Diksha Sundriyal
Apple TV+’s ‘The Buccaneers’ ends its second season with a finale full of conflicts and revelations. At the end of the previous episode, Nan received a double shock in the form of Theo and Lizzy’s affair and Guy’s marriage to Paloma. At the beginning of this episode, she navigates the impossible place that she seems to have landed herself in. While Guy tries to talk to her and explain how things ended up getting so far with Paloma, she refuses to see him. What makes it worse is Theo’s desire to see her leave, now that Jinny is back home and safe. He asks her to announce this separation at the Tintagel Ball, which will mark the end of the season. However, it turns out that the Duchess has her own announcements to make. SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Tintagel Ball Sets the Stage for Major Conflict
The first step of preparing for the Tintagel Ball is to send the invitations. All of Nan’s friends receive theirs, but only Lizzy’s has an earring in it. The moment Lizzy sees it, she realises that Nan knows, and she immediately makes her way to Tintagel. She tries to convince Nan that she would never have gotten in bed with Theo if she didn’t know for sure that Nan had left for good to be with Guy. This does nothing to ease her betrayal, and things get worse when Lizzy calls her out on her hypocrisy, because didn’t she sleep with Theo’s best friend on the night before their wedding, and didn’t she only recently run away to Italy to be with him? Nan makes things much worse by revealing that she will out the affair at the ball, and Lizzy has no doubt that she will go through with it.
Theo tries to reason with Nan, citing that the affair becoming public news will ruin Lizzy’s reputation, which is when she makes him an offer. She can expose their affair and leave, or she will keep their secret, but continue to stay in Tintagel as the Duchess because she finally has her voice, and she wants to keep using it. This prospect infuriates Theo as he doesn’t want to be with Nan, but he also doesn’t want his family’s legacy of Tintagel to go to her. He blames her for ruining his life. The next day, the news about the affair, without Lizzy being named, is found on the front page of the papers. This infuriates Theo even further, and he immediately leaves to see his mother. The conversation between them happens in secret, but when they come out of the room, it is clear that Theo has made a decision that will change lives.
Nan’s Pregnancy Rearranges the Dynamics of All Relationships
Nan calls for her mother, and as they meet in secret, Nan reveals that she is pregnant. She is sure that it is Theo’s baby because of how far along she is. She is concerned that if the news about the pregnancy comes out, Theo and his mother, who need an heir for Tintagel, will separate her from the baby. Patti encourages her to make the announcement at the ball to catch everyone off guard, while also assuring her that the public will celebrate the news of her pregnancy and support her. Meanwhile, Lizzy is broken-hearted, not just because the affair is exposed, but also because she cannot believe Nan would do this to her. In this state, she is visited by Hector, who empathises with her situation and offers her another chance at a wedding, suggesting that this would rehabilitate her image.
Lizzy decides to think about it, and in the meantime, despite all the drama, the girls decide to go to the ball together. There, all eyes are on them as everyone anticipates which one of them had the affair. At the same time, Guy and Paloma, too, arrive at the ball. It seems that they have gotten the papers to have their marriage annulled, and that’s why Guy is there to explain to Nan. The last time he tried to talk to her, things didn’t go so well, but he hopes that this time he might do better. Meanwhile, Hector keeps circling Lizzy, who decides to accept his marriage proposal. This is also when Reede notices them together. He pulls aside his son and calls him out on leaking the news of the affair to corner Lizzy into taking him back. And that’s just the first revelation of the evening.
Why does Theo Denounce His Title? Will He and Lizzy End Up Together?
This season has been hard on almost all characters, but it has been uniquely hard for Theo. First, he found out that his wife is still in love with his best friend. Then, he fell in love with his wife’s best friend, but because he cannot divorce his wife and never marry her best friend, he is doomed to live in a state of perpetual heartbreak. Or at least, that’s what he thinks. When the news about his and Lizzy’s affair breaks, he assumes that Nan did it out of spite. He knows that by this point, being the Duchess is the most important thing to her. The title is the only thing that she wanted when she married him, so he decides to take it away from her. In doing so, he would also be freeing himself from the bond of marriage, as he would become a common man free to divorce his wife.
Before taking this step, Theo confers with his mother, who wants nothing more than to see him happy. Because she was the reason behind his getting stuck in an unwanted marriage, she supported his decision, especially when it became clear that the title was preventing her son from being happy. So, at the ball, before Nan can make any announcements, Theo takes to the stage. He confesses that the news about the affair is right, and to be with the woman he loves, he has decided to give up his title as the Duke of Tintagel. With the title out of the picture, Nan has no reason to be with Theo, and because of the adultery on both ends, getting a divorce wouldn’t be an issue.
