"Heated Rivalry , which stars Hudson Williams as Asian-Canadian hockey player Shane Hollander and Connor Storrie as his Russian-born rival, Ilya Rozanov, is what some may consider a yaoi series. The Japanese term is used for a hyperspecific media genre focused on male characters in sexual relationships, also known as Boy Love, and the series certainly seems to be leaning into that concept."
"Heated Rivalry premiered on November 28, and I have texted every single one of my friends about it over the course of the last few days (when describing the premise of "gay hockey men on rival teams" to my friend, she wrote back, "Did someone steal your diary?"). The show follows two players in the fictitious Major League Hockey league as they rise from ambitious rookies to superstars on the ice, all while navigating a searing hot attraction to each other."
"I will admit that I am a huge hockey fan, so my algorithm may be slightly skewed, but both my TikTok and Twitter For You pages have been filled with people reacting to Heated Rivalry . Fans are posting their reactions to certain sexually explicit scenes (including one that takes place in the locker room) and others that are demure but filled with more tension than when two dudes have to sit in adjacent penalty boxes after beating the piss out of each other."
Heated Rivalry is a Canadian TV series on HBO Max in the US. The series stars Hudson Williams as Asian-Canadian Shane Hollander and Connor Storrie as Russian-born Ilya Rozanov, portraying two rival hockey players who develop a searing attraction. The show leans into yaoi/Boy Love tropes with loaded looks, near-caresses, and explicit sex, including a locker-room scene. It premiered November 28 and has generated viral social-media reactions and fan commentary, reaching an 86% Rotten Tomatoes score and strong engagement across TikTok and Twitter.
Read at Kotaku
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