Heated Rivalry Episode 6 Review: A Soft Place to Land

Heated Rivalry Episode 6 ‘The Cottage’ is the end of this part of the story, and proof that queer stories—even ones that aren’t fully about coming out, can be about joy. About tenderness. About belonging. The episode, a more subdued and yet still very impactful hour, sees Hudson Wiliams and Connor Storrie deliver contained performances that feel like a punch in the gut, the good way.

There isn’t one moment in ‘The Cottage’ that is as big in scope as any moment in ‘I’ll Believe in Anything,’ and nothing comes close to the big Scott and Kip scene, but it doesn’t have to. In fact, the episode is designed to be a pocket in time for Shane and Ilya, and to give them, and us, a safe place to land.

It works, just as everything in this show has, because Williams and Storrie are capable of having us glued to our screens with the force of their chemistry for 45+ minutes. But it also works very much because Jacob Tierney and Rachel Reid, before him, understood the power of queer joy. This, in many other cases, would be when the story goes astray. It isn’t here.

Not that there are no challenges, those are implicit and understood. They exist because the world is what it is. And Shane and Ilya will have to face them. But for now, they can ride off into the sunset together, two men who finally understand what they mean to each other and have been able to put it into words. And that, well… that’s why we’ll be playing the entire season on repeat for months to come. This isn’t just porn; it never was. It’s actually comfort. And we rarely get that in queer media.

MORE: Read our general review of Heated Rivalry

IT’S MAYBE IMPORTANT THAT I DO

The episode starts with Scott’s speech at the MLH awards, as it should, because Scott’s speech gives us a nice bookend to his story, and it also conceptualizes Shane and Ilya’s decisions. Sure, Season 1 doesn’t really go deep into why coming out is so hard in the context these players are living in, but in many ways, it doesn’t really need to. We know what the world is like. And even those unfamiliar with the sports atmosphere and the NHL one in particular can fill in the blanks.

And the season does give us glimpses. Ilya’s brother uses a slur at one point. Scott’s entire storyline in Episode 3 is about his fear of coming out. And then, the speech goes even further. “I may be the thing hockey players like to throw around as an insult,” Scott says, and he also mentions the locker room talk in the present tense to make it clear that just because he came out, it doesn’t mean it was easy. It doesn’t mean it is easy for anyone who might come after him. Especially two people who have built a career out of not just being good, but having a rivalry.

But Scott also brings up how lonely it is to keep the secret, and as much as that’s a nod to his story, it’s a clue about what comes next for these two. Because now that Shane and Ilya are all in, they’re basically in the same spot Scott and Kip were in during “Hunter,” and that’s still a very complicated and lonely place to exist in.

There’s hope, though. In people clapping for Scott. In his words. Because fear is, indeed, a powerful thing. But love is even stronger. He figured it out. Now, it’s Shane and Ilya’s turn.

MORE: See why we called Heated Rivalry Episode 5 one of the best TV episodes of the year

I WOULD LIKE TO RELAX WITH YOU

That first car ride is such an important moment for reconceptualizing Shane and Ilya’s relationship, and Williams and Storrie both play the moment wonderfully, even if we’re not even seeing their full expressions. Shane is as open as he’s ever been, because ever since he accepted his feelings for Ilya, he has been way less afraid of their intimacy. He still fears the judgment of the world at large, but he’s way more confident in the dynamic between them.

Ilya, meanwhile, has always—despite having more to lose—been way less afraid of the world at large, and that means that at this point, with everything on the line, he’s way more afraid of this next step they’re taking. But he owns it. He puts it out there. And then, he tries.

The two planned weeks at the cottage are, for both of them, a chance to do something they could never do before: just be, together. They are two people who know each other pretty well and yet don’t know nearly as much of each other as they should, considering they have been in something resembling a relationship for years. This is their chance to figure out the mundane things about one another. Their little likes and dislikes, quirks and preferences.

