Because I love you and apparently hate myself, I’m watching the whole damn series, but I’m breaking up my review of The Buccaneers (2023) into two parts. Episodes 1-4 are here, and now that the thing has finished, I’m wrapping up with episodes 5-8. In case you haven’t heard about it, this Apple TV show is a new take on Edith Wharton’s unfinished novel set in the 1870s, and should be in no way confused with the much beloved 1995 BBC miniseries that’s far more accurately based on Wharton’s tale.
To say this show is based on Wharton’s book is like saying Reign (2013-17) is based on the history of Mary Queen of Scots — yeah, a lot of the names and places are there, but oof, so much of the story is mixed up in a blender with all kinds of random modernizations and soap-opera BS added. At least Reign didn’t take itself so seriously and nor did it try to shove a bunch of anachronistic feminism in with the subtly of a sledgehammer, as this Buccaneers does.
The one good thing I can say is that the costumes get better as the series goes along, even if the dialog and plot do not. The wackiest and least historical costumes seem to have shown up in episodes 1 and 2, which were designed by Giovanni Lipari (his first historical production). Episodes 3, 4, and 5 were designed by Sheena Napier (Howards End, Enchanted April), and the costumes really settled down into a more generally solid 1870s-80s-ish fashion. The final three episodes were done by Kate Carin (Around the World in 80 Days, The Book of Negroes), and the costumes have ups and downs but are generally not as egregious as the first couple eps.
Alas, I can’t find any interviews with Sheena Napier for this production, so no insights about her designs. Kate Carin did some press for the show and leaned into the old ‘let’s make it relatable‘ nonsense. MEH. Let’s just finish this thing out as painlessly as possible, if we can…
Costumes in The Buccaneers, Episode 5, Designed by Sheena Napier
The whole episode takes place during a Bonfire Night party at Guy’s house, so there’s basically one costume for each character.
Nan wears a long blue coat over some sort of vaguely Victorian dress that’s never shown. And she just leaves her stupid hair down forever now. HATE IT.
The other gals get fairly decent 1870s-80s-ish outfits though, and let’s start off with one that impressed me most. Check this out:
I immediately recognized Honoria’s red and green bustle gown — it’s the same one Nan wore in the 1995 production of The Buccaneers when she’s first married!
That was pretty cool, so thank you, Sheena Napier.
Honoria and Mabel also get the only real sex scene in the entire series. Sure, there’s a few other couples who are seen in a bed together or starting to get frisky, but these two women have the only start-to-finish, fully realized sex scene. There’s no nudity, but it’s passionate and well done. Theirs is the most positive relationship in the show, in spite of the fact that they can’t marry or be at all public about their feelings for each other. They’re more honest with each other than the other romantic couples in the series, and their scenes are just more fun. Showrunner Katherine Jakeways said in Decider:
“We always knew we wanted to have a queer storyline in it. It was kind of never even a discussion about whether we would or we wouldn’t, it was just kind of obvious that we would. And we wanted it to be a joyful relationship.”
I had no idea that Josie Totah, who plays Mabel, is trans, but that may add to the honesty and down-to-earth quality these scenes have. As Jakeways noted:
“Josie was suggested to us actually by our brilliant casting director and immediately it just felt perfect because, you know, she is a sort of icon of that community and she brings her own thoughts about it and her own experiences to that role.”
The initial rollout of their attraction was a bit clunky (like everything in this series), but after that, their relationship has worked much better. It’s like the writers have a problem with having characters meet in a convincing fashion!
There were some other outfits I liked in this episode, such as Conchitta’s purple velvet jacket and coordinating skirt.
Also, Lizzie gets an excellent plaid bustle gown, but she’s always moving or sitting so it was hard to screencap, dammit.
If I squint, is that dress inspired by something like this? In a basic, stripped-down way? C’mon, throw me a bone here!
Jinny has a decently period outfit, yet she can’t keep it buttoned up. Yeah yeah, it’s to show how she’s “casual,” “comfortable,” and “free” when she hangs out with her friends as opposed to her stifling life with her husband, but do we have to be so bloody literal and obvious?
Then there’s poor Jean Hopeleigh, a debutante who was pushed at Theo and now he’s pushing her at Guy (because Theo knows his BFF is actually in love with Nan, oh hi, cheezoid rom-com plotline). She’s dressed nicely, but about a decade out of date with pagoda sleeves that were fashionable in the 1860s.
Maybe she’s out of step fashion-wise because she’s out of step with the group? Yeah, I’m stretching here!
Ridiculous things that happen in this episode, in approximate order:
- Nan chops wood with Guy. No, that’s not code for anything, she literally chops firewood.
- Seadown creeps on Lizzie yet again.
