Apple TV+’s The Buccaneers opens with a wedding that almost doesn’t happen. As Conchita (Alisha Boe) frets in her family’s New York mansion, Lord Richard (Josh Dylan) pulls up late with a breakup letter in hand, worried his free-spirited fiancée won’t “fit” with his uptight English family. It’s only when Nan (Kristine Frøseth), Conchita’s maid of honor, reminds Richard that nothing matters but their love that he rips up the note and goes ahead with what looks to be the most lavish nuptials of the century.
But what might on another show play as a testament to the power of love will ultimately prove on this one to be a warning of its limitations. With its poppy soundtrack, headstrong heroines and endless galas, the comparisons to Bridgerton are inevitable, well warranted and, in early episodes, not entirely flattering to The Buccaneers. But if the Netflix drama was a blushing bride dreaming of happily ever after, The Buccaneers might be her worldlier cousin — more skeptical and more pragmatic, but with an intriguing sharpness that feels all her own.
