Book to Screen
The ‘Maxton Hall’ Book Scene We Hope Gets Cut in Season 2
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Maxton Hall — The World Between Us and Mona Kasten’s Save Me.]
Good news, Maxton Hall fans: You can now devour Ruby (Harriet Herbig-Matten) and James’ (Damian Hardung) love story in book form. Mona Kasten’s Save Me — which is what Season 1 is based on — has been translated from German to English for the first time.
Since we watched the show first, it was impossible for us not to compare the adaptation to its source material. Season 1 is mostly faithful to the book, from Ruby and James’ adversarial beginning all the way up to their romantic night together at Oxford. However, the book ends on an even more gut-wrenching note than the show, and we can’t help but hope the scene doesn’t make an appearance in Season 2.
Before we get into Save Me, let’s revisit where the Prime Video series left things. James, deciding to go against his father’s wishes, reconciles with Ruby. By the end of their Oxford visit, the new couple is on cloud nine — until James comes crashing back down. He returns home to discover that his mother died of a stroke. Completely wrecked, he makes his way to Ruby’s house, but he doesn’t make himself known. He watches the happy Bell family through their window and leaves, sparing Ruby from his pain. Roll credits.
“It just pushes him over the edge of trying to really protect her from his mess,” Hardung told TV Insider. “But I feel like that’s a setback for him and the relationship between those two characters.”
Right he is, if Save Me is any indication. The book doesn’t stop where Season 1 does. Spiraling, James goes on a bender at a party. His sister, Lydia, ends up looking for James at Ruby’s house. After vaguely explaining that there was “trouble” at home, Lydia takes Ruby with her to find James. They succeed, but Ruby walks in on a devastating scene: James is making out with Elaine. A hurt Ruby decides that enough is enough — but keep in mind, she doesn’t know his mom just died.
For Ruby and James’ sakes, we seriously hope that Prime Video plans to cut the scene altogether and not start Season 2 off that way. There’s only so much devastation we can take. Sure, we can admit that it’s probably important for the plot — we’re just guessing here because Save You‘s translation comes out in November — but can’t the show just let Ruby and James be happy(ish) together for a bit longer?
We’ve barely seen them interact as a full-fledged couple, and we’d love to see James allow Ruby to help him through his pain for once. He had so much character growth in the finale, and we’d hate for him go backward. At the very least, if James has to push her way, can he at least do it without cheating? There’s only so much bad behavior we can excuse.
Unfortunately, we’re pretty sure that’s just wishful thinking on our part. In the Season 2 teaser, there’s a brief flash of James and Elaine acting very friendly with each other while Ruby watches. But hey, we’re choosing to live in blissful delusion until further notice.
Maxton Hall – The World Between Us, Season 2 Premiere, November 7, Prime Video
