Heated Rivalry (Crave/HBO-Max)

[Anonymous]

What stood out to me was how Shane was coached by parents in his career (to do as many ads as possible while the getting’s good) and Ilya was on his own and I’m sure missing opportunities.

[Anonymous]

It is the same as a Hallmark movie but with gay characters and more sex scenes.

It isn't deep. It isn't meant to be.

[Anonymous]

I absolutely loved this show

Not a fan of episode 3 but only because it was a (necessary) break from the main storyline.

The gay sex is incredibly hot but the real appeal of the show is in the romance and character development.

Connor Storie' monolog in Russian was great. Favorite part. Followed up by Ilya's conversation with his best friend on the bed about how he could play winger to Shane's center when they are on the same team

[Anonymous]

Subsequent series are never as good. These series with unknown actors in these breakout roles are usually their best acting. They are willing to do just about anything and pour their hearts and souls into it. But once they are known, have professional reputations, have more management, now have fame and fortune - the fire isn't there, they don't want to do much in terms of intimacy / sex scenes and the series go downhill.

The same thing happened in Queer as Folk with Brian and Justin or 911 with TK and Carlos. The first seasons were by far the best and the remaining seasons had little of what made the first seasons great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is the same as a Hallmark movie but with gay characters and more sex scenes.

It isn't deep. It isn't meant to be.

Something to attribute to the show’s popularity is a lack of sappy romance films. It’s basically only Christmas movies and they aren’t very high quality. The only other example I can think of within the last few years is that is super popular is Bridgerton. I’m surprised it took this long for something like this to be made. Romance is the highest selling fiction genre in books.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would watch but gay sex is cringe for me to watch. Is there a lot of it?

It was too long in the fist episode (I just would rewind) but they get better later, I’d just check my phone

You mean fast forward? Or was that a Freudian slip?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The books are pretty badly written, including the premise of a mildly autistic hockey player (no way a mildly autistic person can enjoy or be good at this particular sport, which requires great coordination and lowered sensitivity).
The show is like a great musical clip, well staged and beautiful and with great music as background but very little dramatic development.
I enjoyed the acting of Storrie, hope he gets more roles even though it’s now public that he is gay himself and it’s harder for gay actors to be cast.
The rest of it is truly mediocre.

To the autism piece, I'm no expert but Shane seemed very dialed in to his parents' feelings about not going to Wimbledon - that scene in particular struck me as being not at all autistic. I get it, he always folded his pants when he took them off (right before getting into bed with Ilya), he had a regimented diet, he always drank ginger ale (I didn't find that part to be weird at all - I always ask for a Coke). I just didn't see the autistic piece, maybe slightly OCD with some anxiety, but not autistic. But I didn't read the books and I'm not autistic so maybe I'm wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I absolutely loved this show

Not a fan of episode 3 but only because it was a (necessary) break from the main storyline.

The gay sex is incredibly hot but the real appeal of the show is in the romance and character development.

Connor Storie' monolog in Russian was great. Favorite part. Followed up by Ilya's conversation with his best friend on the bed about how he could play winger to Shane's center when they are on the same team

Really? That was my favorite episode of the whole season because something actually happened. The other episodes I thought were so slow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The books are pretty badly written, including the premise of a mildly autistic hockey player (no way a mildly autistic person can enjoy or be good at this particular sport, which requires great coordination and lowered sensitivity).
The show is like a great musical clip, well staged and beautiful and with great music as background but very little dramatic development.
I enjoyed the acting of Storrie, hope he gets more roles even though it’s now public that he is gay himself and it’s harder for gay actors to be cast.
The rest of it is truly mediocre.

To the autism piece, I'm no expert but Shane seemed very dialed in to his parents' feelings about not going to Wimbledon - that scene in particular struck me as being not at all autistic. I get it, he always folded his pants when he took them off (right before getting into bed with Ilya), he had a regimented diet, he always drank ginger ale (I didn't find that part to be weird at all - I always ask for a Coke). I just didn't see the autistic piece, maybe slightly OCD with some anxiety, but not autistic. But I didn't read the books and I'm not autistic so maybe I'm wrong.

I do t think the author had a very nuanced sense of autism. The actor playing Shane said that his dad (in real life) has autism so he used him as his muse and did some of the things his dad does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:gay porn

Better for masturbating to than a tv show.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would watch but gay sex is cringe for me to watch. Is there a lot of it?

It was too long in the fist episode (I just would rewind) but they get better later, I’d just check my phone

You mean fast forward? Or was that a Freudian slip?

Haha yes FF (in my native Russian it’s the same word btw)
Also btw Ilya sounds like a heritage speaker, props to him mastering a difficult pronunciation and depicting a Slavic man with much precision!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would watch but gay sex is cringe for me to watch. Is there a lot of it?

It was too long in the fist episode (I just would rewind) but they get better later, I’d just check my phone

You mean fast forward? Or was that a Freudian slip?

I was wondering which was the fist episode — I admit I wasn’t exactly clear on everything they were doing to each other

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The books are pretty badly written, including the premise of a mildly autistic hockey player (no way a mildly autistic person can enjoy or be good at this particular sport, which requires great coordination and lowered sensitivity).
The show is like a great musical clip, well staged and beautiful and with great music as background but very little dramatic development.
I enjoyed the acting of Storrie, hope he gets more roles even though it’s now public that he is gay himself and it’s harder for gay actors to be cast.
The rest of it is truly mediocre.

I think there are lots of athletes on the autism spectrum. I don’t know anything about hockey players but I have a strong suspicion about some NFL players both current and in the past. I think “the sport” is their special interest basically, and they can have a single-minded focus on it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is the same as a Hallmark movie but with gay characters and more sex scenes.

It isn't deep. It isn't meant to be. [/quote

I disagree. It’s a layered and nuanced story. You can watch it for the hot men and sex scenes, or you can watch it as a commentary on how society perceives and treats any relationship that is out of the ordinary: gay, older woman/younger man, good girl/wild boy and so on. Toxic stuff esp. in combination with social media and cancel culture. There are also the themes of pressure on young athletes, childhood trauma and how different people deal with that etc.

[Anonymous]

The two leads are excellent actors and the supporting cast is good too