Man it's hard getting emotionally attached to a piece of media because you hear one stupid take about it and suddently you're 3 seconds away from popping a vein.
No actually they can't "just talk". Thank you.
These boys have the weight of the world on their shoulders. Believe it or not but it's bigger than sexuality, bigger than the sneaking around, bigger than the league even.
These boys have been, one way or another, brought up to feel responsible for a careful balancing of terrible circumstances (for Ilya a sick father, a useless brother, a traumatic memory that nobody will address. For Shane the weight of living up to his potential, the label of role model being pinned on him without his permission, the microaggressions that won't let him forget he's seen as a token.)
Then add that this thing starts in 2008, that one of them comes from a country where it's fucking illegal to be gay, the solidified never questioned homophobia of the hockey world (which is their entire lives, these kids don't have degrees to fall back on, Ilya is an immigrant too let's not forget)...what kind of relationship were we expecting them to be able to form??
Of course it's another precarious balance of horrible conditions. Of course they feel like actually looking at the Mariana Trench of emotion between them will take away the refuge of their moments together, as few as they may be.
And you know what? The one time Ilya manages to hype himself up enough to attempt addressing this chasm after days of planning, trying to find the right moment and fighting against both his fear of vulnerability and the language barrier Shane actually loses it and their relationship suffers terribly!!!
So yeah actually they CAN'T talk about it. Not now. And you would know if you had paid any fucking attention.
