There’s something about a first dance that always speaks louder than words—a moment where the heart is ahead of the mind, and two bodies get to know each other intimately. It’s often why the first dance is so meaningful in a historical romance, as everything unravels long before love confessions or even a first kiss. That’s what we see happening when Rupert Campbell-Black and Taggie O’Hara dance to Chris de Burgh’s “Lady in Red” in Rivals Season 1, Episode 3.
The way it begins and ends in two vastly different places is so explicitly telling that it’s overwhelming. The scene is relatively brief in the book, and it’s not exactly long in the show either, but the way Alex Hassell and Bella Maclean play off one another adds the substance necessary for viewers to understand why it resonates with them both. How, even though it starts with him essentially taking the lead, it ends with a sense of comfort spread through both of them.
The conversations during the dance start when Rupert tells Taggie that the bracelet was from him as an apology for groping her, but she still refuses to take it—her hand still stiff in his. It’s only when his words continue to be kind, and he recognizes that he sees her, that everything changes. Because even if she doesn’t fully understand what’s happening at that moment, Taggie knows that she’s safe while dancing with Rupert. At once, she realizes she can be appreciated. He isn’t just throwing words out there as some measly apology, but because he means it. And for someone who rarely sees kindness from people, their dance reflects a different reality.
At the same time, while Rupert doesn’t fully understand the breadth of his feelings, he now recognizes enough to look inward and understands that Taggie is seeing something in him that no one else does. The realization is then so sharp that he voices it out loud, saying that he can see himself reflected clearly in her eyes, and for once, he isn’t sure he likes what he sees. His faults, his mistakes, all the wrong choices capable of making. Everything outside of this beat that’s changing him in a way he never thought possible. Rupert and Taggie’s dance marks the first moment of the actual changes we start to see in Rupert, which allow Taggie to warm up to him.
When he’s honest with her, it allows her (and by extension, us) to see that he’s truthful. He does genuinely mean it when he apologizes, and something in him is cracking open in an unrecognizable way. Because of this, the visible reaction we get to Taggie growing more comfortable and actually holding onto his hand as they dance reflects all of this gorgeously. It ensures that, though they didn’t start on the right path, this dance is leading them exactly where they should be. Together.
The song choice is especially perfect here, too, because the idea of the lady in red isn’t so much literal as it is about the one person in the room being the one you can’t take your eyes off. The one person in the room who chooses you. It’s about the chance at something bigger. And for Rupert to recognize just how special Taggie is when even her own mother fails to do so is monumental.
So much of the reason their dance is as special as it is because Taggie’s importance is on fully display. Rupert’s eyes aren’t wandering elsewhere. His attention is solely on Taggie. The way he holds and slowly trails his hand lower when she softens to him shows us that he recognizes how precious she is. The deliberate delicacy in his movements, paired with director Elliot Hegarty’s choice to use close-up shots underscore the gentleness of the actions so beautifully that the softness leaves very little room for words.
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The moment Rupert recognizes how precious Taggie is, everything comes to light gorgeously to underscore the intensity of the truth. And because of this, the decisions that come afterward in the episode are that much sweeter and more meaningful. The admiration that’s burgeoning during this moment is achingly precious and worth protecting, making their love story one that’s impossible not to root for.
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