Published Jun 2, 2026, 7:42 PM EDT
Jennie Richardson is a TV Features and Lists Writer for Collider, and a graduate student pursuing an MFA in Fiction Writing. In other words, she really loves stories.
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Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Rivals Season 2, Episode 5.Now almost halfway through its second season, Rivals*** ***continues to keep its fans on their toes with new twists that differ from the events of the Dame Jilly Cooper novel on which it’s based. So far, Season 2 has seen the fallout of Cameron Cook (Nafessa Williams) and Tony Baddingham’s (David Tennant) confrontation at the end of Season 1, as well as the very public fall of Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell). Season 2 continues to adapt crucial scenes from the book, while also incorporating exciting new storylines into the series.
Rivals’ latest episode includes several major changes, most significantly to the book storyline of Declan (Aidan Turner) and Maud (Victoria Smurfit) forgetting Taggie’s (Bella Maclean) birthday. The circumstances surrounding the day are more intense and messier than in the book but an iconic Rupert and Taggie scene from this storyline has been changed for the show to fit in another developing storyline. While this change does add drama and tension to the moment, it’s a disappointment to lose this specific book scene, and hardcore book fans will be bummed to miss out on the sweet moment.
Season 2 of *Rivals *has seen Rupert trying to step up as a boyfriend to Cameron while working to bury his feelings for Taggie after their kiss at the end of last season. Taggie, meanwhile, has been struggling with a broken heart from watching Rupert commit to his relationship with Cameron so soon after confessing his feelings to her. Taggie and Bas (Luca Pasqualino) have been getting close in the meantime, and each episode of Season 2 develops their relationship a little more. **In Rivals’ latest episode, Taggie is left forgotten by her parents on her birthday, just like in the books. **Whereas in the book, Rupert brought Cameron over with him to cheer Taggie up and bring her a present, he goes alone here.
Your answers point to the iconic universe your values, your instincts, and your particular way of seeing the world were built for. This is where you would find your people — and your purpose.
You believe in the cause — in the idea that freedom is worth fighting for even when the odds are impossible and the empire is vast.
You understand, in the deepest part of yourself, that the journey matters as much as the destination — and that the world’s beauty is worth protecting even at great cost.
You believe that love, loyalty, and doing what’s right are not naive sentiments — they are the most powerful forces in any world, magical or otherwise.
You see the world clearly — its power structures, its hypocrisies, its brutal arithmetic — and you are not paralysed by that clarity. You use it.
You believe the future is worth building — that curiosity, cooperation, and the expansion of understanding are not just ideals but the most practical path forward for any civilisation.
This starts out as the perfect setup for their one-on-one scene from the book. In the *Rivals *book, Rupert and Cameron go and see Taggie and Patrick (Gabriel Tierney) at the O’Hara’s house together, and Rupert goes outside with Taggie to give her a new puppy. It’s a sweet moment between just the two of them, showing exactly how well he knows her and how much the gift means to her. They also discuss Patrick’s feelings for Cameron, leading Taggie to tell Rupert that Patrick is jealous of his and Cameron’s relationship. She says that Patrick believed that Cameron was just with Tony for work, but that it’s different with Rupert, “‘Because one wouldn’t need any incentive… to move in with you.” It’s a touching scene that’s full of tension and pining, but the show cuts that in favor of just having Rupert briefly give Taggie the puppy. Before they can have a real conversation, Bas interrupts, and it’s revealed that he already came over first to spend her birthday with her after finding out about her birthday at the same time as Rupert.
The two stars of the Hulu series also break down their characters’ toxic relationship.
Sometimes, the best way to make a character like Rupert realize what he lost is by making him watch his love interest move on with someone else. The love triangle between Rupert, Taggie, and Bas has already been developed more and brought out more in the show, whereas very little actually happened between Taggie and Bas in the book. It’s an exciting change that could lead Rupert to finally take action in his relationship with Taggie, but **Taggie’s temporary relationship with Bas shouldn’t hurt the continuing development of her relationship with Rupert. **If anything, it should increase the tension between them. Instead, though, after Rupert gives Taggie her puppy, neither one of them actually gets to say anything, hinting at their deeper feelings for each other. As of Rivals’ latest episode, Rupert and Taggie have just had three brief and surface-level conversations since his reputation fell apart, and they haven’t gotten to properly talk about it together.
It’s a disappointment to see such an iconic book scene changed for the show in order to put more emphasis on the love triangle, even if it’s fun to see Rupert yearn for Taggie from afar as she cuddles her new puppy with Bas. What’s lost here, though, is a crucial moment where Taggie finds a way to express to Rupert how she feels about him. Even though he already knows about her feelings in the show, this scene could’ve been an opportunity to show Rupert that Taggie still has feelings for him, even after his public scandal and poor treatment of her this season. It could also have shown just how pained both of them are over not being able to be together. Instead, there’s a brief moment between them before Bas interrupts, and it prevents the scene from being able to go as deep as it could have.
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