Going along for the ride with Black Sails

So who picked Black Sails as escapist entertainment this weekend? Anyone?

I had plans to watch it for a while now. I'd known the reviews were mixed - gratuitous sex and nudity, for instance - but I didn't care. So perhaps my expectations going into it were pretty low, but I kind of enjoyed it for the most part. I think the pirate intrigue is going to be fun, and the best part of the episode for me was watching Gates trying to drum up the votes to keep Flint as captain. Well, and comparing what I was watching to the various ships I've toured over the years in the UK. Those things are small below decks. Watching Tom Hopper have to stoop over every time he was down there made me chuckle.

Hopper was surprisingly empathetic throughout the show, though I want to tell him to close his mouth half the time. Standing there slack-jawed is not always necessary. The jury is still out on some of the other actors. Toby Stephens feels a tad cerebral, though I finally bought him as a pirate captain during the final scenes. The character is insane, though, and his tirade to Billy on the boat back to the ship kind of clinched that for me. We'll see how that plays out.

As for the others, the actor who plays Vane creeps me out, I haven't completely bought Silver as a charming rogue yet, and the women are trying too hard not to be stereotypes to really make much of an impression other than that.

But I'll watch again next week. We'll see. I've stuck with worse shows for much longer before giving up.