I didnāt expect one of the best Heated Rivalry reviews would come from the AVClub ā¤ļø
āā¦while physical intimacy is the hook of Heated Rivalry, itās a different quality that has turned the show into a full-on phenomenon in the month since its finale aired. Plenty of other romances have been this sexy (hereās looking at you, Bridgerton), but few have been this nuanced with their character work. And itās that delicate exploration of emotional desire that has people watching the series over and over again.ā
āThe trouble is, that act of silent communication sets them up for nearly a decade of miscommunication too. Because their initial assumption about each other is correct, they both make the tragic mistake of extrapolating it out furtherāof assuming they know what the other is thinking and feeling even when they donāt.ā
āWhat Shane misses, however, is that Ilya has none of the foundational stability that Shane takes for granted. Shane has two deeply supportive parents, endless brand deals, and close friends on his hockey team. Plus, he gets to live and work in his home country, where itās safe to be openly gay. All of that feels a million miles away for Ilya, who grew up with a cruel father and brother, watched his mom die by suicide, and comes from a country where āpromoting homosexualityā is illegal.Ā
When he steps away at the awards night, it doesnāt have anything to do with Shane. Heās just upset at the thought of returning to Russia to be chastised by his dad for not winning Rookie Of The Year. But because Shane canāt grasp his own Canadian privilege, he misses that entirely. When Ilya tries to explain his bad mood by saying āI go home in three days,ā Shane just responds, āOkay, must be nice.ā Shane hears Ilya changing the subject, and Ilya hears Shane not understanding his life, which causes him to default to his survival mechanism of shoving all his unhappy emotions down even further.ā
āItās a beautifully subtextual exploration of the sort of real-life communication problems that actually keep people apart rather than the plot contrivances rom-coms so often reach for. And it goes both ways. For his part, Ilya doesnāt understand how much his self-acceptance is a privilege. Since sex, sexuality, and no-strings-attached relationships come easily to him, he dramatically underestimates just how much Shane is struggling internally with questions of who he is, what he wants, and what that means for his future. When Ilya randomly brings up his friend with benefits, Svetlana, after a hookup, heās trying to be open about his life and invite Shane to do the same. But because heās diving into one of the topics Shane is least comfortable with, Shane perceives it as Ilya pushing him away and bragging about his girlfriend.ā
āPart of the reason people have gone so feral for the showās last two episodes in particular is because they deliver the rare, beautiful rom-com magic of watching two people inspire each other to become better versions of themselves. Shane has to find his own form of Ilyaās internal confidence, while Ilya has to learn to open up and build a foundation of stability outside of his toxic dynamic with his family. And they both need to learn to actually understand each other rather than just project onto the other. They need to talk, which is why episode five forgoes the onscreen sex entirely for a different kind of intimacy.ā
āThe character work is the story engine in a way thatās singularly rewarding, whether on a first watch or a fifth. William Faulkner once said that the only thing worth writing about is āthe human heart in conflict with itself.ā And few shows have explored that as purelyāor as carnallyāas Heated Rivalry.ā
