Adaptation in itself is a tricky tightrope to walk. The more shows that are greenlit based on an ongoing series or work, the higher the expectation is for those shows to stick the landing — regardless of whether the source material achieved the same. Rarer still are the instances in which adaptations base themselves on an author’s incomplete work, which has led to mixed results; for every Sanditon, which garnered improved critical reception with each subsequent season, there’s also a Game of Thrones, with a rushed conclusion that seemed to satisfy hardly any viewers at all. Somewhere in the middle lies Apple TV+’s take on The Buccaneers, which has the advantage of getting to expand its story beyond what Edith Wharton‘s original novel left unfinished. Unfortunately, both the series’ greatest strengths and biggest weaknesses persist in Season 2, as its more winning elements sit in direct conflict with its bleakest storylines to date.
What Is ‘The Buccaneers’ Season 2 About?
Season 2 of The Buccaneers picks up mere moments after Nan (Kristine Froseth) has just said “I do” to Theo (Guy Remmers). Despite Nan’s lingering feelings for Guy (Matthew Broome), as well as the intimacies they shared the night before, she’s gone through with the wedding primarily as a power play; if she becomes the new Duchess of Tintagel, she can use her authority to ensure the safety of her sister, Jinny (Imogen Waterhouse), who’s just fled her own abusive marriage to Lord James Seadown (Barney Fishwick).
Prioritizing Jinny’s well-being over her own long-term contentment is a decision that Nan has to continually justify to herself, forcing smiles in public while breaking down behind closed doors, but it turns out she’s not fooling anyone. Despite his early belief that Nan reciprocated his feelings, Theo begins to suspect that his new wife isn’t as happy as she claims. Their marriage isn’t the only one experiencing some discord; Nan’s mother, Patti (Christina Hendricks), has every intention of going through with her threat to divorce her husband, Tracy (Adam James), but the law isn’t exactly on her side. Amidst all of this, a new arrival in the form of Nan’s birth mother, Nell (Leighton Meester), could upend everything for the St. Georges.
As for the rest of our Buccaneers, Jinny has covertly made her way to Italy with Guy as her escort, as well as the assistance of the Dowager Duchess of Tintagel (Amelia Bullmore), who refuses to divulge any details about Jinny’s whereabouts to keep Seadown from hunting her himself. The fact that Jinny’s name is currently being splashed across every headline — and that she’s being accused of kidnapping Seadown’s unborn baby — isn’t helping matters, but Nell has a few new tricks up her sleeve as the new Duchess, including changing the conversation playing out in the newspapers.
Alongside her doting husband, Richard (Josh Dylan), Conchita (Alisha Boe) has decided to use her matchmaking skills to help American heiress Cora Merrigan (Maria Almeida) land herself a husband, while Lizzy (Aubri Ibrag) entertains the attention of handsome new suitor Hector Robinson (Jacob Ifan) — whose father, Reede (Greg Wise), only seems to have eyes for the Dowager Duchess. As for Mabel (Josie Totah) and Honoria (Mia Threapleton), they’re mostly just trying to find some alone time together — if only Honoria’s mother, Lady Brightlingsea (Fenella Woolgar), weren’t demanding that her daughter cater to her every need.
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‘The Buccaneers’ Frothy Fun Is at Odds With Its Heaviest Storylines Yet in Season 2
In its first season, The Buccaneers emphasized the cultural clash between its titular group of American heiresses and the antiquated high society they’d set their sights on marrying into. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the show’s choice of female-fronted, anachronistic pop-rock music, which served as an extension of the story’s fivesome of friends smashing through the barriers of the upper class. This throughline only continues through the eight new episodes (all of which were provided for review), with perhaps the most publicized track, Chappell Roan‘s “Good Luck, Babe,” playing during one of the season’s biggest events. Yet this energetic soundtrack is also one of the biggest contributors to The Buccaneers‘ persistent dissonance as a series. It’s difficult not to experience severe tonal whiplash, as a viewer, when playful, flirty dancing set to the tune of a major pop hit is swiftly followed by some of the show’s heaviest material to date.
