Just when Venturer thought they’d get a leg up on Corinium, Declan (Aidan Turner) is delivered a devastating blow at the end of the Friday, May 29, episode of Rivals. And he’s not the only one on his side who suffers in this episode. TV Insider spoke with David Tennant, Danny Dyer, and more about the major moments from the latest episode. Warning: Spoilers for Rivals Season 2 Episode 5 ahead!
Declan and Cameron (Nafessa Williams) return to Ireland for his Yeats documentary, and while they’re busy there, Rupert (Alex Hassell), despite being out of Venturer after his past scandalous behavior that Tony (Tennant) had Beattie Johnson (Annabel Scholey) report on on Uncensored, puts together the Golden Gauntlet. This competition show that ultimately sees Rupert and Declan (and their teams) face off and get gunged (slimed). It seems like it’s going to be the success they need — until the tapes go missing. Declan knows Tony was responsible and confronts him, but his former boss denies, denies, denies … then delights in destroying the tapes that he did steal.
But, as Declan warns, everything he does will come back to him. So, we had to ask Tennant, who from Venturer is Tony most worried about hurting him?
“Rupert’s the one he wants to crush. He also wants to crush Declan because he feels like he gave Declan everything and had it thrown back in his face. So they are probably the two that he wants to see suffer. He wants to see them ground into the dirt. They’ve got to be top of his hit list,” he said. “Probably Rupert’s the one that can trigger him most because Rupert’s got what Tony can never have. He’s got class and charm.”
Courtesy of Disney
But Declan’s not the only one that Tony goes after in this episode. He also buys the land that Freddie (Danny Dyer) had marked for his daughter, Sharon (Georgia Mack). Baddingham Estates will have 30 new homes — and ruin the view from Bella Vista, Freddie and Valerie’s (Lisa McGrillis) new home in Season 2. At Bas’ (Luca Pasqualino) bar after, Freddie is the one to say they need to keep their wits about us and focus on the Golden Gauntlet, which, at the time, hasn’t happened yet. Now that those tapes have been ruined, and by Tony, can Freddie maintain his composure?
“He hates Lord Baddingham with a passion. He hates everything he stands for. He’s the complete opposite to Freddie. There’s not a kind bone in Tony’s body,” Dyer told us. “When he tries to suppress it, he’s a businessman. He knows this Venturer thing has to work, and so it’s wasted energy, hatred, and all that. And so he is trying to rein it and he does lose it a little bit. But I think it’s because he’s frustrated over the Lizzie [Katherine Parkinson] situation as well. He’s got a lot going on in his brain and the guilt of it. His poor daughter Sharon — Sharon’s with him when he’s in the car, and he sees the sign. And he’s fuming, you know what I mean? So there’s so many layers going on with it, but oh, he’d love to chin him.”
And while it may seem like Tony’s getting more wins than not, “the tide will turn,” teased Dyer.
Episodes 4 and 5 have hinted at a deep relationship between Tony’s wife, Monica (Claire Rushbrook), and Dame Enid (Selina Griffiths). Enid remarks that Monica’s Titania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) was more exciting than Maud’s (Victoria Smurfit) after Corinium’s production. Monica says it was a long time ago; Enid remembers. Then, Monica ends up watching the Golden Gauntlet after her daughter sneaks off to watch, and Enid remarks that her favorite tennis player is there — then ends up giving her a signed photo.
“I think that the pressure of what’s happening at home, Tony’s lack of care in terms of what he brings home to the marriage, means that she is challenged to stay in her blinkered stoic lane and almost without noticing her own feelings are taking sort of center stage, which is something that she’s just not given any air to at all,” Rushbrook explained. “And so these lovely, delicate suggestions with Dame Enid are as much a surprise, really, I think, to Monica that there’s a bigger world out there that she’s been forced to look at or look at herself more carefully because of what’s happening.”
Speaking of potential relationships, Declan and Cameron grow closer in Ireland, leading to a scene right out of Jilly Cooper‘s book that really highlights Turner and Williams’ chemistry. He shares that his opinion of her has changed and says that his son, Patrick (Gabriel Tierney), is more suited for her than Rupert because he wouldn’t mess her about. She, in turn, points out that Maud does just that to him. But marrying someone like Maud means accepting that beautiful people aren’t governed by the same rules as ordinary mortals, he claims. He’s never cheated on her, however, and he’s never wanted to — until that night. They move closer to one another as he tries to blame their work together, but she suggests they go upstairs.
Do they sleep together? It certainly looks like it, between the light going off and the very awkward car ride the next morning with Patrick sitting between them.
Elsewhere in the episode, our favorite platonic relationship on the show gets some screen time when Rupert stops by to see Lizzie and finds her leaving a note for the milkman; her husband James (Oliver Chris) wants her to switch to semi-skim because she’s bloated on camera. Rupert rips up the note and also asks her to come to the Golden Gauntlet taping for support, which she does.
“It really reminds me of relationships I had when I was younger, a platonic relationship, but between sort of soulmates, people that are a meeting of minds,” said Parkinson. “It’s quite a niche, kind of geeky vibe between them. I think he loves her and she loves him. It allows us to see that Rupert has an essential goodness, which makes you understand his burgeoning love for Taggie, I think, and his sort of character rehabilitation in a way.”
Plus, a character formerly referred to only as “stick girl” approaches Rupert for an autograph and reveals her name is Perdita (Holly Cattle). Without spoiling anything, all we’ll say is the name did come up in Season 1 — Declan had an envelope during his interview with Rupert that he didn’t use and her name was seen when he burned it — and book readers will know exactly who she is.
Watch the full video interview above for more from David Tennant, Claire Rushbrook, Danny Dyer, and Katherine Parkinson.
Rivals, Fridays, Hulu