A man in his late 30s isn't supposed to fancy an 18-year-old woman. It's predatory, perverted, and downright wrong. Yet many diehard fans of the Disney+ series Rivals are rooting for Rupert Campbell-Black and Taggie O'Hara, a couple with a glaring age gap.
Rupert, played by Alex Hassell, is a swaggering polo player and MP who fell for the doe-eyed Taggie (Bella Maclean) in season one. Now living with his age-appropriate girlfriend Cameron Cook (Nafessa Williams), the will-they-won't-they dynamic persists as Taggie and Rupert share many sweet moments that have viewers on the edge of their seats.
Despite my usual judgment of large age gaps, especially older men with younger women, I found myself agreeing with Rupert when he says, 'What does age even mean? It's just a number.' Taggie is a well-formed character with agency, and Rupert shows more heart this season as a father, making us root for them more.
Perhaps society's view of age-gap relationships is shifting. Recent examples include the viral New York Magazine feature on healthy age-gap couples, Bridget Jones bedding a younger man in Mad About the Boy, and Netflix's Age of Attraction where couples dated without revealing ages.
