Heated Rivalry S1 E6 recap: things get spicy and sweet at the cottage

And then the show takes us exactly where we want to be: Shane’s cottage. They arrive after Shane picks Ilya up at the airport in his “boring” SUV, and immediately things feel different. They are used to only meeting up for sex, but here they are more playful and open with each other. “I have an idea, for the next two weeks let’s just be honest with each other about what we actually think and maybe how we really feel,” Shane says after they both admit they haven’t slept with anyone else in the months they’ve been apart, and then the spell is only slightly broken when Ilya jokes that he’ll agree to anything if Shane will “touch my dick.”

Brooding, aloof Ilya is nowhere to be seen, he is nothing but loving glances, heated touches, and friendly teasing. Shane shows Ilya to his bedroom, where he goes down on him before we get more domestic scenes of them eating burgers, and learning things about each other, like the fact that Shane has never told his parents he’s gay. And when they sit in front of a bonfire at night — where Ilya becomes terrified of a “stupid Canadian wolf bird” — Ilya tells Shane about his mother’s tragic death by suicide.

The show may have started off with Shane and Ilya crashing together in moments of insane sexual tension, getting off on the danger, taboo, and forbidden aspect of their relationship, but at the cottage, they can be more open and tender, though they clearly still have a thing for sneaking around because Ilya goes down on Shane while he’s talking on the phone to his friend and teammate Hayden. But even after this steamy scene, the show pulls us back to the emotional core of the story, and Shane reminds Ilya that their relationship is about more than the rush of adrenaline for him. “That’s not what this is, you and me. Maybe it was at first, but not now and not for a long time,” he says.

Heated Rivalry succeeds not just because of the two hot stars nailing each other to any surface they can find — although that helps — but because of its willingness to put queer stories at the forefront and focus not just on the struggles of men who society has forced into the closet, but on moments of real connection and queer joy.

Their time at the cottage is filled with Shane and Ilya slowly opening up and admitting how much they care about each other. They go from saying they like each other to Ilya joking that he “has this problem” of being surrounded by beautiful women, but he’s always thinking about "this slow fucking hockey player with beautiful freckles and a weak backhand” to finally saying "I love you.”

But the peace that they found at the cottage is interrupted when they are caught making out pressed up against a glass wall by Shane’s father — oops! After freaking out, Ilya accompanies Shane to his parents' house to come clean.

After officially coming out and admitting they fell for their rival, Shane tells his mom the plan they came up with earlier so that eventually they can be together: Ilya will leave Boston and sign with Ottawa so that they will only be two hours apart, and then they’ll start a charity together (in honor of Ilya’s mother) so that people get used to them being friendly and being seen together. Yuna takes a minute to get used to the idea of her son being gay — though they suspected — and in love with Ilya Rozanov, but after a tearful conversation with Shane, where he worries he let her down and she hates that he felt he couldn’t be honest with her, Yuna is immediately on board doing whatever it takes to make it happen.

This is one more instance where Tierney shows his deft hand at bringing the female characters from the book to life. Much like episode 5, where Elena, Rose, and Svetlana were the real MVPs, supporting the gay men in their lives and encouraging them to live authentically, Yuna proves what a powerhouse she is.

When Scott kissed Kip in front of the whole world, and Ilya announced he was coming to the cottage, fans cried joyful tears and had a moment of collective catharsis. This week, watching Ilya and Shane be cocooned in the privacy and protection of the cottage where they allow themselves to admit their feelings honestly to each other, before grabbing onto happiness and their uncertain future together, is sure to give everyone another dose of optimism that we could all use right now.