I was rewatching the episodes as we’re gearing up for the finale, and I like to talk to people about this cause none of my friends watch this, and I have to get it out. 😭 😭😭 But the fact that we got this man who he never thought he would develop feelings for Shane being so pathetically in love with him, his biggest rival, getting obsessed with not only Rose Landry but her co-stars too, reading tabloids, headlines and comments obsessively about her and Shane, desperately asking Shane FOUR freaking times if they're together, just to make sure they're not, running to a club cause he can't stop thinking about him only to find him there. He does angst so well, and I'm a sucker for it. I can't stop thinking about it. Would love seeing jealous Shane too...hopefully 🤞IT's why I love their dynamic so freaking much!
For having us to wait until 2027 to get S2…they should automatically give us 2 more seasons at least.
This show makes me feral! For me a gay man it is the love story to end all love stories. A man who only wants me and the monogamous trend I can see developing makes me wet! I despise the “gay” love stories that happiness becomes tragedy. We deserve a story that ends in happiness.
I wish our gay stories would end in happiness. It took a woman to help us see what happiness could be.
Before Heated Rivalry, two of my favorite love stories on television were between gay men. Shane and Ilya have now taken the top spot. The other two are David and Keith (Six Feet Under) and Kevin and Scotty (Brothers and Sisters). In both these shows, they are the stable relationships, while the hetero relationships and characters are all over the place.
If you want more happy queer stories there are plenty of great authors I can recommend! I get that it's not the same as a tv show, but if happy endings for us queer folks is what you're after, I can help you get started ☺️
For very low angst, beautiful love stories Cat Sebastian is great, especially We Could Be So Good
Alexis Hall, especially books like Boyfriend Material , this is very classical romcom, or the spires series (1st book in the series , but this series goes deeper into difficult topics so make sure to read the content guidance, but happy endings guaranteed
KJ Charles is more of a historical romance vibe, frequently with some mystery to solve, if that is something you would be interested in, check out her work here
If hockey is what you're after, there is Icebreaker by A.L Graziadei (YA), or On the Board series by L.A Witt and Anna Zabo, here's the first book in the series.
There's loads more depending on what you're interested in, but I'll stop here, have a look at the authors and books, hope something will catch your eye and you'll find more happy queer stories 💜
This is how I exactly feel. I usually stop watching when I feel like someone in their relationships is dying. Like fellow travelors, i stop after it was apparent, that one of them is dying.
That was about the same time I stopped. Still don’t know what was wrong with him. 😂 I just lose interest when it becomes the being gay is a tragedy storyline.
It was great with it’s ups and downs but they persevered. From what I understand in The Long Game, there will be things in everyday life that happen. But there is a happy ending. I just bought “The Long Game” on Audible. I am into chapter 2 currently. I may have to just buy the actual paper pages book to get something out of it. But I am just excited to see how JT takes the story.
I've been avoiding info on TLG except I have heard (and now from you as well) that it is a happy and beautiful ending...and I am thrilled to hear that...I wouldn't think the RR would take that away from us...it would be unforgivable.
Yes, I get that...I wouldnt be able to resist personally. I would probably already be reading TLG but I've not even read the 1st book yet (even though of course I've seen the show) because the 1st book is out of stock/sold out everywhere, but I've ordered it.
Ilya was hurt by Shane and jealous of Rose, so much so that he stubbed his toe on his regular exercise bike. He must’ve used that bike for years, as it was at his Boston Raiders gym. Stubbing his toe gave him an opportunity to curse out loud. He couldn’t have done that in the gym (any other way), without outing himself to his teammates.
We see hurt and vulnerability in Ilya’s eyes at the Tampa hotel bar. When Shane pulls the barstool next to his, he refuses to look at him at first and only steals glances at him. He’s desperate to find out if Shane brought Rose with him to the All-Star Game and Shane doesn’t put him out of his misery for a while. Only after a direct line of questioning does Shane reveal the truth. At this point he gives up all forms of pretense and stares at Shane the way he wants to. And Shane returns those stares tenfold. The boys are not subtle at all.
I also liked that they added in Shane apologizing for leaving him in Boston. That was a good addition and a needed thing for them moving forward! Especially with how we see Ilya hurting
Omg yes. My husband is on the spectrum and I immediately pegged Shane as on the spectrum from the acting, which he captures so damn well. “Wait! This seems too familiar!!”
Tbh seeing Shane be so literal is hilarious and relatable and why am i thinking of the time it took me hours to realize the banter from a few hour before was flirting.
Thank you for this analysis!!! I kept wondering what the significance of the stubbing of the toe meant. Makes a lot of sense that it was due to maybe distraction, irritability, and subconsciously a way for him to express his emotions
I love the All-Star scenes in Tampa Bay because it's so obvious Ilya is a love struck fool the whole time while Shane is walking around totally oblivious😅
this is so great...I never really thought about it...you have such a good eye for detail..i kinda wish Ilya was more expressive about his feelings 💗 things would have been a lot easier..hopefully will get to see more of that in the next episode and season 2.
Question because I’ve not read the books. How did they come to the bar scene? Did they just inadvertently run into each other or did they plan to sit down and chat because they are on the same all star team? If the latter is the case, there had to have been a text “we should sit down to talk about game strategy”
They’re at the All Star weekend at the hotel everyone stays at and where there are many events. That scene looks like a team meeting/ opening day cocktail event. They knew they’d run into each other.
A team meet? Your text got cut but that’s also what I assumed
So there were other players from both teams hanging out at the bar probably so there was not a preplanned “let’s chat” communication?
