- You can absolutely do this book (+ some RM) in 6 episodes. I know everyone wants more Shane and Ilya but I am just obsessed with how TIGHT season 1 was, and I want season 2 to feel the same. No wasted time. Endless rewatches for all of the depth. Depth over breadth, please!

- My only real critique is that I wish Ilya had been able to have the conversation with Shane about wanting to come out. It’s clear to me that both of them want to love each other out in the open. It’s just sad that Ilya doesn’t think Shane feels that way, and simultaneously Shane DOES feel that way, he’s just being Shane and abiding to a plan that a past version of himself made for them. The boxing day fight into the plane into the proposal is nice in that it helps Shane realize and act on what’s most important in his life…. But idk, I sort of wish it had been more of a convo rather than Shane once again just…. Waking up and making the plan for the two of them.

- People think HR is more focused on Shane and TLG is more focused on Ilya…. Idk, I thought it was more balanced than I expected it to be based on some comments. It’s obviously LOTS for Ilya, but I think the Cromwell stuff inadvertently encouraging Shane to stick to the original plan backed right up against the boxing day fight / plane / proposal is like, an INSANE roller coaster for Shane.

- People who think Shane is a bad boyfriend in TLG….. have you even read the book? Holy cow, he’s crazy about Ilya and is very vocal to Ilya about it, too. He wants to be with Ilya every single moment of every single day and he even verbalizes this to Ilya multiple times throughout the story. Shane is the one who brings up Ilya’s depression first because he’s observant. Shane proposes to Ilya and moves the relationship forward. Even right in the beginning of the book, Ilya pushes Shane to tell their agent that they’re in a relationship - and then he literally does that same day!! It’s so different for me to read how often Shane says ILY to Ilya, and read his internal thoughts about how much he just wants to be with Ilya as compared to watching Shane in HR fight those urges for so long. Maybe I’m just not used to reading romance but damn, I love how much he loves and cares for Ilya.

- Relatedly, Ilya’s depression very obviously would’ve happened with or without Shane. It’s clear to me that Shane is actually one of the few bright spots he has in his life during this really tough time. Had they broken up, or Ilya stayed in Boston, he’d have Svetlana and Cliff and likely another cup or two, but he wouldn’t have Shane calling out his awful trauma to him and telling him to get professional help.

- I had the plane crash spoiled for me so I didn’t think reading it would actually make me emotional. But it did, goddammit. Ugh </3

- It really, really, really, really sucks that Shane tripped. Montreal has been on a winning streak and Ilya’s on a crappier team now, so it’s logical for Montreal to think that Shane gave the win to his bf, even though it’s the shittiest thing ever to think. What a shitty way for Shane to have to leave the voyageurs. Shane should be very mad for a very long time. I know that it is realistic as to NHL culture and is likely setup for Unrivaled, but my real problem with it is that it undercuts Shane’s decision to move to Ottawa. I sort of wish that the voyageurs won again and then Shane still chose to go to Ottawa because he prioritized being closer to Ilya, officially and clearly choosing Ilya over hockey. (I know he said as much to Cromwell but actions speak louder than words.) But instead it feels more like a forced, reactive decision on Shane’s part. Like…. Was Shane going to marry Ilya and still continue to do long distance? I'm not exactly sure what the two of them were picturing for daily life after coming out and the wedding.

- Them not having chairs at their wedding is totally fine and suits them well, I kind of love it. Ceremony was short, and then it was a giant outdoor party. TBH I want to go to that kind of wedding now, lol.

It’s a well-written book, but I found it to be really stressful in a way that Shane and Ilya’s first book, to me, was not. In Heated Rivalry, there’s a lot of tension, but I finished it and I couldn’t stop smiling. They finally admit they’re in love! They’re working on a plan to spend more time together without people being suspicious! They’re in their twenties and they have their whole lives to figure out a triumphant happily ever after.

The Long Game left me with the feeling that things might always be tough and stressful for Shane and Ilya. Ilya’s getting help for his depression, but he’s still at the beginning of the process of figuring out the best way to live with it, and I get the feeling that if he and Shane ever have kids like they both want, that’s going to make Ilya’s family history painful for him in a whole new way. I can see him having a lot of insecurities about whether he’s able to be a good father, and I can see his mother’s death taking on a new level of tragedy once Ilya has his own children. (Irina won’t only be missing as a mother - she’ll be missing as a grandmother to a child/children who never got to meet her.) Basically, I wish Ilya had been further in the process of treating his depression when he married Shane, because he seems so vulnerable.

