Heated Rivalry is huge.
The HBO Max series already had a massive fanbase behind it, thanks to the Game Changer books. Yet it wasn’t until the TV adaptation premiered that it became one of the most talked about pieces of queer media this decade.
Yes, the show has been lauded for its graphic, realistic—and hot!—sex scenes, which are especially significant in an era of television where sex is disappearing. But it’s not just the sex that makes this series so thrilling.
Heated Rivalry just aired a late contender for the best TV episode of the year. (Just look at how the crowd at this bar reacted to the episode.)
Funnily, for Heated Rivalry, and the discourse it has sparked, the episode featured little sex. But a whole lot of emotion.
At the center of this show is the relationship between Shane (Hudson Williams) and Ilya (Connor Storrie), two wildly different hockey players whose rivalry on the ice, and torrid love affair off of it, changes both of their lives.
In Episode 4, after Ilya invited him to stay the night for the first time, Shane got cold feet and fled, and began a very public relationship with actress Rose Landry (Sophie Nélisse). The episode ends with Ilya masturbating in the shower while he thinks about Shane, and Shane attempting to have sex with Rose while he thinks about Ilya.
Since the first episode, sex has dominated the relationship between the two men, so it came as a shock when Episode 5—which premiered on Dec. 19—didn’t feature any sex at all. Instead, the episode gives Shane and Ilya time to breathe, time to understand themselves, and time for the audience to bask in the more tender moments of their relationship. In the first 10 minutes of Episode 5, Shane and Rose thankfully break up, and Shane slowly comes to the realization that while Ilya may still like women, he himself does not.
When Shane and Ilya reconnect at a resort during the All-Star Game, an air of apprehension surrounds them, before the two men finally give themselves over to their true desires for the first time.
In Ilya’s hotel room later that night, Shane tells his lover that he thinks he might be gay. Although Ilya (and the audience) may find this comical, Shane finally admits something real not just to himself, but to the man he was so desperate to cut ties with in the previous episode.
The conversation moves on to Shane admitting to Ilya that his feelings are stronger than just wanting sex, before the two come to an understanding that, while their professions and the politics of Ilya’s home country stand in their way, their relationship has the potential to become something more.
When Ilya turns his head and cries, Shane crawls into his lap, and the two share a kiss more tender than any previous moment of physicality they’ve previously shared. As they cradle each other, it’s clear that their relationship has been irrevocably changed.
Director Jacob Tierney frames the two in a golden light, unlike the harsh neons that often shine on them during sex, pointing us, and these characters, towards a future that is more tender than it has previously been.
When Shane leaves Ilya’s hotel later that night, it’s clear that they’ve had sex; Ilya is half-naked, and the bed he lies on is in disarray. Yet, unlike previous episodes, we don’t watch the act unfold. Instead, this moment is shared only between them, proving that the show’s most engaging aspect isn’t truly its sex scenes, it’s watching Williams and Storrie convey the growing love between their characters.
When Ilya’s father dies later in the episode, Storrie is given some of the show’s best dialogue to deliver a masterclass performance. After a fight with his brother during the funeral reception, Ilya calls Shane and begins to monologue in Russian, while Shane closes his eyes and simply listens. Then, in what will become a career-defining moment for Storrie, Ilya bares his soul: “…all I want is you… it’s always you,” he says. “I’m so in love with you, and I don’t know what to do about it.”
Storrie delivers this monologue with a wavering bravado we don’t often see Ilya don, gasping the words as if it physically pains him to utter them. With this sequence, Heated Rivalry proves that it can stand on its own as a well-written and well-acted drama, one that, as its narrative intensifies, is interested in more than just sex.
After Ilya’s monologue, Shane gets injured on the ice, which results in a sickeningly sweet meeting between the two in the hospital, where Williams delivers one of the greatest portrayals of someone high on anesthesia that television has ever seen.
Here, he asks Ilya to spend their seasonal break with him at his cottage, which Ilya never commits to.
In the episode’s final moments, Shane and Ilya separately watch as Scott (François Arnaud), whose relationship with Kip (Robbie G.K) was the focus of Episode 3, wins the Stanley Cup, and invites Kip onto the ice.
As the camera swirls and Wolf Parade’s “I’ll Believe in Anything” blares in the background, our protagonists watch on in confusion, until Scott declares his love for Kip and kisses him as the crowd watches on. This act of bravery gives Ilya a newfound sense of fearlessness. “I’m coming to the cottage,” he declares to a shocked Shane over the phone, before the episode cuts to black.
With this thrilling and heartfelt penultimate episode, Heated Rivalry has proved that it isn’t just the sexiest show of the year; it’s simply one of the best.
Despite an unexpected departure from the explicit sex scenes that have allowed the show to become so beloved, Tierney and his leads, Williams and Storrie, have subverted our expectations, proving that the series has merit beyond its steadily growing reputation.
Everything that the series has showcased has been building to this series-defining episode, shaping the series into this year’s most significant and most meditative piece of queer media.
