Heated Rivalry

In the late 90s when I was coming of age, and coming out of the closet (slowly), there was a little explosion of gay indie films. Some of the ones I remember the most are Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss, Trick, Beautiful Thing, and Edge of Seventeen. Oh, and of course, To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar, which inspired my brother and I to have a party where we dressed in drag. 

In the years since, there have been huge milestones in LGBTQ+ representation in film and television, with grounbreaking shows like Will & Grace, Queer as Folk, and Call Me By Your Name. One that really hit for me was "Brokeback Mountain" in 2005. I was obsessed with that movie and saw it several times in the theater. However, that movie was really very sad. So many LGBTQ "romance" stories have sad endings. Either the lovers couldn't be public about their love, or they couldn't be honest and open with each other, or one of them gets sick or dies. 

So when I first started watching Heated Rivalry, mainly because there was some buzz about the show and I had HBO, I thought it was just going to be soft core trash. I watched half of the first episode late one night in December, and watched the other half the next night. After watching that first episode, I realized this show was more than I was anticipating so I insisted that Dylan watch it with me, and I started it over with him. 

Over the course of the next few weeks, we watched the six episodes together, as I tried to block out spoilers and the pervasive social media clips of the stars out of character as they appeared at awards shows, fashion shows, and carried the Olympic torch in Italy. When we finally finished the series, I was moved in a way I had not seen coming.

SPOILER ALERT: If you have not seen the first season in its entirety yet, I would recommend that you stop reading this and go watch it!!! 

I think the reasons why this show works on so many levels comes down to a few key facts. First, the casting is simply insanely brilliant. The two leads, Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams, are phenomenal actors. It is clear that they are talented and have studied the art of acting. They were virtually unknown before "Heated Rivalry" and they're not nepo babies. So many "actors" lately are either born into it, or got famous for reasons other than talent or ability. Not these two. They committed 100% to their characters, took the time to transform physically and emotionally into the characters which were already well established in the novels which served as the source material. This is another factor: the source material was well established, with a devoted fanbase and tackled a niche subject without apology. 

Another reason is the way the show is filmed: the cinematography, pacing and the decision to make episode three focus not on the main characters, but on Scott and Kip, was brilliant. I was not expecting it at all, and when we started the episode, Dylan insisted that we had "already seen this episode" until we realized that we were going back in time and watching from a different character's viewpoint. I think by this point in the arc, we were starting to worry what was going to happen to the two main characters and it was refreshing to step away and shift focus. 

And of course, the sex scenes are a big part of the show's appeal and the buzz that made the show so popular, but the truly smart aspect of the sex scenes is that they're not just there for titillation: they are an integral part of the plot and character development. The sex scenes are done so beautifully and, for a television show, I would say, realistically. 

Then there are the extenuating circumstances of this particular romance: it sounds unbelievable when you think about two major hockey team captains falling into a secret gay tryst, but when you watch it, it all seems to make sense. And the specific pressures that the characters are dealing with - from Ilya's Russian family and the sense of being a role model for Asian-Canadian kids that Shane feels - makes it all so intriguing. But at the end of the day, while most of us can't relate to what it feels like to be a famous hockey star - we can all relate to the clumsy manner in which we fall in love. 

There are so many details of their romance that keep the viewer on their toes. It feels like they have packed so much into just six episodes, as we literally travel full-throttle through the course of nearly a decade, yet there is such an intimacy that gets displayed that you really feel like you are part of this relationship. I attribute it to the script and production, but mainly to the actors' performances, that I felt so invested in this story and because of all the other queer romances that have come before, I was naturally so worried that things weren't going to end well. After all, Shane and Ilya are considerably different people, under a ton of scrutiny and pressure from the outside, and it seems the odds are stacked against them having any meaningful future together. While watching the season finale, I picked up on so many little clues that maybe things weren't going to work out. I had a foreboding sense of doom that the honeymoon would soon be over.

The final brilliance of this series is the happy ending. It doesn't feel overly saccharine, forced or simplified. There is still a long, hard road ahead for these two, but they have finally been honest with themselves, each other, and Shane's parents and they are now, irrefutably, together. It's a thrilling arc, with so many little set-ups and rewards, so dense, yet it covers so much ground. I immediately had to watch it all over again, and of course, let myself watch all those adorable press clips of Connor and Hudson being so different from their characters, yet with that undeniable bond that proves the chemistry between the two wasn't all just acting. Connor Storrie in particular is so extremely different from Ilya Rozanov, it's almost hard to understand what an incredible transformation and performance this was. When you consider that, on paper, there was little reason to think this show would have the enormous impact that it did, the work that Storrie and Hudson put into their roles is insane. 

I guess it's clear by now that I am completely, utterly and hopelessly addicted to this show and I don't know how I'm going to survive the wait until Season two, but luckily I have the entire Game Changer book series by Rachel Reid to explore, and I'm so excited to see Connor Storrie host SNL later this month. I'm sure there will be plenty to keep me occupied over the next year or so before season two drops, and I'm betting I'll be rewatching the series a few more times.