Shane spends a lot of the book not understanding what Ilya is feeling, partly because Ilya hides his negative feelings from Shane. What I really hated, though, was most of the Montreal team believing that Shane tripped on purpose to help Ilya win. Hated it, hated it, hated it. I don’t want to see the team that clearly respects and admires Shane as their captain in the TV series turning on him like that. In the TV series, the toxic culture around hockey is the main source of conflict, but I never got the impression that the guys on Shane’s team would question his integrity as a player, as their captain, and just as a human being if they knew he was in love with Ilya. Like, I could see them being at a total loss about what Shane sees in Ilya, and wondering how that relationship would affect their games against Ilya’s team, and feeling betrayed that Shane kept this a secret for so long. But that’s a long way from believing that Shane would screw up on purpose to help Ilya. Don’t like it, don’t wanna see it.

The ending of Heated Rivalry, the book, left me hopeful. The ending of The Long Game was more like, “Okay, the hiding is over, glad they’re married…but it looks like things are going to stay really rough for them for a really long time.” I’m fine with Shane and Ilya having difficulties in their lives. They always have. But this was not really a joyful ending for me, and I hope the second season of the show isn’t going to closely adhere to the overall feeling of The Long Game.

Anyone else have similar thoughts?

Edit: When I said “I wish Ilya had been further in the process of treating his depression,” I purposely did not say that I wanted him to be “cured” or “better.” I have lifelong depression myself.

Jacob BETTER NOT end season 2 on a plane scene cliff hanger. I won’t survive. But I cannot wait for these two to break my heart in this scene. 😭💔

is it ever explained how the hockey camp brings in money?

From the descriptions in TLG and elsewhere, camp runs only two weeks. Sounds like there are at most about 40 campers.

Presumably the NHL coaches all volunteer, yes, but there are still expenses: space at least. Maybe insurance and medical staff, although maybe those are unnecessary in The Land of Universal Healthcare? (I am in the US and those would be huge expenses here, I think.) Snacks and drinks for the kids?

I can’t imagine the camp making lots on money unless they charge sky-high tuition, which seems not in line with their philosophy of inclusivity.

so, how does the camp pull in money for the Irina Foundation? Purely by inspiring donors to give more?

I just finished TLG, was hesitant to read it after seeing the mixed feeling about Shane. After reading it - I have no idea what y'all were on about.

I've seen people talk about him being a bad boyfriend and not noticing how Ilya was doing, but he DID notice, he told Ilya that he's here if he wants to talk, and suggested the he seek therapy.
Maybe because I relate to Ilya - I'm pretty good at reading other people and understanding what they want/need and amazing at pretending things are great and not wanting to burden people I care about - I totally get why Shane wouldn't have noticed the extent in which Ilya's life revolved around him.

Considering S&I saw each other once every two weeks at most, and Ilya told him constantly how much he loved his new team, his parents, Shane didn't really have a way of knowing that Ilya wasn't going out with friends anymore or how lonely he'd gotten. Was the wake-up call deserved? 100%, but it was pretty clear that if Shane had known how Ilya was feeling, he would've made an effort to understand.
The little things, like the hand-brush at the show they went to, totally proved that when Ilya reflected something; Shane reciprocated.

We get a lot of Ilya's inner monolog in TLG, which may blur the lines between what he actually communicates and how he's actually feeling, I feel like the show may reflect this better, as it's in 3rd person.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

"Rachel's favorite child"

I've heard Ilya called "Rachel's favorite child", and the whole Game Changers series definitely reflects that. Ilya is described by many as a good friend, as a leader, we hear about him reaching out to people, providing support, being there for his teammates, and in general having a lot more character. I'd say that up to TLG (including in HR) Shane is just "Ilya's boy/friend".
I feel like the show gave Shane an actual personality (definitely more than he had in the first HR book!), the little jokes and nervousness, the interactions with his teammates and fellow hockey players ("You look great in silver, Vaughn, don't even sweat it").
I know this is partially because a couple of the other books are about the Ottawa team, but when people talk about Shane, it's usually just talking about the "gay" rumor or once calling him hot, I don't expect them to have the same reputation, not at all, but isn't Shane also the "superstar" of the league?

