The Buccaneers (2023)

The Buccaneers is still incredibly watchable. The characters are endearing, the story never drags, and, despite the tropes, it often chooses to zag where we might expect it to zig (especially in its heart-shattering finale).

It’s true, this isn’t your mother’s Buccaneers. And as adaptations go, it doesn’t bear much resemblance to the 1996 miniseries of the same name or, for that matter, the specifics of Wharton’s novel. But, much like the girls at its center, it’s awfully hard not to find yourself swept up in their loud, unapologetic good time.

We’re left with a group coming-of-age adventure, something that feels as if it could easily be set, instead, on an undergrad semester abroad, in 2023. And yet—the romance is compelling, and the wisteria is wisteria. I watched all eight episodes of the series in a white heat, and I am ready for more.

It is also largely a romcom rather than a fully Whartonly astute piece of social and proto-feminist commentary. But we are allowed some nonsense now and again, and there is nothing more joyfully restorative than when it is done as well as it is here. It is enormous fun without being unresonant with today’s concerns.

Though the performances overall can sometimes be a bit rough due to such a casual, modern approach to dialogue, “The Buccaneers” prevails with its equally giddy and righteous depiction of women realizing high society isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.

Ms. Frøseth, who carries most of the dramatic weight of "The Buccaneers," and whose character is most divorced from the marriage-minded obsessions of her fellow New Yorkers, is first-rate, as are Josie Totah and Aubri Ibrag as Mabel and Lizzy Elmsworth, the members of the female quintet that comes to conquer Great Britain.

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.

While The Buccaneers also explores matters of race, it mainly focuses on these young American women overcoming sexual assault, violence, and humiliation from a horde of royal elites. Ultimately, it’s a feminist manifesto for girls eager to find love and adventure, free of the restraints of traditional society. But particularly, it’s that scene in the opening episode where five gals clink their glasses ahead of Conchita’s wedding that resonates the most: We always come first.

A frenzied and delightful examination of the culture clash between American and British aristocracy. It also showcases how women have always sought to save themselves and each other while lacking societal powers or autonomy.

Purists might recoil at the soundtrack, the slang and the sexiness, but all in all this is a fabulous way to reintroduce Wharton to the world. Especially when compared to Julian Fellowes’s lavish but dreadfully dull The Gilded Age, here is a period drama that has managed to hit the sweet spot between modern whimsy and actual intellect.

Their bonds, as each of them figures out her own identity, are warm and important to them, and they are loud and often gleeful together. That’s a refreshing element, and it’s a solid foundation for the series, whose eight-episode season ends on a cliffhanger.

Taken on its own terms and not as an adaptation, "The Buccaneers" is a well-turned object, pretty to look at and evidently expensive. ..... As a drama it comprises a busy, somewhat tiring eight hours as it veers hither and yon — there is a lot of veering — and characters fall out of and back into accord with remarkable speed and regularity, to keep things interesting.

Romance isn't the main objective, even if the series might flirt with it on occasion by incorporating a range of scenes from hands subtly, illicitly touching to characters falling into each other's arms with passionate abandon. Instead, the finishing touches here are more realistic, and often more cynical, but whether they'll leave a sour taste in the mouth depends entirely on what viewers are hoping to see from the story itself.

The series calms down as it goes, growing in storytelling confidence and laying off its inner “Gossip Girl,” and the production design is first-rate, from a garden maze made out of hedges to scenes at a massive country estate during Christmas.

If you’re in the mood for period froth laced with verbal poison (“This place is a pit of snakes. Watch you don’t get bitten”), it’s worth a look.

The Buccaneers is entertaining enough, but just doesn’t feel like it’s going to go much deeper than the Yanks vs. Brits trope we see throughout the first episode.

All told, The Buccaneers is neither a resounding success nor an utter failure. It’s a perfectly adequate teen drama with corsets and carriages, which might well be enough to satisfy its target audience and should keep anyone else with a passing interest in the subject matter and nothing better to watch reasonably entertained.

Consumed entirely on its terms, “The Buccaneers” works reasonably well as a soapy distraction for those willing to check their brains at the ballroom door. That’s still a tepid endorsement for a series that, amid all its talk of proposals and engagements, so transparently yearns to catch “Bridgerton’s” bouquet.

Unable to choose between its modern sensibilities or period-piece faithfulness, The Buccaneers opts for a blend that never really transcends into something great.