Black Sails season 2

With a creak and groan, I cautiously returned to Black Sails. I entered the first season to be surprised by a decent start to only be sorely let down by a muddled second act that dragged numerous plot lines along but somehow pulled itself together towards the end with some entertaining high-seas action and a decent cliffhanger.

So why the concern about coming back? Well for starters the second series now offered ten episodes, which seemed ambitious given what I'd seen before. Some shows work better with less screen time as it contains the story to a number of beats and leaves little time for anything else. Game of Thrones has left fans wishing each season could be longer to expand the rich universe and to leave people wanting more is surely a good thing, but not so much the other way round.

Dodging spoilers, this season picks up moments where we left off with Flint and co on a beach with their wrecked ship eyeing Spanish gold. And like the first episode of the last season it is fairly entertaining as the crew go about continuing their mission, all be it with new alliances. These moments show the series at its best as we witness the characters finding themselves in new environments, facing new challenges and new rivalries. Unfortunately, season two really struggles under the weight of having to spread a fairly light story across ten episodes and those moments that work are few and far between. The result can feel laborious as we are teased with impending conflict at the start of one episode but the show makes us wait until the following before we come close to anything exciting.

This isn't aided by the particularly tough group of characters who often hard to like due to their unclear motives. With that said, Toby Stephens still delivers a strong performance in the lead role but it's a shame the plot is so muddled with flashbacks that it becomes difficult to care as the show explores his character.

However, I can't write the show off entirely as the final episode cuts to the chase and is actually very exciting. Within a single episode, we have pirates being pirates, British bad guys being British bad guys, action, peril and even some decent drama to hold the show together. The ending even suggests more conflict will follow, and it pains me even more to say the trailer for third season actually looks pretty good.

This now raises the question; can I recommend this show? It hasn't been an easy ride but it did occasionally show moments of promise, and not just in that final episode. With all this said, if you enjoyed the first season of Black Sails then there is no reason for you to not come back for this. But for anyone else who felt differently, I wouldn't say there is enough at this point to sway your mind and make it worth dropping anchor.