- Lizzie and Guy sit on the floor eating cake batter and have a Deep Conversation.
- The whole “chase each other through the hedge maze” stuff.
- Nan and Conchitta talk about how Nan really loves Guy, resulting in Nan and Guy finally kissing.
- Nan plays poker with the boys — and wins.
- Theo tells Nan that Guy only went to New York to find a rich American bride, so now she hates Guy.
Costumes in The Buccaneers, Episode 6, Designed by Kate Carin
This episode is set during a Christmas gathering at the Duke’s Scottish castle, and it’s the first we see of costume designer Kate Carin’s work. In a Vogue interview, she said:
“I am not a period designer. I am not classically trained. We very much approached it with a contemporary twist. I don’t care what the history books say, for me, let’s exaggerate.”
Why do people think that’s something to brag about? She continued …
“My brief when I came in was to bring up the colour, strengthen the silhouettes. My brief to the girls that went off the pull was that I don’t want anything wishy washy, I don’t want anything pastel. If you bring me peach, you’ll get sacked. I want strong, strong tones, and pattern — don’t be afraid of it.”
Which, fine, but the 1850s was when bright, synthetic aniline dyes were first commercially available, so it’s not like she’s inventing something new. Bright colors are historically accurate for this period! If she’d peeked at a few history books, she might know that. Again, Frock Flicks is here to point out the obvious.
The episode starts with the young ladies playing in the snow like little children — because they’re Americans, right! They’re so unstuffy, remember! eyeroll
These coats are all fine from a costume and historical point of view. They’re nothing special but not offensive. That’s a lot of hair-flying-free and no hats in what’s presumably cold weather, but whatever, freeze your damn ears off, young ‘uns.
Jean is not just invited this time, she’s now officially Guy’s so-called girlfriend. She gets another nice outfit, less frumpy now, while Guy shows up wearing a turtleneck and cords from Old Navy.
Reasonably historical inspo for her:
Bummer, his outfit is out of stock. Maybe try Poshmark?
Mabel and Honoria have a moment, and Honoria continues to get the best costumes in the show.
Similar in style to this fashion plate:
In an interview with Hello Magazine, costume designer Kate Carin talked about working with the actress Mia Threapleton, who plays Honoria:
“Mia is very measured as an actress, and she owns those corsets. “She was constantly saying: ‘I think I could go tighter.’ I’m thinking: ‘No, you’ve got a 23-inch waist, you’re going to disappear — or we’ll cut you in two!'”
Likewise, Threapleton shows how she was born to be in frock flicks as Kate Winslet‘s daughter, saying:
“As soon as I put everything on, I didn’t need to think about it too much. Honoria was there. I’m a sucker for a period costume and I love a corset.”
Honoria has a stupid scene with Conchitta (this show’s dialog continues to be subpar), but then she tells Miss Testvalley to leave so I guess that achieves the plot point.
The American girls all wear blouse-and-skirt combos for much of this episode, and they’re fairly basic so I’m not screeencapping all of them. Nan, however, wears pants. In the Vogue interview Kate Carin says she saw Nan as a tomboy:
“I really didn’t want to lose that element of her. She’s a sporty outgoing girl, she’s a nonconformist. If you look at the silhouette straight on, it looks like a skirt, but when you see her running along the beach, you can see it’s trousers.”
Oh honey, no. Nan isn’t a nonconformist, she’s a whiny little brat who wants to get her way! Conchitta is the OG nonconformist from the book, and even this version has her as the leader of the pack. Even Mabel is more of a nonconformist as the crafty queer character. Nan is a lost little girl, bouncing from one boy to the other, from mommy to daddy to sister to girlfriends, unsure of herself or what she wants. She doesn’t know who she is at all.
That said, the “pants” are a non-issue because onscreen they look like a really wimpy skirt.
What’s more offensive to me is the stupid sweater vest — it makes her look like she’s in grade-school on portrait day.
Even Lizzie wears one, and it makes her look unnecessarily juvenile.
Mabel’s version of the blouse-and-skirt uniform gets jazzed up with this arsenic green color, and she arranges a cover marriage for herself with a guy who doesn’t want his family’s choice of arranged bride. Both the blouse and the engagement are better ideas on paper than in reality.
Much drama ensues about BS, and eventually Nan’s illegitimacy is revealed to the Dowager Duchess, who gets to turn from nice to bitch on a dime. I wouldn’t let my son marry Nan just because she’s wearing this dumb crochet vest. Hello, it’s the 1870s not the 1970s!
But hey, she manages to put her goddamn hair UP for a change!
