TV Review: Heated Rivalry, Episode 4
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After the emotional resonance of episode three, Heated Rivalry returns us back to the main narrative following Shane and Ilya for the fourth episode. Titled Rose, the episode takes us from 2014-2016, chronicling Shane finally achieving hockey immortality, the increasingly growing feelings between the two men, and Rose Landry.
This episode was a mixed bag in terms of the effectiveness of the adaptation, which is a shame because these chapters of the book are some of the most foundational in understanding the complexities of the feelings of Shane and Ilya. The show wisely includes several beats that Rachel Reid kept off page, including Shane winning back to back Stanley cups. I am still in disbelief that Reid did not include something that would be so monumentally important to her character on the page in a meaningful way, but showrunner Jacob Tierney wisely includes it. Also included are many additional scenes that show how Shane’s star has risen and the way it twists his life around. He does commercial after commercial, gets recognized in public, and has to concoct a story for his teammate about where he’s going.
Hudson, for his part, does do a really good job in this episode once Shane finally cracks and wakes up. The challenge of playing a stoic character, and one that takes the more submissive role sexually, is that storytellers often forget to give them the full weight. Hudson gets to play a version of Shane that’s slowly but surely coming apart at the seams under the weight of not just the secret hooking up, but the growing feelings.
What I love about this point in the story is that for the first time it seems like Shane is standing up for himself. In the aftermath of an episode where two men were brutally honest, we have an episode where these two still can’t even manage to be real with each other, but at least the real emotions are starting to poke through. In the absence of the characters’ thoughts on the page, the show is starting to take the screws to the characters and let them fight their way through. Shane has always been a frustrating character for me (I don’t think I could tolerate a 10th of what that man has let others say and do), but I so enjoyed him finally putting his foot down. Whether it was bristling against his mother’s suggestion of going to Wimbledon or leaving Ilya, Shane’s spine is growing.
Rose Landry’s presence in the narrative is such a crucial element and I am glad that the show gave it the full respect it deserves, even going on to include a sex scene between her and Shane. I have actually been a bit stunned by the commentary I had seen online about people hoping they wouldn’t show one, but for a show that not only delights in the heat, but in the storytelling potential, of that human connection, it would have been a big missed opportunity to not show this to us. These characters are more than just paper dolls to smash together, we want them to have complete arcs.
In the lead up to and during, we get a whole new wrinkle in the character that is Shane. Gone are the heat and spontaneity that seem to sizzle when he’s with Ilya, and it its place was something more perfunctory, ordinary, and a bit unsure. Allowing us to see the full depth of Shane’s life and exploration of his sexuality enriches the story. Plus, it was worth it if only to end the episode with the visual of Shane and Ilya engaging in sex acts but looking ahead as if they’re looking at each other.
Speaking of visuals, while I have raved about how well shot this series has been, episode 4 is the first time I was able to really feel the constraints the production was under. There are some really fascinating visual moments (the crashing into the glass cutting to back shots and the ending club sequence) but for the most part everything felt so flat. Even the aquarium scenes, with their aquas and silhouettes, felt empty in a way they shouldn’t have.
Most depressingly though, the scenes in Ilya’s apartment are so flat and visually unappealing they nearly sap the whole episode of any momentum. If it weren’t fort for Hudson Williams rescuing the scene at the end, I would have been despondent. In the books, these scenes occur at night and while I understand the thematics and the visuals of the daytime, the show moves from stylized naturalism to basic in a way that cheapens the experience.
I honestly do not know how they are going to cram what they need to to finish the first book in this season, but we are certainly going to be in for a wild ride in the final two episodes.
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