Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Episodes: 10
Duration: approx. 53 min. (per episode)
Black Sails: Season 4 (DVD) – Series Review
Black Sails has been entertaining us with stories of the pirate life, based on actual existing characters for three seasons now, and the fourth aired not that long ago, allowing it to be bundled and hit the stores only recently. We have been loving this series from the start and it’s sad to learn that the fourth season will be the conclusive one, making yet another series bite the dust. We were promised an ending which is something not all series get when they are cancelled or when they are no longer deemed worthy to continue. Nonetheless, it’s better to have a grand finale when things are still going strong, rather than have a series go on endlessly and be forgotten by the masses. We were wondering how the pirate forces would manage with the untimely death of captain Charles Vane.
The key pirate figures have been chased out of Nassau, but they won’t take it lying down, as captain Flint (Toby Stephens), John Silver (Luke Arnold) and the rest of the pirates are approaching Nassau again. Little did they know there would be a barricade in place thanks to the remains of two sunken ships, turning Flint’s ship into a sitting duck. Nonetheless, Flint and Madi (Zethu Dlomo) survived the cannon barrage, and have hope that Silver is also out there, safe.
Teach, otherwise known as the legendary Blackbeard (Ray Stevenson) was in control of the ship that also held Jack Rackham (Toby Schmitz) and Anne Bonny (Clara Paget). He decided however to stop his approach and try to get away, as the governor’s forces set in their pursuit. While the governor’s forces are plenty, it would be wise not to underestimate a legendary figure such as Teach.
On the mainland, governor Rogers (Luke Roberts) is intent on making Nassau his, but the pirates defy him every step of the way. Lucky for him he can use Eleanor Guthrie’s (Hannah New) expertise on the matter and also has Max (Jessica Parker Kennedy) who assists him. The latter is only out to strengthen her own position, but is slowly losing faith in the governor, as he expects her full cooperation without any sign of being reimbursed for her efforts.
All this happens while the story of the legendary ‘Long John Silver’ is slowly being built by Billy (Tom Hopper), making Silver into something like a pirate king, making his word law and order. Nonetheless, the pirates actually need Silver alive in order to become the figurehead of the coming war to regain control of Nassau.
The flow of the series remains the same as in the previous seasons, where Black Sails is one big story, rather than handle separate cases or scenarios per episode. This makes the series a bit more ‘epic’ as everything contributes to the grand scheme, rather than create many separate small stories. The characters evolve throughout the series, Nassau remains the focal point and the hidden treasure will once again be an important item in order to keep Nassau under the pirates’ control, as it may or may not end up funding the war, or at least motivate those fighting in the upcoming battles.
Cast wise nothing has really changed, the leading characters still have their time on the open seas and other minor characters still appear just as frequently as they have before. The characters keep evolving, which shows how versatile this cast truly is. The new governor played by Luke Roberts is slowly dwindling down to a state of insanity as he is constantly being forced to surpass his limits to gain total control over Nassau. Other than that, Madi, played by Zethu Dlomo is gaining a more important role this season, as she is pretty much the head of the alliance between the slaves and the pirates, hoping to bundle their forces into becoming one large organized army.
For what is to be the definitive and final season of Black Sails, the DVD edition doesn’t come with all that many extras. You’ll get a fairly long featurette on how the series was shaped plus a few very short sequences about the leading ladies of the series, the comparison with treasure island (book), and a few funny anecdotes about how the fans responded to seeing the actors in real life. We’re quite sad that this final physical release didn’t come with any more special features, as this is a final goodbye after all.
Conclusion
Black Sails: Season 4 is a great finish to a reasonably short series that revolved around factual material, as well as many loosely interpreted items to make the series more exciting and to shape the interesting pirate world into something more than mere plunder, rape, murder and torture. While some parts of the final season may feel a bit rushed, the unexpected twists and turns are what keeps this season afloat and gives it that very interesting ending one can only be happy with. Even though we’re sad to see this series go, we’re happy it got a decent ending.
Black Sails: Season 4 (DVD) – Series Review,
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