The representation of queerness in the past decade on TV has found itself on an uptick. Shows like Heartstopper, Queer Eye, Modern Family, and Schitt’s Creek have led the charge in normalising the existence of queer people on television, and therefore in life. Despite the challenges the queer characters face in these shows, their unbridled joy is often the thing that wins the day. Think Nick and Charlie’s openly thriving relationship in Heartstopper, or David and Patrick’s wedding in Schitt’s Creek. On the other hand, groundbreaking shows like It’s a Sin and Pose, have portrayed queer topics in ways that couldn’t have been imagined even twenty years ago.
These stories have something in common, and that is that they either depict queerness in a palatable fashion for audiences, or they revel in their upsetting storylines solidifying that queerness and suffering are interchangeable. No one is saying that these stories don’t deserve to exist, and in fact we should celebrate them, as any queer story on the screen is a good thing, but it does leave LGBTQ+ people wondering if they deserve a depiction of queer people in a way that heterosexual people are depicted all the time.
Heterosexual sex in film and TV is common as muck. You only have to look at the likes of Normal People, Bridgerton, Euphoria, and The White Lotus in recent years to know that straight people really do get it on. Queer sex does exist in some of these examples but it always plays second fiddle, like it’s something to hide. Queer audiences need something unapologetic, and never has queer sex been quite so unapologetically captured than in Jacob Tierney’s adaptation of Rachel Reid’s book series Game Changers: Heated Rivalry. Heated Rivalry follows two superstar Ice Hockey players, Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), who both rise up the ranks from their rookie seasons to seasoned professionals. On the ice the pair are staunch rivals, playing for different big league teams and attracting press for their clashes. Behind closed doors, however, is quite a different story. Shane and Ilya are engaged in a sexual will they/won’t they relationship that spans years of their lives.
There are fourteen sex scenes across the first series’ six episodes (not that anyone’s counting) and the first episode throws you right into it. Shane and Ilya’s first meeting in a hotel room is the climax of two years of small interactions that led them to each other at that moment. What is so groundbreaking about this scene and the ones that follow it in the first episode, and later ones, is how honest of a depiction it is of queer sex. The cinematography keeps focus on their bodies coming together instead of cutting away, and it’s played for its hotness instead of for laughs. There’s a sensuality and raunchiness to it that has only ever been reserved for queer people’s hetero counterparts in this medium, and that is beautiful.
The first episode continues to race through multiple years on a whistle stop tour through Shane and Ilya’s careers and their secret burgeoning relationship. One might be put off by the swift pace of this episode, but it’s entirely necessary to go through the motions as the pairs’ yearning for each other grows as they plan meetings around the fixtures in their respective calendars. The timeline only moves so fast because that’s the nature of their sport, with them only getting to cross paths a couple of times a year. All that bubbling yearning from their text messages to each other, overflows when they finally get together as their meetings burst with passion. It’s a testament to the framing that Jacob Tierney takes with his adaptation that we feel this yearning just as much and the audience share in the gratification the pair experience in uniting.
Although Tierney’s adaptation of Rachel Reid’s book series is primarily a retelling of the second installment, he brings in the central characters from the first book Game Changers in episode 3. As these character’s stories run concurrently they slot perfectly together and compliment each other in the best way. The third episode follows Scott, a closeted ice hockey player, who begins to fall in love with Kip, the server at his local smoothie shop. Similarly to Shane and Ilya, the pair fall head over heels for each other but have to keep their relationship a secret due to Scott’s profession. Scott’s inner turmoil mirrors the same feelings that Shane exhibits. He wants to be open about his true self, but simply can’t through fear of the repercussions he might face publicly. This lays bare the series’ mission statement, and the themes that are being explored. Yes, the show celebrates gay sex but it’s so much more than that. Highlighting a still ever-present problem within male sports, where gay men feel pressured to keep their true identity a secret because of rampant homophobia and misogyny.
Scott and Kip’s story might seem out of place as it takes us away from Shane and Ilya for a whole episode, especially when there are only six to start with, but it’s integral to the wider picture. At the end of episode three Kip invites Scott to his birthday party but Scott can’t bring himself to do it, putting their relationship on the ropes. But it’s their reintroduction in episode five’s emotionally charged final scene that brings their inclusion to fruition. As Scott wins the MLH cup with his team the New York Admirals he publicly invites Kip down onto the ice and kisses him, in front of the audience, the world, and most importantly Shane and Ilya. This is the driving force for the series finale as Ilya accepts Shane’s invite to spend the summer at his cottage. Even though Scott and Kip’s story is used as a plot device it doesn’t demean its impact, it’s given equal standing and most importantly sows the seed of hope for Shane and Ilya to finally be together after years of hook-ups.
The final episode of Heated Rivalry season 1 (yes we’re getting a season 2, praise the lord!) is the show’s most beautiful so far. Shane and Ilya arrive at Shane’s cottage and even though they are once again behind closed doors, it feels like their walls finally, and properly, come down. As the pair make love, delve into their deepest feelings and secrets it becomes clear, they are meant to be together, they’re soulmates. That privacy bubble bursts however when Shane’s dad walks in on the pair sharing an intimate moment. This sends Shane into a spiral as he has kept his identity a secret from his parents. This leads to a beautifully written scene where Shane takes Ilya to his parent’s house where he finally makes the choice to come out to them. It’s equal parts real, and awkward, and brimming with love. The fact that Shane has the support of Ilya, who declares himself to be Shane’s boyfriend in the same moment is enough to make you sob all the way to the end of the episode (It’s certainly handled better than another coming out scene in a popular TV show recently, naming no names of course).
It’s a miracle that Heated Rivalry has taken the world by storm as it has, especially in the current climate. To see a show that celebrates being gay as much, and as unapologetically, as this does in a time when outward homophobia is on the up brings hope where it felt like there wasn’t any. Its success didn’t just happen however, it’s Jacob Tierney, the cast, and crew taking something that may have only been brushed off as booktok smut and breathing so much life into it. It feels silly to be talking about how a queer show should be paving the way for further widespread representation in the big 2026, but this author hopes it could be a turning point for queerness on our telly screens.
Heated Rivalry is now streaming on HBO MAX and Crave.
Learn more about the series, including how to watch, at the official site for the title.
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