The Buccaneers (2023) s01e07 Episode Script

1
["NEW SONG" PLAYING]
[NAN] Of course, everyone will
know. They'll all be whispering.
- Yes, happy New Year.
- So glad you could come.
Thank you. Happy New Year to you too.
I can't look at them.
I can't look at anyone.
For God's sake, don't
glance into the garden.
- [MOUTHING] Wha
- Four hours.
Till midnight?
Until it's acceptable for
us to ask them all to leave.
[CHATTERING]
Did you really?
[CHATTER QUIETS]
- [NAN] Told you.
- [GUESTS MURMURING]
[THEO] Lord and Lady Brightlingsea.
Your Grace, we're so
glad you could come.
Thank you for opening
up your beautiful home.
And here's to a very happy New Year.
Well, at least we're not
the most ashamed here.
His father will be turning in his grave.
[CHUCKLES] Marrying an illegitimate.
Can you believe he's still marrying her?
It can only be love.
[LADY TRAYLING] Or witchcraft.
[GUESTS WHISPERING INDISTINCTLY]
Maybe she's carrying
a bastard of her own.
I need to go find my friends.
["NORTH AMERICAN SCUM" PLAYING]
- There you are.
- [GUY] Excuse me.
I was starting to forget what a
friendly face looked like. [SIGHS]
I noticed you weren't
getting the best welcome.
Must, uh, feel a bit foreign.
[THEO] Mmm.
I was hoping society might take my lead
in their response to Nan's lineage.
- I'm afraid not everyone's so generous.
- [CHUCKLES]
Well, lucky Nan, to have fallen for
a man so bighearted and charitable.
And with the means to be
able to disregard her secret.
I disregarded it because
it doesn't matter to me.
Not because I can afford to.
Of course. Financial worries are
irrelevant if you've never had any.
No Jean this evening?
So, how is Nan? Hiding
from all the high horses?
Nan's with her friends.
Good of you to be concerned. But
I know my fiancée better than you.
[GUY] Of course.
Though I do know the weight
of feeling inadequate.
- Mm-hmm.
- Something else entirely unfamiliar to you.
Ah.
["KISSING LESSONS" PLAYING]
[GUEST] Whoo!
[CONCHITA] Hello,
ladies and beautiful men.
[LIZZY] Hi!
Welcome to our extravaganza.
- Happy New Year, everyone. [CHUCKLING]
- Cheers.
Well, Lady Brightlingsea sure changed.
You know, the joy of it
all is that she hasn't.
[CHUCKLING]
- Conchita!
- No!
Girls, can I help it if the party
organizers find me persuasive?
I have to take my pleasure where I can.
Can you think of anything
they'll hate more than this?
- Cheers to that.
- Cheers. [CHUCKLES]
- Yes.
- Cheers to that.
[THEO] Having fun?
I am being treated like a stray dog
who you were kind enough to adopt.
All I'll ever be from now
on is my father's shame.
[SCOFFS] Not at all. In a week,
you'll be the Duchess of Tintagel
and have all the legitimacy
and respect you could wish for.
No, your legitimacy and
respect. I'd like some of my own.
[SCOFFS]
Well, respect has to be earned.
I've worked desperately my whole life
to be the person people want me to be.
I'm used to the whispering, of course.
It's just until recently,
the whispers were
[NAN] Admiring?
Well, I'm sorry if I've
ruined your reputation.
Didn't I make it abundantly clear
at Christmas that I love you?
And that I've chosen
to share your burden?
So that's how you see me? A burden.
You're deliberately misunderstanding.
[SCOFFS, STAMMERS] Why
aren't you more grateful?
Nan, you're forgetting that the minute
you revealed your secret at Christmas,
- I immediately overlooked it.
- Well, how can I ever thank you?
[SEADOWN] What have they done to
the house? It looks like a circus.
Conchita has once again
managed to embarrass my parents.
Jinny?
Darling, no need to be nervous.
I don't expect we'll
get a very warm welcome.
Well, we can keep each other warm.
And you'll always have me. Will I do?
Oh, you'll do very nicely.
- [CHUCKLES]
- I believe you're one of the Americans.
I'm the original American.
Well, could you advise your
friend to find somewhere
other than the bathroom for crying?
She's causing a queue.
Thank you. Excuse me.
[BREATHING HEAVILY]
[KNOCKING]
[CONCHITA] Nan, open up.
[LIZZY] Are you in there? Nan?
[KNOCKING]
- [LIZZY] Nan?
- [SIGHS]
[KNOCKING CONTINUES]
[CONCHITA] Hey.
