‘Heated Rivalry’ Season 1 Finale: Cottage Core | Prestige TV | The Ringer

23:13Joanna Robinson:Listeners wrote in. Listeners have been pretty good about not dropping book spoilers. As we've made it really clear, we haven't read the books. I will say, one person wrote in being like, Joanna, you read romance novels. You know how this book is going to end. And I was like, okay, well, I guess that's a half-layer after. I do know. That's a romance novel. This is not a season one of television. we need to end on a dramatic sad cliffhanger and figure out how to resolve it in season two this was a contained book even inside of a series so yes it ends with us driving into a golden future even though there will surely be obstacles awaiting for us in season two uh so i was like okay that took a little bit of the tension on me but it was still watching this episode the tension of like is elia gonna freak out is shane gonna freak out is shane gonna freak out so badly when his parent you know, when his dad shows up, that shot almost like a horror movie when they're like, you're inside the house watching them come up the walk and the camera's panning slowly over.

24:11Joanna Robinson:And you know that someone's there just based on like where the camera is. And so, you know, and like you could tell it's his dad probably from the like silhouette. And so is that going to freak out Shane so badly that he's going to blow this up? But it's not. And when I was watching it with Diana last night, she turned to me, she's like, did Jacob Turdy just decide that we all needed just a nice show where people are happy at the end, here at the end of the year? And I was like, well, I mean, I think that's the text of the book. But yeah, this is just, you have this just slow, for me, relaxation, realizing that everyone is actually on pretty much their best behavior.

24:53Joanna Robinson:and everyone is, you know, when Shane's like, we should just be honest with each other. You're like, ah, but then like, okay, we go from, I like you, I like you too. As you say, whispered, I love you in Russian to professed, I love you. I love you from Ilya and the, and the holy, holy shit from Shane. So that, that pause, that moment of like, I mean, and then Shane coming through with like, I love you too. And then it's just sort of like, everything's okay. Everything's okay. You know? It was so perfect. I, in that I love you moment, the, the pause that you're noting. And then also the, what I really loved was like, does it fucking kill you too?

25:32That's what Shane says. And Elia's response is not anymore. And I was like, that's when I, even though we do then get the tension with this dad spotting, which I had the same, like, oh no, because it's the fact that they've been discovered in like, you know, as Shane says many times, this isn't how I would have wanted. you to find out. Like, this isn't how I thought this was going to go. The fact that his dad just like leaves, right? He walks out and you're like, maybe he'll be standing on the porch. You hear the car turn on and I'm like, oh, oh no. My heart was racing and pounding. And yeah, I think the gratitude that it doesn't mean, like you said, that there aren't going to be challenges and difficult circumstances in the future in season two and beyond, It doesn't mean that there won't be other people in their lives, inside of hockey, their families, anything else that doesn't go this way.

26:29But the fact that the conversation they had at that table was ultimately one of embrace and love. And again, with the humor stitched in of like...

26:44Joanna Robinson:No loyalty to Boston? No loyalty to Boston. Like, Ellie, I'm surprised you have such a reputation as a ladies' man. You know, I really loved when Shane followed his mom outside. And he, I mean, it was so heartbreaking because she's out there, she's tearing up. And, you know, he opens with an apology basically for being who he is. You know, he says, I tried really hard, but I just can't help it. And, of course, like we talked about last pod, there's this moment that you have that Shane certainly has, that readers or viewers would have of like, not only the fear of what will the response be, how will shame be received by the people closest to him in his life, but almost like regardless of what the answer is, the understanding of like what his life has been like where his parents obviously love him, they adore him.

27:35He's clearly the most important thing in their worlds. They say to him like, you know, we thought it was possible that he might be gay. It's not like it had never occurred to them or anything,

27:43Joanna Robinson:but you know that he is like the pressure but that's followed up with his dad being like we know you pretty well pretty well like yeah we you're our you're our son you're a boy but that he wasn't sure like will that stand and then you know so his mother responding instantly to that like you have nothing to why are you apologizing to me i'm the one who should be apologizing to you for making you feel like you couldn't tell me who you were. That was just lovely. What I loved about that is it's actually quite similar to the conversation that happens between Kit Conner's character and Olivia Colman in Heartstopper.

