Sexy Pirates, Tough Women & Tons Of Nudity: Why You Should Give ‘Black Sails’ A Shot

Last summer, Starz scored their first big critical and commercial mega-hit with Outlander. The historical fantasy series was thrilling and romantic, and boasted oodles of twists and turns. But Outlander isn’t the only show on Starz that will sweep you away to a sexy and dangerous world centuries away.

Black Sails is returning for its second season tonight and it might be just the thing to pull you out of your winter doldrums. We know it’s hard deciding whether or not you want to dive into a new series. Black Sails is totally worth a show if you like sex, violence, and adventure. Black Sails is also worth a try if you like any of the following:

1) Pirates 

Well, this is kind of obvious. Do you like pirates? Do you like their big hats and their peg legs and their big ships and their propensity for drinking rum? Then, you’ll probably dig Black Sails.

The show not only gives us Long John Silver’s fictive backstory (more on that to come), but it dramatizes the sensational lives of some of the most infamous pirates in history. Charles Vane (Zach McGowan), Jack Rackham (Toby Schmitz), and Anne Bonny (Clara Paget) all make appearances on the show. Their rivalries and love affairs drive most of the action.

2) Fight Scenes

Do you dig watching people just wail on each other? I’m talking about crazy violent fight scenes that include stabbings, shootings, and good old fashioned chokeholds. Black Sails is full of intensely choreographed fights. They’re totally gruesome and really fun to watch. Besides featuring some beautifully brutal scraps and sword fights, the show also has a bunch of intense battles on the high seas. You see ships take on ships, ships take on ports, and men taking on entire, um, ships.

3) Origin Stories

Look, the Ancient Greeks liked to start their epics in media res, which means in the middle of the story. This meant that you’d have to wait for backstory or never get any at all. Nowadays, we are so obsessed with starting things from the very beginning that we demand prequels.

Black Sails isn’t just a fun pirate drama, but a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novel, Treasure Island. Long John Silver isn’t a conniving middle aged man with a peg leg, but a handsome young schemer played by Luke Arnold. We get to meet Captain Flint (Toby Stephens) before he’s a skeleton and Billy Bones (Tom Hopper) before young Jim Hawkins inherits his legendary chest and treasure map. So, that’s fun. It will be more fun to see how much of the Stevenson novel the show will set up.

4) Strong & Complex Heroines

There isn’t usually a lot of room for complicated female characters in historical drama. This is in part because women weren’t afforded the same liberties as they have now, and also because many interesting women have been conveniently omitted from history. The aforementioned Anne Bonny is a stark exception to this. She is one of many female pirates whom we know about, and she’s not the only female power player on Black Sails.

Each woman in the show has her own personality, mind, and style of securing power. Max (Jessica Parker Kennedy), the prostitute-turned-brothel-manager, seduces her allies and enemies alike, and psychologically manipulates the people around her. Eleanor Guthrie (Hannah New) uses strategy, politics, and sheer brute force to manage the port town of Nassau. Anne Bonny is a wild card, capable of holding her own in any fight. And Miranda Barlow (Louise Barnes) is an intellectual woman — a former lady brought by fate to Nassau — who uses her smarts and her sexuality to possess a hold over the powerful men around her.

5) Hot Sex Scenes

Oh, you don’t like sex scenes? That’s cool. To each his (or her) own.

But...if you’re one of those people who likes watching other people bang, then Black Sails has got a lot that would interest you. I’ve only seen a few of the episodes in season two, and there’s sex in a bed, sex against a wall, gay sex, three way sex, topless sex, and horse-drawn carriage sex. There’s a lot of sex. And a lot of nudity. In fact, we asked the cast about that nudity, and they had some interesting opinions on the subject of male full frontal nudity.

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6) Not Waiting For Season Two

You can stream all of Season One, and guess what? After you’ve binge-watched a full season, you won’t have to wait for new episodes! Season Two debuts tonight at 9 PM.

And hey, Outlander won’t be back until April. You need something to tie you over while you wait to find out how Jamie is going to save Claire from the evil machinations of Captain Jack Randall. [Watch Black Sails]

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