The Buccaneers 1×05, “Failed Betrayal,” does one of the best things a YA show can do — put all its characters in the same place after an emotional or tumultuous episode.
One example that prominently sticks out is One Tree Hill 3×18, “When It Isn’t Like It Should Be,” when the characters go to Rachel Gatina’s family cabin after the death of Keith Scott. Of course, the context of the episodes is vastly different, but their purpose is similar. This commonality underscores the universality of YA stories and emphasizes the importance of giving characters space to slow down and confront each other and their feelings.
Written by Emma Jane Unsworth and Roanne Bardsley and directed by Richard Senior, “Failed Betrayal” is a perfect response to The Buccaneers 1×04, “Homecoming.” The scenic yet newly hollow setting of Guy’s family home over the Bonfire Night weekend compares and contrasts with the drama brewing between the group of friends and their respective romantic partners. It’s a character-driven outing, through and through.
The Flickering Flames of a Love Triangle
This episode also toys with the miscommunication trope as a rope that binds Guy, Nan, and Theo until it frays. The unspoken telegram lingers between the three characters from the episode’s opening minutes like a pregnant pause. That gradually building tension is fascinating because no grand ball or social gathering pulls the trio together, urging them to face the telegram’s contents — and each other. Instead, “Failed Betrayal” is a chosen exercise of downtime that causes the characters to turn inward and project outward.
This progression occurs with the love triangle between Guy, Nan, and Theo. While The Buccaneers has the same number of scenes between Nan & Theo and Nan & Guy, “Failed Betrayal” doesn’t strike an emotional balance between the love triangle’s opposing sides. The content of Guy’s love declaration, beautifully delivered by Matthew Broome, is far and away better than Theo’s speech to Nan in the final scene. However, the latter has a romantic scenery akin to 2005’s Pride & Prejudice in its favor to elevate its content.
Even though the show delivers sweeping romance, the character work is best when “Failed Betrayal” pivots to focus on Nan & Conchi and Guy & Theo. Because if there is one element that The Buccaneers will sharpen into pure gold, it’s the friendships.
Scenes affirming Nan and Conchi’s friendships are necessary after their explosive argument in The Buccaneers 1×03, “The Perfect Duchess.” Their honest conversation speaks to their friendship’s depth and longevity, as does Guy and Theo’s final scene. Because fewer scenes exist between the latter, the ones during “Failed Betrayal” are a real treat. Those sequences represent how well the two young men know each other through their awareness of which wounds to press on and how to patch them up.
Put the Shame Where It Belongs
The episode’s slower pacing encourages those casual and sometimes heated catch-ups that double as reinvestments in The Buccanneers‘s interpersonal stakes. It also means the show has the energy to establish new, unexpected dynamics, like between Guy and Lizzy.
Aubri Ibrag is heartbreakingly authentic as she recounts Lizzy’s traumatic experience with James and arrives at Lizzy’s realization that she shouldn’t shoulder the guilt of James’s shameful actions but place that weight back onto him. That shift in Lizzy’s perspective manifests in everything, including her physicality, but mostly her intensified protection of Jinny. Both forces collide in a distinctly memorable sequence from “Failed Betrayal” when Lizzy stands not in defiance of James but in assurance of herself. The scene is made better by the camera framing him as a small man on whom the maze is closing.
Relatedly, it’s a relief to see Ibrag and Imogen Waterhouse lean back into the side of Lizzy and Jinny’s friendship that James has purposefully squashed in his intricate and incessant manipulations. Nevertheless, “Failed Betrayal” effectively juxtaposes the brightness of their joy and laughter with the darkness James shrouds Jinny in as retaliation.
One Step Forward, Three Steps Back
Contrary to the slower pacing, “Failed Betrayal” develops Honoria and Mabel’s dynamic faster. They take an intimate step forward in their relationship before falling back.
Considering the prominence of the canonically (so far) straight characters, it’s fantastic to see The Buccaneers give Honoria and Mabel more time to get to know each other, which Mia Threapleton and Josie Totah infuse with such lightheartedness when necessary. They also know how to bring stirring, dramatic performances as two characters reckon with the viability of their relationship during the heteronormative and restrictive 1870s.
Threapleton and Totah’s strengthening chemistry makes it an even larger shame that The Buccaneers is only beginning to delve deeper into Honroia and Mabel’s dynamic. After such little communication and progress between them during the show’s first three episodes, it is exciting to see this relationship expand its presence on screen. Hopefully, “Failed Betrayal” is a trend in the positive direction for the season’s remaining episodes.
After all, this episode solidifies how great The Buccaneers can be at character work when it gives itself the time and space to explore the delicacies of its complex ensemble. There doesn’t need to be a flashy plot point to spur development when the characters create breakthroughs merely by speaking to each other or existing near one another. “Failed Betrayal” underscores that this show can soar to new heights with every outing, meaning that the next three episodes will surely be entertaining.
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The Buccaneers streams new episodes on Wednesdays on Apple TV+.