“Heated Rivalry”: A six-episode mini series revolving around two main characters, the Canadian, introverted prodigy Shane Hollander and hot-tempered crowd-favorite Ilya Rosonav. Within the rink, they are on long-standing rival teams, but outside those boundaries, they begin to develop a secret relationship that explores complex topics audiences have been craving to watch.
This show is the king of slow-burn maxxing. It isn’t your typical story that follows the two love interests over a couple of months, perhaps a year or two. It takes Hollander and Rosanov nearly a decade to finally express how they feel about one another. The level of yearning in Shane’s eyes breaks any kind of numerical scale. After taking one look at that muscular, emotionally- unavailable Russian, I knew it was over for Hollander. Nothing compares to seeing the little twinkle in Hollander’s eyes when he knew he could express a part of himself that he had to suppress for so long.
But apart from their hockey tension, there was something that resonated with people that ran deeper than the sport, deeper than the game. I think the development of their story was really what touched people’s hearts. Sure, its scenes are explicit, but the director’s intentions are straightforward with wanting to portray the characters and their relationship as true to the book as possible.
Queer media has always been an important yet underrepresented topic, and it’s rarely portrayed accurately. But this show proved to be different. If I had to encapsulate Rosanov and Hollander’s relationship in two words, I would call it intricately beautiful. Their feelings are layered by years of stolen glances, knowing smiles and small gestures that build up to create something uniquely their own. The magnitude of what they feel for each other does not hit you all at once, but rather it intensifies, building their tension realistically so that you feel like you were part of their journey alongside them. The show distorts their timeline, skipping past months and years and spanning across almost a decade. However, this is similar to real life. You let time pass you by so quickly, and it only slows down when something impacts you deeply. For them, every encounter felt like a lifetime together.
Actors Hudson Williams, who plays Hollander, and Connor Storrie, who plays Rosanov, have developed a best-friend-like bond and have spoken openly about the fictional love story on talk shows and interviews, truly allowing the fans to embrace these shielded topics as well. Discussions surrounding intimate relationships are repressed enough as it is, even more so when it surrounds queer characters. Something that I appreciate about these types of HBO original series, others including “The White Lotus” and “Euphoria,” is that they are also known to not shy away when it comes to discovering self-identity in far-fetched and sometimes, extreme ways. Though some may find it uncomfortable, I think that’s exactly why shows like these are important. When someone doesn’t have a safe space to have conversations about these topics, visual representation and fictional characters talking about it in a healthy manner could open the eyes of viewers to things they may have never thought about before. Williams mentioned on a podcast that one of the things he did not expect was the amount of athletes that messaged him privately or anonymously to thank him for his performance in the show, as they had never been able to resonate with a character so intensely before. It is common for players and athletes to have to suppress parts of their personality in order to fit in the ‘culture’ of their sport. Especially in a more aggressive sport such as hockey, players may have to keep up an appearance of being violent and rough, and unfortunately, being part of the LGBTQ community doesn’t conform with these restrictive labels.
Storrie and Williams could have never predicted the reaction from fans from the new intense hockey mini-series: it has absolutely broken the internet. Months before they started the show, they were waiting tables and working as busboys. Five weeks after the show has been released, they have been asked to present at the Golden Globes, have done interviews with Teen Vogue and iHeartRadio and are now being asked questions about who they are wearing on prestigious red carpets. Williams has charmed the nation with his dry humor and rare authenticity; Storrie has warmed the audiences’ hearts with his bright smile and cheery personality. Both of them resemble the complete opposite of their characters, Shane Hollander and Ilya Rosonav, and the fans can’t seem to get enough of it. Heated Rivalry is breaking the ice, skating over boundaries and bringing up themes that have been pushed to the sidelines for far too long. If you are looking for a show that will shatter your heart and put it back together, then grab your favorite jersey, find a cozy cottage and get ready for the long game.
Editor’s note: This show is rated TV-MA and may not be suitable for all ages.