28:25Joanna Robinson:It's a very similar, her tearfully apologizing to say, I'm sorry if I made you feel like you couldn't tell me. Almost identical language from both of these mothers. And I love that as a messaging of not like, it feels like steps forward of not like, I accept you or I need a beat and I'll figure out how to tolerate this or whatever, you know, whatever the sort of like earlier versions of these coming out scenes have been. And now we're in a space of just sort of like, I'm sorry that I made you feel like you couldn't tell me this earlier is like such a beautiful idea to see represented across these multiple shows, queer shows in the 2020s.

29:11So I really agree. And I think like, you know, the moment where Shane's parents ask like, so are you guys just going to keep this quiet until you retire? And they're both like, probably. And what's the response to that? Not like, okay, great, good. We're on the same page. That's so sad.

29:26Joanna Robinson:And not only, once again, my apologies to Unihollander, like not only like my fear was that she would be afraid of the brand. She's like, actually, let's market this. I'm going to reach out to some of the premium brands. They're going to be thrilled. They're going to love this. They're going to see the outcomes. I was like, wow. Oh, what the fuck do I know? She didn't miss a beat. She's like, we need a statement prepared in case something leaks. I'm going to check in with Rolex. While Ilya is shoveling Linguini into his face. He's the best. The wearing the Boston Raiders shirt. Shane's like, really?

29:57And he's like, They don't know I play for Boston. They don't know I play for Boston. And then the pasta, all of it is just, you know.

30:01Joanna Robinson:Also, when Shane's like, maybe you should stay in the car, and Ilya's like, it doesn't even say anything. It's just like. Did you know about one in three people with plaque psoriasis may also develop psoriatic arthritis, which causes joint pain, stiffness, and swelling? Does this sound like you? Listen to what it sounds like to be a million miles away.

30:29Joanna Robinson:Trimphia, Gucelcomab, taken by injection, is a prescription medicine for adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis who may benefit from taking injections or pills or phototherapy and for adults with active psoriatic arthritis. Serious allergic reactions and increased risk of infections and liver problems may occur. Before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or if you need a vaccine. imagine being a million miles away explore what's possible ask your doctor about trim fire tap this ad to learn more about trim fire including important safety information make every get together chill this memorial day get up to an extra thousand dollars off select top brand appliances like lg plus get free delivery at the home depot tackle pool towels and camp laundry with a large capacity washer.

31:21Joanna Robinson:And host in style with the fridge serving craft ice, mini craft ice, cubed ice, and crushed ice. Shop appliance savings now through June 3rd at The Home Depot. Offer valid May 14th through June 3rd, US only. Free delivery on appliance purchases of$998 or more. See store online for details. Tomorrow morning is knocking. Stock your fridge now. How about a creamy mocha frappuccino drink? Or a sweet vanilla? Smooth caramel, maybe. Or a white chocolate mocha. Whichever you choose, delicious coffee awaits. Find Starbucks Frappuccino drinks wherever you buy your groceries. On the food front, I want to go back to something, which is the burger scene.

31:57Joanna Robinson:I have a thought on this as well. Two things. I will lay this out to you. Three things, actually. This is my three-pronged conversation starter. Number one, front of the pod, Katie Rich reached out to me to say, on the product placement front, she's like, generic condiment bottles, not even product placement money. And I was like, actually, I thought that was like a rich person thing that he had like decanted his relish into like bottles that match the other. But she thinks it's like they didn't have money to pay Heinz or whoever. That being said, there was a pickle. We did get an email when we were talking about the thing about there was like a.

32:33Joanna Robinson:The Boston pickles. A pickle that that made its appearance known. Katie and I both agree that the burgers looked terrible. people. And I was thinking about it. I was like, you know what? Shane, who's been eating macrobiotic for a decade, I don't think he knows how to cook. And I think he's trying. He needs a burger recipe. He's trying because Elia made him a tuna melt and making food for someone is a way that you show love and affection and comfort and hosting and all this sort of stuff like that. And my third point on the subject is to say when they're coming up the walk later and talking about what to have for dinner.

