To be totally, totally honest… I watched the pilot for Starz’s “Black Sails” because of Outlander. That’s the honest truth. Except “Pirates of the Caribbean” (just the first one, actually), I’m not that into pirates. Ok, ok… I will listen to the audibook for “Treasure Island”, but that’s just cuz Luke Evans is reading it!!! So long story short… I watched “Black Sails” hoping it was Outlander.
Talking about “Treasure Island”, this show is sort of a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novel. It takes place 20 years prior to the book and features many of its characters like Captain Flint, Billy Bones and Long John Silver, who ain’t Long yet, together with real-life female buccaneer Anne Bonny.
I was a huge fan of the network’s version of “Spartacus”, so I have high hopes for Starz products (haven’t watched “The White Queen” yet…). And the combination of Starz + Pirates meant lots of blood and lots of sex. I know it was just the pilot, but there wasn’t much of either.
For the sake of not forgetting anything, I’ll list what I liked and then what I didn’t like, ok? Good
What did I like?
- The title sequence: great idea using the sculptures and doing it sort of in black and white. And the music was awesome! It’s by Bear McCreary, who is the composer for Outlander (Yay!!!)
- The fact that they don’t waste time explaining the world, the lingo, the customs, the clothes, and so forth. They just dive into the whole pirate world, no questions asked. They just assume their audience knows a pirate when they see one and they’ll just buy into the world. That’s refreshing. I as a viewer don’t need to be introduced to everything in every show.
- The look: I loved the clothes, the sets, the images. It was perfect.
- The Eye Candy: just the one, sadly. Pirate Billy Bones. Who at first appears to be quite dumb, but by the end… he might not be… that dumb.
- Storylines: things might get interesting. There are a lot of crisscrossing storylines that might get complicated in time. And the female characters aren’t merely decorative
What didn’t I like?
- I was expecting lots of violence, sex, blood, nakedness, gore and… stuff. Lots and lots of it. Apparently, I watched the PG-13 version. There wasn’t enough.
- After the initial sequence of the pirates taking over a ship, the pilot was talk, talk, talk. I know its the first episode and they have to set the story and the ground rules but… where was the action? It did get boring after a while.
- I wasn’t rooting for a character right away. I didn’t ship anyone (I mean, its a show about pirates, who travel by “ship” and I couldn’t ship anyone!!!). I usually have a favorite character after 5 minutes of watching the show. Happen with Felicity, Tyrion, Kurt Hummel, Lady Sybil… Here? None.
- I fell short of the expectations. I don’t know if it was the fact that it was highly publicized, there was so much hype around it or what… but it wasn’t that grand. I mean… it didn’t make me wanna watch the 2nd episode.
All in all, it wasn’t bad. But its not a show I’d watch. Sorry….
