Christmas may be over, but “Heated Rivalry” had one last gift for viewers on Friday: an achingly beautiful finale that put a pretty little bow on a perfect first season of television.
“Perfect,” you ask? Yes, perfect. It’s not a word we throw around lightly, but in this case, the hockey skate definitely fits. Sure, the show first garnered attention for its “smut content,” but it quickly became so much more than that — a constant stream of awe-inspiring performances from a stellar ensemble cast, telling some of the most dynamic love stories we’ve ever seen on the small screen. And all in just six episodes!
The highly anticipated finale begins at the MLH Awards, where Scott — fresh off his, ahem, game-changing kiss with Kip on live television — delivers a powerful speech about the importance of living without fear, giving his better half another sweet shout-out through the screen. (Do we wish Scott had brought Kip as his date to the big event? Of course. But the fact that they’ve gone public at all is a huge deal, so we won’t complain. There’s always next year!)
Emboldened by Scott’s courage, Ilya agrees to join Shane for some alone time at his romantic cabin hideaway, a magical place where the two finally explore what their life could be like as a couple. They frolic in the lake, they grill delicious dinners for two, and Ilya gets a crucial lesson in the differences between wolves and birds.
“You get to kind of breathe,” Connor Storrie (Ilya) tells Variety of the couple’s time at the cain. “They get to be normal on some level, which is what [series creator Jacob Tierney] talks about when he says the ‘happy ending.’ I think what he’s referring to is being emotionally regulated, emotionally aware enough to look each other in the eyes and be like, ‘I love you, let’s do this.’ And then whatever that looks like afterwards, they’re like, ‘We’re going to sign up for it. We’re signed up and we’re locked in.'”
Shane and Ilya come clean
But what goes up must come down, as the old saying goes, and Shane’s world comes crashing down in spectacular fashion when his dad pays a surprise visit to the cottage. After catching Shane and Ilya in the act, he rushes out just as quickly as he arrived, sending Shane into a deep spiral. His worst nightmare has come true, but Ilya won’t let him succumb to catastrophe, instead suggesting that perhaps it’s time for Shane to wake up.
With his now-boyfriend (!) Ilya by his side, Shane finally tells his parents everything, including that he and Ilya have been concealing their relationship since their rookie days. Shane being gay doesn’t exactly catch them by surprise (they’ve had their suspicions), but they never expected him to be with Ilya, having fully bought into the players’ supposed “rivalry.” Ilya lets Shane do most of the talking, only interjecting when necessary, all the while comforting him under the table with a supportive game of footsie.
Then comes arguably the most beautiful moment of the episode, as Shane’s mom tearfully apologizes for making him feel like he couldn’t be honest with her, making sure he knows how proud she is of him. It’s everything a queer child could ever hope to hear from a parent, resulting in an incredibly healing moment both for the characters on screen and for the viewers watching through tears at home. It’s also a deeply humanizing moment for Shane’s mom, who has previously been depicted as a career-obsessed momager with a one-track mind.
Shane’s moving moment with his mom was written entirely for the show
This interaction between Shane and his mother, Yuna, was not in Rachel Reid’s books upon which the show is based, but it’s one that Tierney felt was important to include for multiple reasons.
“[Shane] is a tricky character,” Tierney tells The Hollywood Reporter. “He’s so internal, and his struggles are so internal. I think Yuna is too. They are actually quite similar. I really felt like those two needed a moment together. Not just because of where we’ve come from, but also because of where we’re going, and how involved Yuna is in the rest of their story. How crucial a role she plays. I think that my little gay heart just needed a moment with Shane and his mom. They needed to talk and that was it.”
Ilya and Shane part ways with his parents at the end of the hour, hitting the road with a full gas tank and even fuller hearts, comforted by the possibility that they could someday live their authentic lives for all the world to see. As the credits roll, Ilya and Shane quite literally ride off into the sunset; Shane does his best to keep his eyes on the road, while never taking his hands off Ilya. After an incredibly complicated, emotional season, it’s a refreshingly simple ending — which is exactly what Tierney, who also wrote and directed the finale, had in mind.
“They get to be in love,” Tierney tells THR. “That’s all that I wanted was the simplicity of that, of just letting them have a [moment].” Tierney can’t spill too many secrets about Season 2 just yet, but he does promise that it will “continue to be as intimate and handmade” as the first.
And there you have it, folks. Season 1 of “Heated Rivalry” has reached its triumphant conclusion. Was the finale everything you hoped it would be? And do you agree with our assertion that this was, in fact, a perfect first season of TV? Grade the finale and season via our polls below, then drop a comment with your full review of the show that’s had social media in a vice group for the past two months.