33:13Joanna Robinson:And he's like, do you want hot dogs? I have to defrost them. I was like, frozen hot dogs. Yeah, sure. What are we doing? Well, in Shane's defense on the frozen hot dog front, I will just offer up this. So this is early in the two weeks still. They've only been there a couple of days. I retract the comment before he was sharing because it's early enough in the week. But I wonder if, so he says one of the very sweet things he says when they're, when he, cause he picks up Ilya from the airport, which was so cute, first of all. So, like, I went grocery shopping. So, like, we don't have to go out. There's a practical element to all of this.

33:47But also, as you said, like, I'm preparing to host you and make sure you have what you need. And so I wonder if he was just, like, I've kind of, I've strategized, I've sketched out the flow of meals for two weeks and, like, fresh meat's not going to last that long. I've got to put at least some stuff in the freezer. But then Ilya's like, I don't want the leftover pasta. I want the hot dogs.

34:07Joanna Robinson:If he had said, oh, I got to thaw the chicken. Oh, I got to thaw the steaks. Oh, I got to thaw the pork chops. Whatever. This is fair. This is all fair. This is all fair. Hot dogs can last in the free. This is totally fair. I think you're right that Shane is not a master chef. This is my theory. I think Ilya is the chef and Shane is not. That's what I think. Shane, I think certainly as, you know, he's entered this phase of his career, obviously they're both loaded. This was the other thing. I had been wondering earlier in the, I'll come back to the burgers in a second and the product placement.

34:40Actually, some great shout outs from you because I had another thought about the product placement elsewhere. Earlier in the season, I actually had like, I did have a moment on the hockey sports, like celebrity front where I thought it was, I thought that the absence of a, they're free agents and they have like moved into another tier of wealth was, was a, I was surprised actually, even if it was just a quick, quick beat, you know, that Rosanoff re-signs with Boston. and Hollander, of course, re-inks with his mom's favorite team, a Metro for life, et cetera. So when we got the discussion of free agency, there's no way they're still on their rookie contracts.

35:16There's simply too much time has passed. Obviously with the original contracts. They're team captains at this point, right? Yeah, the endorsement deals. I mean, they've won the Cups. They've both won MVP. Like, we're, you know, we're a decade in here. But to get to the point where this is, you know, Ilya's deal is about to be up again, that just the math of that. I loved the callback to the, your real estate fetish really paid off because we've seen the kind of progression of their dwellings. All of that was great. Shane has gotten a stylist. He, I would assume, would have a personal chef. I'm just throwing that out there.

35:48He would have long since had a personal chef. Now that guy wouldn't,

35:52Joanna Robinson:that person wouldn't be invited to this private retreat. No, I would say from rookie season, he's had someone making him macrobiotic things in glass Tupperwares that sit in his, he's meal prepped. It's meal prepped. It's refreshed every couple of days. He doesn't even talk to this person. It just shows up in his fridge. A hundred percent. I believe that. But you can be that person, that meal prep person and still have like a cooking hobby. But Shane, who just sits home alone and reads with his little glasses in bed, you know, and drinks ginger ale is not that guy. So he doesn't know how to, store hot dogs in the fridge.

36:31He doesn't know how to cut the recipe in half to do math. Exactly. Like it says, great moment. That was very funny. Here's my note on the burgers. In addition to that, there's not, I think this show is just an absolute jewel, a gem of a show. There's not a world where two professional hockey players can't eat eight burgers. There's not.

36:52Joanna Robinson:There's no way. The burgers were not like massive. They were like. There's no way they can't polish off those burgers. There's just no way. I think that's a great point. Here was Katie's note. She's like, does Canada only have bad burger buns? So, you know, listen. Yeah. These are all, it's all fair feedback. I, you know, I love a good burger. I love a grilled burger at home. I just want to say that Shane Hollander is living my real estate dreams. We are, the two of us, we've long since bonded over. We love an ocean. My main source of crying this episode was like all of the wood inlay and in the very glass, like lakefront cottage.

37:28Joanna Robinson:dream that was this house. I think my only note on the home, and then I do, I will come back to the product list, but my only note on the home, my only note on the home, primary bedroom, tad small. That's it though. Other than that, absolutely perfect. Well, this is Lake House Dreams. This is one of my absolute dreams. A thoroughly misnamed cottage. So, you know, maybe he's like, keep the footprint small to preserve cottage vibes. That's true. Yeah, the charm and the intimacy. I actually like that because, you know, as we know, it's canon. He had it built. He did. I love that progression too when he like says he has it built.

