Heated Rivalry's phenomenal first season culminated not with a bang but a quiet and important two-hander of an episode that saw showrunner Jacob Tierney conclude six episodes of yearning, trust-building, and inside jokes with a stunning display of vulnerability and optimism not seen on television in years.
Based on Rachel Reid's second book in the Game Changer series, the show follows Canadian Shane Hollander and Russian Ilya Rozanov (played by newcomers Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie), Major League Hockey players who meet the summer before their rookie season and embark on a beautiful but fragile decade-long situationship, both afraid to come out for their own heartbreakingly valid reasons.
The success of the series, which airs on HBO Max in the US, has been attributed by some to the graphic and bold sex scenes – "sex sells," after all – but episode five featured no sex and is now the top rated episode of all time on iMdb. The finale places its entire focus on the decision Shane and Ilya now have to make after watching their league rival Scott Hunter (Francois Arnaud) publicly come out as gay on national TV after kissing his boyfriend Kip Grady after winning the cup.
What happened in the Heated Rivalry finale?
"I'm coming to the cottage," Ilya told a shell-shocked Shane on the phone at the end of episode five, discarding his plans to return to Russia and instead making an exposing display of intention.
When episode six opens, weeks have passed, and Scott is accepting the MVP Player of the Year award at the MHL Awards, once again publicly declaring his love for Kip and sharing how lonely his life had been keeping a huge secret in a sport that threw homophobic insults around the locker room and ice.
Ilya then arrives at the airport, and a clearly still nervous Shane picks him up in his Range Rover. Fans of the book will instantly recognize Ilya's joke about the car – part of his ongoing running gag over how boring Shane is – and the drive to the cottage is filled with a nervous tension as both build up the courage to look at each other, hold the other's hand, and finally act like the boyfriends they have wanted to be for years.
Much has been written about Jacob's use of lighting throughout the series – both Ilya and Shane have had emotional beats hidden in darkness while most of their on-screen intimate moments have been shrouded in shadows – and nowhere is this perhaps clearer than in episode six, as light floods the screen.
From the drive to the cottage, and their time there, the episode is drenched with sunlight and light flares, as Shane and Ilya discover what it is like to be together for more than a few hours across quiet afternoons on the sofa, cooking together at the grill, swimming in the lake – and saying "I love you" and planning their future.
Even when Ilya shares the heartbreaking story of his mother's death, letting Shane into the darkest parts of him, it takes place in the middle of the day – finally, these two have stepped into the light.
Of course, the series couldn't end without some drama, and that happens in exactly the way the book fans will know is coming. Despite telling his parents, Yuma and David, that he was taking part in a silent retreat, Shane's father visits the cottage to pick up a phone charger he left and catches the two in a moment of passion.
This is Shane's "worst nightmare," but, together, they drive to his parents' house, and Shane shares his truth – one that, it turns out, his parents had suspected. The bigger shock fr mom Yuma? That it was his long-time rival that he was in love with, and that Ilya was considering leaving his long-time team in Boston for her son.
By the end of their dinner with Yuma and David, an overwhelmed Shane is finally coming to terms with his new reality, as they share their plan for the future: for Ilya to move to Canada, closer to Shane, and the pair to launch their own foundation to support hockey camps for youth and support mental health charities to change the public narrative of their relationship.
As the two step back into Shane's boring and sensible car – unable to stop touching each other with the open road, and their future, laid out in front of them – they remain saturated in daylight, hope and faith.
What will happen in season two?
Shane and Ilya's story will continue in a second season, which itself will be based on Rachel's book The Long Game.
In the book, Shane and Ilya carry out their goal of launching their foundation and attempting to change the narrative of their rivalry to one of mutual respect and friendship. But Shane's deep-seated fear of jeopardizing his career is the central conflict as it exacerbates the marked differences between the pair, with Ilya ready to tell the world about their love, while also struggling with his own mental health concerns.
It concludes in an intense climax that involves an accidental public outing, forcing the pair to make a major decision before they are ready.
Jacob has been incredibly faithful to Rachel's books, (a reminder to all showrunners that book adaptations do work, despite the audience already knowing what will happen), although it is unclear if season two will tell the full story of The Long Game or not.