[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for The Buccaneers Season 2, Episode 1, “The Duchess of Tintagel.”]
The Buccaneers are back and confirming Season 2’s most obvious theory that Leighton Meester‘s Nell is Nan’s (Kristine Frøseth) real mother after Season 1’s cliffhanger conclusion revealing her presence. But the Apple TV+ drama wasn’t done with the twists surrounding this new character, as it was quickly unveiled to audiences that Nell is also Patti St. George’s (Christina Hendricks) sister!
Yes, you read that right. Patti’s sister Nell is also Nan’s biological mother. When confronted with Nell’s presence, Patti is forced to introduce her to the new Duchess, but tells Nan that Nell is merely her aunt, shutting down the opportunity for Nell to reveal her true relation. When Nell and Patti finally have a heart-to-heart, Nell reveals that the summer she spent with Patti and Mr. St. George (Adam James), during which she got pregnant, was a chaotic time where she was mostly seeking a parental figure to rein in her wild child ways.
Apple TV+
While she waited for Patti to step up in that area, their relationship began to dissolve slowly until the affair and pregnancy tore Nell and Patti apart for 19 years. Ultimately, Patti sees Nell’s perspective differently when she’s reminded that Nell was a year younger than Nan is now when she became pregnant. Realizing her sister was essentially a child herself leads Patti to work on repairing things with Nell.
Although no one explicitly tells Nan that Nell is her mother, there’s a flash in her eye when she takes in the length of her and Patti’s estrangement. Patti and Nell leave Tintagel together, leaving Mr. St. George, whom Patti still plans to divorce, behind as they put sisterhood over all else.
Their exit is reminiscent of Season 1’s finale, which saw Nan choose her sister Jinny’s (Imogen Waterhouse) safety above her true happiness as she married the Duke, Theo (Guy Remmers), to secure power and influence to protect Jinny from her abusive husband, Lord Seadown (Barney Fishwick). Escaping alongside Nan’s true love, Guy (Matthew Broome), a pregnant Jinny left the only life she’d ever known behind.
Meester acknowledges the similarities between the sister storylines. “I completely agree. I think that it’s, in some way, obviously it’s mirroring, but almost correcting the past, and it’s almost like this second chance opportunity,” she tells TV Insider regarding Patti and Nell’s decision to choose each other by leaving Europe together.
“Knowing how other people interact with a character like this, you might just jump to judgment, and I’m so grateful that it was written in a way that gave all the other characters space to try and understand her,” Meester adds, noting, “I think the reason why it works, as not just sort of the ‘other woman’ is because she is a family member and that dark secret, the betrayal, there’s reason behind it.”
In other words, Nell’s actions extended beyond partaking in a fling; in a way, it was almost a cry for help, which never came. “It isn’t just that she was scouting for someone’s husband,” Meester says. “She was also looking for the motherly love that she desired from her own sister that was lost in that early time.”
As for the sister revelation and twist between Patti and Nell, Meester says, “I think it’s so complex, and it was really a joy and also very challenging to unpack it all.” Catch Meester’s full response in the video above, and see how Nell and Patti work on repairing their sister bond in Season 2.
And don’t miss what else is in store for The Buccaneers as the latest chapter unfolds on Apple TV+.
The Buccaneers, Season 2, Wednesdays, Apple TV+