Airtime: Mondays, 10 p.m., STARZ
Premise: Captain Flint (Toby Stephens) and his pirate crew attempt to survive on the pirate stronghold of New Providence Island while searching for a legendary treasure.
Watch if you liked: DaVinci’s Demons
Overall grade: C-
The first five minutes of “Black Sails” is everything anyone could want out of a pirate drama. Swashbuckling, ships being destroyed, explosions and men looking at each others ships through golden telescopes. It’s an intense and brutal scene that displays some of the best-looking action I’ve seen on television in a while.
But then the show moves on land, and it’s a sinking ship from there.
Black Sails can’t conceivably be a high-budget action TV show. Such a venture is financially impossible. The show already spends so much money on the beautiful sets and designs that speak more to Hollywood blockbuster than premiere cable drama.
But million-dollar visuals aside, Black Sails is boring. The main problem is that none of the characters are remotely interesting or likable. Toby Stephen’s Captain Flint is a complete cipher who is given nothing to do for the majority of the pilot. Few members of the supporting cast make an impression beyond their archetype: the prostitute, the scoundrel, the lesbian, the psycho, the reliable second-in-command.
That’s not to say that Black Sails can’t be interesting later on. The show could make all of this bureaucracy mumbo-jumbo engaging if they can at least breathe some life into the characters (or if writers really get crazy – actually make them interesting). But, considering the pilot consisted of nearly an hour of dull characters conversing, it’s also possible that the show is simple destined to languish in mediocrity.
