Heated Rivalry (Crave/HBO-Max)

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I appreciate that it is a very low budget show, but the creators clearly put a lot of effort into doing a good job. It’s also great that they gave opportunities to lesser known actors. The actor that plays the Russian is fantastic. He isn’t even Russian he is from Texas.

Yes, all of this. The acting is quite good, especially the actor who plays Ilya. I was very surprised that he isn't Russian or Russian speaking. A lot of the show is also beautifully shot and has really good music. I was not expecting to like it so much.

+1. Connor Storrie's acting is incredible, he carries that show. I was shocked to find out that he is from Texas. His Russian is excellent (my mother is Russian, and I am fluent).
He is so hot too.

Agree. But Hudson Williams was also outstanding, just more subtle. They don’t state it in the show, but in the books, Shane is mildly autistic and Hudson played the character with that in mind. It’s a really strong performance.

Fair point. Both leads are excellent actors.
I haven’t enjoyed an indie show like this in years.

The physical acting in this series is phenomenal. The way Connor can convey so much emotion with just one look. Hudson too. Man..I want the best for these talented young actors.

+1. They fell in love early on, but neither believed the other could possibly feel the same, plus the stigma of being gay in the NHL, so they wouldn’t admit it out loud for almost 10 years. But boy did those longing, love drunk eyes tell the story!

Edits like this one capture it (warning: contains SPOILERS for those who haven't seen the show):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWKnzL4jkzY

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I appreciate that it is a very low budget show, but the creators clearly put a lot of effort into doing a good job. It’s also great that they gave opportunities to lesser known actors. The actor that plays the Russian is fantastic. He isn’t even Russian he is from Texas.

Yes, all of this. The acting is quite good, especially the actor who plays Ilya. I was very surprised that he isn't Russian or Russian speaking. A lot of the show is also beautifully shot and has really good music. I was not expecting to like it so much.

+1. Connor Storrie's acting is incredible, he carries that show. I was shocked to find out that he is from Texas. His Russian is excellent (my mother is Russian, and I am fluent).
He is so hot too.

Agree. But Hudson Williams was also outstanding, just more subtle. They don’t state it in the show, but in the books, Shane is mildly autistic and Hudson played the character with that in mind. It’s a really strong performance.

Fair point. Both leads are excellent actors.
I haven’t enjoyed an indie show like this in years.

The physical acting in this series is phenomenal. The way Connor can convey so much emotion with just one look. Hudson too. Man..I want the best for these talented young actors.

Ilya and Shane both tried so hard to suppress how they were feeling. But the eyes never lie, and Connor’s and Hudson’s gazes were so tender and convincing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Episode 5 is among the best TV episodes of all time. For me, it's up there with The Red Wedding in GoT, The Hope That Kills You in Ted Lasso, Ozymandias in Breaking Bad, The Constant in Lost and a couple of episodes in The Last Of Us. It had joy, pain, grief, hope and a big ILY sprinkled on top. I was feeling all the feels!

I completely agree with this.

[Anonymous]

I am just chuckling at all the Vanilla crowd saying it's just smut. Um, maybe tune out from Bridgerton. Or are we only offended when the leads are gay?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am just chuckling at all the Vanilla crowd saying it's just smut. Um, maybe tune out from Bridgerton. Or are we only offended when the leads are gay?

In the early days both the author and the director referred to it pretty much exclusively as smut. It is a Harlequin romance - it is in the genre of hockey smut. They meant it to be a sexy, fun, positive, lighthearted, mushy, smutty gay novel / TV show. That is how it was written and adapted. I don't think they imagined the fantasies the fandom would go to in trying to make it so much deeper than it was intended to be.

Smut isn't offensive regardless if leads are gay or straight or otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am just chuckling at all the Vanilla crowd saying it's just smut. Um, maybe tune out from Bridgerton. Or are we only offended when the leads are gay?

FWIW, I think this and Bridgerton are exactly the same - a smutty romance targeted at a largely female audience with no deep meaning behind it despite trying to throw in a little for respectability (racial stuff for Bridgerton, homophobia issues for HR.)

Neither is much my thing but there is nothing wrong with them. But all the “it is so deep it might as well be the second coming of Shakespeare!” posts here and elsewhere crack me up. It’s not. You don’t need to justify with how intellectual and meaningful and this and that it is to allow yourself to enjoy it. It’s OK to like a trashy, romancy bit of fun and admit this is what that is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am just chuckling at all the Vanilla crowd saying it's just smut. Um, maybe tune out from Bridgerton. Or are we only offended when the leads are gay?

