Spoilers for Heated Rivalry, season 1 episode 4, follow, so proceed accordingly.
After taking a detour to explore Scott and Kip’s romance last week, episode 4 of Heated Rivalry throws us right back into the middle of Shane and Ilya's rivals-to-lovers story.
If you were worried about the lack of hot and heavy sex scenes we got last week, don’t worry, because the newest episode takes things up a notch.
The episode starts with another montage of years passing by as Shane spends his summers filming commercials and working out, and Ilya is in Russia partying and hooking up with women.
Lucky for us, these scenes are intercut with the pair meeting up every time their teams are playing against each other throughout the rest of the year, which means viewers are treated to shots of Ilya topping Shane and another where he goes down on Shane in an erotic shower scene that fans have been waiting for since we got a sneak peek when the trailer premiered.
Shane in the shower in 'Heated Rivalry.'
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As the montage continues, we see that Shane wins the Stanley Cup twice, while Ilya’s life back in Russia gets more complicated as his dad’s Alzheimer's disease progresses, and he loses interest in having sex with anyone who isn’t Shane.
Before this episode breaks your heart like episode 2 did, we see Shane lying to his teammate and best friend Hayden so that he can sneak off to meet up with Ilya. This is the infamous "tuna melt" scene fans of the book have been waiting for since news dropped that they were adapting Rachel Reid’s gay hockey romance.
Eventually, this scene becomes sweet and poignant, but before we get to the real emotions, things get a little naughty first. Shane arrives at Ilya’s house to talk, but all Ilya wants to do is get Shane naked. Ilya gets what he wants, and Shane ends up riding him before Ilya flips him over and they both finish. Afterward, Ilya has a moment of vulnerability when he asks Shane to spend the night for the first time, and they wake up looking peaceful and happy, with Ilya spooning Shane. Photos of this scene made their way onto social media earlier this week, nearly breaking the internet — and with good reason, this is the level of intimacy fans have been waiting for.
Ilya and Shane in bed in 'Heated Rivalry.'
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Things turn sweet again when Ilya offers Shane a ginger ale (his favorite drink, so clearly, Ilya has been paying attention) and makes him a tuna melt. Ilya tells Shane about Svetlana, his Russian friends-with-benefits, but admits that it’s “nothing more than that, for either of us.” Ilya tells Shane, “I like girls, but I also like you,” and then teases him by telling Shane he’s “boring," but that he has a "good mouth.”
Snuggling on the couch together while Ilya pets Shane’s hair and kisses the top of his head leads to Shane climbing on top of Ilya and one of the hottest frotting scenes you’ve ever seen — Ilya even spits into Shane’s hand for lube, and Shane asks, “You gonna come for me, Rozanov?”
Shane and Ilya sitting on a couch in 'Heated Rivalry.'
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If you felt like your heart couldn’t handle the way episode 2 ended, you’re probably not going to fare any better this week. After saying each other’s first names for the very time as they come, Shane immediately freaks out at the level of intimacy and leaves. “I can’t do this. I’m sorry,” Shane says as Ilya looks hurt and disappointed.
It’s easy to get swept away on a tide of desire watching these incredibly hot actors have sex, but if you only focus on the horniness, you’re missing out on the raw emotions and palpable chemistry. Showing intense yearning, queer love, and gay eroticism on screen is still a revolutionary act, and the fact that stars Connor Storrie (Ilya) and Hudson Williams (Shane) are able to portray that level of heat and connection through both boisterous sex scenes and smaller, more intimate facial expressions should be celebrated.
After luxuriating in the quiet domesticity of the “tuna melt” scene, Shane’s crashout leads to him meeting Hollywood star Rose Landry. During their first conversation, Rose asks him what it was like to grow up as the only Asian kid playing hockey. Shane says he managed to escape the bullying, but the one other Asian kid wasn’t so lucky: “He hated me though, I have a western last name so it’s like the other kids kind of forgot to make fun of me."
Shane and Ilya in 'Heated Rivalry.'
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It would be easy to write this scene off as just Shane and Rose getting to know each other, but both Williams and director Jacob Tierney have talked openly about not wanting to shy away from Shane’s Asian-Canadian heritage, especially considering how overwhelmingly white the sport of hockey is.
Shane and Rose start dating, and Ilya gets upset when their relationship ends up splashed across the tabloids and talk shows. Their teams play against each other, but for the first time in a long time, they don’t text each other about meeting up. Instead, after the game, Ilya convinces his teammates to go to a club with him so he can find someone to hook up with, but when he arrives, he sees Shane is already there dancing with Rose.
Shane dancing with Rose and Miles in 'Heated Rivalry.'
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Shane ends up sandwiched between Rose and her gay bestie Miles (talk about hot!), when he spots Ilya grinding up against a woman he’s making out with on the dance floor. The scene then intercuts scenes of the two men staring at each other with shots of how they are each ending their night — Shane having sex with Rose (and probably thinking about Ilya), and Ilya pleasuring himself in the shower (probably with visions of Shane dancing in his head) as the song “All the Things She Said” by t.A.T.u. plays.
Much like the last two weeks, episode 3 also ends in heartbreak after the high of watching the two hockey rivals let themselves have a moment of queer joy together.
