Everyone loves a good romance and HBO has been release the Crave series Heated Rivalry weekly. And the show is taking over the online conversation for a good reason: Many believe it is based on their favorite Marvel ship.
Well “believed” is doing a lot of work. It did start, allegedly, as Steve and Bucky fanfiction. As in Steve Rogers and James “Bucky” Bucanan Barnes. But now the show is taking over and telling the love story of Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie). Which is not the Stucky of it all. That is deserved for the beautiful rom-com we got in episode 3 of the series with Scott Hunter (François Arnaud) and Kip (Robbie G.K.).
Heated Rivalry starts with Ilya and Shane meeting as two hockey players before Shane goes on to play for Montreal and Ilya plays for Boston. Throughout the series, we get to see them meeting up in secret, sleeping together, and bringing their tension from the rink into their love story. Characters like Scott seemingly didn’t know about Ilya and Shane until we get to episode 3 and then the rest is kind of hockey history.
But their love story is fascinating to watch unfold. The series is described as follows: “What begins as a secret fling between two fresh-faced rookies evolves into a years-long journey of love, denial, and self-discovery. Over the next eight years, the pair chase glory on the ice while struggling to navigate their feelings off it. Torn between the sport they live for and the love they can’t ignore, Shane and Ilya must decide if there is room in their fiercely competitive world for something as fragile and as powerful as real love.”
If you’re into steamy hockey romance, this one is for you
The show starts off with both Shane and Ilya trying and failing to not be together. Almost instantly, we see the attraction they have for each other and while there is a build up to the two having sex together, it isn’t really a slowburn love. Which is what makes episode 3 of the series so sweet and special. It shows the contrasting love that Scott and Kip have for each other in comparison to what Shane and Ilya’s relationship looks like.
To see both those relationships displayed so beautifully in the first three episodes is amazing. It makes me hopeful for the rest of the run of the series as well with a lot of tension riding on the Olympic games and the worry of many of the characters about being gay while in Russia at the games. What kicked off Scott’s story was Carter Vaughn (Kolton Stewart) talking about how brave Shane’s friend who was in figure skating must be (when Carter assumes that friend is gay).
There are six books in author Rachel Reid’s series and while this series, Heated Rivalry, is based on the third book, it does seem to be pulling from a lot of Reid’s work so it’ll be interesting to see what we do and don’t get within the first season. But so far, it is captivating. And I need more of Scott Hunter, please and thank you.
(featured image: HBO)
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