38:05Joanna Robinson:We already know that Ilya knows that, right? He's like, I know. But then later he like brings up the yoga to be like, yeah, I watched your cribs, my guy. I needed help falling asleep. Another You're So Boring shot. Just one of the great through lines of this season. Is it EA Sports? What's your... It is. Correct. Thank you. Thank you for knowing that that would be it. Now, obviously, as we talked about last pod this is in the show not the nhl the league has a different acronym however the fact that this was not just overtly ea's and it wouldn't be nhl they could have photoshopped the the other league day but the fact that they didn't have the ea sports on the video game and adam i i was really trying i like tapped in adam for the video game controller because the ea nhl line it's playstation or xbox we didn't get to see the controller in full from the front they looked like a more generic i don't think they had either the game or the console season so that was the product placement that caught my eye season two season two get in there get on that stranger things level of like we're so in bugles baby uh product placement uh you deserve it all right i want to talk about uh this scene that was the source of both of our sort of minor details the toe-to-toe sort of moment and i just want to use it as a as a moment to really underlined something that I've been trying to champion, which is Connor's story is getting a lot of the attention in this, but I want to talk about Hudson Williams and his glistening tear eyeball action.

39:37Joanna Robinson:It's next level. It's astonishing. Paul Meskel in Normal People is some of the best cry acting I've ever seen in my life, But Connor Waldron is like a weeper, right? Shane Hollander is a, I'm not showing you my emotion, except I have a tell, which is that my eyeballs are gleaming, right? And I talked about this with Richard. This was like one of my favorite moments in the scene in the bathroom when they're both at the award ceremony and they have this exchange and Ilya walks out and Shane just like gently wipes the tears from under his eyes. but they're not streaming down his face. And so I think Shane thinks that he is playing it very cool when Ilya says, I could marry Svetlana for the passport.

40:30Joanna Robinson:And he's like, oh, interesting. And re-watching the episodes as I just did in the last 48 hours to get Diana caught up, there's just so many moments of that for both of them where it's just sort of like Rose Landry? Is that why you've got a personal stylist? Like what's going on? Yeah, you're jealous. Burning jealousy that they're both trying to play off is not something that they're entitled to. But inside of that scene, because that scene ends with the toe touch, as you mentioned, but also the like, don't marry Svetlana, we'll figure something out. Like finally he feels entitled to say something.

41:13Joanna Robinson:in episode four when Elia's like, you know, I like girls. They're beautiful. They like me. I fuck all of them, you know? And Shane's like, yeah, I know. Great. Great. Yeah, I also like girls. Like, whatever. And now he can just be like, don't marry Svetlana. Like, we'll figure it out. And then he will sit up all night to figure out an elaborate plan that involves Ottawa and a charity and, like, all these other things. But that just, like, I really think Hudson is getting overlooked a little bit for the subtler work that he's doing. I think they're both extraordinary, but I just want to make sure that Hudson is not going unnoticed for the work that he's doing here.

41:54Cosign. I think they're both sensational. And again, I think the fact that we started with them in very different places and have watched their respective and shared journeys has just been one of the more rewarding parts of the show. Even like, we talked about this a lot last week, but it felt so present in this episode too. Like, Shane, obviously, we saw this in episodes four and five. He has, Ilya was the one who, like, started this all, right? And if not four, as we talked about last pod, where he's from, Russia, the fact that he has that hanging over him. He says to Shane last episode, like, I could never go home.

42:32He, from the start of the show, the start of the story, was more ready to say, this is who I am and this is what I want than Shane was. Shane's journey is the journey of discovery. And Shane is the one though, inside of the evolution of their relationship who gets to the point a little sooner where he's like, what are we going to do about this? And so then the balance of that across the episodes in the season, and it felt really perfect to me then because that's where we were with Shane, that Ilya was the one who said, I love you first. And it's just this like beautiful choreography and rhythm and dance.