Darling.
[SIGHS]
I just feel idiotic. Of course,
they're all gonna judge me.
And they're not just judging
me. They're judging Theo.
Well, we're not.
You've got the right idea.
Okay, Nan, we're not getting out
of this tub until you feel better.
I tried to tell you about
my mother a hundred times.
And I thought everyone
finding out at Christmas
would be the end of all this.
I suppose we've been so
busy worrying about husbands
we've drifted far apart.
[CHUCKLING] We're not that far apart.
- [LIZZY] Nope, nope, nope, nope.
- [CHUCKLES]
Nan. [CHUCKLING] No,
never. Never properly apart.
Oh, my God.
- [ALL CHUCKLING]
- [KNOCKING]
[IN BRITISH ACCENT] We are
busy using the lavatory.
[ALL CHUCKLING]
Oh, Jinny.
[SEADOWN BREATHES DEEPLY]
Nan.
[KNOCKING]
[WHISPERING] How is she?
- Perfect.
- [CHUCKLES]
[CHUCKLES]
Hello. Oh, I've missed you. [CHUCKLES]
I'm glad they're back.
Do you think Mother and Father
ever tickled us like this?
[MINNIE GIGGLING]
I don't know.
[MINNIE BABBLING]
Can't imagine it.
I sometimes used to pretend Miss
Testvalley was our real mother.
It wasn't hard. She did all
the things a mother should.
We never had that, had we?
Perhaps that's why we clung to her so.
- You the most.
- That's not
I found it all very
confusing at the time.
And I wonder if you did too.
You were very young. Just a boy really.
All those mornings when your
bed hadn't been slept in.
It wasn't your job to come
looking for me, Honoria.
[MINNIE CRIES]
- [SHUSHING] It's okay. It's okay.
- [CRYING]
[SHUSHES] Hey, hey, hey.
It's okay. [SHUSHES]
Hey.
I often think about that
summer playing hide-and-seek.
You always used to give
yourself away. Do you remember?
You'd get the giggles the minute
you knew I was near. [CHUCKLES]
But then she came, and you
stopped wanting to play.
I don't think I saw you laugh
again until you met Conchita.
[BREATHES SHAKILY]
[LIZZY] Nan.
Did you see who's here?
Father, I was just saying to Virginia,
all these v-vultures
ruining the floorboards
just to get a look at some
disgraced nearly-duchess.
[LAUGHS] Yes, very good.
So, my boy, I want you
to do the first footing.
[STAMMERING] But what about Richard?
[LORD BRIGHTLINGSEA]
Oh, he's wandering around
like a lame duck or a girl.
But we can't have him cross the
threshold first in that state.
God knows what rotten luck we'll invite.
I'm just gonna go to the bathroom.
[GASPS]
I'll miss you.
- [CHATTERING]
- [MOUTHING] Sorry.
- Mother.
- Darling, we were meant to surprise you.
I-I thought you weren't
coming till next week.
- Well, that's the surprise. [CHUCKLES]
- [LAUGHS]
[PATTI] Now, where's
Nan? I've missed you both.
[JINNY] Mother, I
[PATTI] Jinny, what's
wrong? What's the matter?
Jinny.
[PATTI] So, everybody knows.
But a-actually, it all
worked out rather well.
Theo's a gentleman, and the
wedding is still going ahead.
And actually, I'm sure Nan is
happy to have it all out in the open
and to know how much Theo cares.
So maybe Maybe it
is all for the best.
[TRACY CHUCKLES] Maybe.
Well, Jinny, you always
did like to talk. [SIGHS]
[JINNY] I'm sorry if I
embarrassed you, Mother.
But we really did I-I really
did think it was important
I'm not embarrassed. I'm
done being embarrassed.
I never ever meant to
purposefully hurt you.
But you purposefully hurt your
sister, and that breaks my heart.
This is so unlike the Jinny
I know. I don't understand.
Oh, Nan.
What must this be like
for you? I'm so sorry.
That's all right. I've had
my friends look after me.
[TRACY] Sweetheart.
[NAN] In the absence of family.
Huh.
So [SIGHS] the duke
still wants to marry you, huh?
- [SIGHING] Mr. Good Guy.
- [NAN] Mmm.
- They're all talking about us.
- Huh.
- Well, we're worth talking about.
- [TRACY] Hmm.
You're happy, though?
- Guy. Guy.
- [TRACY] Oh.
This is, uh This is Guy Thwarte.
This is Theo's oldest friend.
- Parents.
- Oh, no need. No, I'm nobody.
