Please note: this article contains a big spoiler for the most recent episode of Rivals.
I was awake at 4am this morning so this could be the lack of sleep talking, but the comments under a recent Disney+ Instagram post literally brought me to tears.
Last week, Rivals closed the first half of season two with a deeply moving episode. Lady Monica Baddingham (Claire Rushbrook) and Lizzie Vereker (Katherine Parkinson), both longing to leave the men they are unhappy with, had a frank discussion at the kitchen table. It was a quiet, tender exchange, and yet the reaction online has been fierce.
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen such an intense emotional response to a single television scene before. If you look at the comments section, women have been profoundly touched.
Here are just a few of the comments that stopped me in my tracks this morning:
“One of the most honest scenes in a TV show and brilliantly acted."
“I bawled my eyes out remembering the pain my mum went through with all that dad put her through. Heartbreaking.”
"Monica and Lizzie, incredibly beautiful and sensitive acting. Resonating with so many women even today, showing how painful it is to stay, putting everyone else's feelings above their own."
© Disney+Even Good Morning Britain’s Susanna Reid chimed in, writing: “Love Monica, what an episode.”
And, of course, there was plenty of praise for the brilliance of the source material, with one fan noting: "This made me realise just how good a writer Jilly Cooper was. Not just naughty, but really seeing and writing women."
My absolute favourite, though? A viewer who is already planning to get a ‘Live Like Blazes’ tattoo.
I usually watch Rivals to torment myself about wanting Rupert Campbell-Black and Taggie O'Hara to get together. (On another note, I never thought I'd see the day I could declare Danny Dyer in a fake moustache as my dream man, but here we are.) But this week, it was the sincere truth in this conversation that gave me the biggest sense of escapism.
© Disney+People often shy away from truly honest conversations because they are uncomfortable. It is much easier to offer a glossy word of encouragement than to sit with someone in their hardship. I remember a conversation with some of my close girlfriends a few years ago. I said I just didn't want to go on dates any more because I didn't see the point. Dating is just a part of my life that never works out, and I didn't see the point in continuing to put myself in a situation that only ever warrants negative feedback or a negative outcome.
One friend rushed to my side with reassurance. “No way! Don't say that! It will all work out!” And the other just met me in that moment and told me that she understood. It was really validating. She has lived through every text to say something hasn't worked out and has been on the rollercoaster with me. She had seen my mounting evidence for feeling that way, and she acknowledged it.
That lack of a sugar coating was exactly what I needed to feel heard. My first friend meant incredibly well - she just wanted to build me back up. But for every time you need a cheerleader to scoop you off the floor, you also need a confidante who will sit on the floor with you and agree that life is just hard sometimes, and that there isn’t always a neat little answer.
It’s wild that being honest feels so radical, but it does. There are so many desires and frustrations that we feel we can’t voice as women - particularly in mid-life. We swallow down what we want because it wouldn’t suit family life, or because we feel the time for change has passed. The unfiltered meeting of Monica and Lizzie was a quiet invitation for all of us to start having these uncomfortable conversations ourselves.
Which is why what Rivals did next felt so brilliantly, agonisingly cruel.
Minutes after this empowering exchange - just as both women resolved to speak their minds and set a better example for their daughters - Monica was brutally killed.
© Disney+It served as a devastating warning. I’ve loved Claire Rushbrook since she played Richard E. Grant’s right-hand woman in Spice World, and she has been an absolute fan favourite on this show. To have our sweetheart snatched away so suddenly left us reeling. But in her honour, we have all been warned to ferociously "live like blazes."
In this episode, Rivals reminded us that it is never too late to follow your heart. So many big life choices feel permanent. The geography of your life, who you married, or how you earn a living can feel far too monumental to disrupt. But seeing these two women, who both had everything to lose, inspire viewers to make their own scary life changes was something incredibly special.
They beautifully captured the painful conflict between doing what is actually good for your family versus what you think is expected of you. The journalist Caitlin Moran once wrote that your children learn far more by observing how you live than by listening to what you tell them to do, and that has always stuck with me. We inherit our parents' silent habits. When it dawned on Monica and Lizzie that they were passing down a toxic instruction manual - teaching their daughters to value 'duty' above their own happiness - they were rightfully horrified.
Though the great Dame Jilly Cooper always knew she had bottled magic with these characters, I deeply wish she could see this exact cultural reaction. The conversations this single episode has sparked are incredibly moving. Women are connecting, sharing their own vulnerabilities, and feeling a little less alone in their private hardships.
Above all, it was a stunning testament to the power of female friendship. I hope every woman pours herself a cup of tea, sits down with a true confidante, and walks away feeling a little lighter - and a lot braver - to take on her own daunting struggles.
