The first season of the British series Rivals, which takes place in the late 1980s as independent TV networks started to rise in influence in the UK, was so stuffed with characters and storylines, the show got frustrating at times. But at its center was a hell of a triangle, that involved both personal and business loyalties. That’s where we start Season 2, now streaming on Hulu.

RIVALS SEASON 2: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? 

Opening Shot: A producer says into a microphone, “We’re live in 5…4…3…2…1.” The Corinium series Uncensored begins.

The Gist: The gossipy newscast is a way to get us back into the story, leaving us after Cameron Cook (Nafessa Williams) bashed Corinium’s owner, Tony Baddingham (David Tennant), in the head with an award, and Tony’s rival, Venturer owner Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell), trying to protect her by whisking her away to a remote shore town.

Shockingly, Tony didn’t die in the attack, and while he tells his wife Monica (Claire Rushbrook) that he doesn’t remember what happened, he knows bloody well it was Cameron. He finds her quickly, and choppers her back to London, where he says he won’t implicate her if she comes back to him, professionally and romantically.

Rupert and his business partner, Declan O’Hara (Aidan Turner) are surprised to learn from Charles (Gary Lamont), their mole at Corinium, that Cameron came back as if nothing happened. They’re also shocked to learn that The Rutshire Cup, a polo match between Rupert’s team and a team sponsored by new-money magnate Freddy Jones (Danny Dyer) that Venturer had exclusive coverage of, was also going to be covered by Corinium.

At the match, Cameron mumbles to Rupert that she’s “trying to stay ahead of the game.” Tony recruits one of his favorite presenters, Sarah Stratton (Emily Atack) to jump out of an airplane and deploy a parachute that says “Corinium Cares,” but she tells him she’s pregnant. At the afterparty, novelist Lizzie Verker (Katherine Parkinson) tells Freddy that she has to break off their affair because she can’t stand to see him with his wife Valerie (Lisa McGrillis). Declan’s daughter Taggie (Bella Maclean) condronts Rupert for staying with Cameron after they kissed. Tony delcares on air that he tripped on the stairs at Corinium’s building, and Cameron takes advantage of the public statement.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Like we said in Season 1, Rivals is Succession, but with more of a crazy ’80s tone to it. The series, written by Dominic Treadwell-Collins, is based on Jilly Cooper’s The Rutshire Chronicles novel series; Cooper, who died in December, is an executive producer.

Our Take: Just like in Season 1, there is a lot to keep track of with Rivals. Loyalties change like the weather in Rutshire, and those loyalties are both in business and romance. Take Declan, for instance: He once worked for Tony at Corinium, but now he’s partnered with Rupert at Venturer. At the same time, though, he’s pitching the idea of a soapy Yeats documentary to his former home at the BBC. Venturer has a mole at Corinium, and we suspect that the converse of that is also true.

But, the more intriguing loyalty shifts are the romantic ones, especially involving Cameron and Rupert. Cameron was with Rupert, who kissed young Teggie at some point, then is with Tony, then goes back to Rupert after thinking she killed Tony. But when Tony comes back and offers her his secrecy for her loyalty, she shifts right back to him again — or so he thinks. In the case of Cameron, Rupert and Tony, the romantic and business aspects of their triangle are intertwined, and it makes for some delicious shifts in story.

The other entanglements are more emotional, and at times hard to keep track of. Some of those stories really don’t get the time they deserve, like when Declan goes to see his wife Maud (Victoria Smurfit) in a West End play, and the two of them seem to reconnect romantically but it quickly goes wrong. Lizzie and Teggie are both in love with men they can’t have, and they know it, so they get obligatory scenes where they’re regretting the romantic choices they made.

We almost wish that Treadwell-Collins and company would just zero in on the TV rivalry and the implications of the Cameron-Rupert-Tony triangle, even if the rest of the show scrathes the itch of people who want scandalous and soapy stories.

Performance Worth Watching: It’s hard to look away from David Tennant gleefully chewing scenery as the morally repellent Tony.

Sex And Skin: Lots of both.

Parting Shot: Tony says “This is gonna be fun,” and blows a kiss as he tells Rupert and Cameron that there are other ways to get to both of them than just through legal channels.

Sleeper Star: Claire Rushbrook’s Monica finally tells Tony what’s what in their marriage after he’s embarassed her one too many times. We’re curious to see how she makes him wriggle after all of the times he cheated and did other things to make her regret the arrangement they made when they married.

Most Pilot-y Line: “We’ll take their fucking heads off!” Tony screams at his employees, referring to Venturer. A little over the top, but it certainly rallied the troops, didn’t it?

Our Call: STREAM IT. As overstuffed as Rivals is, the back and forth between Tony and Rupert is so delicious to watch that the frustration over the underserved storylines is secondary to the viewing experience.

How To Watch Rivals

If you’re new to Hulu, you can get started with a 30-day free trial on the streamer’s basic (with ads) plan. After the trial period, you’ll pay $10.99/month. If you want to upgrade to Hulu ad-free, it costs $18.99/month.

If you want to stream even more and save a few bucks a month while you’re at it, we recommend subscribing to one of the Disney+ Bundles, all of which include Hulu. These bundles start at $12.99/month for ad-supported Disney+ and Hulu and goes up to $32.99/month for Disney+, Hulu, and Max, all ad-free.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.