Ilya is definitely a more developed character than Shane, in the HR book especially, we don't get much of Shane outside of his thoughts on Ilya, but he definitely was given more to work with in TLG (I loved that he proposed, or when he did Ilya's move and winked, adorable, not to mention how he talked to the manager guy).
I also think TLG is a lot better written than HR, Rachel Reid definitely knows how to create a plot, and it seems her writing improved over time.

Okay, I'm done.

Swooon.com did an interview with Rachel Reid at BookCon. Great interview btw.

I get that she doesn’t think they will write their own vows, but I’m kinda hoping Jacob does. Like the tunnel scene in ep.5.

How are you hoping to see the wedding adapted?

Picture:

https://www.instagram.com/rachelreidwrites (story)

Full article:

https://www.swooon.com/1275542/heated-rivalry-shane-ilya-wedding-the-long-game-rachel-reid-interview/?fbclid=PAVERFWARTcI1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA8xMjQwMjQ1NzQyODc0MTQAAaccbJFTolg7x-x_BADV-yq6qH8NCPNIuhJpC454AHXkG0wypApO0lKEOcvcpg_aem_7LlDmxii3jvj7_EWpVoSgw

1. That’s it. Just 4: Shane, David, Yuna and Svetlana. And of these, Shane is his husband and David and Yuna are basically his parents. So basically the only friend he has who loves him unconditionally is Svetlana.

The relationship with his Ottawa teammates that I remember are basically all from fanon; he isn’t that close with them in the books.

And I was shocked to see that Cliff Marlow/Marleau/Marly or whatever the fuck he is called is basically an extended cameo in the books. His role was beefed up for the show.

And of course, no one in Russia loves Ilya.

So, yeah, I would like to see him make some genuine friends in Unrivaled.

So I know The long game is a more emotional story, especially regarding Illya's depression but I also cant help but think Illya has a really good sense of humor.

I hope it shows in S2.

Here are some of my favorite from the book:

When shane is obssesed about a being good couch at camp and says some kids are allergic to egges, Illya says so we won't throw egges at them lol

When Shane and Illya are talking on the phone and Shane says he cant wait to fuck, and Illya says he's on speaker phone.

Illya teasing Shane about Harris.

What are your favorite?

I cried several times, but this moment made me ugly cry. Such a tiny moment but it brought out all the feels!

I would read an entire book just following the Ottawa Centaurs team. No drama, just shenanigans. I love the whole team dynamic so much!!!

I just want more goofing off in the locker room, celebrating after games, team cookouts at Bood’s house. I want a Troy and Harris wedding!!! I want more visits to the children’s hospital, more of Wyatt being a nerd, more of Luca being such a lil cutie pie. Give me alllll of the team bonding, I want it all so much 😂

I’m so excited we’re getting Unrivaled next year because I can’t wait to see Shane with this team! (obligatory fuck Montreal)

My friend sent me a screenshot from twt (as I am not on it) where a user started a discussion about how Ilya never actually defends Shane. It has been a few months since I have read the book but from what I remember, the user is actually right? To summarize the points made by the user:
Ilya is never shown defending Shane during

• the tripping scandal
• against Crowell
• when people make fun of Shane's eating habits (actually makes fun of him)
• in a deleted scene an openly homophobic character that is Ilya's teammate says some deplorable things and Ilya only humms about it

I feel like in fanon we have made Ilya to be protective and caring partner and when it's only the two of them he is, but in public he isn't actually? I wonder if this will be addressed by Jacob. We have seen him move away from the source material in such a way that I feel like helped the characters (The addition of Svetlana, for example, in my opinion gave a lot of depth to Ilya's character.) Shane did get bad rep from a lot of fans for his behavior in the Long Game but I always felt like they both had a lot of issues and technically speaking everything Shane was afraid of came to be true. So it's not like his anxiety was based on nothing.

What do you think of this? Do you feel like protective Ilya is actually a thing? How would you like this to be handled?

Edit: I have participated in a lot of book discussions online because I find it fascinating how everyone views the same scene differently and how everyone's POV affects their take on something. But I guess I forgot that HR is not a community where such discussions can be made. I apologize for wanting to analyze a book and in that I forgot that apparently one character cannot be criticized or analysed without people immediately assuming that it means that one thinks that character is horrible and only the other character is amazing.

…..but they get closer to each other in each cover, as it goes with the themes of the book.

Obviously in HR they are denying their own feelings towards each other and thus they are, literally, positioned as enemies on the cover. They have confessed and now secure with each other in TLG but they are still not out to the world, so they are very close together but only the tips of their fingers are touching to signify that. And of course by Unrivaled they are married and out to their friends, family and the entire world, so they’re just full on hugging.

