Spoilers for Rivals season 2 episode 6 ahead.
I don’t know about you, but I’m still furious with the events of Rivals season 2 episode 6… especially the unexpected death of Monica Baddingham (Claire Rushbrook).
Considering that this never happens in the original book — and that Monica was just about to come to terms with her unacknowledged feelings for Enid (Selina Griffiths) — it came as something of a nasty shock.
I’ve already gone into detail about why the move wasn’t only disappointing, but also proves that Hulu and Disney+ are doing so badly by their LGBTQIA+ characters… and during Pride month, no less.
Perhaps not everybody is as outraged as I am, but it still feels like a gut-punch to the overall Rutshire dynamics that we’ve come to know and love.
But according to one star, there’s a good reason why Monica’s death had to happen — and it’s all to do with what will happen in the second half of season 2.
‘It was a very emotional thing, and very shocking’
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“The events of episode 6 are quite a shock, aren’t they? Monica’s death is a real curveball,” Rich Keeble, who plays Brian Hetherington on the hit series, tells me.
“I do know what happens in the rest of the series, and it does feed into some quite dramatic and exciting stuff that’s happening in the second half.”
So far, we can only get a glimpse of what’s to come in new episodes that will be released in November from the above teaser trailer. Monica’s funeral will be one of the first things addressed, but it’s as yet unclear how this will affect our characters, including widower Tony (David Tennant).
“It was a real shock and the way we found out… most of us found out at the table read,” Keeble continues. “We had two table reads for this series of Rivals. We already had episodes 1-5. So when we got to episode six, they said it was going to be a redacted version that only a few people would be given.
“When we were leading up to when Monica’s in the car during the storm, I could see like a few people who were crowding around a script and starting to get upset. It was this very emotional thing. Claire was tearful, and everyone was hugging her… There was a big round of applause afterwards to congratulate her on her work, and people said a few words.
Keeble continues, “I think the only people that maybe knew before the read-through were maybe David and Claire. But of course, we then had another read-through with the second half of it and then obviously filmed it. It was something that hung over, the whole second half of the series.”
If Monica had to die, then I’m glad she didn’t die in vain — I just hope that the creators have done a good enough job of keeping her memory alive.
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