No relationship on Rivals is (anywhere near) perfect. Let’s be honest: This is the show that has us rooting for infidelity. Everyone’s love life is very, very complicated on the juicy, can’t-stop-watching, scandalous Hulu series, based on Jilly Cooper’s novel of the same name,
The series began with Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell) having sex with gossip columnist Beattie Johnson (Annabel Scholey) on a plane, then new-to-the-Cotswolds Taggie O’Hara (Bella Maclean) caught him in the middle of a game of naked tennis with Sarah Stratton (Emily Atack). That began the slow burn and a season of (slow) growth for Rupert, who groped Taggie at a dinner, only to endear himself to her with the gift of a bracelet and by helping Charles (Gary Lamont) after he was photographed in the middle of a panic attack. It all leads up to the swoony “I can’t breathe without you” and kiss in the Season 1 finale. But there’s a major complication.