A relationship, a real one, is made up of so much more than the big moments. Shane and Ilya have had those, and they have the sexual chemistry. But how you adjust to having someone in your space for a prolonged period of time, and how you make space for them, is still immensely important. And perhaps more important is that they’re both choosing to do this, to learn. Even before they’ve said the words, that speaks of permanence.

MORE: Did you miss our review of Episode 4 “Rose”? Check it out here!

ALSO, LIKE…TERRIFIED

But it is, indeed, terrifying. For many reasons. There are the practical ones: what happens if they’re seen? If someone figures out they’re spending time together? How does the MLH react? Their teams? Their fans? Sure, it didn’t go so badly for Scott Hunter, but he’d just won the cup, and his boyfriend isn’t someone involved with hockey, so no one can say Kip is pulling focus away from Scott. Or worse yet, suggest that they aren’t going all out when playing each other because of their feelings.

And yet, in this moment, at the beginning, perhaps the biggest fear is not this big picture thing. It’s smaller, more contained, as is the entire episode. Perhaps the biggest fear that they absolutely overcome in this hour is the feeling that, as big as this step feels, it doesn’t mean the same to both of them. That the love is one-sided, or at least, not as strong for both of them.

Ilya is terrified. So is Shane. And yet, they’re trying. Because once Scott did what he did, there was a ray of hope for their relationship, and that was all they needed. The feelings that exist between them are there, have been there. Even if they haven’t been said out loud.

And, like Ilya says later, once those feelings are out in the open, well… it doesn’t kill him anymore, the distance, the longing. It is, of course, not a fix. The situation will continue to be complicated, to say the least. They’re not yet free to love each other out in the open. But they can love each other and know that, whatever happens, neither of them is alone. That’s a big thing.

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HONESTY

Their time in the cottage gets off to a great start with Shane asking Ilya that, for the next two weeks, they be honest with each other about what they feel and what they want. It feels like a simple ask, but for two people who have operated on plausible deniability for years, it isn’t. Ilya only says he’ll try, but in many ways, he starts it by telling Shane that he hasn’t been with anyone since the last time they were together.

It feels like a small thing, but for two people who have been “f**ckbuddies” for years, it’s a huge declaration. They were never exclusive. What they had was just convenient. And then, feelings started getting involved. But even then, they both ran in the opposite direction, and that sometimes took them to other people. People who tried to trick themselves into believing they could work, or perhaps people who were just good for a momentary distraction.

After their last time, when they said so much without being able to say anything, that’s no longer true for either of them. Shane didn’t confess his love during the All-Star Game, and Ilya didn’t reciprocate, but the weight of the things they didn’t say was still something they both carried. It was something they both knew. And after they knew, well… both of them would have felt like cheating if they continued to treat their arrangement like what it was before.

Ironically, neither Shane nor Ilya said anything before this moment at the cottage. Perhaps because they didn’t have the words. Maybe because admitting it would have given away too much. Either way, in the cottage, it’s all cards on the table. And this is the first one.

MORE: Check out our review of Heated Rivalry Episode 3!

PARENTS

The two conversations they have about their parents underscore how serious this relationship is getting. Shane talks about his parents, Yuna and David, and he does so like he’s talking to a boyfriend he’d love to introduce his parents to. Of course, at the moment, this is something they both believe is impossible, but that doesn’t change the tone of the conversation, the longing.

And Shane not telling his parents, as much as he makes it about Ilya, is less about his “lover” than it is about the fact that Shane knows he cannot confess a) he’s gay, without confessing b) he’s in love with Ilya. The two things have become so intertwined in his mind that he cannot separate them from each other. And so, the easiest thing to do is not say anything.

He isn’t the only one who shares, though. Ilya shares about his mother Irina in a moment so intimate and subdued that it’s hard to believe Storrie isn’t an actor with a longer trajectory. How can he make Ilya say so much while saying so many words? How can he convey both pain, longing, and love for someone he lost and perhaps never fully understood as well as he might have wanted to, without saying more than a few words?

