“All Rise,” the seventh episode of The Buccaneers’s sophomore season, continues to shuttle us through time, picking up six weeks after the events of the previous episode (including Richard’s death at the hands of his brother James, and Jinny’s escape from James). The series opts to not show us the funeral, instead gathering his friends and family to celebrate his life via a memorial service.
Immediately, there’s tension: Richard’s widow Conchita is focused on creating a happy childhood for their daughter Minnie despite it all, something that her grieving mother-in-law is at odds with. Lady Brightlingsea is ever opinionated and steeped in tradition, begging Conchita to meet with mourners and wear black to these events. When Conchita arrives in a beautiful dark green get-up, you can almost see fire rising in Lady Brightlingsea’s pupils.
It’s clear that Lady Brightlingsea doesn’t approve of Conchita’s parenting or how she’s choosing to exist in the aftermath of Richard’s death, and she makes it clear in front of everyone when Conchita gets up from the memorial service to soothe a crying Minnie. But Conchita is defiant, telling the room that their daughter is the true memorial to Richard’s memory and that “no God did this,” chafing against the religious ceremony.
We were wondering how Conchita would react to Jinny following the events of last week’s episode, and it’s clear that she partly blames Jinny for what happened to her husband. After Conchita’s welcome outburst at the memorial, Jinny follows her to ask her exactly that question. It’s the first time Conchita breaks, and she admits she’s angry at her friend for what was stolen from her, for tiptoeing around her, for treating her like a widow—and Jinny can only validate her friend’s feelings. She comforts Conchita, saying she supports her through her grief and will wait as long as she needs in order to earn her forgiveness. It doesn’t take long; by episode’s end, Conchita apologizes via an apology fruit and cheese platter.
Conchita’s goodwill also extends to Honoria, who is struggling to live her life under her mother’s oppressive nature. And now that she’s grieving the loss of her two sons on top of her husband? Honoria can kiss her dreams of Paris away. But when Honoria brings Conchita one of her brother’s old stuffed animals and a letter he wrote to her detailing his love for his wife, Conchita reassures her that she doesn’t have to bear this alone.
That promise is like a weight lifted off of her shoulders—when Honoria informs her mom of her plans to leave England, Lady Brightlingsea scoffs and says Honoria has never surprised her in her life. She takes that as a challenge, walking up to Mabel and planting a huge kiss on her lips. Lady Brightlingsea is wordlessly shocked, but doesn’t say anything disparaging for once. On the other side of the room, Conchita and Jinny (who somehow hadn’t picked up on Mabel’s orientation thus far), along with Lizzy, are thrilled by this public display.
Lizzy, meanwhile, has limited face time with Theo, but their interactions—like a lingering hand on her back—are noticed by Hector, who is still hot for his ex-fiancee. His father Reede still believes the wedding will be rescheduled, but upon seeing the soft touch between Theo and Lizzy, he breaks the bad news to his father.
The memorial gives the Dowager and the Duke a reason to reconcile as well. An offhand comment from Lady Brightlingsea about losing a son makes Blanche think about Theo, and soon enough, her son has arrived to clear the air. He announces that he and Lizzy are in love and questions why his mom didn’t run to Reede, her true love, after his dad passed away. She reassures him that it didn’t matter because she had a more important man in her life: him. This is enough for Theo to forgive his mom.
Nan isn’t there for Richard’s memorial because she’s providing comfort to her mom during her divorce proceedings in New York, where the bulk of the episode is spent. Patti’s legal argument is centered on Nan’s father Colonel Tracy St. George’s philandering and repeated infidelity, which his wife plans to prove via two of the many women he had affairs with. But The Buccaneers continues its streak of showing just how few legal protections and general respect women had at the time. Nan’s dad has hired the absolute worst lawyer who seems to get off on humiliating Patti in court. After one of his lines of questioning veers into the details of who initiated sex in the bedroom, Patti’s two key witnesses decide they have nothing to gain by taking the stand and leave the court, effectively derailing her only chance at winning the case.
In typical Nan fashion, she believes that she is the key to her mother’s freedom. She makes an entrance and takes the stand, going on record that Patti is not her birth mother. But when the opposing attorney pokes holes—namely questioning whether she can prove this via documentation—her testimony falls apart. The Colonel is complicit in the line of questioning, corroborating the idea that he wasn’t present at Nan’s birth and can’t confirm whether he’s truly her dad. It’s despicable stuff that will only further damage a troubled father-daughter relationship. It’s only Nell, Patti’s sister played by Leighton Meester, who can firmly prove this since she is Nan’s mother.
But Patti doesn’t want her to do it. Nell is recently married and pregnant, and Patti knows how this truth could disrupt her life. So initially, Nell stays quiet, which pisses Nan off. She goes to her birth mother and insinuates that she knows the truth, accusing Nell of being a coward for not coming forward. Nell snaps back at Nan, rightfully pointing out that Nan knows absolutely nothing about her, what she went through, and what this will do to her future.
Still, Nan’s accusations are enough to make Nell reconsider. She comes clean to her husband Arthur and the next day, she surprises Patti by taking the stand and confirming that she’s Nan’s natural mother. After all these years, Nell has apparently kept letters and receipts from the time of their affair, which makes her claims ironclad in court and grants Patti her hard-fought divorce. No further questions, your honor.
During all of this, Guy has also traversed the Atlantic to support Nan during this trying time, and his presence is exactly what she needed. Their reunion is sweet, mirroring an early moment of connection from season 1 where they cheekily danced on stairs, and you can feel their excitement at being able to try their relationship again, away from the complications of Europe.
Nan’s bliss doesn’t last long. Once she’s back in England, she notices the matching earring to the one she found on the staircase at Tintagel. Mabel confirms it’s Lizzy’s, and you can see the wheels in Nan’s head turning. But she doesn’t have much time to process this first betrayal, because she’s immediately hit with another. Guy arrives with Paloma in hand, who cheerfully announces herself as “Guy’s wife.” With Nan on a hot streak for revenge and retribution, there’s no saying how far she’ll go to gain back some sense of control in next week’s finale.
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.