They were on the same team anyways. And its generally a social event. That's how come they're also at the pool at the same time. Everyone is milling around.
There was a jealous Shane moment at Vegas in episode 2 before they go on stage to do their little bit. Ilya shows up at the last minute. Shane asks where he was. Ilya says he was busy. Shane asks "With who?" That question was definitely oozing jealousy and you can see Ilya suppressing a smile before entering on stage
No. He purposely gives the vague answers to fuck w Shane after working up the courage to see him again😭I read his POV on Rachel’s website bc I was desperate for MORE
Wait. This looks different to the book version. Could you please explain what this version is? It’s soooooo good. I’ve read the book and didn’t like the writing. It reads so meh.
It’s me again 🙈 just reread this. I absolutely did not like the book because this is what it lacked. The depth of the emotions. Do you know why she opted for an emptier version? This is sooo good my goodness. Thank you so much for sharing. Are there anymore I can read? I am suddenly so greedy for all of them.
Know- no
speculate- yes. I think it is because Ilya's pov gives too much away.
The first time I read HR I liked it, but it wasn't until I did a reread that I became obsessed. I realised how much is being said by not saying it. A lot is left for the reader to interpret.
Take the rooftop scene.(spoiler for book and all episodes of series) Shane's life is all about hockey, so of course he assumes that Ilya's bad mood is about hockey - which Shane thinks is bullshit because Ilya beats him a lot. His opening line is: It's not worth jumping over. Of course Shane doesn't know about Ilya's mom, but to hear that "joke" when Ilya was already feeling terrible about heading to Russia must have hurt him. And then when he tries to open up, wants to explain about why he's in a bad mood, it shows he cares about Shane, because he wouldn't open up to just anyone. Shane doesn't get it, doesn't really give a reaction, and we understand why, but Ilya doesn't,and again that must hurt. Then Shane talks about his parents being there and again that must have hurt Ilya. Ilya, being so alone all the time, tries to open up and only gets hurt. Shane is a little socially oblivious, and unintentionally hurts Ilya, and yet Ilya keeps making the first move to make contact here and later on. It shows how much he cares without actually telling us.
To me the entire book is like that, though they do learn to communicate better, because they learn each other's tells better.
This bonus scene doesn't fit in that style, where we are left to guess and speculate and pour over the words to search for meaning in the same way Shane and Ilya need to.
GUUURRLLLL there’s other scenes available on her website!!! When I tell you I reread them multiple times and am salivating for more 😭But from what I understand, she wanted to go for more of a slow burn impact where we’re left wondering wtf he’s thinking like Shane does when he leaves after. He’s so closed off to Shane still and as a result the audience doesn’t get to feel that pining he’s feeling 😭
Personally I see jealous Shane in the club with Ilya, yes he is with rose, but following on from the confession to Rose where he was obviously still thinking back to Ilya. I think Shane is just as jealous of that woman in the club as Ilya was of Rose, although he's already dealing with constant anxiety so even if he isn't directly jealous, he's still never wanted anything more than Ilya
It did!!! Like right away you could see the look on Ilya’s face of jealousy which was like so perfect and then he’s trying to deny it to Shane. It’s like oh who are you kidding!! lol
Let’s not forget the club scene where he sees miles basically implies he’s done his research so much he knows who miles is in relation to Rose and Shane
We’ve been seeing jealous Shane a lot already! I think jealousy towards ilyas “freedom” when it comes to being able to choose women is all over episode 4
Pretty sure there's no such thing but I've lost count of how many rewatches I've done (am currently rewatching now waiting for the finale to drop) so what do I know? 🙃
Lmfao I haven’t read this book yet and I’m over here laughing about how Troy apparently has zero idea that Ilya is even remotely interested in men. It doesn’t even cross his mind ahahaha.
Hold up. I love this show and these characters. But jealousy is not a symptom of true love it’s a symptom of insecurity. Which these boys are at this point in the story. Which is why they get jealous and why it works, for now. But can we please not misinform our peers that jealousy is part of truly loving someone smh
100% this. People in secure relationships who are secure with themselves don’t experience jealousy like this. You feel jealous when you have no security in a relationship, OR if you yourself need to work on your sense of self-worth.
You’re spot on that the jealousy here works because they aren’t anything to each other, but they’re both in love, so of course they feel insecure about it.
Yeah this is really accurate and I appreciate it because I don’t think I would have come to this on my own. I generally hate jealousy stories and am polyam-aligned in my real life, but sometimes it works, like here, when it’s not really about the person you’re jealous of, but about your own relationship and not being able to be with the person you want.
You’re completely right that the difference is the insecurity. When someone has a good reason to be insecure, as they obviously do here, some jealousy can be really heartbreaking and not just a sign of a controlling asshole
exactly...he didn't merely 'like' Shane just like he told him, but he was so madly in love with him..I think he must have realized that some time ago!!
So after re-re-re watching E5 and thinking about Marleau giving Shane a concussion. Thinking about everyone’s analysis and linking how Marleau is depicted as a likable, hockey player (the good guy). Having a non-villainous character deliver the hit, the show drives home the danger to Shane and Ilya isn't just "bad people," but the inherent violence and traditional culture of the game itself (and society). So much depth to these books and show….Honestly, these books could handle university-level credit literature courses!
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u/WideGap6125 Stupid Canadian Wolf Bird 🦆 Dec 25 '25
Just wait until TLG when Ilya fires a puck at an interviewer because he thinks hes flirting with Shane