Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Heated Rivalry’ on HBO Max, a steamy series about hockey rivals who build a sexual relationship with each other
Heated Rivalry, which HBO Max picked up to stream in the U.S. and Australia — it was originally produced for Canada’s Crave service — has gotten a lot of buzz because of the book series it’s based on, the cult hit Game Changers. It’s got hockey! And sex! And love… we think!
Opening Shot: We see a young man trying to light a cigarette in the cold outside a hockey rink. Another guy approaches him and tells him how much he admires how the first guy plays hockey.
The Gist: Canadian junior hockey phenom Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) is the praising telling Russian junior hockey phenom Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie); they’re competing for their respective countries in the 2008 International Prospect Cup in Saskatchewan. While Russia beats Canada in tournament that year, this isn’t the last time Hollander and Rozanov are going to encounter each other.
A few months later, in fact, we see that their careers are going to be joined at the hip, with Rozanov being the first selection in the MLH (this show’s stand-in for the NHL) draft and Hollander being the second. As they work out in the hotel gym the next morning, there is a definite attraction between the two of them.
Because Hollander plays for Montreal and Rozanov plays for Boston, the two teams play each other often, and they both have good starts to their pro careers. They meet up again at the next International Prospect Cup in Ottawa, this time with the Canadians winning. Six months after that, the rivals are shooting a commercial together, and Rozanov tells Hollander that he wanted Hollander working on the commercial with him. After a very eventful shower, the two of them hook up at the hotel.
As the season goes along, Rozanov and Hollander are connected by the press as fierce competitors, but they also connect for some hot sex every time they’re in the same town. Of course, all of it is on the down low, for a number of reasons. Hollander has no idea that Rozanov’s family back in Russia is rough on him, including a tough dad and a brother who spends Rozanov’s earnings. Rozanov has no idea that Hollander’s mother Yuna (Christina Chang) is also his overbearing manager.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Created by Jacob Tierney and based on Rachel Reid’s Game Changers novel series, Heated Rivalry is like Heartstopper with more explicit sex scenes.
Our Take: There isn’t a heck of a lot of plot in the first episode of Heated Rivalry. There’s the initial meeting, the first moment of attraction, the first sexual encounter, then… more sexual encounters. The first episode essentially rockets through the first two years of what will be an eight-year story, showing Hollander and Rozanov having sex every few weeks or months.
It’s all pretty airless, mainly because the only glimpses we get of Hollander and Rozanov when they’re not lusting after each other is how they relate to their respective families, and those moments are fleeting insights into each of their personalities. In reality, what we really know about the two rivals/lovers is that they are pro hockey players who are both making an immediate impact on their respective teams.
Even a confrontation between the two when Hollander wins Rookie of the Year over Rozanov doesn’t yield any emotional connection between the two aside from their physical chemistry with each other.
The show is supposed to be about how the two of them build a real relationship over the years, despite the fact that a) they’re supposed to be archrivals, and b) being openly gay in professional sports still isn’t well accepted. But we’ve yet to see the basis of their relationship other than physical attraction. Will that change as the series continues? Perhaps. But whatever emotional chemistry Williams and Storrie have with each other, it’s really not apparent as the first episode concludes.
Performance Worth Watching: None, really, because both Williams and Storrie feel more like they’re acting in an adult film than they are in a romantic drama (more on this in a bit).
Sex And Skin: Yes, lots of it. We don’t see full frontal from either Williams or Storrie, but we see just about everything else.
Parting Shot: Hollander tries to get Rozanov to open up after the awards ceremony, but all Rozanov wants to do is make out on a public balcony.
Sleeper Star: Yes, that’s Dylan Walsh playing Hollander’s father David, who doesn’t seem to be all that keen on how hard his wife is pushing their son.
Most Pilot-y Line: During their first sexual encounter, Rozanov says something to Hollander that feels like it comes straight out of an adult film, and it clanked on our ears.
Our Call: SKIP IT. While the subject matter of Heated Rivalry is somewhat daring, the first episode plays out like something that used to be shown late nights on Cinemax instead of story with well-drawn characters and romantic chemistry between its leads.
How To Watch Heated Rivalry
If you’re new to HBO Max, you can sign up for as low as $10.99/month with ads, but an ad-free subscription will cost $18.49/month.
If you want to stream even more and save a few bucks a month while you’re at it, we recommend subscribing to one of the discounted Disney+ Bundles with Hulu and HBO Max. With ads, the bundle costs $19.99/month and without ads, $32.99/month.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
