Heated Rivalry is the ONLY show that has ever made the Miscommunication trope work for me because there's no bullshit, contrived "one character overhears something out of context and never clarifies" event, Shane and Ilya literally are communicating in vastly different styles while interpreting each other's actions through their own styles.
Of COURSE Ilya struggles to be direct and open with his words, he's been punished for it over and over and furthermore English is not his first language so he can't say what he wants to.
Of COURSE Shane struggles with indirect and implied subtext, he's autistic, and Ilya seems to change every single time they interact making him difficult to predict.
Neither of them are in the wrong for how they communicate, this is simply how they've learned to navigate the world, but you can still do a great amount of harm without intending to do so, as we see in the show, but the important thing is that they learn and grow together.
Making good use of the streaming phenomenon Heated Rivalry should’ve been a slam dunk.
One would think that the Globes—the awards show known for being the most laidback and booziest in comparison to the Oscars—would embrace the ultra-steamy megahit show about two rival hockey players who engage in a yearslong gay romance, especially since television makes up half of its remit. Even just as a pop culture reference, Heated Rivalry provides plenty of material for the Globes to play with, from jokes about vividly depicted on-screen sex (a common topic of conversation when it comes to this series) to the passion it’s inflamed in virtually every woman and queer person you know. With Nikki Glaser, a comedian who is not afraid of a sexual innuendo, at the helm as the night’s host, setting the Heated Rivalry stars up in a front-row seat and ongoing bit throughout the broadcast seemed like a slam-dunk move.
But there was no ongoing bit, no mention of the show in the opening monologue, and little Heated Rivalry presence overall. The best we got was one lackluster joke from Glaser, who quipped that she hopes the “success of Heated Rivalry is proof that American audiences are ready for more shows about hockey,” and a brief set-up between Williams and Storrie before they presented the award for Best Supporting Female Actor in a TV Series, in which the Globes had UFC fighters Mackenzie Dern and Brian Ortega come on stage for “extra security” because the actors are “so hot right now they get mobbed everywhere they go.”
Thanks to their chemistry, Storrie and Williams were one of the better presenting duos of the mostly dull night. Storrie feigned nervousness upon taking the stage, and Williams suggested he pretend everyone in the audience was “… you know,” to which Storrie responded: “Yeah, I don’t really know if that works considering everyone’s seen us … you know.” Williams then expressed some doubt that everyone in that audience had seen Heated Rivalry, to which Storrie responded: “But their trainers have … and their moms have … their daughters have.” They finished by cheekily greeting their target audience, with a funny “Hi, moms! Hi, daughters!”
The duo’s hunch that the roomful of A-listers had never seen Heated Rivalry was proven correct, when the applause was fairly lackluster after Williams’ leading question, prompting Storrie to hilariously reply, “That’s a maybe.” Reports from the audience at the awards also hint that some big names in the audience were confused as to what a Heated Rivalry is.
While it’s no sin to have not seen Heated Rivalry, it doesn’t reflect well on the Globes that apparently no one on the party-planning committee knew how best to incorporate a buzzy show and streaming miracle into a Hollywood institution that has been trying to maintain relevance and attract younger audiences. All tonight’s ceremony had in its tank was one pretty bad musical number, too many toothless jokes about Warner Bros., and yet another dig about the age of Leonardo DiCaprio’s partners. Here was a bow-tied gift of charismatic young talent, guaranteed online virality, and sex (hey, it sells!), and stodgy old Hollywood had no idea how to take advantage of it.
I don’t know how I feel about the implication that because the award show didn’t insert a long running sexual joke about all the gay sex that happens in the shows that means they somehow did the show a disservice? Like yes the show is unabashed in the sex and uses it as a storytelling device that not many other pieces of media have managed to do successfully. All of this is true and shouldn’t be shied away from but I don’t know if subjecting the actors to constant jokes that would definitely feel like they’re being made at their expense is a good idea or as progressive as this article’s writer seems to think it would be.
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