With a combination of intense gay yearning, quiet intimate moments, and sex that feels transgressive to see on TV, the first four episodes of Heated Rivalry have been building to a crescendo where our beloved hockey boys finally admit that they have feelings for each other.
After crashing out when Ilya said his first name while they were having sex and stumbling his way into a relationship with Hollywood starlet Rose Landry, we start the episode with Shane waking up after having spent a disappointing night with his new girlfriend.
Shane might not realize how bad an idea lying to himself about his sexuality and pretending to be straight is, but luckily, Rose clocks the issue right away. The pair meet up for dinner, where Rose acts like the best friend a closeted gay guy could hope for when she tells him that they are like “trying to fit a square peg into a round hole,” and gently gets Shane to admit he likes sleeping with men. This also means that fans of the Rachel Reid book the show is adapted from finally got the line of dialogue they’ve been eagerly waiting for: “The thing is, I kind of prefer being the hole than the peg,” Shane says.
Rose Landry in 'Heated Rivalry' episode 5.
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When both men end up traveling to Florida for the All-Star Game, Shane tells Ilya that he and Rose are no longer together because they aren’t “compatible” — a word Ilya has to look up later in the episode — so he came alone. This episode also shows a more playful side of Ilya as he plays with a group of kids in the pool and then shakes his hair all over Shane.
Shane and Ilya have another secret rendezvous in a hotel room over All-Star weekend, but instead of it being about hot sex, this time they actually get real with each other. If episode 4 broke your heart, just wait, because while there are plenty of joyful and hopeful moments this week, there are also scenes that will rend your heart in two.
Shane and Ilya in 'Heated Rivalry' episode 5.
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Shane finally says the words outloud and tells Ilya he’s gay, and we get a moment of brevity where Ilya is basically like “duh,” before things take a turn for the serious. Shane tries to push for Ilya to admit that things changed between them after the “tuna melt” scene from the last episode and asks, “It’s not just me, right?” But Ilya tells him, “We can’t be something Hollander” because if anyone finds out he’s bisexual and having sex with a man, it will never be safe for him to return to Russia again: ”I wouldn’t be able to go home again. Ever. Do you get that?”
Then we get a rare moment of vulnerability and intimacy when Ilya tells Shane that his father has dementia and Shane holds him while he cries, and when Shane leaves after the two have sex off camera, they both call each other by their first names — a nod to the previous episode's emotional debacle that had Shane running into Rose’s arms.
Shane and Ilya hugging in 'Heated Rivalry' episode 5.
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Ilya’s dad dies, forcing him to return to his home country, where he gets into a fight with his brother, who called Svetlana a “whore” and finally cuts him off. Feeling lost and depressed, Ilya calls Shane, who suggests he say everything he’s feeling in Russian, even though Shane won’t understand a word of it. Fans of the book have been talking endlessly about wanting to see this scene because in the novel, you're left in the dark, just like Shane, except for Ilya's final line.
He tells Shane about feeling used by his family and being sad that he wasn’t there to take care of his father, even though he never had a kind word for Ilya. Now that his father is dead, he feels like he has no one, except Svetlana, who he loves, “but not like I love you. That’s the worst fucking part of all of this is that all I want is you. It’s always you. I’m so in love with you, and I don’t know what to do about it,” he admits in Russian.
Shane Hollander lying on the ice with a neck brace in 'Heated Rivalry' episode 5.
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Once Ilya is back in the U.S., he and Shane face off on the ice, but Shane takes a bad hit and gets knocked out and taken to the hospital. Shane, loopy on painkillers when Ilya comes to visit him, invites Ilya to come stay at his remote cottage where they can be together in private for two weeks during the off-season, but Ilya knows he can’t say yes.
Scott and Kip kiss in 'Heated Rivalry' episode 5.
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That is, until they are watching Scott Hunter — the Admirals player we saw fall in love with a smoothie barista named Kip in episode 3 — pull Kip onto the ice after he wins the Stanley Cup and plants a "game-changing" kiss on him on national television.
The episode ends with Ilya calling Shane to say that he’ll come to the cottage, which means that episode 6 is about to get really spicy and extremely sweet.
