Heated Rivalry Episode 4 “Rose” takes us deep into romance territory. But this is not a rom-com, but a drama. One with a lot of miscommunication, pining, and your requisite misunderstanding, which could be easily solved (or at the very least greatly improved) if the two people at the center ever talked to each other.
Even if this is far from a rom-com, there is, however, a certain sense of joy—which cannot be confused with laughter—at the thought that these two men are being so obvious about their feelings for each other, yet somehow still manage to miss the clear feelings on both their sides even when they’re staring them in the face. There’s none so blind as one who will not see and all that.
You know the whole “who fell first, who fell harder” argument? The books give you an answer—though I think even in the books there’s an argument to be made for the other way around. The show kinda flips the script, and it works as well as it did in the books. Because it doesn’t even matter who fell first. What matters is that, by this point in the show, they’ve both fallen hard. And there’s really no getting out of this.
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IT’S NOT SERIOUS OR ANYTHING
Ilya tries to pretend that what’s happening between him and Shane is still just sex, but I’ll argue it never really was just sex. Sure, there was attraction, that’s how it started. But there was also, from very early on, trust. And that’s a great foundation for what has turned into a friendship that has always had romantic undertones because these men are having sex every time they see each other.
But was it ever just that? There has been care in every one of their interactions, a desire to make sure the other person is okay, too, that they’re enjoying it as well. This isn’t a casual, “I take what I want and leave,” and proof of that is that the only time Ilya tried to frame it as that, he ended up as miserable as Shane was. Instead, these are two people who fell into bed together first and then realized that they actually liked each other.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg, of course, but in “Rose,” neither Shane nor Ilya is ready to admit that, at least not out loud. But in this hour, it’s clear that Ilya is closer. Perhaps because he had no qualms about having these feelings for a man, his only problem is having these feelings for Shane, and not being able to do anything about it because… what could they possibly do? Come out? Right now, that feels impossible.
Shane, on the other hand, is dealing with having these feelings for a man and having these feelings for Ilya at the same time. And what does he do with that? He runs the other way. But some things are very hard to escape.
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“SHANE….ILYA”
The whole scene at Ilya’s place is so unbearably soft, and the one pushing the change in tone is Ilya. I’m not saying he is because Shane doesn’t want to, honestly, Shane has wanted to do the same for a while. But he’s been taking his cues from Ilya from the beginning, and especially after Vegas, he can’t… won’t be the one to risk it. But Ilya meets him halfway in what they both clearly want in this episode, and introduces another facet to their relationship.
Sure, they have sex first. But then they just… hang out. Ilya makes Shane a tuna melt. They watch hockey. Talk about hockey! They cuddle on the couch. Shane brings up Ilya’s family, and he doesn’t answer, but he also doesn’t seem upset at being seen, at least not by Shane. And later, as they start kissing, there’s not just passion in their touches, there’s reverence, there’s love.
It comes out in the only way they can say things, for now, in their names. Names they’ve never used with each other. It’s always Holland and Rozanov, because that allows them to keep some distance. Except that distance is gone now, and that part is scary. Because while there was that distance, they could pretend feelings weren’t involved. They could pretend that every second of being together wasn’t breaking them, because it wasn’t that they couldn’t be together… it was that they didn’t want to.
But the mask falls this episode. It was always going to. And it’s Shane who can’t handle it. It’s Shane who runs so hard the other way that he falls into the arms of a woman. But let’s be clear, Ilya might be more in touch with his feelings, but he also wouldn’t know how to reach for what he wants. At least, not yet.
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“I CAN’T DO THIS”
In many ways, this is an admission on the part of Shane. What can’t he do? He can’t do more than sex. And Ilya clearly understands what he’s not saying. At this point, they’ve been having “casual” sex for years, and it was easier when neither of them was doing anything to break that bubble. While they could both pretend it was just that, sex. No feelings involved.
They can’t anymore. That’s why we get Rose. And let’s be clear, that is all very unfair to Rose. Because Shane likes her, yes. But he isn’t attracted to her, and he won’t develop feelings for her. A part of him has, perhaps, always suspected that. But he’s so scared of what he feels for Ilya that he lets himself pretend, once again. And just as it’s unfair to her, it’s unfair to him.
