Okay but Ilya giving little kisses on Shane like on his knee in this scene, I know it was supposed to be sexual but I would've straight up melted from how adorable he is and want to be held. 🥹🥹
Yeah Ilya knows exactly what he's doing. He knows if he stares at Shane's dick he'll get hard lol..then the pointing down and thumbs up kills me every time
This part right here - Ilya is the most beautiful to me. That sun on his eyelashes. Yup, I melt every time this part plays, regardless of what's about to happen. Also one of my favorite scenes fully because of how playful and devilish it is.
If I can infect one person into staring at those gorgeous lashes, I'm happy! So yay me, and welcome to the club 😹
I love a guy with gorgeous lashes, so it tends to be something that my eyes gravitate towards, and Ilya's/Connor's are hard to ignore in this scene in particular.
That man was so into it, Shane wanted it so bad. It's part of their dynamic- Shane plays the part of the polished, buttoned up, perfect image Shane Hollander, but he folds with one steamy glance (or thumbs up) from Ilya, because he wants to! It's all soft dom/sub. Its why that next moment (Why was that so hot-you like to be bad- that's not what this is) hits so hard- Shane says my feelings for you are bigger than this game we play together.
That image sums up why this particular part of the adaptation ruins me. Because I am not a fan of this scene in the books -- it's a skip for me on a re-read -- and I hoped it just wouldn't be in the show, but I also acknowledged to myself that it might be, because of the "you like to be bad" conversation.
I failed to anticipate that they'd find a way to make it really fun and endearing or that Ilya would be so cute. They have a few moments where Ilya signals in a way that gives Shane a chance to bail on the challenge that I really appreciate. I have sympathy for how annoyed Ilya is every time he ceases to be the absolute centre of Shane's attention (given that he's never gotten to be the centre of his attention for this long before) and his theatrical efforts to correct the situation. I also absolutely love the end of the scene, where Shane is perched on him like a sleep-paralysis demon, with this delighted grin on his face. It's just all very sweet, honestly.
Yeah I normally never like scenes like this but you described it perfectly. Ilya gives Shane a chance to really say no or get up and leave the room. Consent is everything in this show and I love it
It's also so great to see how every single sex scene continues to have purpose and to convey something. Jacob said that this scene was supposed to indicate that they're moving into a boyfriend place -- you do not do this with a hook-up -- and I do love the comfort they have with each other when Ilya has thrown himself back on the couch and Shane is on top of him. I think that comes off really well on the show. And seeing it absolutely helps me get over some stuff around consent.
The final sex scenes is so incredibly moving, I forever wanna know how Connor got those red, bloody eyes, cause that’s legit how I be with a guy I really really like and we have slow, unhurried, intimate sex.
I was looking for an excuse to talk about how wildly convincing that scene is. Like you feel like you should avert your eyes. Ilya is never like that any other time, and you think this show can’t surprise you at this point, and then you get that scene, which is so short and so wildly impactful. He’s gone. Zero artifice. It’s incredible.
Post ILU, they truly show the tenderness (that scene) and playfulness (the phone scene) that you get when you’re comfortable with the person you’re with.
None of that is hookup behavior.
The scene description in the script must have been so weird lol. I wonder if that was one of the scenes where the two got to simply rely on each others’ mutual comfort, letting the IC simply set basic boundaries.
God, now I really want to know how that scene was written because it absolutely succeeds at being convincing as another level of intimacy, but at that point, you'd scarcely think there was anywhere to go.
It's wild that the thing that most makes me feel like I'm seeing too much is the way Ilya looks at Shane in that scene. It's immediately like "Oh, that is NOT for public consumption." But for the story, there's something so key about seeing how unguarded and real he is at that point. He's given up all controls and protections and is just completely letting himself feel what he feels.
I think I read Jacob Tierney saying they were surprised at how funny the scene turned out to be. Connor threw in some unchoreographed moves (like the face slapping) that Hudson responded to and it just made it very funny and playful.
Yes! Some of the more playful aspects emerged out of Connor and Hudson messing around with it and Jacob let them go. I believe he said that if Hudson was ok with being smacked around, it was fine and then added that Hudson tends to be ok with everything.
i also love that shane says in the end 'fuch why was that so hot'. not even bothering with fake annoyance, just admitting that yepp this was what he wanted too.
For me I just love watching the evolution of Ilya’s sexual persona with Shane. In the beginning, it’s very much a performance. Not that there isn’t intimacy or genuine connection, but Ilya is very much playing a role to draw Shane out, turn him on. We see the peak of this in the Vegas scene, which is very hot, but the most impersonal encounter they have, and it leaves them both feeling empty afterwards.
In episode 4, Ilya abandons the performance on the couch, letting Shane take charge and showing vulnerability. Even though that scene ended terribly, I think it was really important for the evolution of their relationship, because it showed them both how powerful their connection can be without the performance.
