'The Buccaneers' Is Falling Apart for One Big Reason – And Its Creator Is to Blame
Do you also feel that The Buccaneers Season 2 is too messy, superficial, and unrealistic? The main reason for this, it seems, is Katherine Jakeways' approach to the show – here's what she said.
The first season of The Buccaneers was not a hit. But it was a worthy project for fans of costume dramas – exciting, intriguing, and dramatic.
However, the second season received a wave of criticism instead of rave reviews, mainly due to the creative decisions of its creator, Katherine Jakeways.
'The Buccaneers' Creator Wanted to Modernize the Show – And Failed
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Jakeways set out to make the story of young American women conquering the British aristocracy more modern. In an interview with Town & Country, she explained that she wanted to incorporate current themes into the series so that viewers could relate to the characters:
“I hope that by modernizing it, to a certain extent, and making that group feel as 2023 as we can – and I think Edith Wharton did a lot of the work for that – we've allowed a viewer to go, that feels familiar.”
However, in pursuing modernity, the series lost the spirit of the original. And a coherent storyline.
Viewers complain that the characters speak and act like modern women instead of 19th-century girls. Instead of Edith Wharton's subtle social satire, viewers get a simplified version of Bridgerton, but without its charm. Reddit user Possible-Way1234 wrote:
“They completely disregarded why period characters are different, why the women acted different. [...] That's what makes period dramas so interesting, the changed circumstances. [...] But the writers didn't care, they wanted messy, impulsive and modern characters in pretty period dresses.”
'The Buccaneers' Writers Make the Show Using a British Comedy Approach – And It's a Big Problem
Additionally, most of The Buccaneers writers, including Katherine Jakeways herself, previously primarily worked on British comedy projects, not period dramas.
This may explain why the plot and character development took the direction they did in the second season. Redditor Possible-Way1234 added:
“They basically took the main genre points of modern British comedy and put it into period dresses. It explains so well why the characters feel so flat and underdeveloped, why they act so selfish, impulsive and forgot that they live in the 1870s.”
Fans Want a Good Story, Not Relatable Characters
Now that more than half of the second season has passed, it is safe to say that the attempt to modernize The Buccaneers has failed.
Rather than delving into the characters' psychology and preserving the era's atmosphere, the series has devolved into a superficial melodrama with beautiful costumes.
Viewers note that they don't need to relate to the characters of a period drama through similar problems and moral dilemmas – for that, we can watch a show set in the present day. Redditor strangefamiliarity commented:
“I do not give a FIG for characters in a TV SHOW to feel like real people in this way that they are portraying this season. I know they're not real people. I want a good STORY because that's what characters are created, nay, VESSELS for.”
For now, The Buccaneers risks becoming another canceled show whose finale we will never see.
