The Buccaneers‘ Christmas began with an innocent – and always noisy – union of the girls only to end it all upside down once again. Getting further and further away from the original work, maintaining the general lines of the drama, a series that is still distracting, but is far from deserving of praise.

One of the problems I see is not even the anachronism, or the intention to enter the Bridgerton school, but because it seems like a cold use of algorithms to create content that has been popular. Proves that without a soul, it doesn’t engage. Edith Wharton‘s unfinished story was no longer on the same level as her other books, it would be her attempt at a happy ending and perhaps that’s why it’s not one of the most adapted works for cinema or TV. Choices that didn’t achieve the goal? It reflects the episode that deserves a quick recap.

In current times it is very difficult to sell one where women need to get married to have a living and social position. If it were for love, how lucky! The frequency of arranged or arranged marriages (where there was mere friendship) was much higher, hence so many dramas that moved the female public for so many years. The heroine suffered from an “impossible” love. Now that we have autonomy over everything, getting married, being a mother, working… none of this makes sense. Therefore, the heart of the drama of The Buccaneers is already far removed from any story where female empowerment can be reaffirmed. At the time of the golden cage, women were anything but empowered.

Therefore, if you feel that the series’ drama is shallow, you are not far from the main problem with this adaptation. In the book, Nan marries Theo and is unhappy. He reveals himself to be cold and distant and she grieves for Guy. The drama is that after she gets married, she has no other alternative than to stay by the side of the husband she despises and we are anxious for an alternative. The Nan we are following, impulsively, without following rules, is harmful because she is dependent on drama, apparently. But we’ll get back to the episode.

As always, if the Buccaneers are together, the volume is loud. The snow war has upset the chaste British and they don’t care. We quickly realize that the dynamics haven’t changed: Jinny is being gaslit by her husband, even though she is fixed on Lizzy. Her friend finally confesses to her what happened between herself and James before his marriage to Jinny, but her reaction (for current times) is unexpected. She doubts her friend, humiliates her and to prove her loyalty to her husband, at his request, she tells the family secret about Nan. Why? Does not make sense. Jinny wants to be the perfect English wife, she suffers from having an American soul, but the only thing she hasn’t done so far is always use the secret of Nan’s illegitimacy in any situation. Jinny deserves James, nothing changes that.

On Mabel’s side, things are more practical. She disguises her romance with Honoria by openly flirting with Miles. The two get along well, although she doesn’t have the slightest attraction between them. What difference does it make? Miles knows that he will have to get married soon, to whoever, and Mabel also knows that she has the option of being a “spinster” or having a sham marriage. To the dismay of Lizzy, who was more than ready to return to the United States, Mabel decided on a sham marriage. This way, she imagines, she is closer to Honoria. Without a doubt, this is the best part of all The Buccaneers dramas.

Honoria is suffering from everything: for being so repressed, for seeing Mabel with a man, for seeing that Conchita and Richard have a chance of being happy if he really wants to. Of course, we already know the reason that is the real problem for him – an affair with Laura Testvalley – and since there is no way to tell his wife, he suffers. In the face of everything they do and feel, once again, he becomes shallow. The couple loves each other and when they are alone, they understand each other. But for some reason, even though everything seems fine, they are “secretly separated” until Richard is a real man. So far, nothing, not even the case or social position, suggests any real obstacle to overcome everything, but it is Honoria who intervenes. The love triangle is broken when she has a conversation with the housekeeper, reminding her that despite taking care of Richard’s daughter, Mrs. Testvalley is not part of the family or his life. As long as she’s around, he won’t have a chance. So she “sacrifices” herself, taking another job and leaving home immediately.

Let’s talk about Laura Testvalley. The series is creating such confusion for those who don’t know the book. She was Richard and Honoria’s governess, went to the United States at one point, was hired by Saint Georges to look after Nan, but is again working with Richard to look after his daughter with Conchita. Not even explaining it like that makes sense of her navigating presence between them. Who does she work for, really?

As I already anticipated, she is clearly Nan’s biological mother in this version, so at some point in history, she was already in America and somehow sewed up all the relationships between bankrupt nobles and rich young American women. It’s better to just accept it and not try to think of a timeline that makes sense.

Another 180° change from the book is Nan’s friendly relationship with her mother-in-law, the Duchess of Tintagel. The two understand each other, Nan is the opposite of what one expects for a future noblewoman, but she makes Theo happy and that’s what matters. So much so that even though she is a mother concerned about her son, the Duchess is a fan of sisterhood and warns Nan that Theo is not the sweet person she appears to be. He just likes his isolation, his paintings, and… playing with electric trains? Was there electricity at the time? Let’s ignore that too.

Nan and Guy continue to discuss how they feel about each other, without ever simply talking about feelings and fueling the drama. He confesses that he thought about marrying her for money, but… he didn’t complete it. He wants her to say first that she likes him and she wants him to talk. This childishness will be more than wrong. Nan suffers from realizing that Guy is an ideal candidate for a “happy” marriage, but as she is engaged to Theo and “loves” her future husband, we continue. However, the Duchess discovers that Nan is illegitimate and banishes her from England. There will be no more marriage!

The young woman confronts Guy: only he and Jinny know the truth. He promises that he never say a word, leaving the never-discreet Jinny. Nan says she is “relieved” but thinks that once she is exposed, she should be the one to tell Theo the truth. On the way, she confronts her sister, who shows no regret but we soon realize that it was James who told the Duchess about Nan. Guy, who is about to ask for someone else’s hand, hesitates and seems like he will wait for Theo and Nan’s conversation to make a decision.

And then another flaw in The Buccaneers‘ version. Nan invades the Christmas lunch, is exposed as expelled in front of everyone, and decides that she has had enough with secrets and tells everyone that she is illegitimate, so what? She’s not ashamed of it. It seemed surprising to me that at that moment, the young women who were jumping, shouting, and dancing just looked at their friend suffering without speaking out. Who surprises? Theo, of course. He declares himself again to Nan in front of everyone, saying that none of this makes any difference and that he always chose her out of love. Now Nan has no way back, but since Guy hasn’t changed his plans to marry someone else either, everything is ‘fine’. She follows the road of unhappiness with a character who has had several warnings so far, but who has shown no danger to the heroine at all.

Apple TV Plus promises that if Christmas was tense, New Year would be unforgettable, with the “explosion of rivalry between Theo and Guy”. And another “bombshell” news in the Brighlingsea family. Do we really care?

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