WARNING: spoilers below
Monday, April 3, 2017
Black Sails: Farewell
Well, I can't say I was overjoyed about the Black Sails finale, and not just because I didn't want to see this vivid, vibrant series end.
I would have liked to see a little more connection between this ending, and what we know of our heroes based on Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island - of which Black Sails was explicitly presented as a prequel.
Black Sails ends with not even a hint of Flint becoming a pirate again. I have no problem with his giving it up for the man he loves, but I wanted to see at least a hint, a suggestion, of how he got back on the high seas again.
Otherwise, the ending was strong. Long John being turned away by his love is a good entree to his subsequent life with the skull and crossbones. Billy Bones surviving was necessary, as he, too, is spoken of by Stevenson.
Rackham was a real person in our history, and he did not have a happy ending. There was no indication of that in the Black Sails finale, other than a life of piracy cannot have a happy ending, but that was ok.
But back to Flint. Long John's strategy of giving Flint what he most wanted, so he would give up his quest to change the world didn't work as an ending even if we didn't know what Stevenson had in store for him. Finding Thomas could well have invigorated Flint, made him even stronger in his resolve, to right what he saw as wrongs in the world.
Still, if the finale was not as good as it could have been, the overall series was memorable and I'd highly recommend it. May piracy on the seas live forever as a form of fiction in print and on the screen.
Monday, April 3, 2017
Black Sails: Farewell
Well, I can't say I was overjoyed about the Black Sails finale, and not just because I didn't want to see this vivid, vibrant series end.
I would have liked to see a little more connection between this ending, and what we know of our heroes based on Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island - of which Black Sails was explicitly presented as a prequel.
Black Sails ends with not even a hint of Flint becoming a pirate again. I have no problem with his giving it up for the man he loves, but I wanted to see at least a hint, a suggestion, of how he got back on the high seas again.
Otherwise, the ending was strong. Long John being turned away by his love is a good entree to his subsequent life with the skull and crossbones. Billy Bones surviving was necessary, as he, too, is spoken of by Stevenson.
Rackham was a real person in our history, and he did not have a happy ending. There was no indication of that in the Black Sails finale, other than a life of piracy cannot have a happy ending, but that was ok.
But back to Flint. Long John's strategy of giving Flint what he most wanted, so he would give up his quest to change the world didn't work as an ending even if we didn't know what Stevenson had in store for him. Finding Thomas could well have invigorated Flint, made him even stronger in his resolve, to right what he saw as wrongs in the world.
Still, if the finale was not as good as it could have been, the overall series was memorable and I'd highly recommend it. May piracy on the seas live forever as a form of fiction in print and on the screen.
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