Turns out her own (half) sister spilled the beans or Seadown did; either way, Nan is dead to them now because Seadown requires his wife to be his slave in all things. But Jinny is wearing a really pretty purple / blue / green gown that’s barely glimpsed onscreen.
Tried to get a full screencap and just couldn’t get much.
The last few scenes are chock full of potentially nice and historically accurate dresses barely visible to the camera, including Conchitta seen through a window:
And Lizzie at the breakfast table:
Mabel’s breakfast table outfit is a little more visible. The vest and blouse read a smidge more 1890s, but I’ll allow it. Her hair is excusable though.
Costumes in The Buccaneers, Episode 7, Designed by Kate Carin
Guy Fawkes Night, Christmas, now New Year’s Eve, we’re just counting down the end-of-the-year holidays here. Not super original, but nothing in this show is. This episode is entirely at a party the Brightlinseas are holding, under duress, apparently.
Nan and Theo arrive to everyone whispering and gossiping about Nan being illegitimate. Once again, let me rant about idiotic this new storyline is! I don’t understand the purpose of it — being essentially adopted isn’t considered a horrible social faux pas today, so this doesn’t make Nan “relatable” to kids these days, which seems to be the point of this show. If anything, it’s a more archaic concept to add in, further distancing the plot from “modern” viewers. And really, it just junks up the story randomly.
Much like this dumb prom dress Nan wears to the party.
Check out the hot mess that is the back of her gown. Did they not know this would be filmed from all sides?
Later in the episode, Nan and Guy lay on the rooftop because of course they do. At least it gives a full view of her bodice.
If I were generous, I’d say this was aiming for something like this style of bodice:
But I’m not generous, and I think Nan’s dress is made-up bullshit. Also bullshit is her friends joining her in the tub where she’s been crying because everyone’s whispering about her. Suck it up, buttercup, you’re the hot gossip right now!
This does provide a view of what Conchitta and Lizzie are wearing for the party. The bodice shape both of these is rather lackluster, though the stripe patterning on Lizzie’s dress is a nice touch.
Meanwhile, Jinny continues to be controlled by her husband, while she’s wearing a crappy satin outfit.
Ooof, don’t use satin if you can’t use it perfectly because it shows EVERY wrinkle.
Also, Jinny seems to be pregnant and maybe regretting her life choices. At least she’s finally wearing a chemise under her corset!
In the closest thing this series has to a subtle, well-written scene so far, Honoria visits Richard in the nursery and tries to talk to him about Miss Testvalley, hinting that she knows about their affair. Again, she has an excellent gown.
Honoria also snarks on Mabel for getting engaged, even though Mabel did it to stay in the U.K. Honoria’s just pissed that she has FEELINGS now. So much for nuance there.
Mr. and Mrs. St. George arrive, as a surprise, so Jinny fills them in about everyone knowing Nan’s parentage now. Mom is pissed that Jinny was a jerk to her sister. Mrs. St. George also tells off her husband and says she’s leaving him because she’s unfulfilled. It’s another of those dumb, overly modern feminist monologues, now from Mom’s point of view. It ends with her walking out and literally taking down her hair as the empowering female vocalist music swells. Cli-fucking-shay, SMH.
At least Christina Hendricks looks fantastic in this gown. In that Vogue interview, the costume designer said:
“It’s such a kind of mishmash of things, isn’ it? We dyed up the netting that went on it. And we found, in the back of an old cardboard box from Portobello Market, some vintage trim that we used on it. I think that turned out really beautifully.”
It’s reminiscent of images like this:
In the same interview Kate Carin noted how hard it was to wrangle rental costumes for all the extras because The Gilded Age was filming at the same time:
“There was not a hire house in Europe that had [costumes]. Everything was out to them. Every time they’d send stuff back, we were waiting for extras.”
I did spot a costume I recognized in the background. One of the party guests is wearing the white and red bustle gown first used in Tipping the Velvet (2002):
As seen on Rachael Stirling in the previous show, by costume designer Susannah Buxton:
There’s a midnight countdown, which IDK, did anyone care about that before the 20th century?
Theo and Guy have a food fight that starts a fist-fight that ends up on the front door in front of the whole party. Nan, Guy, and Theo have it out about the telegram, with Theo playing Cyrano because he memorized the letter (DA FUCK?). Nan’s pissed at them both, but of course she’s still going to marry Theo, and the dudes are still BFFs. This episode went nowhere slowly.
Costumes in The Buccaneers, Episode 8, Designed by Kate Carin
OK let’s finish this thing out and never speak of it again!
The ep starts with the Dowager Duchess giving Nan a chintzy little tiara that’s supposedly a family heirloom and symbolic of the importance of Nan’s marriage and new role. MEH.