The same way Williams can make his Shane a safe space for Ilya just with body language, probably. These are two performers who have truly elevated the characters by treating them with not just care, but respect. It shows in the big moments, but it especially, especially, shows in the smaller ones. With or without stupid Canadian wolf birds.

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I HAVE THIS PROBLEM

The biggest declaration comes from Ilya, again. And yet, this scene, as much as Ilya is the one saying the words, is Shane’s. Williams goes through a rollercoaster of emotions in just a few seconds as Ilya talks about how he loves women and women love him, but he can’t stop thinking about this slow hockey player with beautiful freckles and a weak backhand. The declaration hits, but Shane’s reaction hits even harder.

You can see everything in Williams’ performance. Pain. Longing. Fear. Love. Determination. Sometimes two or three things at once. The tears never fall, but his eyes water and go soft, and there’s so much to hold onto there. So much to dissect. It is, perhaps, Williams’ finest moment in the show so far, because it is Shane finally allowing himself to feel and say what he feels.

And yet, let me be clear, Williams has been outstanding so far. He cannot be compared to Storrie’s Ilya, because the characters are so different and the demands are so dissimilar. Neurodivergent characters are often so hard to play in a way that feels both realistic and relatable, and yet Shane Hollander is the type of character not only Ilya Rozanov loves, but that we love too. That’s thanks to Williams, a great script, and solid source material.

The moment is played perfectly, but it also hits so very hard because it is an encapsulation of what this relationship has been about. There are easier paths for both Shane and Ilya. But, from the moment they met, the only path that was ever going to work for both was one they walked together. And now, they’re taking those first steps.

MORE: Check out our review of Heated Rivalry Episode 2!

YA TEBYA LYUBLYU

It’s love. How can anyone doubt it? And though Ilya says it first, and Ilya has taken a lot of the first steps in this relationship, at this moment, he says it because Shane puts his heart on the line too. Because Shane comes up with a plan for them to park the rivalry and transition to friends in public. Because Shane admits that he wants the two of them to be together, that he has plans for the future. And that’s everything Ilya wanted to hear, everything he dreamed of. And in that moment, he just can’t keep it in.

We understand that the first time he says it, it’s more instinct than a decision because he says it in Russian. But then Ilya takes a moment, looks directly at Shane, and says it in English too. And he’s terrified. They have been talking about a future together, but these words are bigger than that. Especially for someone like Ilya, who has never really had a love he can call his own. It is walking out on a limb and doing it because Shane is worth it.

And Shane reciprocates, of course, but he also is the one of the two to acknowledge how wild it all is. When he does, though, Ilya can break down. He can let himself go and cry and perhaps also exhale in relief because, this time, things worked out for him. This time, he didn’t go out of his way to please someone who could never love him the way he deserved. This time, he jumped, and Shane was there to catch him. And that is all Ilya wanted, his entire life.

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WE WERE BOTH VERY STUPID

I said it before, but even Shane and Ilya admit that there are easier paths here. Paths they could have and perhaps should have taken. But now, well, now they’re in too deep to turn back.

There’s a moment, with them on the bed, that feels like Ilya in particular, sitting with the enormity of it all. Of what he has. What he can now lose. Of what comes next now that he has admitted he wants Shane. That moment is interrupted, but it feels like a setup for what comes next. Because Season 1 is a happy ending of sorts for Shane and Ilya, but it also isn’t really. It’s a happy for now.

Now they know what they have. And by the end of the episode, Shane’s parents know too, and they support them. Their bubble has gotten bigger. But it’s still, without a doubt, a bubble. And at some point, reality will intrude, and they will have to deal with that.

But if you’re about to worry, consider this. All stories require a conflict. The best sorts of conflicts in romance are the ones that see two characters face external issues together. Doesn’t mean it won’t get complicated, but it does mean that this is no longer about Ilya and Shane not knowing how the other feels or if they want to be together. Instead, this is now about finding a place in the world (and in hockey) where they can be.

And that’s a story worth telling. For Shane and Ilya, and for anyone who might see themselves in them and might not know if there’s a way forward.

