NBC’s ‘Crossbones’ episode 2 review: Is the pirate ship sinking?

The second episode of “Crossbones” aired on NBC Friday night, but we have a hard time being able to sit here and say that we were particularly stunned or in love with anything. There were some nice moments throughout the hour, and we will at least give John Malkovich credit for being awesome.

The problem? This is a show that two episodes in is suffering a major identity crisis. It wants to at times be the “Pirates of the Caribbean” of television, and then some other times where it wants to be “Breaking Bad.” It just hasn’t gotten that tone down between fun swashbuckler and heavy drama. It is best to not call this a historical drama in the slightest, since there are so many things here that do not quite make sense. As a matter of fact, there are many things. How does everyone look so clean all of the time, and not like they’ve been rolling around in the sand and the dirt? Also, are these the tamest brothels we’ve ever seen on TV? The ones on “Game of Thrones” could make these people have some sort of a heart attack.

To be fair, we do not really care that much about the show not following along with history, since no other pirate drama does. What we worry about more comes via consistency, and making sure everything makes sense. We by no means expected things to get so chummy (to put it one way) between Kate and Thomas Lowe so quickly; yet, here we are.

Part of the problem with “Crossbones” for now is that it is following up “Hannibal,” which is one of our favorite series and has us completely addicted to everything that they do. We need this show to push the envelope soon or at least establish just what it wants to be. Otherwise, we may end up walking the plank soon. Grade: C (mostly for Malkovich)

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Photo: NBC