My Review of Heated Rivalry: "The Cottage"

 

Written And Directed by Jacob Tierney 

Ilya: "Your family is here. Your boyfriend is here. You're good here."

Shane: "My boyfriend?

Ilya: "I mean, yes. I think so. Probably."

After last week's stunning penultimate episode, I'd say the expectations for this one were astronomical. Could it really stick the landing as a finale? Oh, it certainly did and then some.

The episode opened with Scott Hunter accepting an award a few months after hard launching his relationship with Kip Grady. Scott thanked everyone for his career success, including Kip for making him a better man. It was a lovely way to open the episode.

Then the episode delved into the cottage itself. Shane collected Ilya in secret and the two promised to be honest and relaxed with one another before heading to the titular location. This was a promise they managed to actually keep with one another.

Shane and Ilya at the cottage was just everything you could've wanted. They were goofy with one another, they were playful, they bickered a little like an old married couple and they also had some genuinely tender, truthful and even sexy moments. The writing could not have been more perfect for them.

Then we had the arrival of Shane's parents at the cottage and things continued to take an interesting turn. Of course Shane's parents suspected a little that he was gay but his relationship with Ilya still took them by surprise. I also loved how Ilya was with them.

I sound like I'm gushing too hard here but again those final moments when Shane realised he had a boyfriend with Ilya and both of his parents support, that genuinely was touching to see. Not to mention the last scene with Shane and Ilya driving away while holding hands. Absolutely beautiful.

- Shane and Ilya decided to set up a youth charity tackling suicide prevention. Ilya talked about his mother committing suicide.

- I did laugh at Ilya being disruptive during Shane's phone call with Hayden and playing as him in a video game. 

- I wish we had seen that scene between Ilya and Scott. That would've been nice. 

- Chronology: July 2017 and mostly in Ottawa for this episode.

The Cottage marked a brilliant end to a fantastic first season. Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams have been consistently brilliant throughout but these last two episodes truly saw them bring their A game. It'll be a while for the second season but hopefully both lads get some great gigs off the back of this show.

Rating: 9 out of 10