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The Canadian romance drama Heated Rivalry is the internet's latest obsession, and its penultimate episode explains exactly why the internet is in love with this show and the two major hockey players whose story it follows. The queer drama from Crave follows Hudson Williams' Shane Hollander and Connor Storrie's Ilya Rosanov as they navigate a decade-long situationship.
The romance drama was long being written off as the gay hockey show, which centered on erotic scenes; however, the latest episode, titled 'I'll Believe in Anything,' will effectively shut down all of those write-offs, as it has managed to become one of the highest-rated episodes of the year, leaving behind the likes of Apple TV's blockbuster Emmy-winning Severance.
Keep reading to find out more.
Heated Rivalry manages to leave behind Emmy-winning shows like Severance with the highest-rated episode on IMDb
The Canadian romance drama from Jacob Tierney has been making the rounds on the internet since its release. While the show's viewership and audience reception have been extraordinary, most of the conversation around it has centered on it being a softcore drama. However, 'I'll Believe in Anything', the fifth episode of Heated Rivalry, has managed to completely alter all of this.
One of the quietest hours of the show, it is divided between Williams' Shane and Storrie's Ilya, but both of them are continually drawn towards the other. Both Shane and Ilya are facing their personal struggles as the hour passes, but the way Heated Rivalry and their relationship have evolved from being purely physical to deeply emotional makes the episode's journey an expected yet hard-hitting experience.
The Heated Rivalry audience seems to agree, as the fifth episode has received one of the highest ratings on IMDb this year. With a 9.9-rated episode, the Canadian drama has managed to bypass every release this year, and there have been some big releases so far.
The episode's hour finds Shane and Rose's public relationship's demise at the very start. The gentle and warm allyship that Sophie Nélisse has managed to deliver when she asks Shane if he's gay is a godsend that every queer individual dreams of. Shane finally has somebody that he can confide in about his sexuality for the very first time, and Williams perfectly manages to convey the emotional power of the scene with the power of subtext.
On the other hand, Storrie's Ilya, despite his language barrier, manages to deliver an emotionally charged, vulnerable monologue when he's given the space, intimacy, and permission to feel all of his emotions without letting the barrier of a second language hold him back.
To top it all off, Jacob Tierney takes Reid's story and amplifies it to a cinematic masterpiece in the final moments, when another queer relationship takes the bold step that Shane and Ilya have been hiding from all this time. The penultimate episode is one of the strongest from Heated Rivalry, beautifully bringing everything that has been building up for the past episodes together.
Heated Rivalry is set to premiere with its Season 1 finale on December 27, 2025.
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