43:08Joanna Robinson:like that feels true life to me you know who's like who's the one step in front of the other person in any given scene and that they've sort of just been doing this like two steps forward two steps forward uh movement over as you said a decade yeah and like you know Shane is the one who's like let's be honest you know yeah summer before exactly and but then Ilya is the one who says boyfriend first and in front of Shane's parents it's like it's all perfect I really agree I think that the um that Hudson's performance and the the what he is conveying with a look or an eye glisten is very very powerful and uh gripping and like there's a magnetism for us as viewers and certainly obviously also for for Ilya the scenes you know that same scene that you're identifying where he's saying don't marry don't marry Svetlana I love that what is paired with that performance from Hudson Williams and what we're seeing from Shane in the scene which is as you just beautifully articulated this, like, what am I showing and what is someone else able to like clock about how I feel?

44:13But what is Ilya saying to him in that moment? It's like, yeah, like, you know, here's the problem with all of these other women that I could marry. It's not just they're not you. He could just say they're not you, but that's not what he does, right? I'm always thinking about this slow fucking hockey player with beautiful freckles and a weak backhand. Like the, it's just a boring car, right? But beautiful freckles. Beautiful freckles. That's a thing you say about a person you are deeply, deeply, deeply in love with. So that's all. That's just all great.

44:44Joanna Robinson:One other thing I want to mention is upon rewatch is, you know, we get these two conversations about Ilya's mom inside of this episode. the sort of telling him about her, about her mental health issues, about I don't want you to think she was weak. She was so beautiful. She was so funny. This is just someone who was so important to him that was taken from him when he was 12. And then we've seen his brother. We've seen his father. He was just left without that source of warmth and love and kindness since then. And then later when Shane is like, basically like, we can have our charity be like sort of basically in her honor.

45:33Joanna Robinson:Connor's story's livery of like, she would have loved you just absolutely destroyed me. But rewatching it, there's an early, I think it's episode four or five. I think it's five actually. When Shane asks about his mom and he just says like, she died. I was young. Like keeping it really like, this is the amount of information you have access to. And also inside of those episodes, the like, you ask too many questions shut down from Ilya to Shane. So that progression of like, ask your questions, I will tell you. You are now allowed inside of this boundary that I've drawn around myself and like basically Svetlana, you know, like inside of my life.

46:20Joanna Robinson:And so I just, I thought that was like a really beautiful, again, like deepening of intimacy between two people. So yeah. same I that was one of my favorite parts of of the finale I I've already mentioned the I love you moment a few times and I think the way that that Ilya initially turned away you know because he's like is that what you want right right that we go is that what you want and I was like I was like is he gonna reject this like is that what you want is he like and then it was the other it was the opposite and like turning away because he doesn't want it he's not even right then for just another microsecond.

46:59Like, can he see the tears? And then when Shane grabs his face and turns his face toward him again and they kiss and the way he kind of chokes out that I love you. That was breathtaking to me. This, the quiet whisper of she would have loved you. Like, that was when I was like, he should win an Emmy. Like, he really should. So I agree. I think both performances are incredible. I thought that some of the deliveries from Counter-Story in this episode were just like really, really, really powerful. And I love what you're saying. And I agree. It's like, you know, again, they've known each other for so long, but that's part of how we understand.

47:37And I love that we as viewers are learning something new about Ilya too that is helping to inform and shape our understanding like of his experience and his loss. Why he's an asshole. Who he is and why he is the way he is. And like, you know, for Shane to be able to understand him more deeply and for Ilya, as you know, to be ready to share that with him. It's just, whew. And I liked that, like, Ilya's family and his mother then is, like, she's present in this experience with them because so much of the episode obviously orients around Shane and his parents and his family.

48:13Joanna Robinson:But also, like, yeah, watching Ilya at the table with then Shane's parents and, like, being able to, like, talk to Shane's dad about the vodka or whatever. You know, you can just, like, see the future, you know, and then they're going to, like, have chicken and salad and beer together. And you just like see a future where Ilya is welcomed into this family and has like that family that was that warmth and comfort and intimacy that had been denied, you know, by his shitty brother and his father. I'm going to wrap up pretty soon. I just want to hit a couple of things before we go. First of all, I want to say.

