Cast:Kristine Froseth as Nan, Alisha Boe as Conchita, Matthew Broome as Guy, Josie Totah as Mabel, Imogen Waterhouse as Ginny, Aubri Ibrag as Lizzie, Josh Dylan as Richard, Guy Remmers as Theo, Barney Fishwick as james, Mia Threapleton as Honoribl Marable, Amelia Bullmore as the Dowager Duchess, Adam James as colonel St. George, and Christina Hendricks as Mrs. St. George.

Written and Created By: Katherine Jakeway, based on the book by Edith Wharton

Streaming Exclusive To: Apple TV +

Length: 8 episodes

release Year: 2023

Audio Description Produced By: Pixel Logic Media

Written By:

Narrated By: Roy Samuelson

What is it?: Based on an initially unpublished novel by Edith Wharton, the Buccaneers follows a young, headstrong group of American girls as they seek love across the pond with their various beaus. Themes of love, duty, and fidelity run through the various stories, though we focus primarily on two sisters as they both make their romantic choices and find them to be far more complicated. Nan St. George is fearless, and quickly catches the eye of two different men. Although, a secret even she doesn’t know about might not just complicate her future love life, butt shake up her world as she knows it. Her sister Ginny ends up falling for a man with wealth and status, who turns out to be far more controlling and manipulative than she thought. With their friends by their side, and eight episodes, these girls will seek to make the adult decisions that will define their lives.

What works: This would have paired rather well years ago with The CW’s Reign. It feels like something that could have thrived on the network, but now is part of a trend of frothy and fluffy melodramas that perform well for streamers looking to not overspend on every show. Netflix does well with shows like virgin River, Ginny and Georgia, and My Life With the Walter Boys, while Amazon leans in with The Summer I turned Pretty and We were Liars. There is clearly a market for these shows, and Apple makes it different enough by going more period. It never tries to overplay its hand, and go too deep, or be too preachy. it has enough running in its veins already about female empowerment, and even includes an LGBTQ angle through one of the supporting girls. While none of the girls are appropriately cast for a period drama, the men with their British accent all feel properly of the time. It works as a light diversion, a contrast to the more complicated dramas seeking Emmy glory.

Nan is likeable enough to be the central character of the series. She feels like someone never really given the same attention as her sister, who suddenly finds herself thinking about what her future might entail. They develop the relationship between the sisters rather well, before they start pulling at the thread, and having Ginny make some questionable life choices. the supporting cast of girls, Conchita is a standout, seen as some kind of vixen that captured her husband’s heart. She struggles with the reality of what it is to be a wife and mother amongst in-laws that do not like her, and spends the season trying to course correct her husband so their love isn’t diminished. Of the men, Nan is presented with two perfectly fine options. guy accepts her mostly as is, and struggles with keeping her secret when asked, making him a flawed individual, but Theo has a very white knight quality to him, where there are seemingly no flaws. She just doesn’t love him quite as much, but can she learn to love this Duke she’s agreed to marry?

What Doesn’t Work: the girls are too modern. they feel like the cast of gossip Girl doing cosplay. When you see what young American actresses like Taissa Farmiga are able to do on the Guilded Age, it is possible to be young and also sound period appropriate. These girls don’t sound like they are from the period, not just because they have American accents, but because they haven’t been coached to try and do anything different. So they all sound like 2025, in a show that is stuck in the past.

At times, what can and should be an ensemble story is so heavily focused on Nan’s development, that the other girls can get a bit lost. for example, considering the implications of the period, it would have been nice to explore period lesbianism in a more complex fashion than a series of stolen glances and hiding from others. Even Conchita, who starts out with a lot of focus at the beginning, and has second billing on IMDb, sees her storyline diminish as nan’s takes center stage. Shows like this ultimately thrive because of the ensemble, and moving too far from that isn’t the best idea, even if Nan is a likeable lead.

The Audio Description: Naturally, for a female driven show, we have a male narrator. That’s not sarcasm, as since often the women in the show have more to do and say than the men, having a male is contrasting, and keeps the description from being lost. In fact, for American audiences, since the only significant male character without a British accent is the father of nan and Ginny, Roy Samuelson is the only American male voice you’ll hear for basically the whole season. all the typical stuff is there, with entrances and exits, supportive descriptions of expressions, some spicy narration when required, and everything you’d get in a 2025 audio description track. it is fine. My only thing,is like with the girls, i felt like the audio description doesn’t take advantage of the period it is set in. this is a costume piece, with these estates often being used as sets. It should feel more like a trip back in time, but instead it feels just regular, with only a few mentions. it certainly doesn’t grasp what some other shows set in and around this time period have been able to pull off, like Bridgerton. And, also, I think we basically neutrally described the entire cast, so everyone is all one ethnicity. The problem with that, is that we almost always default to white, and while you might give Conchita a different image in your head, if there’s any intentional casting going on here, you’re going to miss it.

Why You Might Like It: I’d recommend this to anyone who likes Bridgerton, Downton Abbey, or The Guilded Age, because it just might be up your alley. but also, if you like shows aimed a bit more at a young adult audience, with things from gossip Girl to the Summer I turned pretty, this might also be your thing. For people whose favorite film genre is romance, or people who adore those Jane Austen adaptations, this might be worth your time as well.

Why You Might Not Like It: It will never get a substantial Emmy nomination outside of maybe costuming or set design. In the era of peak television, if you find yourself only driven by the highest of quality prestige dramas, this will feel beneath you. Also, if you are someone who only watches crime procedurals, this is not that. Also, kids. even though the girls are young, I still think younger kids might get lost in all the costume drama, and with the sexual content being somewhat in existence, that’s probably a good thing.

Fresh: 7.3/10