Season 2 of The Buccaneers has distinguished itself by showing how much those sought-after marriages from the first season have thrust the core group of women into adulthood. They’ve experienced everything from domestic violence and motherhood to infidelity and grief, and Nan’s bombshell confession in “She Knows” only continues to up the ante.
The finale flashes us forward once again, this time two weeks after finding out about Guy’s relationship status. He tries reasoning with Nan, saying that he felt like they had a chance after their connection in New York, but she is firm: for her, everything has changed, and her anger about this (and some other life updates that we’ll get into in a bit) has made her extremely defiant and self-preservationist.
Tintagel is throwing another ball this week (because of course they are) and Nan has become a master at using those big moments for her personal gain. First, she has to taunt Lizzy with her newfound knowledge about her affair, so when she sends out the invitations, she drops the missing earring into the envelope. Lizzy is distraught and immediately takes a carriage to Tintagel to speak with Nan. She admits her wrongdoing but reasserts her argument—she thought they were done and now she’s in proper love. Nan asks her if Theo loves her back, and for some reason, her answer of “yes” pisses Nan off more than the admission itself. She retaliates by threatening to expose them at the ball, which would effectively ruin Lizzy’s standing in society. Lizzy, for her part, finally calls Nan out for always getting to call the shots, but her clapback lands on deaf ears.
When Theo tries to intervene, he doubles down on loving Lizzy, which are not the words that Nan wanted to hear. It would have been better if he was driven by lust, but the grandeur of his feelings drive her to another ultimatum: either she exposes the affair or he lets her stay at Tintagel. Nan lets Theo believe that her sudden desire to remain at his family home is because of how it has afforded her a voice, but we learn very soon that the true reason is far more extreme. She is pregnant, Theo is the father, and when his mom finds out that she is pregnant with Tintagel’s heir, the baby will be forced to remain at Tintagel—with or without Nan.
Of course, Theo and Lizzy don’t know any of this yet and believe that Nan is acting purely out of selfish desires. When a headline appears in the newspaper stating that there is a traitor amidst the Duchess’s inner circle, it’s understandable that they think Nan leaked it herself (especially given how Nan has manipulated the press this season). But the culprit is actually Theo’s mother Blanche, the Dowager, who uses her son’s affair to cause commotion and draw him in closer.
Before the ball, Lizzy comes clean to Jinny and Conchita. Along with Mabel, they band together to dispel any rumors. After all, it could be Lizzy because she called off her wedding; Conchita as a grieving widow; or Jinny, who has been painted as a crazy woman in the public eye. And once they get there, Hector offers Lizzy the exact type of protection she needs. He’s fine with a loveless marriage, he claims. As a member of Parliament, his career will go further as a married man. When he proposes again—this time as a business arrangement rather than a purely romantic endeavor—and she says yes.
Of course, minutes after this conversation, Theo clandestinely approaches her and asks her not to give up on him, which is something she should seriously consider as it becomes clear that Hector was also in on leaking the story to the paper. His father, Reede, is the only person with any sense at this point. He asks his son if getting what he wants this way will actually make him happy, and warns him that there is no worse feeling than shame.
Nan, meanwhile, spends most of this episode alone. Just prior to making her grand entrance at the ball, she sees Paloma, who is fidgeting with unsigned annulment papers. While it seems like she doesn’t want to move forward with ending her marriage to Guy, she tells Nan that Guy loves her very much and their wedding was the result of a very crazy night. But unbeknownst to Paloma, things are much more complicated for Nan now, and while she believes that Guy deserves happiness, she now knows that she can’t give him that.
Nan’s only confidante is her mother Patti, who encourages her to fight for her place at the castle by announcing her pregnancy at the ball. There’s only one problem: Nan has threatened Lizzy and Theo that she’ll air some very different truths, so when she finally arrives, Theo usurps the moment to corroborate the newspaper’s story. He is in love with someone else, he tells the room, and confirms that he and Nan have been publicly living a lie. In order to live his truth, he announces that he will abdicate his title.
The moment is humiliating for Nan. When Lizzy finally catches up to her, she questions why Nan is fighting so hard. This arrangement could be ideal for both of them, since Nan can finally be with Guy, and Theo and Lizzy can be together. Nan blurts out that she’s pregnant and is afraid that Blanche will trap their child at Tintagel, and decides to make a run for it. Lizzy tries to reason with her, saying that the baby is Theo’s too and he deserves to know about its existence. But Nan swears her to secrecy and wishes Lizzy “good luck” before sprinting into the fog away from the castle.
It turns out that Nan’s instincts are actually on point; Blanche has had a plan regarding Tintagel all along. She knew that Theo would abdicate his responsibilities, and in order to keep the castle in the family, she wrote a letter to Kit—Theo’s half-brother, the product of one of his late father’s affairs. Reede warns her that Kit is a dangerous man, but she waves him off in her pursuit of power and relevance. Tintagel is who she is, and this is the only way that Tintagel stays in the family. We catch a glimpse of the new Duke on his way to the castle, fiercely riding horseback towards his destiny.
The Buccaneers hasn’t officially been renewed for Season 3, but if and when it does, I have so many questions I’ll need answered. Will Nan be able to keep her baby a secret from the clutches of Tintagel? Will Lizzy and Theo get together? Will Guy and Paloma annul their marriage? And most importantly, who is going to be cast as Kit? Let the fan casting commence!
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.