Via SCREENRANT

Nicole Motta

Arts and Culture Editor 

Did you also go to the cottage this winter break?

Oh sorry–I didn’t mean that kind of cottage. I was thinking of the one that appears on the sixth episode of a certain hit show that took North Americans by storm in late 2025. Say it with me: Heated Rivalry. 

For those who aren’t familiar with the book-adaptated series (congratulations on your ability to disconnect from the online world), it follows two hockey rivals, Canada’s Shane Hollander and Russia’s Ilya Rozanov, who fall in love during a 7 year rollercoaster ride of a situationship. Intense, right? While the show started off as a small Canadian production, the world is witness to the cultural phenomenon it has grown into. Montreal’s very own McGill University boasted on its Instagram bio “Alma Mater of Shane Hollander’s dad,” following the show’s release. Both Canada’s former and current prime ministers have also praised its success. Recently, Mark Carney’s appreciation went beyond words when he affectionately cradled actor Hudson Williams’ leg on the red carpet. 

The Crave Original series’ impact lies in the heated topics of conversation it has ignited. The show is dense, to put it simply. Fans spent their winter break dissecting themes like queerness portrayed through joy rather than devastation, queerness within rigidly gendered spaces and sex depicted as not just a physical desire, but as an emotional language for the soul. It’s piercing to watch a piece of media manage to be revolutionary across so many dimensions. 

Though, one phenomenon in particular is peaking the curiosity of many: the staggering number of women deeply invested in the show. What, exactly, are women seeing in Heated Rivalry? 

Though there are surely many reasons, the depiction of the two main characters’ relationship has opened an alluring door; viewers gape at what’s inside like at the light at the end of a tunnel.

“Women are in awe of  Heated Rivalry’s alternative model for romantic intimacy which disrupts the patriarchy’s interconnection of traditional gender performance and romantic relationships. “

The concept of gender performance originates from Judith Butler’s book Gender Trouble. Building on Simone de Beauvoir’s claim that gender is socially constructed, Butler argues that gender is not something we are, but something we do. We perform gender our entire lives through gestures and actions that adhere to social expectations: it is not something expressed by actions but, rather, constituted by them. 

Traditional masculinity is performed through emotional restraint, dominance and success. Traditional femininity, on the other hand, is performed through emotional vulnerability, care and self-subordination in relation to men. The framework of the heterosexual relationship functions as a central site of gender performance because each partner’s role is constructed in direct complement to the other.

The characters of Shane and Ilya feel revolutionary in the way they subvert this framework. The hockey players grow an intimacy that bypasses gender hierarchy. In fact, what’s especially remarkable is that they exhibit dominant and submissive dynamics, yet neither character feels the need to adjust the performance of his masculinity. One moment that captures this self-assurance is when Shane’s mother, once learning of their relationship, fearfully asks if he ever let Ilya win and Shane scoffs in disbelief. The question itself reveals how the patriarchy ingrains the idea that the submissive partner in a relationship must back down to their partner. The rookie of the year cannnot fathom allowing imposed gender roles dictate his life. This foundation of equality is portrayed further through writing the characters as comical foils of one another: both men are, literally, at the top of their professional game, where hockey is not just a job, but a space in which identity, self-worth and masculinity form. Though rivals, they compete for the spirit of sport rather than in the need to assert their masculinity in relation to each other. Thus, their relationship paves a difference between sexual dominance/submission and patriarchal gender domination/subordination. 

Since Heated Rivalry centers on two men, the heterosexual behavioural script is not as obvious or compulsory. However, while the intersection of queerness is pivotal to this subversion, it is not its cause. Patriarchy is a sneaky thing and infiltrates its gendered dynamics where we least expect them. 

When gender performance is the organizer of relationships, emotional intimacy becomes the secondary element. Putting intimacy first, as seen in the show, is an envious model: Shane and Ilya’s connection feels unseverable. After all, performing a role requires the suppression of parts of yourself most crucial for shared vulnerability. 

It’s this vulnerability that humans find deep inside each other—call it a soul link, In-Yun, or a wavelength—that might be the closest thing humanity has to magic. Media like Heated Rivalry is proof enough that we all yearn for “our person”. Women watching the show are seeing the possibilities of intimacy that come with subverting gender norms and are realizing: Oh, I want this.