48:47Joanna Robinson:Window blowjob, phone call blowjob. No, that's not where you're going. Okay, carry on. Both incredible stuff. I mean, the window being like, no, we're not pulling the shades. Yeah, we're not pulling the shapes out. This is not what we're doing. Perfect. But I just want to, we got a ton of emails in and the most popular subject actually was the needle drop in episode five. Was like something that people were really, really struck by. And I thought that was really interesting. It was like a reason Justin Sales told us he was like watching Heated Rivalry was the Wolf Parade needle drop that plays for Scott and Kip.

49:21Joanna Robinson:which upon rewatch is the song that Scott is listening to in his earbuds when he runs into the smoothie shop for the first time. Like when, when episode three started on my rewatch, I was like, Oh, it's Scott and Kip's song here at the beginning. Um, that Elena in episode three says to Scott quote, he deserves sunshine. And so do you, which is like, uh, you know, the, the refrain of, of that needle drop. And I agree with like all the people who are writing in about that song which Jacob Tierney has talked about as a song that like has been very important to him and his life. This is a very like Canadian.

49:57Joanna Robinson:Uh, I think Canadian sleaze is the, uh, is the genre of, uh, of music that, um, I've seen it identified as anyway. Um, we did a musical moments episode on the house of our feed recently, and that wasn't about needle drops. That was about sort of like more diegetic music. But if we were to do a needle drop, maybe not of the quarter century, but I would say of this TV needle drops of this decade, I would be tempted to put this on there because this is such a perfect selection of a song that now forever I will hear and think about this TV moment, you know, with love and respect to the tattoo needle drop.

50:36Joanna Robinson:I already had my associations with tattoo. So like that's taken, but this, I'll believe in anything by Wolf Parade needle drop. I just think is, I loved how many emails we got about it. I thought that was pretty extraordinary. We also got an email from a listener who just like wanted to enumerate, nitpick all the things, lovingly nitpick all the things that's wrong with the hockey. And I'm not going to go into it because I have some pressing horny questions for you. But I just want to say this is exactly the kind of email that I love to get. PrestigeTV at Spotify.com when I get like expertise from someone and they're like, well, actually those helmets, well, actually those sticks, well, actually this with love, with like a loving celebration of the show.

51:15Joanna Robinson:It was a great email. Thank you, Christian. Okay, so here's my question for you, Mally Rubin. These are two, actually sneaky three questions here for you at the end of all things. The two that we prepared is number one, what is your favorite moment of yearning of the season? Other than us for the lakefront cabin?

51:36You know, certainly Scott looking up in the stands after winning the cup and seeing Kip and deciding to call him down is tough to top. But for me, the answer is also from episode five. It's the phone call. It's the yearning in both directions. The emotion in Ilya's voice as he speaks in Russian and shares all of his deepest thoughts and desires in Russian, but not yet in English. And Shane, his face, his closed eyes, the concentration. The fact that in that moment, it is so clear that the thing they both want more than anything in the world as each other and they're not quite, quite, quite yet able to say that out loud.

52:18That is just this beautiful portrait of the yearning tendrils, that desire, the longing to be with someone else.

52:25Joanna Robinson:Mine is, I think yours is the right choice. I will say, on rewatch, Ilya's complete crash out over the Roselandry, Shane, like tabloid stuff. And when he gets off the exercise bike and like stubs his toe and just like screams about it because he's like so upset and he's like stub my stub my fucking toe. Right. But he's just like so mad about this thing about yearning for someone who's in the public spotlight. So you have to like see all of this. I just thought that was really good. I love that. And then Malia Rubin. Mm hmm. Professional horny person. Favorite sex scene or horny moment of the season?

53:06oh boy crowded field of what a gift this show was on the this is spice front this is why i mean here here are your no you have like a whole mount i was gonna say your twin sort of pillars of

53:20Joanna Robinson:strength but you have like a whole mountain range of strength so it's hard for me to narrow it down to two but i will say access to emotion and horniness are like among your many many many skills and so this show is just sort of like built for you and this is why people demanded your presence here on the feed. So yeah, sex scene of the season, horniest moment, Mallory. Oh God, thank you for saying that. I'm going to update my business cards or I would if I had them, professional horny person. Okay, so I'll take the prompts separately in two parts. Okay. The horniness and the sex scenes, obviously.