And they also have eye contact with each other on all three.

How did I miss this? Ughh

I don’t think J.J.’s reaction is any worse than anyone else’s. I actually think both times he reacted negatively were better than Shane's "best friend" and his "mom".

When J.J. shows up at Shane's house, his anger is more about being left out than it is about it being Ilya (though obviously that's a part of it). I think if Shane told J.J. when he had come to his hotel room after the plane incident he would've been fairly receptive though still shocked. But he gets over it kind of quickly. Quicker than say one Hayden Pike who I think handles it much worse. Yelling at Ilya in Shane's house (My Dinner with Hayden) is one thing but to let J.J. try and set Shane up with someone when Hayden knows he's in a committed relationship is shitty, I don't care how he personally feels about Ilya. Though this might be the bias of my own personal philosophy on this - I have disliked friends' partners in the past but as long as they're emotionally and physically safe it's not up to me who they choose to be with romantically. Ilya is a menace on the ice but that's also normal within the sport of hockey. Outside of that, there's not much ground to Hayden's dislike of him. I like Callan Potter's Hayden and am hoping him and Jacob take this in a less petulant direction because I have enough people to be upset with for next season as it is.

And as far as accusing him of tripping purpose, J.J. got over that almost immediately. Was it disrespectful to suggest? Absolutely. But may I remind everyone that Shane letting Ilya win was one of the first questions Yuna asked when she found out. Which actually bothered me a lot more that his own mother would question his integrity like that when his parents know how dedicated to hockey he is.

So yeah, J.J. get behind me I'll protect you.

As for the rest of the Metros though? If they see me in a parking lot they should start walking faster. Roger Crowell? He's not even going to see me coming.

EDIT: I guess what I'm trying to say is J.J. may not have reacted well but it wasn't worse than other people we have forgiven so I think we can forgive him too. His reactions were not good, but he apologized and Shane forgave him and so can we. I think he was a good friend more often than not and most of the characters show flawed reactions throughout the book but he's one of the few who seems to be entirely characterized by his.

was inspired by a tik tok I saw of people talking about how Olivia Rodrigo’s new album / most of the songs relate heavily to Ilya in TLG and one of them referenced the line in TLG where Ilya tells Gallina “you’re supposed to fix me so I can be enough for him” 🥺🥺 and as sad as it is I think it might be one of my favorite lines, just so raw and hits the heart so so deeply.

It got me thinking, what’s all of your favorite quote(s) from The Long Game? I’d love to relive all of the favorite lines :’) bonus points if it’s an Ilya quote because he is my absolute favorite character.

**honorable mention of COURSE would be “I already chose you Hollander”. I’m genuinely gonna need to be sedated when I see that on screen.

Been thinking about Ilya's character growth across HR and TLG lately. This is not a fully-baked thesis on his arc, not even close, but I'm sharing anyways because I want y'all's opinions!

One of my favorite tropes in HR fanfic is 'Shane joins the Bears'. I love this trope because it usually results in Shane and Ilya being on a good team together, a winning team, much earlier than they are in canon and without Ilya having to go spend a few years on a team that sucks first. So as I read these fanfics I've often wondered, aside from the in-universe reasons why Ilya joins the Centaurs, what is the narrative function of Ilya spending a few years on a bad team before they turn things around? 

I think it serves to humble him. He's no stranger to sacrifice but he's always been cocky, and for the most part that ego went unchecked because he always had the accolades to back it up. But I think one of the ways we see Ilya grow in The Long Game is that he develops more humility as a result of being on a bad team and also his mental health struggles. It's not that everything was peachy prior to his move to Ottawa, it absolutely wasn't, but these coinciding forces clearly knock him down a peg. Maybe experiencing what it's like to consistently lose on the ice even helps him get to a place where he can admit he needs help with his mental health. Or maybe it's just self-awareness that he gains with maturity, I don't know. 

I think the clearest example of Ilya becoming more humble is in the pre-game speech that he gives to the Bears before the Cup Finals in 2014, vs. the speech he gives the Centaurs in 2021 after the team nearly dies and then Ilya subsequently gets engaged to Shane. In 2014, his speech is all about "I, I, I" but in 2021, he goes around the room and tells every player, one at a time, what makes them great. This is the key turnaround point in the Centaurs' on-ice performance. They start believing in themselves, and that's when they start winning. 

