From the moment Maxton Hall burst onto our screens in 2024 and we saw series protagonists Ruby and James first encounter each other on not-so-great terms (his Rolls-Royce splashes her with mud), it was clear that this enemies-to-lovers tale would be far more than your classic ‘popular boy falls for nerdy girl’ scenario. What we got instead was a romance layered with commentary on class, privilege and accountability. Oh, and plenty of shirtless make-out scenes, too.
For those who haven’t seen the series yet (get to Prime Video stat to catch up), Maxton Hall is a German series – dubbed in English for our viewing pleasure – based on Mona Kasten’s novel Save Me. It stars Damian Hardung as the privileged and pompous James Beaufort, heir to a hefty fortune – think the Roy family from Succession, but British and with less swearing. And then there’s Ruby Bell (Harriet Herbig-Matten), whose family, while not poor by any means, is comfortably middle class: she takes the bus to school, works in the local café and can only get into Oxford University with financial help.
And it’s here that the show’s class commentary truly lands, holding a mirror to real-world experiences of dating across divides.
Right from the start, James’s privilege drips through the screen; on one occasion, he offers Ruby hush money when she discovers his twin sister’s secret, and later he thinks he can just waltz back onto the lacrosse team after an exclusion. Believing that he can buy his way out of trouble turns Ruby off completely.
Just as James’s bravado and arrogance around wealth make Ruby question his depth, real-life relationships across class divides can come with similar roadblocks. Misconceptions of how the other person values money can lead to big issues – or, in the case of Ruby and James, a pretty harsh outburst. There's a particularly brutal scene in episode two where Ruby quite savagely called James ‘pathetic’, ‘uninteresting’ and ‘empty’ in front of the whole class – ouch.
As the season goes on, we begin to see the layers behind James’s front. Insecurity and pain that stems from his father’s expectations point to the fact that, beneath the bank balance, he’s as vulnerable as anyone. Despite her initial harshness, Ruby also becomes aware of this and, after an apology, we see the couple reach a turning point. In fact, after taking down their emotional walls, Ruby and James get closer.
While few of us know what it's like to date a millionaire heir or experience the exact problems the pair have in their relationship (aka your dad blackmailing you to dump your girlfriend), many will relate to the power imbalance that can rear its head when one person in a relationship has more wealth than the other.
So how do we navigate it? Well, taking lessons from Maxton Hall, the key is to meet each other in the middle. James had to be able to acknowledge his own privilege, develop more maturity and realise he can’t always get his way. And Ruby had to understand that wealth does not define someone, and perhaps her own misconceptions stopped her from realising there is a person underneath the riches.
And for us, no scene showcases this moment of meeting in the middle quite like the start of episode four. If you haven't seen it, catch up on Prime Video now, and make sure to have tissues at the ready. If you need us, we'll be diving into season 2.
Catch up on James and Ruby’s full story on Prime Video.