MORE: Check out our review of Heated Rivalry Episode 1!

MAYBE IT’S TIME TO WAKE UP

Shane is faced with his worst nightmare in this episode when his dad walks in on him and Ilya. And yet, what he gets is a supportive boyfriend who is there to be like, “Hey, you’re alright.” Someone to hold him and tell him that he is brave and he can do this, he can go talk to his parents. And also, someone who is willing to go into the line of fire with him because, well… that’s what you do when you see a future with someone.

There’s something unbearably soft about the conversation Shane and Ilya have, just as there has been something very tender about all the moments the two have shared this episode. We’ve seen Shane and Ilya through every step in their relationship, and it has never looked like this. Because this is committed. This is loving. This is… how you treat the person who is going to be your forever.

Shane is freaking out, but he doesn’t completely spiral into anxiety because he’s not alone. Because he doesn’t have to face this scary conversation that is no longer just about his sexuality but about the man he’s in love with, by himself. Because Ilya is standing there, promising to be by his side not just in their bubble of love, but outside of it.

It feels like a nightmare for Shane. Not just his father finding out he’s gay, or that he’s been sleeping with Ilya, but that he has lied for years. And sometimes, having parents that love you and support you means you fear disappointing them so much that something like this feels like the worst-case scenario. But Shane is not alone. And that changes everything.  

MORE: Scott and Kip are an essential part of Heated Rivalry

BUT YOU HATE HIM

The circumstances being what they are, Shane still didn’t have to come to his parents with his “lover” and admit about ten seconds into the conversation that he’s in love with Ilya while Ilya stands there, in the back, trying to look like he’s a good boyfriend. It’s kind of hilarious, if you think about it, because Shane goes from “this is a disaster” to “here’s all the information.” And he does so because he really isn’t the type of person to keep secrets from his parents. And now that he can say it, well, he’s saying it. It’s harder to keep it in.

But there’s, of course, the fact that the biggest problem with Shane and Ilya isn’t that they’re both men, it’s that they’ve pretended to hate each other for the entirety of their careers, and done such a good job at pretending even Shane’s parents believed it. That’s what makes coming out so complicated. Sure, there were always going to be people who had problems with the fact that they were both men. But there are going to be more people who have problems with the fact that they are both men, and they’ve been lying about their rivalry for so long.

Shane’s parents are not those people. They just want to understand what they missed. How this could have been going on for so long without them realizing it or even suspecting it. And, in that first conversation, they also want to figure out how much they should invest into it. What does Shane need? Is Ilya a bad idea they should be talking Shane out of, or is he the best idea Shane has had, one they should be supporting?

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I HAVE ONLY BEEN IN LOVE WITH ONE PERSON

If anything wins them over is Ilya being as matter-of-fact about his love as Shane was at first. When questioned directly, Ilya admits that he has been with many women, but he has only been in love with Shane. He doesn’t even say too much more in the conversation, letting Shane take the lead because these are his parents. Ilya is only there for moral support. But he does make it clear, when asked, that he loves Shane. And he wants a future with him.

Whether Ilya does it because, at that point, he understands that being Shane’s family means being Yuna and David’s family or because he’d do anything for Shane is something even Ilya probably doesn’t know, but it’s likely more the second than the first. Ilya hasn’t really had a functioning family, ever. He doesn’t understand that the Hollanders are one unit, and he hasn’t really experienced it, what with Shane hiding their relationship from his parents for so long.

But the shift we get from Yuna and David from the beginning of the conversation to the end proves that not only do they support Shane in everything, but they are ready and willing to be the safe place both Shane and Ilya need. That’s going to be really important for both of them going forward, but it’s going to be crucial for Ilya, who hasn’t had steady, reliable parental figures ever.

All he had to do was love their son and Yuna, and David were all in for the relationship. And it’s a good thing, because choosing to be together means Shane and Ilya will face a great deal of people who won’t understand, or who will question if what they have has a place on the ice.

