticity to the show.

OK, it has it's flaws, it has fictional characters united with the real ones, yeah, it is using the "pirates hype", but MY GOD, it is a good show! I hear people complaining about the pace, or about lack of fighting and plunder, but I assure you, it is not needed, for it has a lot of intrigues, unanswered questions, all sort of factors that will make you gasp on an episode per episode. The acting is exceptional, especially by Toby Stephens, who is unbelievable as Cpt. Flint, with such charisma that makes you root for him even dough he certainly doesn't deserve it. Female characters were a weak spot at the beginning, but that reeeeally changed quickly. I stumbled on this show while I was waiting for the new GoT season to start, and boy, was I surprised, I had more fun watching this than watered down episodes of GoT, that seem to go on forever, in one infinite circle. That was my favorite show, but after Breaking bad, True detective, and now this, the flaws are more than evident. "Black sails" are an absolute gem, I'm sorry for the all hate it's getting from the critics/GoT/Spartacus fans...

To tell the truth there were many times in the first season that I almost stopped watching this show. But I stuck with it and boy was it ever rewarding. Season 1 was pretty slow to me sometimes boarder line uneventful. I know a few people that stopped watching after season one because of this. But Season 2 has been explosive. Probably one of the best seasons of a TV show out there and it was all due to the character development from the first season.

During season 2 I found myself consistently updating my rating of this show. I initially had it scored a 6 out of 10. Now have it a solid 9. I can't wait for the next season.

If you are planing to watch this show. Stick with it through some of the long drawn out scenes in season 1 and you will be rewarded immensely.

This is defiantly another winner for starz

I don't think I can describe how good this show is (and I'm pretty good with words) but I will give it a try.

Here we go then:

I love Pirates! I love freedom! I love the sea! And I love this show cause it's all that and much more. I couldn't be more grateful to the people who brought this masterpiece to life! Thank you! From the very first episode I was on board (pun intended). I couldn't stop watching. I was addicted and I became depressed when this journey came to an end (another pun intended). Excellent performances, great characters, excellent dialogue, perfect story, simply genius! I love Pirates of The Caribbean too but Black Sails was something different. It was realistic. A lot of things from the show apply in our todays life and todays society. I laughed, I cried, I was mad and angry and many times I was in shock but I loved every single moment of this. From the depths of my heart, THANK YOU!

Whoever hasn't watched it yet, make yourselves a favor and just watch it.

Black Sails is a gritty realistic period piece with an awesome line up of characters, and beautiful cinematography. The dialogue in Black Sail is very layered and the character development is perfect, all thanks to the believable performances. There's many twists, brutal moments, and epic battles. It's the most realistic pirate show out there. With an obvious attention to detail and epic scale, you really feel like your in that world. And the amazing world building just makes Black Sails denser . Also the unforgettable duo Captain Flint & Long John Silver, was just so great to watch. Black Sails is Stellar Television don't miss out!!

I like Black Sails... but at the same time I pretty much despise its fast and loose disregard for the political and social realities of the 18thCentury in favor of the Political Correctness of the 21st Inshort neither women or slaves had anywhere near the voice given to them in the show. If an alien were to view the episodes of this show, he would be forced to believe that 18th Century British Colonial society was entirely dictated by women..at least the most sensible, strategic, business and moral aspects of that society.

This level of nonsense detracts from the little historicity extant in the series.

Friends have been telling me to watch Black Sails for years, yet I put it off because I did not have Starz (and also because it didn't look that appealing overall). I recently earned myself a few free months of Starz and decided to give this is a shot, and I am so incredibly happy I did.

Throughout the show, I found myself utterly surprised by the overall quality of...everything. The ship battles are sincerely epic, while not occurring so often as to make them seem dull. The costume design, set design, ships, location etc. are all extremely well done. The creators also got many of the historical aspects of the time correct, much to my astonishment. I found myself fact checking things said or done in the show only to find that they were indeed real or at the very least, plausible. This is not a children's story; Black Sails portrays pirate life much differently than we are used to seeing in present standards.

The acting in this show is truly captivating as well. While some of the lesser characters don't deliver their best at all times, the mainstays of the show are always at their very best. From the badass captain Flint to the nefarious Charles Vane, every character feels impactful. This is very much a show about anti-heroes; you will find yourself rooting for the bad guys more often than not. I tip my cap to all the actors involved, as the central cast does a truly fantastic job.

Luckily, Black Sails also improves as it progresses. Midway through the first season, I was left with mixed feelings. By the end of the 4th season, I was stunned and utterly upset it was over. You really become attached to these characters throughout the seasons, which to me is a sign of great character development. Black Sails does it better than almost any show out there, matched only by the very best.

I rarely give out 10s, but this show is most deserving of it's rating in my opinion. From everything I stated and more, Black Sails will go down as one of my favorite TV shows of all time (and probably the best damn pirate saga we may ever get).