‘The Buccaneers’ Season 1 Episode 2: Women, Wives, and Shameless Guys

A relationship with a mother, good or bad, can define you in the most devastating ways. So it is for Nan St. George (Kristine Frøseth), who, in the first episode of The Buccaneers, learned that the woman she calls Mother (Christina Hendricks) is not actually her mom. By The Buccaneers Season 1 Episode 2, Nan knows that she is the product of an affair between her philandering, utterly unserious father and an unknown, likely lowborn woman. And the revelation shatters Nan’s worldview entirely – she spends an entire month stewing in Cornwall while her older sister Jinny (Imogen Waterhouse) and friends Lizzy (Aubri Ibrag) and Mabel Elmsworth (Josie Totah) search for matches in London. The only high point is Nan’s meeting with Theo, the Duke of Tintagel (Guy Remmers), which happens on her literal first day on the coast.

But Nan’s sadness may soon be resolved. She’s called back to civilization by Conchita (Alisha Boe), her newly-married bestie. Though Conchita fulfilled her wifely duty by giving birth to a healthy heir — an event for which Nan was supposed to be present — the cracks in her marriage to Lord Richard Marabel (Josh Dylan) are no closer to being filled in. Before getting hitched, Conchita and Dickie were all about “being the party,” but the inherent stuffiness of English society makes that impossible. It’s been months of misery for Conchita, all alone with only Dickie’s boring British family for company — but she’s not about to let her marriage fall apart without a fight.

Conchita hatches a plan to make her man obsessed with her again. She’s rented a house in Runnymede for a debaucherous girls’ weekend, but her vacation rental is also just a stone’s throw away from a house that Dickie and his friends are renting. So when when Dickie’s horse goes conveniently wild and gallops right into their backyard, Conchita takes it upon herself to merge the two parties for some proper fun. Never mind that they’re technically unchaperoned: she needs her husband to remember that they are the party.

But Nan’s return, while joyful, is not without some angst. Conchita is happy to see her and still royally pissed that Nan abandoned her after promising to be by her side during labor. Nan does have problems of her own, but no one, not even Jinny (who caused this problem in the first place, by the way!) seems interested in hearing them. 

Jinny entertains Nan’s anxieties, however briefly, listening as Nan goes on about how her life is a lie. But Nan’s issues run a distant second to the news that Jinny’s made headway with her suitor, Lord James Seadown (Barney Fishwick). While Nan was spiraling and the gang was attending the season’s glitziest balls, Jinny danced with Seadown “three times, maybe four.” For the uninitiated, an invitation to dance was the 19th century equivalent of second base, so a marriage proposal is all but imminent. 

And it’s Jinny’s disregard for Nan’s feelings that betrays her true priorities: if Nan makes too big a scene or tells anyone about her illegitimacy, it’ll jeopardize Jinny’s hopes of finding a good match. Her family’s reputation would be tarnished; given how much is at stake with Seadown, that’s all Jinny gives a damn about. She begs Nan to keep quiet about the affair and then runs off to look dazzling and irresistible for her suitor.

I really can’t help but feel for Nan in this instant. I have to admit, I was a little too harsh on ol’ girl in Episode 1 — she was just too quirky, too manic pixie dream-y, for me to get behind. Granted, she’s like 17, so I expected her to grow out of that quirkiness and mature somehow, some way. I didn’t expect that prompt to grow up would appear so abruptly and callously. The stuff about her past being a lie is a touch dramatic, but with no one to talk her down from the ledge, of course she’s going to make huge sweeping statements about her problems.

Fortunately, it doesn’t take Nan long to find another confidante. Conchita makes sure to invite an old friend to their festivities: Guy Thwarte (Matthew Broome), her first flirtation from Episode 1. Per Conchita, he “practically begged” for an invitation, which makes sense since he intends to propose to Nan and marry her for her fortune. It’s worth noting, though, that his chemistry with Nan is still considerably potent when they reunite in “Women and Wives.” The sadness in him — he’s mourning his mother’s death — sees the sadness in her, even if Nan can’t tell him outright what’s bugging her. 

Or maybe she can. Their rapport is easy and intimate whether they’re joking around or commiserating about deeper issues, leading Nan to believe that she can trust Guy completely. So as the sun sets on their perfect second date, she lets it all fly: the circumstances of her birth, the “whole life’s worth” of secrets, and something about a girl back in Saratoga who was a bastard and mercilessly bullied for it. She thinks Guy will understand, just as he’s understood everything else she’s told him, but her bombshell just ruins his plan to propose and save his family from poverty. He dips immediately after she tells him everything, leaving her more alone than she’s felt all month.

While Nan reconnects with Guy, Conchita’s festivities reach similar levels of chaos. The champagne is flowing, modern day music is blasting (shoutout Japanese Breakfast), and Dickie is finally paying attention to her again. Things aren’t going as well for Jinny, though, who’s still competing against Lizzy for Seadown’s attentions. Her attempts to be effervescent and desirable, the life of the party, seem to disgust him. “In England, Miss St. George, we find presumption unappealing,” he tells Jinny, after she comes on a bit too strong. That sends him straight to Lizzy, who’s playing demure as best she can. He asks her to dance (make that five times!) and she accepts, spinning around the room as if they’re the only people in it. So much for girl code.

