Heated Rivalry: A Review

Released late last year, Crave’s Heated Rivalry took the world by storm, and dominated my timeline with one edit after the other. A passion project filmed in less than three months with nothing but two dollars and a dream, Heated Rivalry went on to become a global hit, amassing both local and international fans. 

For months, it’s all my friends were talking about, and I thought, hey why not give it a shot. I figured it’d be like all the queer media I’ve consumed over the years; the likes of Young Royals, Maurice, and many others, when I then realised it was about hockey, I was even more hesitant to go in.

But I did, and safe to say, it was one of the best things I saw last year. 

Heated Rivalry follows the story of two hockey players, Shane and Ilya, rivals on the ice, and reluctant enemies to lovers off of it, it was based off the second novel in Rachel Reid’s bestselling hockey series, Game Changers and explores both men’s relationship, kept secret for over a decade out of fear of discovery. 

Spanning over just six episodes, the show was an emotional, yet profound performance, and a phenomenal representation of queer experience in sports, the cast and crew members all deserve their flowers. 

Those few initial episodes at first made it seem like your average run of the mill queer, adult romance, with a handful of very raunchy scenes, but I stuck around long enough to see the heart and soul of the show, that critical, much needed message that had me tearing up on episode five, and signing up to go to the cottage by episode six.

In a media landscape oversaturated with yet another Disney remake, and James Cameron’s one hundredth Avatar sequel, Heated Rivalry was a breath of fresh air. It’s not often the audience gets deep, adult queer stories that don’t end in tears, and watching these men navigate their sexuality and relationships in one of the most toxic masculine environments was invigorating. 

Shane and Ilya, are well written complex characters, and their actors did a wonderful job in bringing them to life. It’s also safe to say, that casting underground, upcoming actors was a great choice on the part of the director, and the way the audience immediately endeared themselves to those men is a testament to how starved we are of fresh, new faces. 

Beyond the heat, and the rivalry, at its heart, this story tells the core message of bravery, acceptance and love, raw and original storytelling. It was new, and fresh, and I’m pleased to have given it a chance. 

Maybe, with this small show’s global success, big media corps will realise that no, we don’t need yet another season of Stranger Things, the audience yearns for actual creative storytelling. We yearn for art that actually does something, tells a story like art is supposed to do. 

Before they all inevitably jump on this show’s coattails, it’s imperative to know that it’s not the hockey, Netflix, it’s the novelty. 

Written by, Iyunade Adeniji