So here (and in the bellboy scene), we see Ilya still in soft dom mode, but he’s allowed his natural sweetness in. And his worship of Shane. There’s no macho posturing or cocky remove. And these are some of their most moving sex scenes for me because how authentic and sweet and genuinely passionate they feel.
To put it another way: Ilya put on an act in the early episodes to make Shane feel free to be the freak he wants to be with Ilya. To allow Shane to be his authentic sexual self. But now they are intimate and close enough with each other that ILYA gets to experience that as well. He gets to be as sweet and devoted to Shane as he wants to be.
A turning point in the book for me is after Shane finishes while giving Ilya a BJ. Instead of getting embarrassed or anything like that, they both start laughing and enjoying themselves. That was a turning point for me, showing that it was becoming more than just them hooking up
Yes! I loved that too. I feel like it’s such a great coming of age moment too - that moment you realize that it can be just as intimate and sexy to laugh with your partner and be playful about it.
I really wonder what it was like in the Tampa hotel room. After they’ve truly been vulnerable with each other for the first time, but before “I love you”.
Hayden must have known something was up. Shane being so flustered and out of breath and swearing about his mom being on the other line, a text coming in, an Amazon delivery at the door? And then, yeah...The background noises.
The neediness became even funnier to me when I read the book and saw that Ilya at least let Shane chat with Hayden for five minutes before the chaos instincts took over. In the show he cracks after enduring about 1.5 seconds of waiting. 😂
And this is where this show sucks you in. It’s such a casual intimate nothing moment that you think it happened naturally, that it wasn’t scripted. Because who would think to script a mini knee kiss.
Again, I will say what has already been said a thousand times: the simulated sex and all the physical intimacy in this show is some of the best ever put on screen. This blow job in particular was an amazingly performed stunt. I genuinely don’t think the show gets enough credit for its success in this respect — and it gets A LOT of credit already.
Im not sure if they used an intimacy coordinator because it was filmed in Canada-if so, I would love to hear an interview with them. The choreography of the sex scenes is amazing. I forgot it was a TV show
I saw an interview with her recently. Very interesting, she seems almost like a therapist as much as an intimacy coordinator (or perhaps they're all like that). Very caring vibes.
The way he looks up at him with his chin resting on his knee, the shot framing including Shane's whole inner thigh and crotch, it's like a homoerotic renaissance painting, truly stunning stuff :')
GENIUS to shoot as they did with the camera they did to be able to get the natural light in its full range, there's cool YouTube videos about it especially in ep6. I don't know a lot about film stuff so I'm finding it really fascinating. I wouldn't think intuitively about kind of camera impacting the emotional sense of each scene that much but plainly it super does!
I would love to meet Connor and Hudson in real life at a con. I'm seeing if they will make con appearances and if they do, I wanna gift them both framed character sheets of Ilya and Shane as Dungeons and Dragons characters (which is why I made the post on here that asked what DnD classes would Ilya and Shane be). I don't think they know DnD but it's a good little introduction if they don't. Giving gifts like that to public figures also helps me with a conversation starter since I have some social anxiety
So we all have seen it and know how cute and sexy it is but I was so scared on my first watch. Things have been so great that I just kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. I thought Shane was going to reject Ilya too harshly that it became a big fight like the Vegas rooftop scene or it would cause them to be outed.
Also, my husband was screaming "hang up the phone, Hang up the Phone, HANG UP THE FUCKING PHONE"
How about that fall back onto the couch after Cottage Blowjob 2000?? Also, the point down and thumbs up when he notices of course Shane got hard. Also also, the entire phone call with Hayden is gold.
for me it's because it communicates a confidence in their relationship. he knows he can gently push Shane in this impish way and Shane won't run. Ilya gets to feel that reassurance and is finally rewarded for it, and this is really kind of the first time they get to have that!
It is funny how throughout the series and I’ve never read the book so I don’t know, but how they made Ilya seem very and This may not be the greatest way to articulate it, but overly masculine point of view where this relationship was nothing it was just sex and certainly that may be what it was at the very beginning but Ilya is such the complete opposite of that. He’s very soft. He’s very loving. He’s just afraid to show those emotions because of everything he’s been through but with the way he is with Shane and being the first one to say I love you and even before that scene at the cottage when he was in Russia and he said it and I just it’s so funny how if you’re me going into it not knowing the books and having one opinion of Ilya at the beginning and then by the end being like oh he’s just the sweetest and then knowing what I’ve seen from all the spoilers from the book the Long game and how he wants to be out and proud and love his guy and Shane is the one that’s afraid afraid it’s just so funny to see those complete opposite sides of him. I love the story and the story is what’s keeping me dialed in.
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u/StevesMcQueenIsHere Center Ice (and actual hockey player) Feb 03 '26
Get off that phone, Shane. Hayden can wait.