REVIEW: ‘The Buccaneers’ Season 1 Is A Self-Satisfied Bore

Buckling under its desperate need to be about something, The Buccaneers Season 1 fails due to poor writing and drab performances that can’t fulfill its goal. Despite some fabulous costumes that help define place, time, and even characters’ personalities where the writing and performances cannot, the series is a drag to work through despite the consistent spools of vibrant fabrics. A perfect series for background fodder and chore days where you’d prefer background noise to silence, The Buccaneers fails to deliver anything new or anything comfortingly old. It’s a television landfill.

The series announces its primary issues immediately with the lead character, Nan (Kristine Froseth), who is saddled with two potential love interests and dramatic family revelations yet still remains a bore. You can tell she’s the main character because she’s often losing shoes or forced to be made up like the other girls, openly critiquing men and the excess of the world she lives in, where money matters most.

This in and of itself isn’t a bad thing. Still, there’s this terrible fixation in modern versions of classic stories where writers fail to see the original radical nature of the heroines in favor of updating them for more modern verbiage. Greta Gerwig’s Little Women comes to mind as a mainstream example, but The Buccaneers Season 1 suffers from it too. Froseth doesn’t do anything to help amplify the character’s charm, delivering a wilting performance that slips into the background even while she’s standing in the center of the frame.

The series, created by Katherine Jakeways and based on the unfinished novel of the same name by Edith Wharton, follows the lives of young women in the 1870s who are sent from America to London in order to secure husbands and titles. There are threads of ideas that work, such as the culture clash between the two groups, new money versus old, and tensions that stem from racial and gender inequality. But anything that might’ve been more intriguing is pushed away in favor of Nan and her two potential suitors, Guy (Matthew Broome) and Theo (Guy Remmers.) The former get their meet-cute and private, intimate conversations where they reveal secrets they’ve never shared with anyone else. The latter involves a Duke who likes to paint, and that’s about it. There’s a clear choice, even if Nan hasn’t developed into a necessary character before choosing either.

The supporting characters succeed to varying levels of success. Lizzy (Aubri Ibrag) and Jinny (Imogen Waterhouse) are given the most to do as secondary characters, both of whom have suffered under the hands of the vicious and abusive James. It’s a shame that, again, these characters aren’t given enough time to shine, but even still, in the moments where they do, their stories often revolve around the acts of one terrible man. They’re never given moments of growth that aren’t tied to James or given personality traits beyond young women who like to indulge and party. Sure, it’s about the same amount of personality as Nan, who “likes books,” but they don’t even get the benefit of more screen time.

The best character is Nan and Jinny’s mother, played by Christina Hendricks, who puts every scene partner to shame. She, too, is forced to contend with clumsy writing and overwrought personal monologues, but she brings a necessary depth that others lack. Her perspective is essential, as it allows us to look at the lives of the mother of daughters who can stand tall because of her sacrifices.

Her story is further strengthened through the idea of what happens when a mother sees the self-expression of her daughters and is inspired by it to potentially leave her loveless marriage due to it. Hendricks is tailor-made for these period dramas, but the role is wasted on her. Even if there was no way for her to be the main character, she deserved better highlights than one or two significant scenes.

From start to finish, The Buccaneers Season 1 is a frustrating endurance test. For all of the many costume dramas in media that find fanbases — for good or not — such as Netflix’s Bridgerton, HBO’s The Gilded Age, Downton Abbey, or even the A Court of Thorns and Roses book series, The Buccaneers should’ve been an easy sell. Instead, it takes a tepid approach to its story, aiming for revisionist period pieces and ending with something safe and unimaginative.

The Buccaneers Season 1 is available now on Apple TV+