I never thought that I would love a show based on gay hocket smut, and yet here we are and it is truly glorious. And it's so much more than that flippant description would imply.
As I mentioned back in my Best of 2025, Heated Rivalry was my second favorite show of the year. In any other year, it would have taken the top prize without breaking a sweat. I am not normal about this show, and I’m not going to pretend that I am or put on an air of pseudo-neutrality.
I love this show. I love these characters. And I am thrilled to spend the next six reviews delving into why.
I once described characters as being “loved by the narrative,” by which I meant that the narrative genuinely cherished the characters and rooted for them and their happiness. Even though bad things might happen, the narrative itself was aimed towards uplifting them.
Heated Rivalry is one of those shows where the characters are loved by the narrative. Showrunner/Director Jacob Tierney has described it as an exercise in queer joy, and he’s right.
If you know nothing about hockey, don’t worry. Neither do I! Even after finishing the show, I know nothing about it. It’s not really about hockey. It’s about the epic love affair that happens between two hockey players.
Our main characters are Japanese-Canadian Shane Hollander and Russian Ilya Rozanov. We first meet them in 2008, and they are both generational hockey talents. That’s about where the similarities end. Shane and Ilya are a study in contrasts.
Shane is very close to his parents, very intense mom-ager Yuna and slightly clueless David. They’re at every major event, and celebrate his every success. He has endorsement deals with all of the famous brands. He’s clearly been media trained. He’s serious, studious, polite… basically everything that you’d want in a role model. Hell, one of the first things he tells Ilya is that he’s not allowed to smoke.
Ilya, on the other hand, presents himself like the stereotypical villain of an 80s sports movie. He’s brash and direct, and gives the kind of interview answers that go viral because they’re not the polished non-answers everyone else gives. He’s entirely alone in the United States. We don’t see his mother, but both his father and his older brother are in Russia. Neither of them says a single, positive thing about Ilya all episode.
Even how they spend an unexpected night off is completely different. Shane gets dinner with a teammate and meets his wife and young child. Ilya returns to his home, where he is surprised by his best friend with benefits, Svetlana.
(Side note: we don’t see a lot of Svetlana in this episode, but she is amazing and I love her. Also her hair is gorgeous.)
While I do deeply love both boys, it’s probably no surprise that Ilya is the one that captivated me first. The contrast between who he presents to the world and who he is in private is fascinating. And I have to give Connor Storrie all of the credit and praise for his Russian accent and speaking skills. He’s from Texas! He didn’t know Russian before he was hired! He sounds amazing!
Hudson Williams is spectacular as Shane as well. He does so much with his microexpressions, which is so important in showing us Shane’s internal life. It’s one of those things that makes this such a good adaptation. He gives them the ability to translate all of the internal monologues in the book in a way that makes it coherent and apparent to the audience, and I just adore it.
Rounding out our important characters is Scott Hunter. He’s more of a side character, but he’s also a consistent presence. And sure, I know that François Arnaud insists that he didn’t play it this way, but it really does feel like he clocked that Shane and Ilya had a little something more than just rivalry between them. Something to keep an eye on moving forward.
The episode did have one negative for me, which is a problem that the source material had as well. The first half of the episode is incredibly choppy. The pacing and constant time jumps were a little difficult for me to follow at first. It felt very disjointed. But it does help to drive home the fact that Shane and Ilya really don't get a lot of time together. From first meeting to first hook up, it's 18 months and three encounters where they actually talk to each other. That's really no time at all.
The episode only stops and breathes when Shane and Ilya are alone. First with their conversation at the gym, and then with what I'm fairly certain is the longest scene: the first hook up.
And it, like all of the sex scenes, is so much more explicit than I was expecting. They really show us as much as they possibly can while still being able to air it on TV. And yeah, it's hot as hell, even the fact that they continue to call each other by their last name felt weird. But it's not just there for titillation. There are so many character moments that build out the relationship between them.
Like Ilya's grin and chuckle when he watches Shane fold his clothes after he takes them off. If you told me that this was the moment he fell in love with him, I would believe it. Or how Ilya continuously checks in on Shane to make sure that he's comfortable with what is happening. Or how quickly Shane fixates on and worries about other people finding out.
Those last two are a consistent throughline in the episode. Ilya’s entire brand is that he’s an asshole, and sure, he absolutely is. But there’s something incredibly astute and empathetic in how he interacts with the people he cares about.
Even his father. He’s listed in Ilya’s phone as The Colonel, but Ilya is still clearly worried about his father’s health and wellbeing. He still sends money to his brother, despite the verbal abuse hurled his way every time they talk.
It honestly made my heart break for him, because he’s so clearly yearning for any kind of connection, even to the point of arranging a joint commercial shoot with the cute boy he has a crush on.
A lot of Shane’s thoughts, though, are over people finding out. People seeing them. Or hearing them. Or Ilya telling someone. He’s not nearly as comfortable with this as Ilya is. Ilya has no problem kissing Shane on the roof, and he is happy to tease Shane about letting Scott Hunter hear their “mating call.”
Part of this is probably due to Shane not having any experience with men, but I also wonder how much of it is the pressure on him to be the perfect model minority, golden boy that is an ambassador for the next generation. A gay hookup, especially when you remember that this is back in 2010, would throw a wrench into all of that.
That will be something to watch going forward, especially if there continues to be an unequal level of comfort and risk aversion between them. Because, obviously, their relationship is going to continue. Even if Shane left the rooftop angry, this was only episode one. They didn’t even get to sleep together yet. It’s certainly not the end.
Random Thoughts
I have seen the whole first season (and have devoured the book), but I will not spoil anything for future episodes in these reviews.
Jane and Lily are fun fake names for them to have.
I am not immune to a sexy jaw grab while kissing.
I love Shane's freckles. A lot.
I also love Ilya's curls. A lot.
Most Obvious Symbolism: Ilya's lighter refused to ignite until Shane spoke to him. Shane brought a spark into Ilya's life.
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An Honest Fangirl loves video games, horror movies, and superheroes, and occasionally manages to put words together in a coherent and pleasing manner.
Fangirl, thanks so much for reviewing this show.
ReplyDeleteI started watching, was taken aback by the explicit content in the first two episodes, and stopped. After people started talking about it so much, I went back and finished it and I'm so glad I did. Although I should wait until we actually reach later episodes to say why.
The mistake many people make, and that I freely admit I made, was assuming we could have either quality content or smut. What we have here is quality content *and* smut.
I have to say up front that while both leads are absolutely excellent, Connor Storrie is amazing. I worked for years with a Russian woman, and one of my closest friends has a Russian husband. I absolutely couldn't believe at first that Connor Storrie wasn't Russian and hadn't even started working on the language until he got the part.
Yes, quality content *and* smut! During the smut, even! That's a great way to describe the show.
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