I always have to start my recap of The Buccaneers with a bit of a complaint. If the idea was to have a seemingly unremarkable young woman take the lead and marry the “right” man on paper — only to realize the marriage wouldn’t work — they really didn’t need to turn Nan Saint-Clair into the most annoying character on TV right now. She and her sister Jinny are dramatic, intense, and narcissistic — all they do is cause pain to others. With that, Lizzy Elmsworth ended up stealing the true love story that had always been there in Edith Wharton’s book — just not meant to be hers.

So, let’s go with what we have.

With Nan running off to Italy — always literally running from scene to scene — Theo and Lizzy spent a week in paradise, secluded in Tintagel, just getting to know each other (intimately) and falling in love. Theo, finally in love (and I’m so happy to see him loving someone who loves him back and isn’t using him, like his mother and Nan), begs Lizzy not to marry Hector. But before they can even talk about alternatives, Nan shows up from Italy as if nothing happened, or almost.

She’s surprised to learn that Theo knows she married him both due to pressure from the Duchess and because she needed the title to help her sister. Still, she finally apologizes. Nan knows it’s too late, so she proposes a deal: they’ll keep up appearances while living separate lives. Theo agrees, but Nan becomes suspicious of this “new” husband — especially after finding a woman’s earring left behind in the castle. But for now, she doesn’t suspect who it might belong to. Yet.

Back in London, Lizzy is torn: she’s never felt so free and in love as she did with Theo, but since he can’t get a divorce, what choice does she have? Mabel tries to convince her to go ahead and marry Hector, but she is heartbroken — she and Honoria also need to maintain appearances and find husbands, and that separation is hurting both deeply.

Nan, the nuisance, might finally face the consequences of the mess she made last season: Theo can’t stop thinking about Lizzy and their time in Tintagel. Meanwhile, Antonia (the Italian friend of Guy and Jinny) discovers that they’re not actually married, and after a night of drinking, fun, and sex, she and Guy apparently get married. And remembered nothing the next morning. Supposedly, they’re in the Italian equivalent of Las Vegas. Either way, Guy is already moving on… and Nan might end up with neither.

What no one suspects is that Jinny is about to ruin everything. Like: she’s already wrecked three people’s lives, kidnapped her own child, and now she’s practically reconciled with the abusive husband she fled from so dramatically. If there’s someone more selfish than Nan, it’s definitely Jinny. At this point, it feels like Nan is going to help Seadown torture her sister.

Back in London, we see that Hector isn’t as charming as he seems. He doesn’t care about Lizzy — the marriage is about his political career and social standing, and that’s all that matters to him. So, when Theo pleads with Lizzy not to go through with it, he’s being more of a friend than a selfish lover. And he returns to talk to her at the church doors, when she’s absolutely stunning as a bride. He agrees that he can’t ask her to give everything up to be with him — since he could only offer her a secret, hidden relationship, something she doesn’t deserve. But he begs her not to marry out of obligation or society’s expectations. Only marry if she finds something like what they shared. He knows what he’s saying — he’s trapped in a loveless marriage with Nan.

And we say goodbye without knowing what Lizzy decides.

And honestly? I couldn’t tell you either, since the show no longer has much to do with the book! As for me? I want Theo and Lizzy to get their happy ending.

And can I say how emotional I got watching the scene with Greg Wise (Reede Robinson) and Mia Threapleton (Honoria)? Yes, he played Guy Thwarte in the previous (and faithful) version of The Buccaneers, but before that, he was John Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility, acting opposite none other than Kate Winslet — the best Marianne ever, and also Mia’s real-life mother. I thought it was beautiful.