Blu-ray Review: BLACK SAILS: Season 3 – Real-life & Fiction Merge In a Compelling Drama

Black Sails: Season 3 Blu-ray Review

Black Sails: Season 3 Blu-ray Review, a Starz TV series starring Toby Stephens, Hannah New, Luke Arnold, Jessica Parker Kennedy, Ray Stevenson, Hakeem Kae-Kazim, Zach McGowan, Toby Schmitz, Clara Paget, Andre Jacobs, Patrick Lyster, Craig Jackson, and Lise Slabber.

Street Date: November 8, 2016

Plot

Season Three of “Black Sails” begins in the wake of the burning of Charles Town. All the New World lives in fear of Captain Flint. When his campaign of terror crosses over into madness, and new threats emerge to challenge his supremacy, it falls to John Silver to locate the man within the monster, before Flint’s war against the world consumes them all. Meanwhile, on the pirate island of Nassau, it’s a new day. With Eleanor Guthrie facing judgment in London, Jack Rackham sits atop a fortune in Spanish gold, hoping to secure his legacy as a king among thieves. To do so, he’ll have to compete with the return of one of history’s most notorious captains, who holds a different vision for their home, as well as a complicated past with Rackham’s chief ally, Captain Charles Vane. All will be tested when a new opponent arrives to claim Nassau, one the pirates could never have anticipated. It knows them. It understands them. And in the blink of an eye, it will do the one thing they never thought possible…turn them against each other.

Disc Specifications

Run Time: 549 min

Format: Blu-ray and Digital HD with Ultraviolet

Region: A/1

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 / 16×9

Language: English (Dolby TrueHD 7.1), French (Dolby Surround 2.0), Spanish (Dolby Surround 2.0)

Rating: TV-MA

Video

The video is so HD that the viewer will actually notice CGI that was indistinguishable from real objects during Season 3’s television broadcasts. Black levels are much better.

Audio

One of the first things that listener will notice when listening to an episode or extra is sound clarity. Everything is loud and crystal clear.

Blu-ray Bonus Content

* “Black Sails” Season Two Recap – The cast and executive producers talk about Season 2 and its events. Harbingers are given about Season 4 including a few scenes. Season 4 of Black Sails opens up the conflict of piracy beyond Great Britain. The pirates will now have to face foes on multiple fronts.

* Inside the World of Black Sails – Black Sails creator / producer Jonathan E. Steinberg and Robert Levine talk about how Captain Flint in this season is the darkest version of the character-to-date. Woodes Rogers and what he eventually does to Nassau is discussed. It is a spoiler for Season 4 so be warned before you watch this extra. This extra goes episode-by-episode, discussing the importance of each episode and their events. The most notable reveal, besides the spoilers, was that The Storm episode was a manifestation of Captain Flint, mirroring his anger and rage.

* The Storm – Executive Producer Dan Shotz and others detail what went into the creation of The Storm e.g. jet engines. One set was created for the deck of Flint’s ship and another for below decks for Long John Silver’s scene.

* A Pirate’s Last Words – This extra was about Captain Vane, his personality, and his hanging. It was revealed in the extra that Vane, in many ways, had wanted to die for sometime. This led to Captain Vane never seeking a pardon or asking for mercy when he was captured.

* Blackbeard: An 18th Century Pirate – This was a historical extra about Blackbeard. There is some question about what Blackbeard’s real name was but he was born in Bristol. Most believe it was Edward Teach. The extra details how Blackbeard had previously sailed with Captain Benjamin Hornigold and Captain Samuel Bellamy. The Blackbeard / Vane storyline (father and son) was engineered to create an emotional storyline within the TV series.

* Woodes Rogers – This was a historical extra about Woodes Rogers. The viewer learns that Woodes Rogers had previously been shot in the face hence his scar. The extra goes into how this occurred while he was hunting Spanish ships in the Pacific Ocean with his brother. Rogers’ book, A Cruising Voyage Around the World, was discussed along with spoilers for Season 4.

TV Show Review

Episode 1: XIX.

Black Sails: Season 3, Episode 1: XIX. introduced the viewer to a high-seas crew on the rampage. I was surprised that Captain James Flint (Toby Stephens) would risk his crew on land battles but the fear that he and his crew have created had emboldened him.

Read the full review here.

Episode 2: XX.

Black Sails: Season 3, Episode 2: XX. featured one of the most tremendous ship-in-storm sequences the viewer has ever seen. It was movie-grade, from the waves crashing down on the ship, to how the ship was twisted and turned (sailors dipped in and out of the ocean), to the wind and rain blowing. It was the most visually impressive moment of the episode.

Read the full review here.

Episode 3: XXI.

Black Sails: Season 3, Episode 3: XXI. featured chess moves on both sides of the high-seas adventure series. As was mentioned previously, the transfer of the gold was the smartest play that its holders could make, especially considering that an English fleet was on its way.

Read the full review here.

Episode 4: XXII.

Black Sails: Season 3, Episode 4: XXII. gave the viewer a societal view of the island’s inhabitants. The inhabitants of the island were not what the viewer had been expecting e.g. savages and barbarians. What Captain James Flint (Toby Stephens) and his crew found was even worse. They found a pragmatic, cold-blooded, mirror image of Captain Flint.

Read the full review here.

Episode 5: XXIII.

Black Sails: Season 3, Episode 5: XXIII. showed that Quartermaster John Silver (Luke Arnold) knew Captain James Flint (Toby Stephens) far better than even he realized. Quartermaster Silver knew that the meeting Captain Flint was going to have with The Maroon Queen (Moshidi Motshegwa) was the crew’s last chance at survival and that melancholy Flint needed to go into that meeting in the right frame of mind.

Read the full review here.

Episode 6: XXIV.

Black Sails: Season 3, Episode 6: XXIV. was highlighted by a fight between two captains. Captain James Flint (Toby Stephens) and Captain Teach (Ray Stevenson)’s duel, like those in the original Star Wars films, was more than about swordplay. It was about the future and the past, loyalty, heartbreak, and betrayal.

Read the full review here.

Episode 7: XXV.

Black Sails: Season 3, Episode 7: XXV. was an episode that featured a let-down and many surprises. Some had speculated that the explanation for Captain Charles Vane (Zach McGowan)’s intelligence about Anne Bonny (Clara Paget) – how he knew she was being hunted by Great Britain, somehow, while living isolated on Blackbeard’s island – would be disclosed in this episode.

Read the full review here.

Episode 9: XXVII.

Black Sails: Season 3, Episode 9: XXVII. was the beginning of the erosion of Governor Woodes Rogers (Luke Roberts)’s authority on the streets of Nassau. Woodes had his trusted consort and chief advisor, Eleanor Guthrie (Hannah New), to thank for the new reality that he will awaken into eventually.

Read the full review here.

Episode 10: XXVIII.

Black Sails: Season 3, Episode 10: XXVIII. held a different tenor than the season finale for Season 2. Topping the last two episodes of season 2 of Black Sails was a high bar to approach. XXVIII. did so but couldn’t surmount it. It was impossible for XXVIII. to do so. The emotional content of last season’s final two episodes were as momentous as its action set pieces.

Read the full review here.

Disc Acquisition

Purchase Black Sails: Season 3 here:

Rating: 10/10

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