But holy shit! Nan gets her first actual historically accurate dress! It looks a little dowdy on her, maybe because that neckline is more 1860s than 1880s.
Compare with:
Then Nan and her gal pals don their stretch velvet capes to drink champagne and are late for the big formal party where the Dowager introduces Theo and Nan the night before the wedding.
At the party, Richard tells off his mom, saying he and Conchitta are severing ties with the fam. Though Conchitta reveals that her father’s lost all his money, so they’ll really be on their own.
Jinny tries to apologize to Nan in the bathroom, but that doesn’t work. Seadown grabs her in the hallway, and Jinny faints, which reveals that she’s pregnant, so Seadown slaps her around a bit.
Mabel and her guy talk marriage and children, and the shit hits the fan for her. So she tells Lizze that she likes girls and about their mom catching her. It’s a nice scene with Lizzie being sympathetic in a very modern way. I compare this Gentleman Jack and how Anne Lister’s family accepted her as just being “her” and without particularly being queer-friendly in a modern sense. The scene in this show was perhaps too explicit, not sexually, but more was said than would have been appropriate to the period.
Speaking of explicit, Guy climbs up to Nan’s window (DA FUCK?), tells her he’s called it off with Jean (DUH), and asks Nan to go away with him, then they have sex. Weirdly, while it looks like she’s just wearing a nightgown, there’s a glimpse of her corset coming off. And again, this sex scene is far less detailed than Mabel and Honoria’s — a little clothing starts to come off, they move towards the bed, end scene. This is an almost G-rated show, for all the soap-opera shenanigans!
Jinny knocks on the door and comes in to reveal the bruises she got from her husband. Nan and Guy try to get her out of the place, but Seadown catches them. Back in Nan’s room the Dowager Duchess catches Nan and Guy. So basically everyone knows that shit is going down.
The next morning, before the wedding, is a mirror of the series’ first scene, now with Mabel running through the house with flowers for the wedding party. She runs into Honoria, and they have a moment. Mabel tells her she’s called off her engagement, and they talk about being brave together. Again, it’s sweet, and unlike the convo with Lizzie, this feels a touch more realistic, maybe because it’s less specific? They’re just saying nice, vague things at each other; it’s not like they promise to love, fuck, and live together forever.
For the millionth time, Honoria gets a proper, historical outfit.
To tie up another loose end, Lord Brightlinsea tells Richard he’s dying so it’ll be Richard’s turn to run the family stuff. Thus solving all of Richard and Conchitta’s problems tidily.
The bride and her bridesmaids walk to the church, with Seadown unnecessarily escorting Jinny. Oh FFS — Nan’s wedding gown just looks like something from pulled from the back racks at David’s Bridal. This makes Conchitta’s wedding gown in episode 1 look perfectly period in comparison — at least that one had the basic shape of an 1880s gown. And the bridesmaid dresses are just as bad. Am I supposed to be happy they stopped using satin, which shows every problem, and now they’re using slubby dupioni? Yeah, no, dupioni was considered a waste fabric until the mid-20th century.
Outside the church, they finally ditch the dude and reveal their plan. Nan and Jinny will leave as the others walk down the aisle. Inside the church, Mrs. St. George talks in private with the Dowager Duchess so they can voiceover the entire plan. THIS IS DUMB.
Guy is going to take Jinny somewhere safe, and Jinny wants Nan to come because she’s in love with Guy. But Nan doesn’t go because somehow she can ‘do more to help’ as a duchess. SO DUMB.
And to top it all off with a random, pointless cherry on top, during the wedding, Mr. St George shows up late and tells his wife that Nan’s birth mother has arrived.
WHO GIVES A FUCK.
I really don’t understand the plot choices made with this series especially compared to the source material. They should have ditched the novel’s name and any connection to Edith Wharton because the showrunners clearly had their own modern soap-opera story to tell. And they couldn’t even tell that all that well, IMO!
The only well-realized storyline was the queer romance, though it still had clunky and unrealistic moments. The abused wife storyline rolled out weirdly and concluded in a wildly ridiculous fashion, though in between, it almost kinda touched on a realistic, if modern, understanding of abusive relationships. The grand love triangle that is supposedly the center of the story was too convoluted by far and wanted to make everyone the Nice Guy, which just makes everyone look dumb as rocks. And Nan’s illegitimacy as a theme of self-knowledge (I guess??) running through the whole thing was totally weak and made no sense from either a historical or modern perspective.
What the hell was this mess supposed to be? It wasn’t juicy enough to be entertaining. Given the goddamn cliffhanger ending, it’s obvious they’re hoping for a season two, but I’m not slogging through that shit!
Could you stand any of The Buccaneers?
Find this frock flick at:
