‘Heated Rivalry’ Showrunner Teases ‘Much More Serious’ Season 2 Plot, Including ‘Role Model’ Book Storyline: ‘This Hotel-Room-Adolescent-Sex Stuff Is Largely Gone’

They were in denial to the point of only calling each other by their last names. Yes, the show displays their most intimate moments - but these are also practically the ONLY intimate moments. And unfortunately.. this can happen. This can very much happen between two men where one insists on not recognizing himself (and so 'should' find a woman one day) and the other believes he can never be recognized (and so 'should' get 'serious' with the women they're with). I agree that the tone of the show doesn't get into the details - that's the drama, or rather romantic/smutty/idealist edge to it all. It doesn't get as messy as it would be IRL. But what \*is\* included, can and does happen. There absolutely are men in years long f*** buddy (not even what might be implied with friends with benefits) arrangements where they barely know more than the names, numbers, and current addresses of each other. Its messed up but that in particular is real. And if the show decided to be more tragic about it, it'd get more directly into the verbalized fear each of them have about learning anything more feeling like a risk of more feelings being caught. I am gay and have had a bi friend for several years who came out to a limited extent just before we first met, but otherwise seemed to have closeted himself to extents or fully from then on. After the couple years of college together (with all its close calls, attempted intimacy, and intense attractions), we had a strange dance where I'd see him a handful of times a year at most, typically around the summer and by his invite, and we'd catch up to a VERY limited extent, yes (it's not the same as Shane/Ilya), but there was always a strong undercurrent - he met a woman and a few years later, as marriage was approaching, he drunkenly laid it all out on me the level he wanted me and thought there was even a shot at it between college and when he met his at that point fiancé. No sex even happened, barely a kiss, and only several distinct flirtatious/touching events or moments, but it was effectively an emotional affair, at least on his end (I distanced much more since he met his girlfriend). He knows about as much about me as someone would otherwise know for months and not years, and vice versa, but it was \~8 years we were associated. I had major suspicions about how he really felt, but even if keeping the drunkenness and stress in mind, in retrospect, yeah, major love feelings can happen while still being blocked by the closet and repression and intentionally rationed out exposures. The one to compare to here is Ilya - he wants it, he arguably wants it more than Shane ever did, but he is also the one that disallows it the most, stonewalls and doesn't talk about it, causing Shane to also not pry at all unless they're in a sanctuary moment together. Yes, its weird. Its ALL weird, but I assure you that at least versions of it legitimately happen. Men often do not open up, they don't pry, they don't dig into things, unless its a clear-lined good friendship to divulge with, or especially if they're with a committed partner (who unfortunately too often are subjected to their issues to the point they should be the paid therapist). EDIT: Again I really do get what you're getting at with your posts, I can't even say I really disagree. Just \*also\* saying that the core of it isn't necessarily just weird/clumsy/unreal writing. Some of this stuff unfortunately .. really happens, and its crazy. People who don't just happen to not learn about each other, but actually work to limit what they know, lest the impossible-feelings they have only grows.

I'd actually argue that this is the aspect of their relationship that makes their intimacy and connection so especially strong (and it becomes so much more contextualized in the first 4 eps on rewatches). They spend so long not knowing the details of each other's internal lives or the people in them that during that time they're left with no choice but to end up actually learning and understanding one another more than anyone else in their lives. It certainly hit me and contrasted with relationships I've had where we knew a lot about each other's personal lives but experienced so much conflict because we failed to really see how we each showed up and moved through the world. This is shown throughout the show in little ways; how everyone fails to accommodate Shane by never having ginger ale available yet in ep 4 Ilya is the only one who has ginger ale cold and ready for Shane in his home without ever being asked. Or how Shane knows nothing of Ilya's father and how he's drilled years of self doubt into him about being lazy as seen at the NHL draft in ep 1, but completely dispels it with a simple affirmation of saying he doesn't know that side of Ilya at all. In Tampa Shane says it's exciting to be playing all-star with Ilya in Florida because he remembers from ep 4 how Ilya says he's liked actually liked by fans there. At the cottage Ilya remembers the one detail he knows about Shane's dad reading the New Yorker from years ago in the Vegas bathroom. By the end of ep 6 Ilya has learned Shane well enough to pull him out of his panic attacks. I think eps 1-4 become contextualized in a beautiful way to show that though they may not exchange the biggest of details their dedication to remembering the smallest ones about each other is the devotion that makes them feel the most seen.