ITIRS that a “Treasure Island” version by the same folks is planned but not in the immediate future. The “survivors” of next week will have to be believably aged.
That was a complex ending, and yet landed expertly. The pirates own a climactic victory, and yet walked away from it in a way that was plausible given the character motivations, delicately landing us with a story that can square with the plot of the show, the starting point of Treasure Island, and even somewhat compatable with a mythologized version of actual history.
Having Silver finally enter Flint’s mindset upon believing he had lost Madi was a plausible revelatory moment to cause him to fully understand Flint and to realize what that meant. And yet so frustrating as viewers if we sympathize with the protagonists - for them to have victory in their grasp and fall apart as a choice. And it was hard to watch Flynt making good on his promise to fix everything, to bring them back into alignment, to restore trust - only to be betrayed a final time by Silver.
I have to give Toby Stephens credit. He’s often given unnatural, very theatrical dialogue - but then he can deliver it in such a way that you can see why Flint would command loyalty and obedience in those he spoke to. His speech about civilization casting darkness so they can be the source of light that people have to cling to has a remarkably romantic appeal when you consider he’s talking about a world of murder and pillage, a world of pirates and outlaws.
The climactic battle scene itself and how the governor was undone was excellent.
I’m not sure how I feel about Flynt receiving an almost passive ending. After the final standoff between he and Flint, he no longer gets any dialogue - we’re told and shown his fate, which is… sort of unsatisfying. But at the same time there’s a certain symmetry at work - the loss of Thomas created Flynt, and the reintroduction of Thomas unmade him. It was about as happy an ending as we could reasonably have for him.
Some people think that the passive nature of this ending actually indicates that Silver killed Flynt and he’s just spinning a story to Madi. I didn’t even consider that, because I assumed that Flynt was alive for Treasure Island since he’s an iconic name/character, but I guess he’s not. Now that I think about it, this was followed by Rackham’s speech about how stories grow into their own whether they’re true or not, and it’s ultimately the stories we want to believe that stick…
On the other hand, there’s a plausible trail to show that Thomas was actually there and that sending Flynt to him was a viable option. We see Tom Morgan actually go to the estate… but then we don’t actually see the answer as to whether or not Thomas is there. Perhaps Silver got the news that he wasn’t and concocted the story anyway. But if it were meant to hint that it was only Silver’s narrative, it seems like the reunion scene probably went on too long - they could’ve just cut away after Flynt arrived.
There’s also a small scene when we cut away from Flynt and Silver talking, and the rest of the men heard a scattering of birds and started walking towards where we were, which hints at some sort of disturbance having happened…
I think you can build a plausible case either way, and Rackham’s speech about the nature of stories and truth tells us to draw whatever conclusion we want.
What do you guys think?
Still, as a whole, the story of Flynt has to go down as one of the most interesting, complex, and well acted journies in TV history. And the creation and transformation of Long John Silver no less so.
In any case, they stuck the landing and closed the story in a way that few serialized shows manage to do. It was thematically consistent, elegant, well established, and satisfying. This was legitimately a work of art. This show will never be listed amongst the greats because of it’s limited exposure, but there are very few shows that exceeded the craftsmanship put into it.
A satisfying story and conclusion all around.
Flint - and it is spelled with an I - is no longer alive during the events of Treasure Island. But the story and characters of Black Sails are only loosely based on some characters from Treasure Island, the divergences are pretty wide.
It was good, but not great. Well, kinda great in some areas, but not amazing.
Having said that, this show had some amazing moments along the way. Flint fighting Billy at the top of the ship was amazing. Feature film level production. Best moment of the show since the carriage chase last year.
I’m amazed to look and find there are only 38 episodes of this show. I could re-watch this show in a few weeks, yet it felt like a massive epic experience.
I’ll re-watch this whole show in about a year. I should re-review the whole thing then.
Maybe it was trimmed for time, maybe this was done deliberately in hopes of laying “flashback” material for a future Treasure Island min-series, but Ben Gunn should have been marooned on the island with the treasure. We see Billy there and I guess it is left to us to imagine how he eventually escapes to be the “old sea captain” that sends Jim Hawkins on his adventure years later.
I think this series has been fantastic. I have been buying the blu-rays and have a feeling I will regret this when later they re-release it with deleted scenes and I’ll feel compelled to repurchase it.
I hope the Treasure Island offering comes to us sooner rather than later.
It’s been a long time since I read Treasure Island, but as I recall it Ben Gunn is marooned there at a later time than when the treasure was originally buried. I think that the treasure map came from the late Captain Flint, but that other pirates knew that the treasure was hidden on the island and came looking for it.
Yeah, Ben returns to the island to look for the treasure and gets marooned there. And it is said of Flint that he died in Savannah, which is where the plantation at the end was. Overall I thought it was a great ending, the only one I didn’t know whether they were going to survive or not was Rackham because he was a real pirate and not made up for Treasure Island but I was glad he got a happish ending.
To me, the overall arc was Revenge Destroys. Those who gave up revenge found peace and happiness, those who did not failed in the end. I loved the ending with Flint. I cried. Flint said he hated being Flint, and to finally retire him at the end and become just James again was fantastic. Now, does that mean he purchased Thomas’ freedom from the plantation, or he bought himself onto the plantation?
Nice introduction of Mary Read there at the end. It always tickles me that Clara Paget is born of British nobility.
Tidbit…Outlander will be repurposing some of these sets for Season 3, shooting now in South Africa.
I will admit, I watched Season 1 when it first came out, then gave up. When I heard it was ending I decided to give it another go and I am so glad I did. They did a lovely job with the tale.
Does Madi show up in Treasure Island?
Here’s an interview with showrunners giving some incite into the finale. Spoilers in the article, of course.
In my opinion, it was a great ending to a fantastic show. My friends are behind in the viewing. I’m doing my best to keep my mouth shut.
No. An interracial a couple is something that wasn’t likely to occur in an English childrens book in the 19th century.
ETA: As far as I can recall, Jim’s mum is the only female character in the book, and a pretty minor one at that.
Well… Silver’s wife is described in a letter as a “woman of colour”, and Jim refers to her as a “Negress”, but it seems he never actually runs into her.
Whereas Black Sails does not take actual history as canonical, one cannot necessarily expect too much continuity with Treasure Island, but did it confuse anyone else that Billy Bones, Flint’s first mate and the one crew member whom Captain Flint trusted enough to pass on his map to, was ultimately portrayed in the show as an antagonist and a traitor? I kept wondering if I were missing something. Also, I kept wondering if this was really supposed to be the same Captain Flint who, after six loyal men helped him bury the treasure, turned around and slaughtered them for no particularly good reason (if it was to keep the location secret, why did he leave a corpse as a pointer? In any case Ben Gunn found it easily enough.)
Well, clearly you remember the book better than I do. 
Well, Flint did kill four or five men in the process of hiding the treasure, including the one that was helping him. No doubt the story got a bit garbled by the time it reached Jim’s ears.
They even touch on this when Rakham goes to talk to Mister Guthrie with the girl asking him about the embellished versions of pirate stuff that gets reported in their papers.