Black Sails (2014 TV show)

I think I would say I am quietly overwhelmed. And at peace. Often at the end of great shows I feel crazy and giddy and strung out, awed by the story and the ending. This one... this one is complete. So complete, the ending is a good thing and not a feeling of impending withdrawal. I guess because we, and the show creators, know this was all leading up to the story of Treasure Island. So there isn't such a feeling of finality. The story is not over... this is just the beginning. :)

But it is the end of a great show, with great characters, actors, cinematographers, composers, writers, directors etc!! Such a gorgeous show on so many levels! I'm gonna go backwards... the end when we have the top view of the plantation and we see Thomas just as a figure from above, and I gotta say... my heart leapt to my throat. There he was! I felt as if Flint must've felt. And I'm reminded of Flint's scene with Miranda, when she tells him he should not feel ashamed of his love for Thomas. And what a standard message we're trying so often to convey these days (with minimal success :/ ), and to have that be slapped away by Flint for something so vastly more important... the shame of not saving him. sigh.

Which brings me to other great scenes... after Miranda is killed and Vane saves Flint and they wreck such havoc and vengeful destruction on Charlestown. And you can't help but be right behind them and wishing the complete and utterly deserved annihilation of this place. And then the finale of season 3 when Vane indicates to Billy to let him be hung. Knowing how powerful his death would be, how critically helpful it would be to the cause. And I can't help but think of Vane's journey... from who he started out as, to that noble death... amazing.

And Jack in this last episode!! Priceless!! Hahahahaa!! When he and Featherstone are talking about how exciting it was to be at a turning point of history and then to be interrupted by news of the death of the one person who could get them there... and Jack just stands there looking at the dead body saying, "Ahuh." More standing, and another "Ahuh." ... Hahaha!! It killed me!

And then the relationship that developed between Flint and Silver. A more powerful bromance I have yet to see! All of the relationships in this show were so strong! They all meant so much to each other, often in such different and unusual ways. And Ned Low! What a scary bad guy! Amidst scary pirates! :P I feel they could've kept him around longer.

I'll say here what I say to anyone that lets me rave about the show to them. I think what absolutely made this show stand out from any show I've ever watched... the characters do such awful, violent things to others, even to each other, yet almost every single one is sympathetic. You can usually get behind them, could actually relate. Why? Because they all want things sooooo goddamn badly! Sooooo badly they will literally turn on each other! YET will also forgive, or at least overlook, past transgressions, again for this higher goal. And they are higher goals. Who would've thought I could see the nobility of Star Trek: TNG in a show about pirates! Star Trek had achieved a better world, and the characters in Black Sails are fighting for it! Tooth and nail, scrap by scrap, sacrifice by sacrifice. Mrs. Hudson's line to Eleanor struck me coz it described this show best, she tells her: every day you try to be better than the day before. So few shows today can say that of their characters. :( Not when you're inundated with post-apocalyptic premises just so you can justify characters behaving as disgustingly as possible. C'mon! A pirates show has outclassed you!

This show caught me in the first couple of episodes partly coz of setting. Who could get tired of looking at turquoise waters and white beaches!? ;) And then also who could get tired of looking at the smokin' hot male characters! ;) ;) And finally who could get tired of watching some actually "strong female characters" who weren't tropes!?! :D :D :D

And you know the men are hot when there's Twitter accounts like @TomHoppersArms and @ZachCheekbones!! Needless to say, I'm an avid follower of theirs! haha! ;)

And I can't say enough about the music. I'm in love with so much of what Bear McCreary does! My all time favourites are gonna be his soundtracks for: Black Sails (of course), Outlander and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. And in this last episode I especially noticed it was the existing themes, but quieter, slower, marking an ending. These last few episodes reminded me of the last season of The Office. Where you can tell everyone, actors, writers, etc know this is the end and is sad for it, but enjoying the last of it nonetheless.

Farewell Black Sails. I shall miss you.

(well at least til I can get my hands on a complete bluray collection???? ;)