The last thing the internet needs is another ‘think piece’ about Heated Rivalry but I swear to God, if I don’t write all my feelings about this masterpiece of a show I might need to be institutionalized.
As if I didn’t think I would’ve been lobotomized 100 years ago, watching a TV show about gay hockey players 4 times in one week would’ve definitely got me sent away.
I’ve mentioned it many times before but I have an incredibly obsessive personality and I always have. I hyper-fixate on something and it becomes all I could think about for days, weeks, months or in the case of the Jonas Brothers, years.
I’ve never been diagnosed with anything but I’ve been convinced by TikTok therapists that I have autism and ADHD
It was only this time last year that I was hesitant to jump into the Fourth Wing fandom because I knew that it was going to take over my life. I could feel it in my system, the overwhelming urge to think of nothing else besides Violet and Xaden. At one point, I had to convince myself that dragons were not real…
I tried to resist the Heated Rivalry fandom. Truthfully, the show wasn’t really on my radar until mid-December and I told myself I wouldn’t do this. I wouldn’t get roped in because I knew that it was going to haunt me. Also, the idea of watching a romance when I am painfully, disgustingly single never feels good, especially at this time of year.
However, on December 26th I caved and I watched the first 5 episodes in one sitting. I would’ve watched the final episode (I didn’t realize it had premiered that day) but I was tired and I wanted to soak up the last moments of Shane and Ilya.
Since then, I have watched the entire series straight through, four times and my TikTok FYP continues to feed me the most incredible, cinematic edits I’ve ever seen in my 20+ fangirl years.
Like please just watch this masterpiece. I hope this person becomes a movie editor.
That familiar feeling of obsession has completely taken over and I am in too deep to stop now. I gave into the desire and now I am paying the price.
I’ve had to physically pull myself away from my phone to stop thinking about Ilya and Shane; I had to turn the TV off and start putting away Christmas decorations and redecorating my house to just feel semi normal.
But why…why is everyone (including straight men!!) obsessed with this ‘gay hockey show’?
Aside from the sex scenes, which are so hot my mouth hangs open in shock every single time, the story is beautiful and soul crushing.
The yearning… for 10 years…between two men who cannot be together because of the nature of their jobs…the back and forth of wanting to be with each other and not wanting to be open enough to accept the love they desire, it’s beautiful.
I am not queer so I can’t relate to that side of the story but I see myself in the story when it comes to a situationship. I can pinpoint the moments that Ilya closes himself off because Shane is getting too close, because I remember those moments in my own life; Shane’s desire to be close to Ilya feels so close to home to the point where I had to catch my breath during specific scenes because it felt so real in my mind.
Then, you have the nature of a gay relationship. Women are not in the picture (aside from Rose and Sveltana) so the fact that we, as women, can watch this beautiful love story without the objectification of our own gender is what is most intriguing.
We can watch the love, the desire, the yearning without seeing ourselves and it’s refreshing. I also think that we are so starved for nontoxic masculinity in this day and age that any man who is showing a molecule of raw emotion is an immediate ‘yes’.
That’s why we loved Conrad Fisher as well…
We want men who want us. Who know how to love and be loved. Who aren’t afraid to cry, to show their emotion and wear their heart on their sleeve. We want to be courted, to be fawned over, to be wanted and to see that in such a raw way in the form of Heated Rivalry, well it means a lot.
It also goes without saying that the girlies love a smutty book so when we get an incredible book to screen adaptation, we don’t take it for granted.
The cultural phenomena that has taken over the world has been green lit for season 2 (which we won’t see until 2027) and it’s stars, Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie are truly having an overnight success moment in the sun. They are everywhere, including the audio erotica app, Quinn. (I need to do a deep dive on Quinn because the speed at which they move to get the celebrities of the moment to record smut is outrageous)
Aside from the hotness and the hockey, I think the story of how the show came to be on HBO Max is fascinating. It was a super tight budget production, exclusively for a Canadian streamer ‘Crave’ but then HBO Max got wind of how many Americans were trying to pirate it from Canada and decided to make a bid. Now, it’s the streamer’s most watched show.
One more thing… when I saw that Rachel Reid, the author of the book series, has Parksions and was able to get better treatment because of the success of the show I started to cry. What an incredible story; the power of women, of pop culture truly knows no bounds.
Now if you’ll excuse me… I’m going to rewatch The Cottage episode again.
So well said! I'm a married, straight woman who is obsessed too! Romance readers love love and we LOVE to see it so well done. Thank you!