- I'm delighted to meet you both.
- [PATTI] Likewise.
[TRACY] Well, any friend
of the duke's is a
Do you s-still need help with that job?
- Uh, yes, I do. Thank you.
- Yes. Okay.
I'll see you soon.
[TRACY] So, all's well that
ends well. [CLEARS THROAT]
[PATTI] Tracy, she's
pretending. We all are.
Ah.
["MIDNIGHT BIRD" PLAYING]
[BREATHING HEAVILY, GROANING]
[SNIFFS]
[NAN] You always know the best spots.
[NAN SIGHS]
Don't let the whisperers make
you ashamed of who you are.
[SONG ENDS]
[LADY BRIGHTLINGSEA] Mrs. St. George.
Lady Brightlingsea.
What a very chic party.
Ah. Too kind.
[TRACY] Well, this time she
Colonel, would you be so good
as to fetch us some drinks?
Oh, yes. Yes, of course. [CLEARS THROAT]
Just to say, if the
rumors are to be believed,
the Earl of Leicester had at
least one cuckoo in the nest.
Of course, the earl
hasn't been seen in public
for over a decade. [CHUCKLES]
Aren't you brave, showing
your face, come what may?
I do admire you Americans,
your lack of shame.
Well, I have no shame.
That's the spirit. Well done, you.
Mrs. St. George. Welcome.
Would you care to dance?
I would love to.
I'm terribly sorry for
all the embarrassment
that my family has caused you.
You don't need to apologize
for anything, Mrs. St. George.
And soon, you'll be
the mother of a duchess,
so no need to answer to anyone.
[SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY]
[THEO] You must be exhausted.
It's not easy bearing the
weight of someone else's cross.
Whatever weight I've had to
bear, I have to remind myself
it's light as a feather compared
to what's been forced upon Nan.
I hope you know I'm not
simply marrying your daughter.
I'm in love with her too.
Well, that's all I've ever
wanted for both of my daughters.
And for yourself?
What did you want for yourself?
[BREATHING HEAVILY]
[DOOR OPENS]
Guess we'd all like to hide
away up here, of course.
This constant drama, Richard.
You've learned that from your wife.
Now, come on. Up you get.
Let's get you dressed. Come on.
Come on.
Mother, I need to tell you something.
Can it wait, please? I mean, they're
out there pocketing the silver.
Years ago, when you employed her
I had a, uh
a a-a-a courtship,
I suppose, with Miss Testvalley.
We were intimate.
I believed we were in love,
but I'm coming to wonder
When I think of it now, it feels
confusing, to say the least.
- [MRS. BRIGHTLINGSEA SIGHS]
- And, um [SWALLOWS]
Is she asking for money this time?
You knew?
Who do you think persuaded
her to leave the first time?
But you didn't say anything
to me. You didn't talk to me.
- I'm your mother.
- And I was barely a man.
Richard, mothers often
don't talk to their sons
at all in polite society.
[STAMMERS] I sent her away before
you could do something foolish,
like proposing, which wouldn't
just have meant your name in ruins,
it would've brought your
brother and sister down with you.
Well, heaven forbid their lives
might have been any less blissful.
[SIGHS] I'm not gonna have any
more of this tedious wallowing.
Now enough, please.
- You're a man now.
- [CHUCKLING]
Time to act like one.
- [SIGHS]
- Hmm?
Splash some water on your face,
and I'll see you downstairs.
["LET'S MAKE A MISTAKE TONIGHT" PLAYING]
- [GUESTS] eight, nine, ten.
- [LIZZY LAUGHING]
[GUESTS CHUCKLING, CLAMORING]
[GUEST CHUCKLES] Over here.
[LIZZY EXCLAIMS, LAUGHING]
[STAMMERS] Okay, um
Um.
[GUESTS CHATTERING]
I have no idea.
Who are you?
Funny, you don't know me
when I know every inch of you.
First, you ruin Nan's life,
and then you stand by and let
your husband humiliate me again.
- Lizzy.
- I thought you needed protecting,
but you are just as bad as
he is. You deserve each other.
[JINNY] Lizzy.
[TRACY] Every single person here
either has a rod up their backside
or is laughing at us.
Come on. Find your coat.
- We're leaving.
- [PATTI] It's not even midnight.
[TRACY] I don't care. I've had
enough of all the whispering,
and everyone seems to
be avoiding me anyway.
- I wanna leave.
- But what do I want?
[TRACY] Excuse me?
[SIGHS] Oh, how the
hell would I know, Patti?
Have you ever asked? Even once?
Do you even care?
