‘The Buccaneers’ Episode 5 Recap: “Failed Betrayal”

Of course, the consequences of Guy’s letter would rear its ugly head sooner than later. In “Failed Betrayal” (The Buccaneers Episode 5), a gathering at Guy’s parents’ house brings new dynamics into the fold and illuminates what we’ve known all along for some characters. 

The biggest elephant in the room is Guy’s love confession, which was intercepted by his best friend Theo (the Duke) in New York. To Guy’s credit, he initially acts completely normal with both Nan and Theo when they arrive at his home — even when Theo goes out of his way to invite Guy’s former flame Jean to the home and when Guy and Nan sexually chop wood together. The wood chopping episode gives them a moment to really talk and Guy reminisces about his late mother and how he hopes to one day emulate his parents “marriage of equals.” As he waxes philosophical about wanting to marry his best friend, the wheels start turning for Nan about her own feelings for him and how different her relationship with Theo feels to the one she has with Guy. 

Still, it’s not until Nan and Guy find each other while playing a game in a maze on the grounds that she is made aware of the letter. When she finds him, obscured by the tall manicured bushes, she makes a statement that seems like it could apply as much to her relationship with Theo as it could to Guy’s non-relationship with Jean. Nan fears that Jean isn’t his best friend, an observation that he corroborates. He’s not thinking about Jean, he confesses, before asking about the telegram. But when he realizes she never received it, he realizes whose hands it ended up in and runs off to find Theo.

Nan’s wheels are turning once again and when she runs into Conchita in the maze, she dumps her confusion on her best friend. Conchita is giddy because she loves any type of drama and for once, she doesn’t make it about her (even though she could, because she’s officially moved out of Richard’s home with their baby). She encourages Nan to think hard about what actually makes her happy and Nan describes Guy as someone who angers and infuriates her, veering into Pride and Prejudice territory that I’m not sure the show has necessarily earned in its characterizations: Guy and Nan’s only tiff thus far was when he left after she told him about her parentage, which is hardly grounds for an enemies to lovers plot. But still, speaking about their dynamic to Conchita sparks something in Nan (“love is a heart attack,” Conchita tells her), and she goes off to confront Guy.

Atop a belltower, she goes in on him. But Guy is prepared, and says all of the right things back to her — including that he’s “desperately in love” with her, and that’s enough to break the dam. Their lips are together suddenly, passionately, until Nan remembers that she’s engaged to his best friend. She runs away and he chases her into the garden, where they come across the Duke. He’s not dumb and immediately knows something is up, and decides to hit him where it hurts the most: his wallet. 

Theo makes a dig at Guy by insinuating that he doesn’t have the cash to play a game of poker, but Guy rises to the challenge. In a game that fittingly winds up being just Theo, Nan, and Guy at the end, truths come to the surface. Theo taunts Guy about his 15-year winning streak to which Guy retorts, “you’ve beaten me every single day of our lives in a number of ways. Doesn’t mean you always will,” before dropping an expected game-winning hand of three aces. This upsets Theo and he finally lets the cat out of the bag about Guy’s quest to find a rich American bride to bolster his family’s finances. 

Nan is horrified that everything they shared earlier may have been a lie. She actually holds the winning hand — all four Queens — but announces that she has “absolutely nothing at all” after this bombshell. Later, when Guy is essentially exiled from his own party, Nan tells him that she believed they were friends and for a short while was scared they were something more, but now they are neither. Though Theo comes to make amends at the end of the episode and even offers to help his friend’s financial situation, Guy doesn’t accept his help. He’s lost everything.

Jinny and Lizzy, blissfully unaware of Nan’s love triangle drama, get to spend time together after a long while. James is still a dark cloud hanging over their friendship — he’s still a menacing presence for Lizzy — but after Lizzy half-confesses about her humiliation (without naming names), she realizes that it’s “his shame and it’s not mine to keep.” 

From then, Lizzy is a changed woman. She convinces Jinny to disobey James in the maze when he asks her to wave a white handkerchief for him to find her (the handkerchief is waved, but James finds Lizzy at the other end of it taunting him), and the friends escape the maze to have a quiet afternoon alone, just the two of them. Jinny even admits that despite how James is bound to react, it was worth it. 

When she does return, she immediately apologizes to James for being absent and he’s surprisingly understanding — which can only mean that something sinister will be lurking later on. James is a pro at acting proper in mixed company and showing his real colors behind closed doors. And sure enough, when Jinny arrives at their room at night, she finds that he’s locked her out. Humiliated, she sits outside of the door until he finally opens it a crack and lets her back in. Who knows what horrors await her inside the room, but Jinny’s inherent fear of her husband is apparent.

Meanwhile Mabel and Honoria consummate their love for each other, but it doesn’t go according to plan. After running off together during the maze and hooking up in a smaller private cottage on the edge of the property, Mabel begins to feel uneasy about both their relationship and her sexuality. She runs off, blaming their perceived noticeable absence in the larger group, before unleashing her true feelings on Honoria: “our whole lives are pretending!” Mabel wants to be able to hold hands and dance and get a ring for her love, the same way her straight counterparts would, but she knows that’s not the reality they live in. She tells Honoria that “pretending bores her” before storming off. 

It’s certainly not the first time that Mabel has been intimate with another woman — we saw her kissing a servant in a previous episode — but her outburst makes it feel as though her feelings for Honoria are real, which makes their reality hurt even more. 

Radhika Menon (@menonrad) is a TV-obsessed writer based in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared on Paste Magazine, Teen Vogue, Vulture and more. At any given moment, she can ruminate at length over Friday Night Lights, the University of Michigan, and the perfect slice of pizza. You may call her Rad.