‘The Buccaneers’ Season 2 Episode 4 Recap: “Ice Cream”

If the second season of The Buccaneers is about following your heart, then the fourth episode makes good on that promise. In “Ice Cream,” Nan arrives in Italy to reunite with Guy and Jinny, while Theo copes with her absence by acting on his feelings for someone else. The Duke mopes briefly before dancing it out Meredith Grey-style in his bedroom, after which he arrives unannounced at Hector’s school fundraiser and causes an immediate stir when he over-bids on a vase at auction. After closing the deal, Theo shares some odd glances with Lizzy, almost as if he was hoping to create a scene to impress her. 

When asked about Nan’s absence, Theo initially admits to Hector that she ran off in the night, then back-tracks to cover it up as a joke. He’s playing with fire, telling Lizzy that while he felt numb at first, he now feels very alert—he feels like his life is just getting started. This answer unsettles Lizzy, who fiddles with her engagement ring while she chews on Theo’s words. 

But Lizzy’s fiance isn’t impressed by the Duke’s sudden need to be center stage. He complains to Lizzy about the fact that Theo has made the day about him and hijacked Hector’s event. Instead of hearing Hector’s side, she sides with Theo, telling Hector, “I thought you were more generous than this.” Lizzy exits annoyed, using this as an excuse to corner Theo. In the secluded woods, Lizzy scolds him for his antics and Theo quickly concedes, suggesting that he shouldn’t have come. When Lizzy challenges him by asking why he did, he responds with a loaded, “you know full well.” It’s enough for The Buccaneers to make good on what it has been hinting at all season: Lizzy and Theo lunge for each other, and passionately lock lips. They make out briefly before Lizzy realizes what’s happening and runs away, back to Hector’s party.

She’s flustered when she comes back, and Mabel immediately notices that something is off with her sister. Lizzy doesn’t kiss and tell, but Mabel clocks Theo arriving from the same area and senses something happened, but doesn’t press further. Hector, meanwhile, acknowledges his first fight with his fiancee and admits that all he thinks about is Lizzy’s happiness. She claims that she is happy with him, but by episode’s end, she is back in Theo’s arms at Tintagel, consummating their budding romance in bed. 

While Theo is participating in the age-old “get under someone to get over someone else” coping mechanism, his banished mother is trying to pick up the pieces of her life, too. She’s gardening when her former lover Reede arrives to try his luck again. She opens up to him about Nan’s disappearance and Theo’s angry reaction, downplaying the scandalous nature of the whole ordeal: “Reputations have been ruined for less,” she says about the Duke’s likely failed marriage. 

All this talk about tragic love stories causes Reede to ask Blanche what she thinks would have happened had they run away together many years ago. The Dowager admits that she thinks they would have been “deliriously happy,” but tempers that by suggesting that this feeling is natural when wondering “what if.” Reede puts his cards on the table: there’s still time to run away together to his property in France. But she declines, citing Theo’s fragile state and her desire to keep the fantasy of their love alive a bit longer. Reede is disappointed but doesn’t push her; instead, he leaves a crate of the same fancy wine he medicated himself with after their first breakup at her doorstep, indicating his sadness.

Erstwhile at the party, Conchita and Richard are trying to make good on their promise to Mabel’s mom to set her up with an eligible bachelor. They play a game of badminton and share some laughs, but Mabel sees right through Conchita and is offended that she’d accept money for this purpose. Even more, she’s upset at the ways that money drives Conchita’s decisions, as she used to be much more carefree, but Conchita reminds her that she’s now a mother who is aiming to give her daughter the same lifestyle she enjoyed while growing up. 

Nan, who has left all of these parties and people behind, arrives in Italy fresh-faced and eager to see her true love, Guy. At first, it’s a blissful reunion, but after Nan witnesses Guy, Jinny, and Freddie acting as a family unit, she begins to wonder if she’s intruded on the life they’ve built for themselves. Nan goes so far as to ask Jinny whether she has feelings for Guy—and given Jinny’s track record, we were all wondering it, too. Jinny, thankfully, understands and orchestrates a trip to the market for Nan and Guy that can double as alone time to hash out their complex feelings. 

While out, Nan tries to proceed as though their reunion is without complication. But when she tries to kiss Guy, he rescinds, forcing them to finally address the elephant in the room. Guy is understandably pissed that he gave up his whole life for her and accuses Nan of being spoiled as she gets to live her fairytale in a castle, while Nan pushes back saying her life of being stuck in a loveless marriage isn’t a fairytale at all. Once they get that out of their system, Guy softens and recounts how simple life moments—like indulging in ice cream—aren’t as appealing without Nan. They double down on their very real feelings for each other and set off for ice cream, but wind up crashing a wedding instead. The lovebirds forget the real world for a while, dancing and drinking wine before stealing off to a picturesque seaside area to finally kiss—this time, with all the power and emotion in the world. The only problem is that Guy and Jinny’s local friend Paloma witnessed them together, and her loyalty to Jinny will no doubt cause problems in the episodes to come.

But that’s nothing compared to the problems Jinny is dealing with alone at home. While Nan and Guy are out galavanting, a knock at Jinny’s door brings her nightmare into full focus: her estranged and abusive husband James Seadown is standing in front of her. She tries to close the door in his face but he overpowers her and enters the quaint apartment. After learning that he has a son and picking Freddie up against Jinny’s wishes, he hands his wife a paper with his hotel’s name on it and asks her to meet him there to talk. 

Jinny is visibly shaken by this encounter, but when Nan comes home elated, she can’t bring herself to upend their lives again. But Nan reads between the lines and senses that Jinny is not okay, thinking her sister is depressed about the fact that she can never return home (which is also true). Seeing Jinny like this, Nan realizes that her fantasy life with Guy can only work if her sister is also happy, so she rips the rug out from under him once again and tells him that she has to return to her life as the Duchess in order to get Hector’s bill signed. Guy is rightfully pissed off, and cuttingly says that he doesn’t resent her for leaving, he resents her for coming and giving him a glimpse of this life. She is also upset, and doesn’t yet realize that she’ll be returning to an even more complicated dynamic with Theo than when she left. 

Jinny, unaware of Nan’s plans to return to Tintagel, tries to take control of the situation in a very different way. “Ice Cream” ends with her arriving at James’s hotel and properly introducing him to Freddie, opening the door to their reconciliation. Knowing what we know about James, there’s no chance that he’s changed for the better—it’s only a matter of time before Jinny realizes this, too.

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.