This would leave him free to marry Lizzy, which should mean that they are going to end up together now. However, things are much more complicated than that. One could say that Lizzy accepted Hector’s proposal of marriage before Theo’s announcement, but given that she never really loved Hector and was only going to marry him because she thought she could never be Theo’s legal wife, it would be fair to assume that she wouldn’t have any problem rejecting his offer again. Moreover, Hector is not entirely innocent in this matter, either. He is guilty of leaking the affair to manipulate Lizzy into getting back together with him, so her rejection shouldn’t hurt him as much as it did the first time. The biggest hurdle in Theo and Lizzy’s union, however, still remains Nan.
Why does Nan Run Away? Does Lizzy Tell Theo Nan is Pregnant?
Nan married Theo for his title, and she knows that without it, she would not have the influence and the voice that she has now. Moreover, without the title, she doesn’t really have anything left anymore. Her husband is in love with her best friend, and the man she is in love with is married to someone else. The only thing that Nan has now is her unborn child, and without a title, his or her future would not be as secure as it would be with a title. It is with the intent of securing her child’s future, and her own in the process, that Nan plans to reveal her pregnancy at the ball. But then, Theo comes forward with his own announcement, and that completely derails her plans.
As Nan runs out of the party, Lizzy is the first one to follow and catch up with her. At this point, things are still unresolved between the duo, and Nan’s distress leads her to confess that she is pregnant. This shocks Lizzy, especially as Nan reveals that the baby is Theo’s, which means that it would be the heir of Tintagel. Lizzy realises that Theo doesn’t know about it, which is why he decided to renounce his title. If he knew Nan was pregnant, he, and most certainly his mother, would have given preference to securing the heir to the title. Lizzy also realises that this new development would tie Theo and Nan forever, and with that, he would never be able to divorce her, especially because he would feel a sense of responsibility for his child.
Still, Lizzy knows that it is imperative for Theo to know about it, even if it means that it would ruin her chances of ending up with him. Nan, however, seems to have changed her mind. Now that Theo has given up his title, Nan has also gained the freedom she didn’t have before. Yes, she has gone back to being a title-less person, but it also means that she is free to go wherever she wants and do whatever she wants. She is no longer bound by any responsibilities or obligations. However, she, too, knows that Theo would never renounce his title if he knew about the baby, which is why she pleads with Lizzy not to tell him about it. She knows that the moment the baby’s existence is revealed, Theo would immediately reconsider his decision, and things would go back to being the way they were.
As Nan runs away to her supposed freedom, Lizzy is left behind with a dilemma. Either she tells Theo and completely ruins the prospect of ending up with him, or she chooses a life with him while keeping a secret, which will definitely ruin their relationship when it comes out. In the end, as Theo finds Lizzy and kisses her because he is happy that they can finally be together, Lizzy can do nothing but cry. She is caught up in a lose-lose situation, and whatever she chooses will end up in heartbreak for her. However, before her love for Theo comes her love for Nan, which is why there is a greater possibility that she will do as Nan asked and keep her secret, for as long as she can.
Who is the New Heir of Tintagel?
Renouncing a title that has been in the family for generations is quite a big step. Theo doesn’t take it lightly, but he is so miserable that he cannot see any future beyond the one where he doesn’t have to be the Duke anymore. At the same time, his mother, who has worked hard her entire life to ensure that the title of Tintagel and the family’s legacy remain intact, refuses to let the title pass on to someone else. When her son tells her that he doesn’t want it anymore, she has to think of his successor, considering that there is no child yet.
The only person that she can think of, in this case, is Kit. He is Theo’s half-brother, born out of his father’s affair. Blanche didn’t want Theo to find out about his father’s infidelity, so she kept Kit a secret, but clearly has been keeping tabs on him to be able to reach out to him under extenuating circumstances. At the same time, Reede reminds Blanche that Kit isn’t exactly a good person either, and giving the power that comes with being a Duke could turn out to be very bad.
While Blanche knows what Kit is capable of, she also knows that this is the only way to save her family’s legacy. At the same time, she also has to go back to her responsibilities because she will need to mold Kit into the frame that makes him worthy of fitting into the role of the Duke of Tintagel. This means that she will have to say goodbye to Reede again because she is needed in Tintagel once more. This breaks Reede’s heart because this is the second time she has chosen the title over him. But he also knows that once she has made up her mind, there is no changing it.
The only other thing we know about Kit is that he is on his way to Tintagel right at that moment. It turns out that following her and Theo’s conversation, she immediately wrote to Kit, explaining the nature of the situation to him, and called him back home before someone else emerges to claim the title. The curveball here is that Blanche doesn’t know about Nan’s pregnancy yet, which means that even as she helps Kit become the next Duke, when the time comes, she will choose her own grandchild to inherit the title, and that’s the conflict that will define the next season.
Read More: Is Richard Dead? Did Josh Dylan Leave The Buccaneers?
