Maxton Hall: The World Between Us – Season 1 Episode 3 Recap & Review

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Maxton Hall: The World Between Us episode 3 starts with James visiting Ruby and picking her up to go into town and look at the gowns for the party committee. As expected, Ruby is awed by how luxurious James’ life is. She tells him about the rumours at school about his life, and he plays along. He teases her and asks her to tell him something no one knows about her. Ruby tells him that she will be the first in her family to go to university, and James is surprised. Ruby also secretly learns that James is a good sketch artist.

The day starts off on a romantic note, with James playing the perfect gentleman. He invites Ruby to explore the dresses in his family’s vault, allowing her to take pictures. In a moment of shared intimacy, he asks her to try one on. As she steps out in the dress, her beauty takes James by surprise, and he finds himself unable to look away. They share a few stolen moments, capturing their chemistry in a series of flirtatious photos.

Unfortunately, James’ parents show up, and Mortimer embarrasses Ruby in front of everyone. He argues she is not worthy of the dress and she looks lousy in it. He continues to tear into her as James and Cordelia stand and watch. Ruby collects herself and takes off the dress. She sarcastically thanks the Beaufort and refuses to ride back with Percy. Mortimer turns his attention to James and scolds him for running late for a meeting to entertain Ruby. Ruby is hurt that James never defended her and thinks he is embarrassed by her. She goes home crying on the bus and stays in her room the whole weekend.

The next Monday, Ruby arrives at school to find posters of her and James promoting the donation gala. She feels even worse than before as people give her the side eye. The dean seems happy about the posters, but Ruby is having a semi-panic attack. She confronts James and asks why he would plaster her face on the posters when he knows she wants to keep a low profile. She also asks him why he would humiliate her like that. She asks him to act like they no longer know each other. As her panic attack continues, Ruby keeps thinking back to her dad’s accident. She confesses to Lin that Mortimer treated her like dirt. Lin tries to comfort her, but Ruby pushes her away by doubting their friendship.

During class, Ruby continues to spiral, especially after being called to the front of the class. She is unable to bear the pressure and opts to skip classes and head home. At home, she finds her dad struggling to make dessert for his wife. He accidentally spills the dessert and isn’t able to pick it up. He wanted to surprise his wife for their 20th anniversary. Later, James visits her and admits he can’t act like he doesn’t know her.

He apologises for not defending her. He says he was embarrassed by himself and his parents. He explains that he wants to be a better man than her dad. He also says that he put the posters because he wants everyone to see how amazing she is. Ruby insists that is her decision to make and James invites her to Alistair’s upcoming party. However, Ruby is adamant that it is his world, and she wants to go back to being invisible. Later, he sends her the dress she tried on and asks her to wear it to the gala. 

The next day, Ruby apologises to Lin, and they make up. Lin advises her to stop hiding. She argues that Ruby won’t achieve her dreams by staying in the shadows. Even one of her teachers advises Ruby to stop hiding in the shadows and go for her dreams.  

On the other hand, the Beaufirts are finally able to secure the finances for their new project. Mortimer uses Elaine’s interest in James to make a deal with her dad. James tries to confront him about this, but Mortimer says he has no right. He claims he put his blood, sweat, and tears into the company, while James only gets to reap the rewards of his hard work. James brings up that the project is Lydia’s idea, but Mortimer insists Lydia’s past scandal ruined everything for her.

Later, Alistair throws his party, and Elain tries to get close to James. However, he pays her no attention as he can’t stop thinking about Ruby. He is surprised when she shows up at the party, and they try to enjoy themselves. However, Lydia warns Ruby that she will ruin her if she breaks James’ heart. After a while, Ruby gets over the party since Elain keeps trying to get under her skin. James asks her to wait while he grabs his jacket, but Cyril pranks and throws her into the swimming pool. 

James dives in to save her, and everyone stops chanting while they realise how scary the situation is for Ruby. Many take photos of James carrying her away. James takes her to his car and asks Percy to get a blanket to keep her warm. He does his best to comfort Ruby, and she tells him about her father’s boat accident.

When Ruby was young, she fell into the water during a fishing trip, her dad tried to save her but was hit by another boat. He became paralysed, and Ruby blames herself for the accident. James is moved to tears and calmly comforts her. She finally falls asleep in her arms, and Percy drives around to give James time to think about what he will do. James admits that he is conflicted since his feelings for Ruby are out of his depth.

The Episode Review

The way James held and comforted Ruby was beautiful. In a matter of days, he went from being the bane of her existence to her safe place. So far, these two have given us one of the best enemy-to-lovers stories. You can’t help but root for them. James looks so sincerely in love with her and so scared to lose her. 

Sadly, Ruby blames herself for her dad’s accident. Cyril’s little prank triggered her trauma all over again. The pictures of her in James’ arms will start trending, and she will have to relive that moment again. Cyril is such a jerk; he didn’t even apologise for nearly killing her!

This episode features our two leads getting close, but will Mortimer sit back and let James date Ruby? These two are about to have the rug pulled out from under them so fast they won’t even know what hit them.