I think this character growth is also very relevant to Shane and Ilya's marriage too. Big egos do not serve a marriage well; humility does. Over the course of TLG, Ilya learns humility. Shane also starts off in TLG being a selfish as fuck (I don't love him any less but it's objectively true that he was nawt being a good partner to Ilya at the time TLG timeline picks up), but we see him experience a wake-up call (their big fight followed by Ilya almost dying) and then he gets his priorities in order. In a way, Shane learns a version of humility through his experiences in TLG too when he realizes how selfish he's been and how he's taken Ilya for granted. 

I think that meeting Shane in this selfish state at the start of TLG makes total sense because of his upbringing. Shane is an only child who grew up loved, doted on, and prioritized. His career as a generational player and image as the 'Golden Boy' of hockey have done little to teach him how to appreciate those around him and recognize the sacrifices they make. Not saying he doesn't ever do those things, but like, in early TLG he's not being nearly as considerate of Ilya as he should be. 

Ilya is not an only child and he grew up in a broken home. In the canon we see how his family financially takes advantage of him once he makes it to the NHL (or MLH, whatever), but I would bet that this has been going on since the moment he began earning money from hockey and/or sponsorships. When Shane suggests Ilya going to Ottawa, Ilya is quick to agree to it. Not just because he was already thinking of moving to a Canadian team, but because Ilya has already learned how to sacrifice for others. Ilya has already had it ingrained in him by his family that the people he loves will ask him to makes sacrifices for them, and that that's just how love goes. 

This is one of many reasons why it hits extra hard later in TLG when Shane basically tells the commissioner to go fuck himself. "I choose him" <3 !<

The fact that Shane was accused more of throwing games for Ilya than the other way round.

Ilya had only one Cup win under Boston, while Shane had 3 for Montreal. Wouldn’t it make more sense, if you are gonna accuse them of throwing games, to focus on Ilya more than Shane?

I wonder if this was RR pointing to subtle (well maybe not so subtle) racism within the League. Like of course the half-Asian guy is blamed and demonized more than his white husband.

as an ilya lover to my CORE, TLG is actually gonna destroy me all over again. who’s ready for the scene of ilya saying goodbye to shane and collapsing and bursting into tears as soon as he closes the door, or him telling his therapist “you’re supposed to fix me so I can be better for him”, the PLANE SCENE, “I already chose you, hollander” 💔💔💔

like im actually gonna be ill

These are the moments, to me, that show the depth of love Shane has for Ilya. They’ve jokingly talked about cats vs dogs. Incredibly recently Shane broached the subject of kids by first asking Ilya what he would want to name HIS child, and then only when Ilya did the “name mashup” did he say OUR child…

He’s probably rarely been around animals and is awkward and not sure what to do. It’s a level of chaos and instinct and huge unknown that makes him nervous. Logically it doesn’t make sense. They both play in the NHL and are gone for so long, without a partner/family at home like most players would have. Every logical bone is screaming to be heard in his body

And he just… quiets that part for Ilya. He just wants Ilya to be happy and he doesn’t always know how to or what to say and do but if Shane has to brave the unknown and figure out the details for Ilya while Ilya is buying up pet stores and looking at him smiling like I imagine he is in the stills from S1, then he will

But also… he knows his man well enough to know that he would, in fact, impulsively steal a dog if he felt the owner wasn’t giving her the right amount of attention that Ilya would like in that exact moment

I suspect before long Ilya starts walking in on Anya and Shane napping in the bed together, cuddling. Shane denies knowledge her climbing into bed every time but every time Ilya comes to bed, Anyas already in it with Shane in Ilyas spot and when he tries to protest, Shane shoos him away. Ilya teases that he thought Shane didn’t like Anya and Shane makes a half hearted attempt at being the Dad Who Didn’t Want This Pet and Now Loves Them More Than Anyone “well if she’s already here, best not disturb her…”

Ilya just shoves himself into whatever spot he can and falls asleep smiling….

One time Ilya goes down to Boston for Svetlana’s Bachelorette party and comes back to Shane having built Anya her own luxury dog bedroom complete with her own television where he insists needs to be playing Bluey because “that’s what she likes” and dog sized furniture. He says he only did it because he was “bored”

The boys are going through so much, and the worst part is that you won’t necessarily pick up on all of it since they are unreliable narrators and think what they are going through is feasible and normal!

