I watched the first season of Black Sails. It was okay. I can’t remember if I finished the second season. I vaguely remember someone getting keelhauled on a ship that wasn’t in the water (like it was in a dry dock). For those who don’t know, keel hauling is running a chain under the ship from one side of the other (think like a jump rope) and then tying someone to it and dragging them across the underside of the ship across their back. This was typically done when the ship was asea. Barnacles would grow on the ship, so if the person tried to hold their breath, they’d probably scream as they were being dragged. If they didn’t drown, and they survived, their whole back would be fucked up. I’m not sure what the survival rate was for it, they could always send them around a second time (or more) if they wanted to kill them. So yeah, not short on brutality. But for brutality I don’t think Game of Thrones set the bar, I think either Sons of Anarchy did it when they burned that guy’s back tat off with a blowtorch and knives, or Vikings, with the Blood Eagle (victim kneels, their back is cut open, their ribs broken one by one with an ax, then their lungs dragged out and slung over their shoulders — the catch being, if they scream out, they’re denied Valhalla, and if the procedure doesn’t kill them, they basically bleed out and die slowly).

Always wanted to watch TURN.