MORE: 9 LGBTQ+ sports books to read if you like Heated Rivalry

I’M SO PROUD OF YOU

The show adds a moment between Shane and Yuna that feels very important because she was the one who was portrayed as more manager than mom at times. And yet Yuna sits down, listens to Shane and Ilya, and then takes a moment to reflect on what she might have done that could have made it so her son couldn’t confide in her. Then, she rightfully apologizes for that.

And yet, Yuna doesn’t make it all about her. It’s important that she takes ownership of her actions, but this moment is still about Shane and now about the ways Yuna might have failed him. That’s why the most important thing she tells Shane is that she’s proud of him. She doesn’t need him to be anything other than what he is to be proud. It’s not about the sponsorships or even how good a player he is. It’s about Shane as a person.

Deep down, Shane probably knew that. But anxiety is loud sometimes, and it loves to tell us mean things about ourselves and the people close to us. So, it’s always good to put these things into words, particularly during vulnerable moments. So Shane can look back at this conversation if he ever has doubts.

But Yuna isn’t just soft words, either. She quickly transforms into Shane and Ilya’s biggest champion. They have a problem, one that seems insurmountable. They love each other, and they can’t be together. So, what now? What can Yuna do? Because she’ll do it. She’s fought many battles for her son already, and she’s happy to do it again.

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YOU’RE GOOD HERE

It’s still a big thing, what happened. Shane’s parents reacted very well, even if they required some explanations, but coming down from so many emotions led Shane into a panic attack. Who can really blame him? There are still so many things that are worth worrying about that he will have to face in the future. But those things are not present now, and Ilya is there to pull him out of his own head and remind him.

Right now, he’s okay. His family is here. His boyfriend is here. They all love him. And so Shane is okay. He’s gonna be okay.

It feels like such a simple, silly thing. But for someone like Shane, who craves structure and definition, it means everything. His parents love him and accept him for who he is. Ilya loves him, and he’s sitting with him at his parents’ cottage. The most important person in his life met his parents, and… the world didn’t end. Instead, things are looking pretty good.

Anxiety sometimes doesn’t listen to reason, but that doesn’t mean that what Ilya does for Shane in the moment isn’t big. He recognizes the signs right away, he provides grounding, physical touch, and support for his partner, and he says words that cut right through the anxiety. Even Yuna and David see how good Ilya is for Shane. And he is. But let’s be clear, this isn’t just instinct. This is Ilya demonstrating not just how much he loves Shane, but how much he knows him. Their love story might not be conventional, but it is a love story nonetheless.

MORE: Heated Rivalry proves Queer stories sell. And more are coming.

SINCE THEIR ROOKIE YEAR

Yuna and David make a joke about how long Shane and Ilya have been together in some capacity at the end of the scene they share with the two, and it’s a lighthearted way to diffuse tension, but it’s also a great thing to analyze as this season comes to an end.

We already know we’ll get more, and that is important. But what we got in Season 1, what we got in Heated Rivalry, would have been transcendental even without more. This has been a story about two people coming together in, perhaps, an unconventional way. Attraction over feelings. Then denial. But little by little, they opened up. They let each other in. They let what they felt for each other define what they wanted, what they needed. And now, they’re ready to take the next step together.

So is the show, and that is partly because, as an adaptation, Heated Rivalry has treated the source material with respect but understood that TV is a different medium that requires different things. And sure, they got lucky. Luckier than most. Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie, and their chemistry, are like capturing lightning in a bottle. But there’s also a lot of work here from Jacob Tierney and everyone involved with the show in making a good, relatable, impactful romance.

It meant a lot to me. It meant a lot to a bunch of people. And the best part is that, even as Shane and Ilya ride into the sunset now, this isn’t goodbye. It’s just see you later.

Agree? Disagree? What did you think of Heated Rivalry Episode 6 “The Cottage”? Share with us in the comments below!

Episodes 1-6 of Heated Rivalry are now available to stream in the US on HBO Max.