When confronted with the unknown that looms ahead of him and Ilya at the end of the first season, all Shane can muster is, “We just want a future.” He speaks for all of us. Heated Rivalry has broken through the onslaught of pop culture visions that make dystopia’s cynical, joyless futures seem inexorable precisely because it is a piece of art that... See more

Fantasy becomes a rehearsal for a different reality.

“Those who control the fantasy control the future,” says futurist Monika Bielskyte. All speculative fictions bleed into reality. Dystopia may conceive of itself as satire (which doesn’t work because the targets of satirization don’t get it) or cautionary tale (which merely provides a product roadmap to build the futuristic tormenting technologies... See more

“Those who control the fantasy control the future,” says futurist Monika Bielskyte.

“What I wanted to put out into the world was queer joy,” explained Tierney on What Chaos! , a podcast that is otherwise about hockey. “The idea that we’re allowed to exist, we’re allowed to have sex, we’re allowed to be in love, we’re allowed to live. That’s the whole appeal. That’s why I made it.”

In a culture where porn is ubiquitous, depictions of graphic, explicit sex are abundant and low-value. Its mere mechanistic frictions can only show us people doing something. Heated Rivalry transports us somewhere else. The show’s intimacy is not just in arousal, but in being known, understood and part of a heightened, ecstatic experience beyond... See more

Instead, what makes Heated Rivalry truly subversive is how the intimacy of physical connection is crafted.

In Heated Rivalry ,we witness a relationship not only without gender hierarchy, but between two equals in almost every way. Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov are similar in physical size and strength, talent, social status and income brackets. They have the same job, captaining rival major league hockey teams and taking turns winning awards year... See more

There’s so much sex you don’t want to see. And Heated Rivalry is about two people who want to be fucking