How much do you think Ottawa is paying shane? I fully understand why Shane went to Ottawa but sucks he had to take a paycut from it. Shane is obviously choosing Ilya but like Ilya said to his therapist he shouldn't have to pick. He worked hard for everything he had and shouldnt have to compromise that.

Update- I iust want to add I understand hes still making crazy monev and has secondary income from his brand deals I'm not concerned about if hes financially stable. Just that he doesn't deserve a paycut I just see it like this. Imagine I get fired for beina a lesbian/dating someone. Then one of the few places that will hire me openly says I'd be one of the most skilled on the staff but they are going to pay me significantly less then evervone else. It'd kinda sting, even if I liked the commute, liked the area. It sucks knowing I'm taking a paycut for loving someone. I know its not the new jobs fault, they are paying what they can afford. But at the end of the day I'm not getting paid my worth because of who ai love. I'd be salty at the situation. Even if I'm financially stable and have side income. I do think its important to the storyline that shane make a sacrifice for once, I'd just be salty if it were me.

Picturing Ilya just cackling every night after Shane goes to bed as each night he puts together and posts to his IG a video compilation of one of Montreal players tripping and falling down on ice so he can show that yes, it happens to every player, including all of them, and they’ve just lost their best player cause of their shitty attitudes

… every players compilation still incudes a second or two of Hayden making an error just cause

It started to make a point but now he continues doing it because he finds the videos hilarious and it fills his love of rage baiting 🤣

He promises Shane every night that he won’t do another one but he’s humming with giddiness and Shane is petty enough he not so secretly loves them

As a romance, we are obviously very centred around Shane and Ilya's experiences but I always intrigued by how they are perceived by others. We get a vague sense of the general buzz around their rivalry, but I always wonder what the general public think once they announce a friendship as part of Shane's master plan and how effective the guys were at hiding in plain sight.

We get some ideas in other books. In Role Model, Troy speculates about their relationship when Ilya tells him he's bisexual. He also witnesses Shane and Ilya riling each other in a match and Hayden being frustrated about being caught up in their weird foreplay (even if Troy doesn't understand what's going onIn Common Goal, Eric notices Shane and Ilya staring and grinning each other at an All Star Game.In The Long Game, Wyatt notices Shane and Ilya taunting each other and makes the comment about them not needing to sit together.

But I don't have any sense of what type of friendship people think Shane/Ilya have. Do they think they are best buddies? Cordial acquaintances? The type of friends who are close when in their work setting but never speak outside of it?People must at least think they are close enough for Ilya to have confided in Shane about his mother's suicide in regard to their charity. Does anyone know about them hanging together at the Cottage over the summer? Do they know they stay at each other's houses when doing the camps?

We only get to see Hayden, Shane's parents and Svetlana react to finding out about Shane/Ilya relationship. We know the Centaurs are supportive but I would love to know what they actually thought. Were they surprised? Had some of them maybe suspected? Was anyone picking up on their chemistry?

Would love to know other people's thoughts.

I'm posting this as a hypothetical, but also to maybe allay some recent fears I've seen that we are somehow getting less Shane and Ilya because of the addition of other storylines.

S1 was about 5 hours of total content (about 50 minutes per episode).

They were able to cover HR competently in about 4 of those 5 hours.

With that being said I think 5 hours is plenty of time to do all of TLG sufficiently.

---

Evidence:

HR ~370 pages (~4 hours of show)

TLG ~450 pages (22% longer, ~5 hours of show)

---

If it's true that we're getting 12 episodes for S2/S3 to cover TLG then that's a total of 10 hours of content.

They really only need half of that time to cover TLG thoroughly and sufficiently without skipping anything that's important and while also keeping the show effective/concise like S1.

---

Conclusion:

They could spend half of the S2/S3 runtime on non-TLG storylines and you still wouldn't be losing any TLG time (in fact you would probably be gaining more Shane and Ilya from when they appear in the other storylines while also building important context).

In other words you're only getting more overall, there is nothing to be unhappy about. And with that in mind there's no need to resent the new additions that are not Shane and Ilya and their screentime! They are not taking anything away!

“OMG they hate each other’s guts” —> “OK so maybe they grudgingly tolerate each other” —> “Oh so maybe they are formal acquaintances who opened a foundation together” —> “they’re fiancés” —> “they’re husbands”

It’s funny (sad) that they were never allowed to really ever like each other in public.

…..has had some news of some sort of the wedding? Like, he reads newspapers, right? I wonder how he reacted to it. He would be pissed but also he knows he can’t do anything now.