To expand much further on what happens to various characters would run into spoiler territory that critics have been instructed to avoid, but not all of The Buccaneers‘ efforts to explore more emotional storytelling in Season 2 are wasted. With characters like Conchita and Jinny now having children of their own, it’s an opportunity for the series to showcase their evolution into women who have found their own voices rather than being reduced to the role of mere wives and mothers, as society would readily dictate. Similarly, Patti’s mission to secure a divorce from Tracy, which plays out via a humiliatingly public court trial, is an undertaking she shoulders not just on her own behalf, but for any woman who feels trapped in a thankless, unfaithful marriage.
It’s also incredibly delightful to watch a more mature relationship play out amid the season’s younger love stories — for one of the last characters the audience would expect, no less — and Jinny and Guy’s Italian summer is a welcome, visually striking expansion of the world. Yet the show’s strongest plotlines mean that its worst stand out even more starkly by comparison. Nan’s persistent inability to choose between Theo and Guy — to the point of even flip-flopping between the two within the very same episode — is a frustrating use of her character this season, and it takes much too long for her to end up in a more emboldened position, absent of any need for a fulfilling romance to define her.
‘The Buccaneers’ Season 2 Prioritizes Certain Characters at the Cost of Others
Maddening character choices aside, some of The Buccaneers‘ best components are also being shoved under the rug to prioritize much less interesting ones. The burgeoning, secretive romance between Mabel and Honoria was one of Season 1’s most promising and brightest storylines, especially when their choosing happiness in the finale stood in subversive opposition to more pessimistic endings. Yet Season 2 barely develops their relationship beyond a few stolen moments, especially as other plots push their way to the forefront to dominate the narrative. Individually, characters like Lizzy are finally given the long-awaited opportunity to take center stage, but while her admittedly juicy romantic drama plays out over the season, others, like Mabel, don’t earn any forward momentum of their own.
Just like in Season 1, The Buccaneers‘ best scenes are always rooted in its tight-knit group of friends, but these new episodes repeat the same pattern of only bringing them all together briefly before external forces drive them apart. With Jinny largely on the run and Nan grappling with her new responsibilities as a duchess, perhaps these all-too-fleeting moments of reunion are intended as a sobering reminder of the fact that even the strongest friendships will always be tested, but it’s also discouraging when some of the ladies are divided purely as a consequence of men’s interference — the very thing that these heiresses have practically sworn could never come between them.
When one character finally declares, “The obvious love story should be us, the girls. We should be the love story, and that’s how it should’ve been,” it’s a sentiment that comes far too late, and gives the strong impression that The Buccaneers has been ignoring the very lesson it wanted to shout from the rooftops from the very beginning. While Season 2 culminates with an ending that could indicate a bold future direction for the story, the series continues to struggle at finding a natural balance between a frothy, feminist romp and a melancholy period drama — when, like Nan, it could thrive once it ultimately makes up its mind about what it wants to be from this point forward.
The Buccaneers’ frothy fun remains at odds with some of the show’s darkest storylines to date in Season 2.
- Release Date
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November 8, 2023
- Network
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Apple TV+
- Showrunner
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Katherine Jakeways
- Directors
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Charlotte Regan
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Kristine Froseth
Nan St. George
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Alisha Boe
Conchita Closson
- Season 2 pushes into surprising new territory that indicates a bold future direction for the series.
- Supporting characters, like the Dowager Duchess, are finally expanded and fleshed out further.
- Leighton Meester is a delightful addition to the Season 2 cast.
- Some of the show’s best pairings, like Mabel and Honoria, are shunted off to the side in prioritization of new storylines and unnecessary love triangles.
- Nan’s constant indecision between Guy and Theo makes her a frustrating protagonist to root for.
- It’s unfortunate that the main friend group is even more divided, rather than united, in Season 2.