Some thoughts on Heated Rivalry and The Long Game bc i had an original idea for once when talking to @annapotterkiku
and its not that im the only one to have these thoughts but i hadn't yet heard someone else say these things while i was having the convo lol
tldr: the show is an amazing adaptation of the book and theres definately things the books do better and things the show does better. also shane's point of character growth is valid, but also the ball was dropped on so many other potential points of character growth in the series
a lot of people saying that shane had no character growth by my argument is as follows: his character growth was recognizing and coming to terms with his privilege.
hes privileged to have been treated well by the NHL (until the relationship is revealed) unlike Ryan who was used and ridiculed for having a panic attack and needing anxiety meds and only seen as a big fighter, with his very soft personality and actual hockey talent ignored.
hes privileged with alive and accepting parents/family, while ilyas mom died by suicide and his father never said a single word of praise.
he gets support network of ppl who know the truth (family/hayden) while ilya has pretty much distanced himself from the few connections he had (svetlana, boston bears team members)
he gets to stay with a top tier team, while ilya moved to ottawa to be close to shane and also sold his car collection, in part bc of shane's judgement of them
and then shane realizes that not everyone is treated well by the NHL - his blinders get pulled off between Ryan, Troy, and then himself.
That is not to say, however, that RR doesn't have a clear favourite lol. There's so much potential to Shane's character that really didn't get touched on at all. He ties so much of his self worth to his hocky abilities and 100% has the starting signs of an ED that never gets properly addressed (i said it reminds me of kevin day vs andrew minyard). so id say she did write in the potential to explore more of shane's depth & development beyond the unlearning privilege thing (ED, tying worth to hockey accomplishments), but ilya just got a few more POV chapters to explore it and shane's growth was kinda half finished. and shane also wont have to deal with the same struggles ilya had around suddenly being on a dogshit team since by the time he joined, ilya and troy were there and they had some promising rookies. so his hockey-accomplishments-tied-to-self-worth-identity issues likely wont come up for him as badly as it was for ilya. shane's growth of unlearning privileged i think is realistic for his background. (and relatable for me too lol). but its just also less interesting from a narrative perspective than ilya's is so i cant blame RR for finding it more interesting to write ilya. but im sure shane does also catch some undeserved strays from the author lol we all have our favourite child no matter how we try to deny it
i really like how the show addresses Shane's asian identity more. In the series its really mentioned only twice: once when hes drafted and again in his convo w Crowell. However in the show (4eps), we have it mentioned 3 times explicitly (drafting pick, the tennis/Rolex thing being 'kinda a YT thing', and then rose and Shane talking about how he was only one of two Asians yet was too yt for the other asian and too asian to be fully accepted as yt, and arguably when he asks if he should take his shoes off in ilya's house)
i also think the show is doing great things by giving svetlana a larger role and it seems like Rose also shows up more in the show than in the books. MM writing is often criticised for sidelining their female characters and I appreciate the show for trying to give the two more screen time than in the books (bc we love svetlana over here)
i personally think that having miles grinding up against shane in the club in the show was a bad choice and it also kinda detracts from Shane's anxiety of being caught. Like maybe it was to show Shane is so in his head abt Ilya he doesn't notice. And like, I do think that's what it was TRYING to say but it just doesn't fully track w what we know of Shane and his anxiety from both book and show. There's no way shane wouldn't noticed and wouldn't have freaked out i mean he bought a whole damn BUILDING so they wouldn't get caught lmao. And yes part of that is bc it's Ilya but it's also so he isn't outed. but the idea that shane's and ilya traded coping mechanisms from the book to the show is GOLDEN i do absolutely love that
emmi, i am randomly, for literally nooooo reason, dropping by to tell you that maaaybe you should reread soc because why not? it will be fun but also hell but mostly fun 🫶 ~*~ no mourners. no funerals. ~*~
i appreciate you dropping by but not this encouragement afsgdjdkf i will definitely reread at some point this year because i miss kaz and inej too much but i am not stable enough right now 🤭