Please, can we just find our coats?
I'm not leaving you.
But Tracy
I believe I'm leaving you.
Oh. [STAMMERS, SIGHS]
Sweetheart, without
me, you have nothing.
Not true. Not anymore.
Haven't you heard? My
daughter's marrying a duke.
I'll be the mother of a duchess,
with the kind of power
that money could never buy.
The power to walk away from you.
Okay, Patti [CHUCKLES]
Look, we are both very tired
after an extremely long journey.
We've had too much champagne,
and now this whole farrago.
So, please, let's [CHUCKLES]
Let's just get some sleep,
and-and we can talk tomorrow.
No more talking.
- [SIGHS]
- And no more pretending
to laugh at your jokes
or turning my back every
time something young
and pretty catches your eye.
- [CLEARS THROAT]
- I have always deserved more.
But I've always put my girls first.
And no matter how
small you made me feel,
I made sure they were
the tallest in the room.
And now they're letting me
stand on their shoulders
where you could never reach.
Once Nan's married and
we get back to New York,
let me be clear, I shall
be getting a divorce.
[GUESTS CHATTERING, LAUGHING]
[SIGHS] It's my first time seeing
the New Year in from England.
It's almost midnight. You
ought to find your fiancé.
I got engaged so I
could carry on being me.
So that's who you are then,
a liar and a disappointment.
I forgot making others feel
small is your favorite pastime.
I was fine before I met you.
I'd never been under any
impression that I might be special.
Never lied to by my parents
that I might one day be wanted.
I knew my limitations. And
I had made peace with them.
But then you arrived
and you made me feel so [SOBS]
[BREATHING HEAVILY]
I hate you for making me feel
like I could be loved. [SNIFFS]
[GUESTS LAUGHING, CHATTERING]
[BOTH CHUCKLING]
I was worried about you, but I
see your spirits have been lifted.
- Uh, we were just up
- [GUY] Taking the view of the roof.
Have you seen it?
[THEO] I haven't.
[SIGHS] It's quite something.
Mmm. I'll bet.
[GUESTS CHATTERING, LAUGHING]
[LORD BRIGHTLINGSEA]
Three minutes. Chop-chop.
Collect your coats before
the bells and miss the rush.
- Should we?
- You go ahead.
I've remembered something I
need to discuss with my best man.
[GUY] So [BREATHES DEEPLY]
the wedding [SIGHS]
[THEO] Well, it's certainly
related to the wedding.
[GUY] Hmm.
Specifically my future wife and
your inability to stay away from her.
- Nan and I are friends.
- [CHUCKLES]
You and I have been friends
a long time, in theory,
and you never once sent me
a telegram declaring love.
[SCOFFS]
You've known all this
time, and you didn't say?
That's right.
I'm the villain,
not the man sending love letters
to his best friend's fiancée.
Well, it didn't work. She chose me.
[SCOFFS]
Did she?
["TKO" PLAYING]
[LORD BRIGHTLINGSEA]
Here we go, everyone!
- Ten, nine
- [GUESTS] Ten, nine
[BOTH GRUNTING]
[GUESTS] eight, seven
[GUESTS] six, five
[BOTH GRUNTING]
[GUESTS] four, three
[GUESTS] two, one.
- [BELL TOLLING]
- [GUESTS] Happy New Year!
[GUESTS CHEERING, CHATTERING]
[TOLLING CONTINUES]
[TOLLING CONTINUES, ENDS]
[KNOCKING]
[LORD BRIGHTLINGSEA] Welcome.
- [GUY, THEO GRUNTING]
- [GUESTS GASP, MURMURING]
[THEO] Stay away from her!
[SONG ENDS]
- [GUESTS MURMURING]
- [BREATHING HEAVILY]
[GUY] Happy New Year.
- He started it.
- You were throwing food.
Are we five years old?
W-What's happening?
That telegram I sent
you, it didn't go missing.
He read it and kept it from you.
[BREATHING HEAVILY] I
thought it was for me,
from my oldest friend.
I-I didn't realize it
would be so personal.
But why didn't you give it to me?
What did it say?
- I don't think we ought to
- Tell her.
You want me to?
No more secrets. You
should absolutely tell her.
- Well, I hardly re
- [THEO] Tell her!
[EXHALES DEEPLY]
I suppose it was along
the lines of [SIGHS]
"My dearest Nan "
[EXHALES DEEPLY] "My dearest Nan.
This past year, I've
learnt a lot about grief,
but recently [SIGHS] I
can't quite explain why I s
I so greatly feel the loss of you
when you were never mine to lose.