53:55Horniest moments and sex scenes are certainly entwined, but I'll actually, I'll take them separately. Oh, a smuggle. For a reason I'll explain. Okay. For a horniest moment, I'm going to just go with the first two episodes, like the early stretch. You know, that first like legs open wide, sweaty water bottle sharing scene into the shower sequence. That's what I think it is.

54:18Joanna Robinson:I think it's summer before rookie season, sweaty neck. Like the camera just like lingering on the sweat on Ilya's neck essentially. Like the pulsing, your pulse in the neck as it glistens. I would say that's like one of Jacob Tierney's horniest moments. Like real horny camera work from Jacob Tierney. Really good stuff. The show doesn't cease being horny from there, but I think that's tough to top as the pick for Horniest Woman. Okay. For like favorite sex scene, I'd like to thank you for what you just said about the Twin Pillars or Mountain Range. It's apt because my selections for sex scenes will track that progression.

55:00I am going both early and late here for that very reason. The thing that I love so much about this show, but I think the way, it's obviously just, again, very erotic and sexy and thrilling to watch the sex scenes across the season. I think the way that we evolved from lust into love, not that lust ceased being present when love entered the chat, but that organic evolution inside of the relationship that you could then feel in the intimate moments was really, really, really expertly deployed. So on the sex scene front, episode two had a couple Alzheimer's, had many Alzheimer's, but the journey of discovery...

55:44Joanna Robinson:If people are unfamiliar with Mallory's work on House of Art, this is classic. Smuggle City. Where she's just like, I'm just gonna run through them. Smuggle City. I won't chronicle them all, actually, believe it or not. But in episode two, you know, we have a lot of sexy time in episode one, but then in episode two, we take the next step, right? And Shane's first time, that scene was just really, really memorable and really, really great. Then, of course, in that same episode, at the end of the episode, we get the post-award show, Ilya in the chair drinking, Shane in bed across from him, and Ilya saying, touch yourself, show off for me, I want to watch you.

56:27that stretch at the beginning of the season on just the lust and like we need to fuck and we need to tear each other's clothes off and we need to touch i saw a social media post of a fan who

56:38Joanna Robinson:had had a t-shirt made of that scene and then had met hudson williams and showed him the shirt that was just like ilia in the chair and shane on the bed and i think hudson williams said something like, oh, I'm touching my asshole or like something. It's like, I don't know. The best. So that obviously has to be here. And I think this journey across the episodes from, I need to touch you. I want to explore you, but also I want to help you understand and discover like who you are and what you want into, I know you and you know yourself, which is where we are in episodes four, five, and six, the episode four couch scene, the post tuna melt scene, where Shane leaves immediately after, what that represented for where they were with each other and where their relationship had gotten to and what it meant for Shane and how he was processing that, just very memorable.

57:41Joanna Robinson:I would like to identify that couch scene as a real moment in my rewatch this last couple days with Diana because I like paused it. I was like, I would like you to tell me what you believe is going on here. And then we were both like, we're just sort of like trying to, with our hands, figure out exactly. I understand that this is a thing. I knew that, but like to, I've never seen it done personally. and um so to like even though this uh very canadian uh it's on hbo but it's a canadian show has not shown us full frontal on anyone that's okay i don't need it but like so it's all out of frame so then we're just getting like implications in that particular moment but it was just like a really funny like pause let's have a conversation about the mechanics of what's happening right now um that i would like to identify as one of the hornier moments of the show, but a very emotionally intimate moment as well.

58:39Joanna Robinson:The first trading of the first name sort of moment. Yeah, that was great. What are your picks? I mean, I think it's the scene that sent me to urbandictionary.com to figure out what the phrase that I should be using here is. So yeah, I mean, what a great fucking show. I will also say I really, really enjoyed the artistry of the Ilya is jacking off in the shower. Shane is trying to have sex with Rose, but they're like staring down the camera. Very good. At the end of episode four. That was great. You know, cut across that they're really like fucking each other, even though they're not fucking each other.

