{"id":2420071,"date":"2026-05-17T02:42:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T02:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2420071"},"modified":"2026-05-17T02:42:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T02:42:09","slug":"rivals-season-2-review-the-hulu-series-is-a-frothy-escape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/rivals-season-2-review-the-hulu-series-is-a-frothy-escape\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Rivals’ Season 2 Review: The Hulu Series Is A Frothy Escape"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u201cLord, what fools these mortals be,\u201d declares fairy servant Puck in Shakespeare\u2019s <\/span>\u201cA Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream.\u201d <\/span>Or, as Taggie so eloquently puts it in the newest season of <\/span>Hulu\u2019s \u201cRivals,\u201d<\/span><\/a> \u201cWhy are men so bloody useless?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The second season of the British \u201cbonkbuster\u201d premiered Friday, picking up shortly after the first season ended. Two Cotswolds-based broadcasting companies, Corinium and Ventura, are competing to see who will win a commercial contract. As they face off in this franchise war, the resounding theme continues to be that the men are both \u201cuseless\u201d and \u201cfools.\u201d The real question is how much patience the women in their lives will have for them. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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On the Ventura side, sweet, innocent Taggie (Bella MacLean) is gutted after the rakish Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell) disappears just moments after finally kissing her in the kitchen. It turns out that the Tory Cabinet minister of sport who is 20 years older has absconded to a cottage in Devon. He is protecting (read: shagging) fierce producer Cameron Cook (Nafessa Williams), who is on the run after she bashed in the head of Coronium\u2019s nefarious Lord Tony Baddingham (David Tennant). <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Nafessa<\/picture><\/div>\n
Nafessa Williams, who portrays Cameron Cook, in Season 2 of “Rivals.’<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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While the two are holed up having sex, Campbell-Black\u2019s partners have been left to keep the company running and navigate their own trials and trysts. Hunky Irish broadcaster Declan O\u2019Hara (Aidan Turner) is on the outs with his whimsical wife, Maud (Victoria Smurfit), who is done living in his shadow and has returned to London to act on stage. Married businessman Freddie Jones (Danny Dyer) is sticking it out with his vapid wife, Valerie (Lisa McGrillis), even though he is completely besotted with romance writer Lizzie Vereker (Katherine Parkinson), who is married to egotistical and clueless Coronium TV host James (Oliver Chris). <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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At Coronium, Baddingham has survived the bloody brawl in his office and is now seeking revenge via methods that his practical wife Monica (Claire Rushbrook) reasonably finds distasteful and short-sighted. He\u2019s also dealing with the slight inconvenience of having impregnated his network\u2019s married host, Sarah Stratton (Emily Atack). But for Baddingham, these setbacks are minor, and he navigates them ruthlessly while smoking cigars and shagging, or trying to shag, other women.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As the amorous adults vie for the all-important contract and each other\u2019s attention, it becomes clear that the viewer is like Puck, watching lovers fall in and out of love with the wrong person amid the lush backdrop of the countryside. Personally, I love this bird\u2019s-eye view and find the second season of \u201cRivals\u201d just as much fun<\/a> to watch as the first. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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From which company is going to cover the big polo match to how a preelection dinner party is going to go when people spend more time in the pantry than at the table to who will win the 1987 election, each episode is a frothy escape. The show continues to be delightfully grounded in the lived realities of the \u201980s while being infused with the same wry social commentary as its source material, Jilly Cooper\u2019s \u201cRutshire Chronicles\u201d series. This unique combination is ultimately what sets \u201cRivals\u201d apart. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As in \u201cA Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream,\u201d the lust-filled adults and their foibles are representative of larger themes about society and love. This makes the play a fitting part of this season\u2019s plot, but I\u2019m not going to spoil how the Bard makes his way into this season of the show. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Taggie<\/picture><\/div>\n
Taggie (Bella Maclean) and Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell) in “Rivals.”<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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Instead, I\u2019ll return the focus to Taggie, the moral center of this very immoral world. While watching the play, she asks a friend what it is about. Her friend sums it up perfectly, telling Taggie that it\u2019s \u201cabout the fragility of being in love. How easy it can happen with the wrong person, but how that same haphazardness makes the triumph of true love all the sweeter.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cRivals\u201d is nothing if not an updated exploration of this timeless theme. It\u2019s obvious that love in this corner of the British countryside will never \u201crun smooth.\u201d There are far too many rendezvous in pools and pantries for that. Instead, what\u2019s really being questioned is if any of this love can be \u201ctrue\u201d when the men are caught up in their ruthless games and the women are tired of being the casualties in their war.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The show\u2019s only fault is that to answer these questions, viewers will have to suffer through a haphazard release schedule. While the first three episodes of this 12-episode season dropped on Friday, the next three will be released weekly. Then, at some unannounced time later this year, the final six episodes will air. This release schedule feels like the worst of all the streaming worlds: mixing weekly episodes with two-part seasons. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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However, while inconvenient, it\u2019s not enough of a deterrent to stop watching, because \u201cRivals\u201d is easily one of the freshest, funniest and frothiest shows, and I can\u2019t wait to watch how these \u201cuseless\u201d fools continue to lust after each other in the name of love. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The first three episodes of \u201cRivals\u201d are streaming on Hulu. The rest of Part 1 of the season will roll out weekly.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n