FWIW, I think this and Bridgerton are exactly the same - a smutty romance targeted at a largely female audience with no deep meaning behind it despite trying to throw in a little for respectability (racial stuff for Bridgerton, homophobia issues for HR.)

Neither is much my thing but there is nothing wrong with them. But all the “it is so deep it might as well be the second coming of Shakespeare!” posts here and elsewhere crack me up. It’s not. You don’t need to justify with how intellectual and meaningful and this and that it is to allow yourself to enjoy it. It’s OK to like a trashy, romancy bit of fun and admit this is what that is.

To me, the books read like that, but not the show. It feels deeper and makes audiences emotionally invested because of the incredible acting and all the little details that were changed and added in the TV adaptation.

One of the characters struggles with a language barrier and the other is on the spectrum, so verbal communication is not their forte, but the viewer is able to discern their feelings of love, longing, worry, frustration, hope, hurt etc. because of how well the actors portray them with their micro expressions, body language, and choice of specific words and inflection in he dialogue. I forget that I am watching TV; it feels like I am intruding on someone’s private relationship.

Add to that the really hot sex scenes and fresh beautiful faces (and bodies, lol), and you get a global streaming phenomenon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am just chuckling at all the Vanilla crowd saying it's just smut. Um, maybe tune out from Bridgerton. Or are we only offended when the leads are gay?

FWIW, I think this and Bridgerton are exactly the same - a smutty romance targeted at a largely female audience with no deep meaning behind it despite trying to throw in a little for respectability (racial stuff for Bridgerton, homophobia issues for HR.)

Neither is much my thing but there is nothing wrong with them. But all the “it is so deep it might as well be the second coming of Shakespeare!” posts here and elsewhere crack me up. It’s not. You don’t need to justify with how intellectual and meaningful and this and that it is to allow yourself to enjoy it. It’s OK to like a trashy, romancy bit of fun and admit this is what that is.

To me, the books read like that, but not the show. It feels deeper and makes audiences emotionally invested because of the incredible acting and all the little details that were changed and added in the TV adaptation.

One of the characters struggles with a language barrier and the other is on the spectrum, so verbal communication is not their forte, but the viewer is able to discern their feelings of love, longing, worry, frustration, hope, hurt etc. because of how well the actors portray them with their micro expressions, body language, and choice of specific words and inflection in he dialogue. I forget that I am watching TV; it feels like I am intruding on someone’s private relationship.

Add to that the really hot sex scenes and fresh beautiful faces (and bodies, lol), and you get a global streaming phenomenon.

He is not on the spectrum! That is something the fans made up and then the actor rolled with it. The author siad that no, she didn't write him as autistic but she was fine with people understanding her characters in whatever way made sense to them.

They are good actors but people are insane in how deeply invested they have become in this show and the people involved. That level of investment is so unhealthy. I feel for the actors. Instead of being able to appreciate a successful work of art, they are needing to deal with insanity, their families nad partners getting death threats, and people over relating to them and not even realizing that the show is FICTION, it is FICTION. This isn't a love story between Connor and Hudson. I kind of despair for humanity when I read posts about this show. It is too bad people can't just appreciate it and enjoy it for what it is. Should just be a nice fun well acted fictional positive distraction from the mess of the world - but instead like everything people have to take it too far and turn it into something it isn't.

I wonder if the actors will even want to do a season 2. Realizing how insane people are and the many to distinguish between real life and fiction and seeing how doing this has harmed the people they care about in real life - it would be brave to go through with another season. Probably contractually obligated but it is a scary world - fanbase of this show included.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am just chuckling at all the Vanilla crowd saying it's just smut. Um, maybe tune out from Bridgerton. Or are we only offended when the leads are gay?

FWIW, I think this and Bridgerton are exactly the same - a smutty romance targeted at a largely female audience with no deep meaning behind it despite trying to throw in a little for respectability (racial stuff for Bridgerton, homophobia issues for HR.)

Neither is much my thing but there is nothing wrong with them. But all the “it is so deep it might as well be the second coming of Shakespeare!” posts here and elsewhere crack me up. It’s not. You don’t need to justify with how intellectual and meaningful and this and that it is to allow yourself to enjoy it. It’s OK to like a trashy, romancy bit of fun and admit this is what that is.

