Black Sails series finale reaction: How Starz opus sailed into the sunset

The Black Sails series finale on Starz was of course an episode with almost impossible-to-reach expectations. We don’t know what else you could say given the incredible source material behind the show, and its longstanding reputation in literature.

Yet, we’d argue that the series did come up with a great, satisfactory, and even at-times surprising end that tied together many of the greatest stories, and gave some people happy, albeit temporary, endings. (Warning: There are of course some major spoilers ahead. Reader beware!)

Take, for example, the way in which the story for one Captain Flint came to a close. We suppose that in so many ways, him being left close to imprisoned with Thomas is a death sentence. Yet, we expected him to actually die. This reunion felt like it was almost on another world, so you can claim that in some ways, this is his afterlife. Flint has what matters at this stage, though we expected him to die on-camera.

We’d say that for some characters, whether it be Flint or Rogers, you can have fates other than death that are equally impactful. Whether or not they are worthy of the time could be up for debate. The ending between Jack and Anne was probably the strongest conclusion for any character’s story on the show. The rest were satisfying, though you could argue that for characters like Madi, you could have done even more — surprising, given that this was an episode that ran for over an hour and ten minutes.

You had some great battle scenes in the episode, and further reminders visually of what made this show unique: It was stunning, it was vast, and you could feel the sweat and the ruthlessness.

Yet, our one quibble is that there still could have been something more. It felt like the writing left open space between this show and where the story for many characters eventually ends. Maybe it wanted to establish a shred of ambiguity, where you can imagine that some things would end differently. Or, maybe it wanted to leave the door open for something more down the road. It’s tough to say, but we did already write a piece explaining what some of our Black Sails season 5 hopes could be in the event that Starz does ever decide that it wants to bring the show back for more.

What did you think about the Black Sails series finale? Did it produce the ending that you expected? Share some of your thoughts with a comment! (Photo: Starz.)