Summary
- Apple TV+'s The Buccaneers and Netflix's Bridgerton have a lot in common, but there is one key difference.
- Bridgerton is primarily a show about romance.
- The Buccaneers is, at its core, a family drama that revolves around the group of five friends and their relationships with each other.
- While The Buccaneers would benefit from adding some steam and suspense to its love arcs, Bridgerton could be improved by adopting some of the family-centered approach.
When Apple TV+ greenlit The Buccaneers, it couldn't help but expect comparisons to Netflix's romantic hit Bridgerton. The two shows have a lot in common.
Both are period dramas with a slightly modernized approach to costumes, premise, and characters. Both are set in 19th century London (though in different decades). Both revolve around the relationships of characters who belong to the crème de la crème of society.
But The Buccaneers and Bridgerton have a fundamental difference that sets the two shows miles apart. At their core, they are built with different approaches in mind. And if each were to adopt at least some elements of the other's approach, they would both benefit.
While Bridgerton is about romance, The Buccaneers is about family
The first three episodes of The Buccaneers have shown that even though the series delves into various romantic relationships, that is not its main focus. The show is about five American girls from wealthy new money families living in the 1870s.
As was often the case in the Gilded Age, the new money families had to worm their way into high society by marrying their daughters off to broke aristocratic families who desperately needed the money, even if they despised the newcomers.
This conflict is exactly how The Buccaneers begins, with the protagonists coming to London to marry into the aristocracy. But surprisingly, the main drama of the show does not revolve around the clash of cultures or the conflict between duty and love.
At its core, The Buccaneers is about family. Both the one you are born into and the one you choose. The five main characters come from three different households, but they have been friends all their lives, and they feel like a sometimes healthy, sometimes toxic, but always close-knit family.
Although each girl goes through her own arc, the focus of the show is on the relationships between them. The old secrets, the shocking revelations, the grudges and feuds, the parties and fun, all come before the first kisses, steamy moments and declarations of love.
Meanwhile, in Bridgerton
As for Bridgerton, it is first and foremost a romantic show. Although there is a literal family at the center of the show, the Bridgerton brothers and sisters seem to coexist in one house without much interaction.
The scenes of the siblings having frank conversations, supporting and helping each other are limited and are no match for the love arcs that are filled with suspense, hot scenes, sexual tension and crazy falling in love. All of the drama in Bridgerton revolves around romantic storylines, leaving no time for family bonding.
While The Buccaneers could benefit from making their love stories more steamy and suspenseful like Bridgerton, the Netflix show would undoubtedly be even better if it included some family time.