The penultimate episode of the first season of Heated Rivalry has built to a climatic finish leaving fans eager for the next episode in the series.
Don’t read any further if you have not seen the episode yet, there are spoilers ahead.
Over the previous four episodes of the season we’ve traversed many years and seen the sexual relationship between ice hockey players Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov.
We’ve also had a detour into the lives of New York based player Scott Hunter and his romance with smoothie store staffer Kip.
The fifth episode of the season sees us following Russian born Ilya and Canadian Shane as they reflect on their most recent time together when they slipped from meeting each others sexual needs to just enjoying being around each other.
Shane has a moment when his film star girlfriend Rose Landy sits him down and just straight out asks him he’d rather be kissing her male co-star, describing their mismatched relationship as a “square peg in a round hole”.
Soon Shane is sharing that in a relationship he “prefers being the hole rather than the peg.”
The next time Shane crosses paths with Ilya he tries to share that he’s maybe looking for something more than a fuckbuddy, but its not clear if Ilya is having the same romantic feelings, or struggles with his sexual identity.
Pushed about coming out Ilya points out that such a declaration would cut him off from his family, and prevent him from ever returning to Russia.
Soon however both their lives are thrown into turmoil. Shane collides with another player from Ilya’s team and knocked unconscious on the ice. As lays old cold, Ilya looks on worried about how injured his secret lover might be. Later he sneaks into the hospital to check on him.
His injuries put Shane out playing for the rest of the season, and soon Ilya has his own dramas as he rushes home to Russia following the death of his father. Not long after he’s back in the USA Ilya’s team is knocked out of the competition, leaving them both watching the grand final from their respective couches.
The team who have made it to the Grand Final though is the New York Raiders captained by Scott Hunter. Winning the game the team raise the cup for the first time in almost three decades, making Scott’s lifetime dream come true.
As the players wives and girlfriends pour out and hug each other in celebration, Scott looks into the crowd and sees Kip, and motions for him to come down on to the ice.
The commentators can’t work out what is going on, Ilya and Shane are texting each other confused by what is going down.
Then as thousands of fans look on Scott takes Kip by the hand, leads him onto the ice and kisses him while the stadium breaks into cheers.
Ilya dials Shane and tells him he’s ready to take the next step, and spend the summer together at his remote and private cottage.
The final episode of this season of Heated Rivalry is titled The Cottage and it will arrive on Boxing Day on HBO Max and it can’t come soon enough.
