TL;DR – This is a profoundly compelling if fundamentally risqué series that explores relationships in the harshest place through the lens of a visionary auteur.

Disclosure – I paid for the HBO Max service that viewed this series.

Heated Rivalry Review –

When people were mapping out what would be the go-to pop culture event for the end of the year, it would have been a safe bet to pick something like the final season of Stranger Things, or maybe the bombastic Avatar. Few predicted that the year’s breakout cultural moment would come not from a blockbuster franchise but from a modest Canadian drama. Well, if you spend any time on the internet, you know how successful it has been in cutting through the noise of the algorithm, so let’s have a look and see.

So, to set the scene, in 2008, Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) has had one drive all his life: to be the best hockey player of all time. But on the cusp of being drafted, he meets the new Russian prodigy Ilya Grigoryevich Rozanov (Connor Storrie) at the International Prospect Cup final. Six months later, they have been drafted to rival teams, Boston Raiders & Montreal Metros, of the Major League Hockey (MLH). When the two of them meet again, they find they have undeniable chemistry, and one thing leads to the other. But there are no out gay players in the MLH, so the two keep this tryst/relationship/booty call/whatever you want to call it a secret, lest anyone find out and their careers are ruined. Now, from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

Production

I want to start with the production, because you would never know that this was a series filmed on a shoestring budget. But, even when it would be easy to take shortcuts, they take the time to get the fundamentals correct. At its core, this is a period piece, [I will take a moment to give you time to process something set in 2008 being called ‘period’]. But its timeframe is essential to the story, and it is then important to ground the show in that period. They do this through some clever set and costume design that might feel off-putting if you did not live through the 2000s. It is the care in those details that the rest of the show uses as a foundation.

The next person who must be championed is the intimacy coordinator, as there are a lot of sex scenes in this series. They make sense on a narrative level, but it is almost shocking how much they can show, yet also to show the restraint of never showing any full-frontal work during the episodes. Then there is the way the series is constructed because we have episodes that jump through multiple years of time, but you never feel disconnected from the story and the characters. I have seen shows fail at keeping that connection without any time jumps, and others fall apart with a ‘five years later’ tag. But here they keep the flow going.   

Intentionality

One thing you do start to notice when you watch this is how different it feels from other series in the same vein. There is an intentionality that comes from one person at the helm in both the writing and directing chair. I was first introduced to Jacob Tierney’s work through the delightful Letterkenny, and his excellence continues here. One of the examples of that intentionality comes from the lens they used to film the show. They used some sort of fish-eyed lens [sorry, I am not a lens guy, so I do not know what one] to allow for these expansive and immersive wide shots. From a practical perspective, it likely helped on a production level as this was only filmed in under 40 days, so you did not have the time for all the standard coverage. But it also worked on an emotional level because there were not the usual bland talking heads that you see in every show. The scenes had to be choreographed and worked with the cinematography and camera operators to make every zoom, every change of focus, and every Steadicam push work. It creates a visual style that is all their own.

You also see this in the choices the show picked for the needle drops that are sprinkled throughout the show. Too often in modern media, needle drops feel disconnected from the show they are meant to be supporting. Not here. Every song feels like it is the perfect addition. A good example of this is Wolf Parade’s I’ll Believe in Anything, which is used in one of the emotional climaxes of the series. It is bold, brash, all synth, cymbals, and drums. But not only is it time appropriate for when it played, the beat has this driving effect that makes you move with the characters; it is also so brash that it almost substitutes for the noise that comes from sitting in the audience of a sporting event.

Another good example is what could have been too on the nose. If you grew up in my generation, then t.AT.u.’s All The Things She Said is so iconic that you probably picked it up in the first second it started. It is almost too iconic, given that one of the characters is a gay Russian. But the way it is used in the club scene and then merges into Harrison’s cover perfectly worked to contextualise the emotional turmoil in that moment.          

Cast

While they are almost household names today, it is wild to think that this show was anchored by two unknowns in Hudson Williams & Connor Storrie. But not only did they nail their roles, but they nailed them under some difficult circumstances. The shooting regime for this show must have been relentless at times, and we had accents, physical extremes, and deep emotional places that you had to reach. I cannot tell you if Connor Storrie’s Russian monologue was perfect Russian, but I can tell you those emotions cut through regardless. Hudson Williams might have the best sort of stoned on drugs in a hospital scene in a cinema, and you completely buy that he would follow the recipe for six rather than cut it in half. François Arnaud is probably the only big name in the cast, and he might win the award from Jonathan Bailey in Jurassic World Rebirth for what the internet has determined is the hottest fully-clothed person in cinema.

The reason why the casting is as important as it is here is that there is no space for a weak link; everything is exposed, and I mean that on a literal and metaphorical level. The emotions are so raw at times that a lesser actor might not only not get where you need them to go, but the story could come off as disingenuous or worse, harmful. Each of the big emotional moments in the series only works because the cast is willing and able to go to those emotional depths. It also helps that they had a good framework from the script and direction to build upon.

Recommendation

In the end, do we recommend Heated Rivalry? Well, I do need to be clear that this is a show that is filled with explicit sex scenes, which will be an understandable dealbreaker for some. Also, the subject material delves into emotions and themes that people might find difficult, such as exploring the pressure of being a closeted gay man in the public eye. But if neither of those is a barrier for you, then this might be one to check out.                  

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Bluesky at @Tldrmovrev, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Heated Rivalry
Directed by – Jacob Tierney
Written by – Jacob Tierney
Created by – Jacob Tierney
Based On – Game Changers series by Rachel Reid
Production/Distribution Companies – Accent Aigu Entertainment, Bell Media, Crave & HBO Max
Starring – Hudson Williams, Connor Storrie, François Arnaud, Robbie G.K., Christina Chang, Dylan Walsh, Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova, Callan Potter & Sophie Nélisse with Franco Lo Presti, Kamilla Kowal, Yaroslav Poverlo, Slavic Rogozine, Benjamin Roy, Kolton Stewart, Bianca Nugara, Brandon Ash-Mohammed, Matthew Finlan, Nadine Bhabha,  Matt Gordon, Trevor Hayes, Kaden Connors, Harrison Browne, Tyrone Edwards, Lainey Lui & Devante Senior
Episodes Covered – Rookies, Olympians, Hunter, Rose, I’ll Believe in Anything & The Cottage