Rivals episode 2 review | A pavlova response

rivals episode 2 review
Share this Article:

Taggie starts her own catering business and Declan tears up the journalism rulebook. Hereā€™s our Rivals episode 2 review.


Two episodes into Disney+’s new 80s erotic drama, I’m already regretting not starting a bonking map. Picking up on an interesting vibe between Tony and producing hotshot Cameron Crowe, I realised with a start I’d completely forgotten the Don Draper-esque revelation concluding episode one. There are just too many affairs going on to keep up.

Still, it would be wrong to say Rivals is all about the hanky panky. In a rather thrilling opening to the second episode, we learn this one is about, among other things, journalism.

Declan O’Hara, whose Corinium-produced chat show is celebrating its format-smashing first episode, is a maverick. He’s got no time for your broadcasting rules. He’ll wear horrible mustard yellow socks for the premiere. He’ll bring up his guest’s alcoholism in the first eight seconds of an interview, and end it coaxing out cosy anecdotes about James Bond. He’s a loose cannon, dammit, but by God he gets results.

If only that expertise (we know he’s a good journalist, because the episode features a handy montage, and people keep telling him so) stretched to his personal life. His wife, Maud (Victoria Smurfit) doesn’t seem very happy, and desperately wants to get off with Alex Hassell’s Rupert Campbell-Black (in her defence, literally everyone wants to sleep with Rupert Campbell-Black).

Read more: Rivals episode 3 review | Dance dance revelation

Campbell-Black, for his part, seems rather keen on Declan’s daughter, Taggie – a conclusion he comes to when she enters the room holding a pavlova (a great, empty-calory tower of sugared confection that would go down a treat on a Sunday night in the 80s, the pudding doesn’t look half-bad either). That desert course, without spoiling anything, becomes a rather important plot point, and one that leaves the episode on one of the best TV cliffhangers we’ve seen in a while: “Revenge is a dish best served on television”.

Itā€™s all so much fun. More than anything, Rivals reminds us of the sort of thing the streaming revolution has so far been largely depriving us of. Finally, a drama series that isn’t trying to be a film – just pure, soapy pulp stuffed with sex and preposterous political maneuvering. This is TV doing what TV does best – and it’s got me really craving a pavlova…

All episodes of Rivals are streaming on Disney+ now.

Share this Article:

More like this