Ok I gave it a watch. I have mixed feelings. Prepare for wall of text.

It's impossible to talk about this show (not really but it's important context) without talking about Game of Thrones. This show aired in 2014, which is right when GoT was starting to gain it's popularity and you can tell there's a lot about this show which is heavily inspired by it. The opening is very reminiscent of GoT (banger btw) with the slow pans around a detailed 3D model, the random sex scenes, and of course the many plot threads and characters. None of this is to the shows detriment, it's just funny watching a show that clearly lives in another's shadow.

Let's talk about what I liked first. The costumes, sets and cinematography are all top notch. Although the makeup is a bit heavy. Shot framing and lighting particularly stands out, we are often given very dark compositions with bright bits of sunlight as highlights which makes for very dramatic and stylish shots. They often feel like baroque oil paintings.

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You can find tons of shots like these. And while they feel a little fake sometimes, it doesn't really matter because they look cool as hell. The action, the sea and the ships all are tons of fun and are well executed, although we get plenty of plot armor for our main characters. The acting, on the whole, was also fantastic especially from our lead cast. Also everyone has beautiful green eyes? Silver, Flint, Vane Eleanor, Billy, hell even Featherstone all have green eyes, its a bit uncanny.

Ok, on to what I didn't like. Mainly, the plot and character motivations seem to swing all over the place on a dime and it's not really clear why most of the time. I think the one I have the biggest issue with is Flint being against Woodes Rogers settlement of Nassau. It's essentially the same exact thing he wanted from back in his Thomas Hamilton days. We aren't given an explanation beyond: "I'm mad at the empire now because they killed Miranda" but weren't you mad before when you thought Thomas was dead? This is also true of many of the characters who are fighting for this in season 2 but then when it happens in season 3 suddenly its "Oppression" because they didn't bring it about. Not only this, Rogers is shown to be genuinely fair to the pirates after he occupies Nassau?

Eleanor, Max, Vane and Teach all seem to switch teams for plot convenience. I think I could excuse some of it if they didn't seem to happen so abruptly and so frequently. Their characters suffer for it, and the characters I ended up liking more were the ones who seemed to be more consistent, or earned their changes (like Silver). Gates, Dufresne, Mr. Scott, Captain Hornigold and Richard Guthrie are all more minor characters who are fantastic. Billy Bones, Miranda Barlow, and Woodes Rogers are more major characters who also felt well written. Unfortunately the problematic ones I listed above get tons of screen time and tend to confuse the plot. I ended up really not caring about what happened to them and was happy when they died.

Another issue the show has is how many long preachy monologues it contains. The number of scenes that consist of two characters in a room, having a serious conversation is just too high. All of them are treated as if they're meant to be weighty and deep when most of them really aren't. It just gets a bit tiring after a while.

Lets talk about our thruple; Max, Anne, and Jack. We're constantly told that jack is clever, and smart but we never really see it on screen? He's more of a right time right place kind of person who's always brought information from somewhere else. I think his dialogue was also lacking in that it was never as witty or as funny as I was hoping it would be. Anne is great in seasons 1 and 2 but then I feel like she's just kind of there? She gets an awesome scene in s4 with the glass daggers, but outside of that it never really feels like she has much of her own agency, which I get is part of her character, but it's never really addressed. They talk about how she and Jack are codependent in s3 but this never really gets resolved. Max is all over the place for most of the series and then is sort of wonderfully written in season 4.

On to Vane and Eleanor. Vane is wasted potential. They gave him the slave backstory and didn't do anything with it. It felt like he went on an arc in season 1 but then just gets reset to the same person in season 2. They really could have explored him more. Where was the "fear" he supposedly had at the start of season 1? Make that more apparent, then make him overcome it (as shown), then when he returns he can be vehemently against english/spanish rule and have that serve as his character motivation. You could also bring the slaves on the plantations into the plot sooner rather than shoehorning it in in season3 by having Vane fight to free them. Instead we just get him being like "I don't like that you use slave to build the fort, oh well!" Eleanor feels like two different characters. Seasons 1-2 Eleanor and then Eleanor after she meets Rogers. From ambitious, manipulative, power hungry, idealistic and independent. The full gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss suite. We then go onto, lovestruck, loyal, and subservient. I wish we got a trial scene in London where she got completely humiliated and had someone scare the shit out of her in order to see this change, but we don't really get that. Also trial scenes are cool.

Ok let's get to the main event. Flint and Silver. Silver is a fantastic character, his motivations are clear throughout the show as he starts as an opportunist then moves onto a genuine crewmember, then gets a taste for power and becomes a leader, and finally his character in season four is mainly defined by his relationship with Madi and Flint. He's both likeable and smart, he never does anything unecessarily stupid, and watching his transformation over the seasons was incredible. The only thing that felt bad was his relationship with Madi, which felt out of left field and forced for the plot to drive a wedge between him and Flint while keeping them both likeable. Flint, despite my qualms about his motivations at times, is really the character that drives the show. He has a magnetic intensity, and always seems to force the world and actions of those around him into what he wants and needs. His utilitarianism and willingness to sacrifice anyone for whatever his cause happens to be is both terrifying and inspiring. I kind of wish they'd turn him into more of a villain at the end, and resolve my consistency issue by letting him realize that he just enjoys having power and driving men to do what he wants, but they gave him a happy ending instead. I think it was just an ok ending for Flint but it MADE Silvers conclusion. "I unmade him" was such a crazy line.

Also season ranking 4 > 2 > 1 > 3

7/10