I wonder if it's because
the opposite is true.
That part of me
part of me "
- [THEO] "Has."
- " has always belonged to you."
[SCOFFS]
[STAMMERS] I suppose by that,
I meant my heart belongs to you.
[THEO] Keep going.
"And And now, because of "
[BREATHES DEEPLY]
"And now, because of my own cowardice,
I shall forever be incomplete.
We were so close, Nan. Weren't we?
But I can't rest for fear that
you thinking my walking away
at Runnymede had
anything to do with you.
I am weak. And I'm confused, but,
Nan, my love for you is neither.
But what started as
my father's stupid plan
to save the house became an entangled
mess of guilt the moment we met.
Because Nan, nothing about my feelings
for you could have been planned.
You took my breath away.
It does matter that you
were born out of wedlock
but only because it's
part of what makes you.
And you are entirely perfect.
Eternally yours, in the understanding
that you will never be mine
Guy."
You read all of that in New York?
- You'd already decided to marry me
- You knew? About my mother?
And you didn't say anything?
Yes, I Nan.
- ["HOLY MOLY" PLAYING]
- [DOOR OPENS, CLOSES]
[HONORIA] It's Richard.
[FIREWORKS EXPLODING]
- [FOOTMAN] Where to, milady?
- Pardon?
- [FOOTMAN] Where are you going?
- Could you just go?
[SIGHS]
[THEO] Nan. Stop.
- Nan. Nan.
- How could you not tell me you knew?
I told you, I told everyone
how you came into the world
doesn't matter to me.
- It's who you are I fell in love with
- It matters to me.
Didn't you think, if you were
someone I could have talked to
I've been terrified of you finding
out. I've been consumed by it.
And you've known this entire time.
I thought I was doing you a kindness.
Oh, doesn't that just
sum up our relationship?
Am I supposed to apologize
now f-for trying to be kind?
It's not kindness. It's silence.
This whole country prefers silence.
You're not some magnanimous duke
who forgave me the second you knew.
You're a secretive duke who
stewed silently for months,
never thinking it would actually
help to just say it out loud.
So now you're blaming
me for keeping secrets.
- I'm not blaming you, I was j
- It wasn't mine to speak.
What should I have done?
Confront you? Embarrass you?
Or allow you your privacy?
This was yours to either keep
or decide one day to share.
I have told the whole world that
I love you unconditionally
but I will not fight for
someone who, deep down,
doesn't want me in the same way.
Which part of what was
written in that telegram
are you really reacting to?
Hmm?
Are you in love with him?
This isn't about Guy.
This isn't about you actually
either. This is about me.
[SCOFFS] Isn't everything?
Dick? What are you doing?
I used to come up here
when I was younger.
When I felt alone or
angry. So, often. [CHUCKLES]
I never should have brought you here.
Never should have let them near you.
Who?
My parents.
They suffocate you with their silence.
[STAMMERS] That's
That's how it's always been.
And I suppose back then
I just I just wanted some noise.
I'm so sorry about my family.
It's okay. I'm your family
now. You're stuck with me.
- Nan, I
- [NAN] Did you mean it?
Did you mean what you
said in the telegram?
Every word. [BREATHES SHAKILY]
I meant it then.
And what about now?
You chose Theo.
That's not an answer.
I moved on. I had to.
I asked Jean to marry me.
I think we could learn
to love each other.
You and I need to free
each other of this now.
[SIGHS] I'm gonna walk away now.
[SEADOWN] Jinny?
Where are you, Jinny? Jinny?
Have you seen Jinny?
Not since the bells, no.
Oh, there you are. What on
earth were you doing outside?
I was watching the fireworks.
[CHUCKLES] And how were they?
[CLICKS TONGUE] Very far away.
[GUY SIGHS]
[CHUCKLES]
When was the last time you did this?
- Watch you smear meat on your face?
- [CHUCKLES]
Get in a fight.
God. Not since
Henry Burton.
- [THEO] Henry Burton. [CHUCKLES]
- Henry Burton. [LAUGHS]
Still reckon I could
have taken him on my own.
Unquestionably. [CHUCKLES]
Though he was pretty
big for a 12-year-old.
Oh, he was enormous.
- Close to six foot.
- More like seven, at least.
- [CHUCKLES]
- I mean, six I could have handled.
[CHUCKLES]
You always looked out for me.
And I was wrong to send that telegram.
So wrong, and so drunk.
[SIGHS]
I should have come to
you instead, and I didn't.
I'm sorry.
Goodbye.
Your Grace.
[SIGHS]
Take good care of Nan.