Not just because he has feelings for Ilya, but also because he just doesn’t want to have sex with a woman. It’s sad how even someone who has already come to terms with the fact that he’s attracted to men (at least in private) can still fall into the trap of compulsory heterosexuality. Because Shane isn’t with Rose just for his image, he’s actually trying to catch feelings for her. He’s trying to get over Ilya.
It won’t work. Shane seems to realize it at the end of the episode. But the “Rose” experiment also caused something else… a reaction from Ilya. He already seemed more aware of what he wanted and why he wanted it. By the end of the episode, it’s getting harder for both of them to ignore it.
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GREEN EYED MONSTER
Ilya doesn’t blush, and I’m sure Ilya doesn’t get jealous. At least that’s what he would say. Because Ilya in this episode is very much jealous. He’s so jealous it’s making him silly. He’s so jealous he’s posturing for Shane, because as we see at the end of the episode, he didn’t even take that girl he was making out with to make Shane jealous home. He didn’t want to. He only wanted Shane.
The ironic part is that, throughout most of the time their “arrangement” has been going through, it’s been Ilya who has been treating it as more of a casual thing, sleeping with women. And yet he can’t stand the thought of Shane doing the same. Partly, because I think Ilya understands who Shane is, deep down. And partly because what they have isn’t casual. Ilya doesn’t want it to be casual.
In many ways, though, that’s scarier. I said it before, but in Shane and Ilya’s minds, they have no choice. If they ever let themselves dream of anything, it might be what Scott said to Kip just last episode, playing out their entire careers, and maybe, after they retire, they could quietly try something real. That, in their minds, is the best-case scenario, and neither of them is really ready for the long-term implications of that. It’s easier to think this can’t happen, and since this can’t happen, I don’t have feelings.
But “I don’t have feelings because I don’t want to have feelings,” isn’t how it works. You can’t control it. Feelings might be complicated, but Ilya is already in too deep. So is Shane. Now, what they need is hope that their story doesn’t have to end in tragedy.
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THAT’S NOT WHO YOU ARE
This episode also manages to showcase, in one single conversation with Shane’s parents, how much Ilya has become the one person that truly knows Shane and vice versa. This relationship they have, keeping it secret, has made them both act in ways they may not have under any other circumstances. And they can both try to pretend it’s just convenience, but keeping a years-long “casual” sexual relationship with your archrival takes work. And they’ve both put in the work.
Not just to be able to meet, but to keep the bubble around themselves. Ilya has that part easier, because what he has with Shane isn’t something he’d want to share with his family, and he doesn’t have a friend as close as Hayden. Shane, on the other hand, is lying to his parents—parents he trusts with everything, and who would be very supportive if he decided to come out—his best friend, and often himself. That’s how he keeps it all up.
This episode breaks the bubble. And though “Rose” might look like the catalyst to that realization, she isn’t even that. She’s just collateral damage in Shane’s attempts to trick himself into being the kind of person the world expects of him. Now, it’s time for Shane to break free of expectations. What will that take? And what will it take for Ilya to dare say the things we know he feels out loud?
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of Heated Rivalry Episode 4 “Rose”? Share with us in the comments below!
Episodes 1-4 of Heated Rivalry are now available to stream in the US on HBO Max.
Beautifully written! Thank you!
I don’t agree with you analysis with what happened Ilya’s place. Shane loves that Ilya doesn’t just ask him to leave and that it is the first time it feels like something more than sex. He isn’t afraid of that. He desperately wants it. But than Ilya starts talking about girls and having sex with them and this upsets Shane. He thinks it is just the same as before and he won’t allow himself to be vulnerable so he leaves. Ilya didn’t have to start talking about girls but again he did as he keeps , willing or unwillingly, trying to keep the relationship distant. He is the one that is afraid, not Shane. At the club when Shane is staring at him , to me it is like he is telling Ilya that is Ilya’s fault they are both miserable – that Ilya keeps pushing him away.
Thanks for sharing your opinion! I agree that Shane loves it and deep down wants it, but I’m not sure Shane is ready to admit he wants that with Ilya. I think Ilya is scared, yes! Of course. But in that moment the one reacting out of fear is Shane. And I don’t think that fear has anything to do with Ilya mentioning girls (Shane knows their relationship is casual and that Ilya also likes women), but with the fact that Shane, who reads autistic, couldn’t handle the way emotion was brought into the relationship so abruptly. It was too much for him at once, and he “couldn’t do it” aka couldn’t handle it. The shift was too abrupt and it terrified him.