Ron Does Stuff

I mean, is there really a need for introductions here? The whole world has been talking about Heated Rivalry, I’m just catching up!

Full disclosure: I haven’t read the books yet. I usually try to do that first whenever I watch an adaptation, but I don’t think I can wait any longer. So here I am, watching Shane Hollander watch Ilya Rosanov try to light a cigarette with a lighter. And having watched so many Heated Rivalry-related interviews before even watching this show, it really is amazing how different Connor Storie sounds in real life compared to his Ilya Rosanov voice.

Maybe this isn’t something non-Filipinos can relate to, but Hudson Williams’ Shane Hollander looks and sounds so much like your best friend’s clean-cut kuya, that you just know has a freaky side, especially when we first see him on the ice and he’s focused. My fellow Pinoys, back me up here. And Connor Storie’s Ilya Rosanov? Oh, in this 2008 segment of the show so far, he would have been the hot bad boy I would have crushed on back in high school. Especially when he was taunting Shane with “See you at the draft.”

We then move to the draft and Shane spacing out while the Montreal guy is talking to his mom about picking him during the draft and it kinda reminded me of myself whenever I was stressing over my grades? Kuya shit.

I also love that shot of Shane looking up at Ilya while his mom is basically selling him to the Montreal guy and then we see what’s going up there with Ilya and it’s sorta the same thing that Shane is going through — trying to live up to your parents’ expectations of you.

Also, this is showing my age, but that biking scene reminds me a bit of Sommersturm, which you guys could check out if you can find it online. And I really have to commend Conner Storie here because those little smirks really do go a long way. We then jump another six months, and now we see even more cracks in Ilya’s cocky facade. The overbearing father we already saw, but now we also know that he has a ne’er-do-well brother as well. But then the small smile he shows when Shane tells him that they’ll see each other again in October? Oh, I wanna praise the triumvirate of Jacob Tierney, Connor Storie, and Hudson Williams.

Then there’s yet another six month time jump, and it’s a good thing that social media prepared me for this because it doesn’t seem as jarring the way some people on social media said it was. And this whole shoot thing, I like how they’ve effectively used this as a shorthand of the two of them starting to maybe open up to each other, especially when Ilya lets slip that he was the one who asked for this commercial/photoshoot.

AND THEN WE GET TO THE SHOWER SCENE. EVERYBODY’S SEEN THE BUTTS ANYWAY SO I WON’T POST IT ANYMORE BUT THAT BUTT ON CONNOR STORIE. DAMN. For some reason, this is really reminding me of Sommersturm despite their plots not being similar at all. They just seem to have the same vibe. And then we get Ilya raising his eyebrows at Shane and my goodness. I’ve been replaying that again and again like a GIF or something. In fact, I’ve been replaying this shower scene again and again. I’M NOT APOLOGIZING FOR IT. Like…the expressions Ilya is making as he’s jacking it in front of Shane? You know a gay man directed this.

After giving his room number to Ilya, Shane’s staying up to see if Ilya does knock, and…well, Ilya does knock, but unbeknownst to Shane, Ilya had a little run-in with Shane’s mom. But he doesn’t need to know that. What Shane needs to know, what Shane needs to hear, what Shane needs to feel, is Ilya Rosanov’s thumb in his mouth. And boy did he acclimate to that thumb pretty quickly. AND THEN KNEELING DOWN WITHOUT BEING PROMPTED? WHAT HAPPENED TO HELLO, HOW ARE YOU.

I mean, in much the same way that video reactors have to blur this out when they react to it, I don’t know what else to say about the sex scenes. Hot? Realistic? Jacob Tierney in an interview talked about how he didn’t want the sex scenes to be too smooth and it definitely isn’t and that just gives it that extra touch of ~verisimilitude~. Shane awkwardly trying to find the right position, Ilya not quite knowing where to put his hands as Shane re-positions himself, it’s not smooth but it doesn’t break the steaminess of the scene?

Then we jump forward three months, and Shane is looking at video of Ilya with fondness in his eyes. That blowjob with the swallow did you in. But he eventually wrenches himself from that to meet with his parents, where he learns that he now is a Rolex ambassador? Also, YouTube was just starting here. My goodness, the memories of the pre-YouTube days are coming back to me. Does anybody remember RealPlayer?

Anyways, we get to another game between Shane’s team and Ilya’s team, and this time around it’s Shane who’s scored against Ilya. This time around, we get to see Ilya sulking in Russian, and again, Connor Storie just sounds like he actually is Russian. Although I am basing this on what little I know of actual Russian people, but Russians online have said that he sound really Russian. On top of that, his brother is asking for $20,000, which is a lot of fucking money! That’s P1,180,970 based on current exchange rates!

After that depressing picture, we jump to four months later, where the All-Star game is between Team Hollander versus Team Rozanov, and we get the foot-tapping thing that book readers have been screaming about. Again, just like with the commercial shoot, I love how efficiently this show portrays the two of them getting closer emotionally, just by showing their feet tapping against each other.

Then we get another sex scene, but they’re moving past oral this time around. Ang again, I don’t know what else I can say here that I haven’t said before? This show, so far, has achieved that perfect mix of realism and a dash of fantasy when it comes to its sex scenes. It’s awkward enough to make it realistic but not too much that it just loses the steaminess.

The two of them arrange to meet again two weeks later, but snow prevents it from happening. While Shane goes out to dinner with a teammate and his wife, Ilya stays at home and…sees his girlfriend in the house. Or at least someone he hooks up with regularly, because seeing a text from Shane “Jane” Hollander on Ilya’s phone doesn’t distress her too much.

Another time jump, this time around four months into the future, where the Rookie of the Year is set to be awarded. Of course, Shane and Ilya are up for the award, with Shane winning it in the end. But what should be a happy night for Shane turns sour pretty quickly when he sees Ilya and tries to engage him in conversation. Shane’s hurt that Ilya didn’t show up for him during that moment of victory, not knowing about Ilya’s not at all ideal family life. There’s also the fact that Shane still can’t admit to himself just yet that he might like like Ilya that leads to an awkward separation between the two of them and the promise of seeing each other “next season.”

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