'Rookies' to 'The Cottage': All six episodes of Heated Rivalry season one ranked
Disclaimer: placing an episode at the bottom of this list does not make it the “worst.” There is no worst. There are only varying levels of perfection.
Design by Chyna Sudbury
What can be said about Heated Rivalry that hasn’t already been said? Smutty hockey romance charting the decade-long love story between rival players. Lead stars catapulted to overnight, One Direction-levels of superstardom. An emotionally and physically unprecedented impact on the lives of everyone who watches it, for the better. Altered brain chemistry, that kind of stuff. That about covers it, right?
While a “drought” usually follows most television finales, the same can’t be said for Jacob Tierney’s adaptation of Rachel Reid’s iconic novel. Storrie and Williams’ fame has only continued to skyrocket, from presenting at the Golden Globes to carrying the Olympic torch, Reid’s Game Changers series has dominated the charts, and Tierney has been sprinkling hints about the forthcoming second season, which he says will premiere in Spring 2027.
So, in the spirit of keeping the non-drought alive, we’re ranking all six episodes of Heated Rivalry’s first season, from ‘Rookies’ to ‘The Cottage’. Disclaimer: placing an episode at the bottom of this list does not make it the “worst.” There is no worst. There are only varying levels of perfection.
Major spoilers ahead.
6. ‘Rookies’ (Episode 1)
Yes… I know. It feels almost sacrilegious to place the episode that introduced live-action Hollanov at the bottom, but that’s simply a testament to the absurdly high bar Heated Rivalry sets for itself.
Through a series of time jumps, ‘Rookies’ charts the rivalry between Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander as it slowly transforms into something far more sexually, err... combustible, tracing both the rise of their professional hockey careers and the beginning of the secret they’ll carry for the next decade (or so). Thanks to the lightning-in-a-bottle chemistry between Storrie and Williams and Jacob Tierney’s insane writing and direction, the episode flawlessly adapts some of Reid’s most beloved scenes: the competitive, deliciously thirsty gym session, the now-viral shower scene that propelled the lead duo’s buttocks to international superstardom and their first clandestine hotel tryst.
And still, Heated Rivalry only gets better from here.