59:17Joanna Robinson:I thought that was like a really good moment. Any, like briefly, again, we're running a little long, but briefly, any season two thoughts, feelings, wishes, desires that you want to share? Just that it start tomorrow. Okay. Like, I know that's not possible. I know that's not what will happen and that we will likely definitely be waiting until 2027 to resume our time. I will say this. They have churned out seasons of Letterkenny and seasons of Shorzy. So there is a non-zero chance. Late 2026? That we could get, especially since it's like six episodes made. you know I mean the budget will increase but made rather cheaply like I think Jacob Tierney could give us this for Christmas 2026 if he wanted what a gift that would be so yeah I just can't wait to you want the Ottawa Ottawa Montreal sort of like yeah I guess I'll have to decide if I'm going to read the books in between which I think we should you know I think we probably I think probably we should not only should we we will I think we will I maybe we'll start tonight um so that'll be a different experience, which will be fun.

1:00:27And I feel like the, you know, the Hudson and Connor are just going to be in our, like our lives every minute until, until then, which is great. You know, they're both so famous so quickly, which is really fun and really well-deserved. They're on the cover of the Hollywood Reporter. They have a GQ hype issue. Like it's all happening and it's amazing to watch. So I hope not only that season two is with us soon, I can't wait to be back with them and continue their story, but I'm also like, you know, you, you, you, you and Richard started talking about this in your mid-season check-in, like the casting directors are paying attention.

1:00:57What else are they going to be in? How quickly are they going to be in our lives and other things? It's just been wonderful. And then we get on the tyranny front, we get another season of Shorzy soon. It's great. We're living. It's the best.

1:01:09Joanna Robinson:I want to say, I want to flag when Shane was No Bad Ideas in a Brainstorm, brainstorming what their charity should be. And he was like a summer camp for kids, essentially. Yep. And then thinking about that scene with Ilya with the kids in the pool and how actually very charming that was. And thinking about Ilya's relationship with his niece. I'm going to have a trust for my niece when Svetlana, when he's packing Svetlana, it's like, remember the things for your niece. So, like, Ilya and kids is, like, a thing that I'm excited to see more of. This, like, really sweet, like, side of him that was, like, oddly touching in the pool.

1:01:53Joanna Robinson:But, like, while teasing Shane at the same time, like, when that pool scene happened. And so just like that being something that they do every year together as a possibility is very exciting for me. More Scott and Kip. Other characters from the series being introduced. I was talking to Katie and she was saying like, because earlier she's like, I don't see how they do a season two. And then she saw the finale. She's like, okay, I see how they do a season two. She was like, but how do you recapture the like, will they, won't they, the yearning, the like first sexy, like, you know, all that sort of stuff like that.

1:02:31Joanna Robinson:And it's like, it's true that that kind of tension is out of the story. But can you capture it with another like new couple from the series that's like part of it while we continue to get be emotionally invested in in Shane and Ilya? Yeah, but also like, what is it like for them to take that next step in their relationship? No, all of that is like good and interesting, but if he didn't write where he has a reputation of like, here's the horny yearning show, that's a little different than perhaps. Yeah. But maybe all the book readers are sitting at home being like, you don't know what the fuck you're talking about.

1:03:07Joanna Robinson:I've read the second Ilya and Shane book and I know it's great and I'm sure it is. Okay. Thank you, Valerie Rubin. Thank you. Happy holidays. Happy holidays to you. If you want more from us, we've been covering Stranger Things over on House of R. We also got some end-of-year stuff that we did on that feed. So we spend hours and hours and hours every week talking to each other. So my understanding from Justin is that these heated rivalry episodes have been perhaps an exposure to a new audience that have not been listening to the Prestige TV feed as possible. So if you've never, this is a thing we do.

1:03:45Joanna Robinson:We talk to each other a lot. It's called House of R. It's a great podcast. you should go listen to it. Thank you to Devin for working on these Heated Rivalry episodes. Legend. Absolute legend. Experiencing Heated Rivalry by listening to us talk about it rather than watching it. My apologies for that. Thank you to Justin Sales for catching up with Heated Rivalry and all the rest. And as I mentioned, Rob and I are wrapping up Pluribus. We might have like an extra Pluribus episode for the end of the year. We'll see. and we'll see you all in this feed in the new year for the pit and industry and everything else that's coming in January.

1:04:26Joanna Robinson:All right, bye.