ORtoday February 13 Heated rivalry finally debuts on HBO Max (after 3 months from the global boom and with dubbing being remade because they didn’t like the initial one; in the meantime we will see it in the original). Why such attention, impossible dream of every phone call to any assistance department? One because the platform is not Rai that censors Brokeback Mountain in the late evening. Two because the series, inevitably already consumed in millions of reels and memes (when not actually pirated) carries all the hysterical-protective burden of its fandom (the first dubbing was absolute rubbish though).
Also Queer as folk, LookingIt’s a sin, Travel companionsHeartstopper they had/have fandoms. The difference with Heated rivalry – a love story of disarming, simple, clarity, and sensuality, as well as a happy conclusion – is that this Canadian series has managed to go beyond the gay niche. Making stars out of two strangers: Hudson Williams (the Dsquared2 show opened in January) and Connor Storrie (new internet boyfriend and, it seems, new muse of Luca Guadagnino). Commentary from producers and creator Jacob Tierney: “We thought we did a good job, that’s all.”
Heated rivalryplot and review of the HBO Max series, 6 episodes released weekly
And instead the very secret single combat between Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov (shapely leaders of two hockey teams, the Montreal Metros and the Boston Raiders; the first Canadian of Asian descent, the other Russian; one submissive, the other dominant) has become the pinnacle of sex and yearning not to be missed. Now, I agree that success is never predictable, but the genre books Boy’s love by Rachel Reid from which Heated is drawn (i.e. novels of homosexual love aimed at a female audience) however, they should have led to a certain turmoil.
And in fact it was mainly women who made the series a phenomenon. So taken by this 50 shades of hockey sticks to the point of losing the jug for the alleged flirtation between Connor and François Arnaud (actor who plays Scott Hunter in the series). The accusation? Connor, how dare you betray Shane?; François, decrepit 40 year old, how dare you date a 25 year old?
Connor Storrie (Ilya Rozanov) and Hudson Williams (Shane Hollander) in Heated Rivalry. (Sabrina Lantos/HBO Max)
The gay public is colder, although equally involved by the beautiful looks of Hudson and Connor and the parallel couple of Scott and Kip. Yes, all engaging, tender and passionate and moving, but perhaps these protagonists are all too beautiful and musculari, hence the widespread success. In short, it’s easy to win with compliant, commercial bodies. But, beyond the fact that athletes in constant training usually have above-average bodies, and that between hockey and sex everyone wants to see the latter (HBO Max also says it: «We know you don’t watch it for the hockey, come on!»), Heated rivalry It’s a very well made soap.
Ilya and Shane’s well made soap
An irresistible soap (even if today the slow cooking it’s called cool slow burn), one in which every elementary antagonism, every look of jealousy and understanding, drop of sweat, desire and desire, every squabble and obstacle and ramshackle attempt playing straight works. Also thanks to the brevity, only 6 episodeshowever sufficient to include one that appears to contain for all intents and purposes a departure episode: Ilya’s desperate phone call to Shane, with the latter asking to the lover to speak in Russian even if he doesn’t understand a word.
A series where the obstacle for once it’s not AIDS but the only one – possible – coming out in the homophobic context of sport. That is to say peace with oneself, but probably also the end of one’s career, family affections, everything; for Ilya, Russian, even something more dramatic once he sets foot back in his homeland. In this first season (the second already in progress will be released in 2027), only Scott has the courage to expose himself, who kisses Kip at the end of the game while the other two watch them astonished on TV.
Hudson Williams (Shane) (Sabrina Lantos/HBO Max)
Two athletes lovers in a heated rivalry of attraction and sport
At that point what to do? Go on chatting with fake names having nice explicit sex in hotel rooms for eternity (every time with double orgasm; and if not in a soap where else) or address the issue? An intruder will decide for them in the episode that mixes weekends on Instagram and arthouse films: the escape into The Cottage (as in Bridgerton 4).
A retreat for two that becomes a table for four, a future to organize. Compared to the tears of melodramas, to Elio looking at the fire in the fireplace with swollen eyes on the closing credits of Call me by your nameto the accounts presented to parents who never accepted their son (who died in the meantime), Heated rivalry hurts and soothes gently as if it were an offshoot of the project It Gets Better, the campaign against the suicides of young gays crushed by a horrible present, and instead, precisely, it will get better.
Even cinematographer Jackson Parrell seems to confirm this. He who with zero budget – a Vulture – said he worked on the saturation of the images, on the chromatic progression from the darkness of the hotel rooms of Shane and Connor’s first meetings to the light of the cottage overlooking the lake.
A hopeful arc of exit from the tunnel that goes hand in hand with the fact that the series was shot with meme creators in mind, that is, to those who extract images from a product making them go viral on social media. Certainly aided in this by an image already studied for that use, like, say, already packaged for the phone screen. In the case of Heatedsays Parrell, insisting on always putting the two actors in the same frame (then the producers are surprised if the series went boom, oh well).
The cast of Heated rivalry: two instant star actors in a series shot for meme creators
Meme or meme, the performances of Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie are still admirable. They are the ones who give dignity to a story that is ultimately quite puny (if you look at it Beautiful thingit’s all up YouTubeAnd, Heated it will seem like a Disney film next to a Bergman). However, thanks to the wild dominant role, the criminal face with chiseled lips capable of disarming anyone, however, it is Corrie that stands out (let’s say it is the Paul Mescal of Normal people).
Connor Storrie (Ilya). (Sabrina Lantos/HBO Max)
His covers in skimpy briefs, nice reels like the one where he sings in lipsynch Like a prayerand a sexual objectification of which he appears to have no fear (shrewdly, both he and Williams remain silent about their sexual orientation). He also has the greatest commitment: learn Russian and pretend to be a limping American with a believable accent.
In the USA, since the last episode was put online, Heated rivalry is breaking several streaming records. You see it again, you show it to your boyfriend and your husband. If straight, they are filmed for social benefit, between embarrassment and interest: will it happen in Italy too, even if only through imitation? Maybe. What is certain is that a success of these proportions is not only due to women and gays. So what is it that makes sex between men palatable this time?
On the Internet, where one-line reviews are more effective than the smartest longform, one user wrote that the success of the series was helped a lot by “the absence of wokeness and gender identity”. Not such a lunar thought. Compared with the fluidity of the recent past, rivalry it even appears dated, traditional, the reassuring story of two men – not salesmen, not hairdressers, athletes and macho – who happen to love each other. Stuff that the right could certainly like too.