It’s in Seadown’s love triangle with Jinny and Lizzy that The Buccaneers feels the most like a horror story. Here I am, watching these girls be flat-out manipulated by a man who looks like the Geico gecko if he wished to be a human sociopath — and I can’t even say “Thank God I was born in this generation!” because everything that Seadown is doing is pulled straight from the Ruin Her Life Playbook. This is evergreen fuckboism, passed down from generation to generation. I’ve dealt with plenty of Seadowns in my life, but I never considered how exponentially more horrifying their brand of evil would be in a world without any protections for women.

Thanks to that good old-fashioned Victorian patriarchy, everyone just thinks this is normal courtship etiquette. This is Seadown trying to find a prudent wife, Jinny later insists to Lizzy. Both are more willing to fight each other than interrogate just how shitty Seadown is making them feel. This is a game each has incentive to win, no matter how small they have to make themselves to secure a marriage. I want to reach through my screen and give these girls a good shake — that, or a copy of The Feminine Mystique.

It only gets worse from here. Conchita suggests that the party play a game of “sardines,” which I assumed was just a British game of hide-and-seek. It is, technically, just in reverse: one person hides, and everyone scrambles to find them. Whoever succeeds joins the hider in their hiding place until it’s too cramped to fit any more people. Obviously this is just an excuse for Conchita and Dickie to sneak off and freak — and they’re not the only ones with the same idea. Meanwhile Mabel, the hider, is tucked away in a closet. Dickie’s sister Honoria (Mia Threapleton) is the first to find her, and the pair spend some time sitting in said closet, sharing a charged conversation about the importance of being yourself. There are maybe more elegant ways to let us know that both these girls are queer and into each other, but I’ll forgive it — especially once the subject turns to Seadown, who Honoria describes as “a monster.” If only there were a few other people in that closet to hear this crucial warning! 

At the same time, Seadown and Lizzy also break off to explore a room far removed from their companions, much to Jinny’s chagrin. Lizzy, ever the innocent, must assume they’re in for a cutesy makeout session, but Seadown, utter sicko that he is, has something else in mind. He commands Lizzy to take off her dress and lie, facedown and perfectly still, on a sofa. He watches her silently for what seems like hours, then he leaves — and even then, he instructs her not to move a muscle. Another eternity passes before a servant comes in to tell Lizzy that Lord Seadown has gone to bed. 

And if I said Seadown should be drawn and quartered?

The next morning is full of even more strife for our buccaneers. Conchita did manage to spend some quality time with Dickie — which is kind of a feat, considering the governess Mrs. Testvalley (Simone Kirby) has been glued to his side all weekend — but their horny lovemaking isn’t enough to fix their marriage. At breakfast, she overhears Dickie complaining about her brash American ways.

“Before the wedding, I suspected I would spend the rest of my life apologizing for Conchita, and I should’ve listened to my gut,” he says. “There are women and there are wives… Conchita just doesn’t fit. And she never will.” I could seriously fist fight every man on this show.

Of course, she storms off before she can overhear the nicer things Dickie has to say about her, but the damage has been done. In a more genuine heart-to-heart with Nan, Conchita vows to harden herself into the perfect English bride. “He mustn’t see he’s breaking me,” she says of Dickie. 

Lizzy also tries to warn Jinny about Seadown, but Jinny doesn’t seem to care, as she’s entirely given up on trying to woo the guy. That inevitably changes when Seadown proposes to her, out of the blue, in front of everyone. Jinny, ever the girl’s girl, accepts his hand — but the joke, once again, is on her, because Nan is unwittingly about to steal the spotlight once again.

Nan is hands down the strongest proponent for minding your damn business, because the opportunities that fall into her lap are nothing short of miraculous. Guy might have run off after her admission, but there’s still one man in England who’s still unequivocably obsessed with her: Theo. We see him at the beginning of Episode 2 wandering the dunes back home and moping about his lot in life — which, by the way, is not at all tragic: he just has to marry a girl that he doesn’t particularly care for (and hasn’t even tried to get to know). When his mother, the Dowager Duchess of Tintagel (Amelia Bullmore), presses him to make something happen, he flat-out decides to bolt in search of Nan. Somehow, he finds her in the gardens at Runnymede, and there he immediately asks her to be his wife.

This is pretty cool, even if Nan does have to hide her whopper of a secret from an even bigger catch. But as she learned with Guy the night before, it really may be best to keep her mouth shut this time. And with him out of the running, she has no reason not to say yes to Theo. Unbeknownst to Nan, though, Guy actually does come back for her. He’s spent all night weighing the consequences of marrying Nan and seems willing to take the risk because get this: he really likes her. (Swoon.)

Unfortunately, Guy’s timing couldn’t be worse. He returns to Runnymede just in time to watch Theo propose. Though Nan doesn’t give an answer before the credits roll, he’s not the only one waiting with baited breath.