Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Dustin Rowles | TV | November 21, 2025
I worried so much that the second season of Prime Video’s Maxton Hall - The World Between Us wouldn’t live up to the first that I put off starting it until the season was nearly half over. The worry was pointless. Somehow, television’s best romance has not only held onto that title but may have actually sharpened it. Episode after episode, it’s still devastating, heartbreaking, ebullient, heart-melty, and completely winsome.
The first season of this Britain-set German series, adapted from Mona Kasten’s novel Save Me, tracked the unlikely pairing of Ruby Bell (Harriet Herbig-Matten), a scholarship student at Maxton Hall who dreams of Oxford, and James Beaufort (Damian Hardung), the arrogant, privileged heir to a luxury men’s clothing empire. Their socioeconomic divide is a constant obstacle, especially thanks to James’ controlling father, Mortimer (Fedja van Huêt), who is determined to split them up so James can marry into wealth and inherit the CEO title.
Maxton Hall, much like the YA gem Heartstopper, is profoundly romantic and understands what it means to fall completely, madly, head-over-heels in love. But it’s more mature and considerably more risqué. So much of its magic comes from Harriet Herbig-Matten’s wide-eyed wonder paired with Damian Hardung’s ability to reveal the vulnerability beneath his blue-blooded polish.
They are the perfect couple, but Maxton Hall thrives because it keeps finding grounded, believable ways to put obstacles between them without, so far, compromising who they are (though James occasionally comes close).
It also wouldn’t work without its equally likable, equally complicated supporting cast. James’ sister, Lydia (Sonja Weißer), is caught in a forbidden romance with a former teacher (he’s young, she’s 18, and yes, it should be creepy, but somehow it isn’t). Ruby’s warm, supportive family adds another emotional layer, and a looming secret involving the Beauforts’ chauffeur threatens to both save and unravel James’ life.
But honestly, the whole thing rests on Harriet Herbig-Matten and Damian Hardung. We want them together so badly, and their chemistry is so overwhelming, that we’re willing to weather the emotional gut-punches because the payoff feels worth it. These two need to end up together - not at the cost of Ruby’s Oxford dreams, though - and that’s where Maxton Hall excels. Their love isn’t the force keeping them apart; their futures are. The fact that neither is willing to sacrifice their ambitions somehow makes their romance even more powerful. They’re wildly in love without being self-destructive. If they were, the show would have an easy escape hatch. Instead, James and Ruby want everything - the whole fairy-tale package - and they deserve it. The fact that it keeps hovering just out of reach is exactly what makes Maxton Hall so irresistible.