I agree! I wish it could be talked about just as the trashy romance it is. But now I just lie and say I haven't seen it as I am really not interested in people's dissertations on how this such a deep and life altering book / show.

[Anonymous]

I would not read or listen to this as a book - just could not hold my interest. Rarely does a movie or series take the book to a complete different level. This series does so exceptionally well. I’d say Big Little Lies did a great job too - but that had better source material and an all star cast, screenwriter, producers and production. Similarly, Bridgerton. But HR succeeded without any of those bells and whistles. So even more impressive.

[Anonymous]

It might have set a record for how quickly it drove the main cast underground.

As the actor who played Scott said, they didn't anticipate the mass psychosis event and he logged off all social media to get away from the cesspool.

The two leads have resurfaced for the Olympic torch thing after a week or more of disappearing - probably will disappear again for the sake of their safety and sanity.

Has to be frustrating for them that so few are interested in your actual work and your artistry and instead go overboard in reading into and becoming emotionally invested to the point of insanity in what was meant to be a fun series. I am sure they wish they could just talk about how it was fun to film and how they developed their characters etc. That is what the media was about in the early days.

Now it is just people screaming, clawing at them, sobbing, vomiting, wanting to murder their families, watching it repeatedly / obsessively, thinking every movement is sending some kind of deep message to the fans, fantasizing, and overidentifying with the characters / storyline.

[Anonymous]

If the actors decide against a season they’ll get a social media backlash for that as well. They cannot win. People need to get lives that do not revolve around social media. They seem mentally ill.

[Anonymous]

It is weird to me how even on this thread people are talking about what the characters must have been thinking or their intentions or their inner thoughts or what must have been really happening in their lives. They are made up characters! They aren't real people, it isn't a real story. The are actors who learned a script and were directed to put your hand here, look this way, say this line again etc.

I don't know what made people lose sense of what fiction is. And their fan base is mostly middle aged women. I read a lot of beach trash over the years. Then you put the book down and didn't really give it too much more thought. This emotional investment by middle aged women into a fictional story and fictional characters is just bizarre.

Internet and social media have really contributed to the delusional thinking and parasocial relationships and blurred line between fiction and reality. I can see teens getting caught up in that but middle aged adults - just bizarre.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It might have set a record for how quickly it drove the main cast underground.

As the actor who played Scott said, they didn't anticipate the mass psychosis event and he logged off all social media to get away from the cesspool.

The two leads have resurfaced for the Olympic torch thing after a week or more of disappearing - probably will disappear again for the sake of their safety and sanity.

Has to be frustrating for them that so few are interested in your actual work and your artistry and instead go overboard in reading into and becoming emotionally invested to the point of insanity in what was meant to be a fun series. I am sure they wish they could just talk about how it was fun to film and how they developed their characters etc. That is what the media was about in the early days.

Now it is just people screaming, clawing at them, sobbing, vomiting, wanting to murder their families, watching it repeatedly / obsessively, thinking every movement is sending some kind of deep message to the fans, fantasizing, and overidentifying with the characters / storyline.

but the leads presented an award at the golden globes last week

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It might have set a record for how quickly it drove the main cast underground.

As the actor who played Scott said, they didn't anticipate the mass psychosis event and he logged off all social media to get away from the cesspool.

The two leads have resurfaced for the Olympic torch thing after a week or more of disappearing - probably will disappear again for the sake of their safety and sanity.

Has to be frustrating for them that so few are interested in your actual work and your artistry and instead go overboard in reading into and becoming emotionally invested to the point of insanity in what was meant to be a fun series. I am sure they wish they could just talk about how it was fun to film and how they developed their characters etc. That is what the media was about in the early days.

Now it is just people screaming, clawing at them, sobbing, vomiting, wanting to murder their families, watching it repeatedly / obsessively, thinking every movement is sending some kind of deep message to the fans, fantasizing, and overidentifying with the characters / storyline.

but the leads presented an award at the golden globes last week

Two weeks ago - and that was kind of the peak of 2 weeks of insanity since the release of the last episode. Then one went to Italy for a contracted fashion show, and then they just disappeared for ten days. The related page on reddit spends their days combing media and online sources to try and find out where they are and any new pictures / videos.