Myles McNutt

I say this with no animus: is Lana Condor negotiating roles for her husband in her TV show appearances? #Elsbeth

They fall in love so quickly and Scott basically traps him in the tower so they have LOTS of time to explore.

I hope someone writes the essay about how the show dropped the ball on portraying the reciprocity of Scott and Kip’s sexual dynamic, tho.

Review: Heated Rivalry, "Hunter" | Season 1, Episode 3 Shane and Ilya take a backseat to the original Game Changer

I've always believed that adapting Game Changer within #HeatedRivalry was a great idea in theory.

In practice, I was a little confused why "Hunter" was actually "Grady," and wonder how a departure episode like this will play in a 6-episode season.

My review for subscribers:

You're thinking that I'm reading that back and realizing the contradiction and you would be DEAD WRONG.

Verisimilitude is the LIFEBLOOD OF FICTION.

You normies have no respect for how boring Canadian hockey players are SMH

The problem in this case is that Kip’s life seems more important than Scott’s. “Hunter” could well have been called “Grady,” because his world is so much fuller. I really love what Tierney has done with his side of things, to be clear: Maria and Elena are both well-realized with minimal screen time, serving as a greek chorus for Kip as he navigates this new world, and his relationship with his father does a lot with a little as well. One of the central premises of the novel is that Kip has someone he can talk to about their relationship (Elena) while Scott has no one. The rush to cohabitate pushes us into the central conceit of the novel, in which Scott creates a bubble in his apartment where they can be happy and in love, and every time they leave it they realize it isn’t the happy ending they want.

Subscribe to read more of my review AND because I probably don't pay myself enough for the amount of time I spent getting a non-blurry screenshot of this moment.

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Review: Heated Rivalry, "Hunter" | Season 1, Episode 3 Shane and Ilya take a backseat to the original Game Changer

I've always believed that adapting Game Changer within #HeatedRivalry was a great idea in theory.

In practice, I was a little confused why "Hunter" was actually "Grady," and wonder how a departure episode like this will play in a 6-episode season.

My review for subscribers:

First, a screenshot of the Vegas scene from the second episode. Then, the following: As noted, this episode is very much about Ilya on a professional level, but the more I write about it the more it becomes about Shane’s experience of Ilya’s actions, creating a form of equilibrium narratively speaking. He feels sympathy for him in Russia, hearing New York Admiral Carter Vaughan speak about the bravery of a potentially gay figure skater to travel to Russia, and realizing that he and Ilya both fall into the same category. He even feels joy for him when he raises the Not Stanley Cup, fighting back a smile while the rest of his teammates nurse wounds from their own exit from the playoffs. Whereas he was bitter about being drafted second, he’s sincere in his congratulations on his MVP award, and obviously wants their encounter in that Las Vegas hotel room to be something more than the sexual power fantasy it became. He notices they never kissed because it was what he wanted, the unsent text serving as an effective tool to bring some of the novel’s inner monologue to life.

Subscribe to read my thoughts on how #HeatedRivalry balances its two leads AND to see me explore the boundaries on what is acceptable to screenshot.

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Review: Heated Rivalry, "Olympians" | Season 1, Episode 2 One rival watches the other defeat adversity; the other rival watches the other...well...

If you're wondering what the appetite is for #HeatedRivalry coverage, my paywalled review of the second episode has generated the most signups of any show we've covered at Episodic Medium since our first year.

$5 gets you all my reviews of the show as both television and as romance adaptation.

*Cue “Happy Xmas (War is Over)”*

Yeah, maybe the Double sold out. Swissotel works just fine.

It's the Double that's not present.

Website says $179 for a double and if’s coming up $250. Am I crazy?

Well. (It’s showing as $199 to $250 for me).

Is the Hotel Rate not showing up for everyone else on the booking link?

The Necessary Corporatization of Netflix gets another rare W.

As there's Another List today, some reminders:

#1 Every unhinged decision is carefully calculated to stoke your rage.

#2 Every rational decision is carefully calculated to convince you #1 isn't true.

My questions about this as the morning progresses:

1) Who will be the first to find the vomit hose guy for an interview?

2) Who will be the person who finds the body of the person who approved the 4K restorations after Matthew Weiner murders them?

'Heated Rivalry' creator doesn’t see ‘any reason’ to confirm the sexuality of lead actors Jacob Tierney, the creator of the new hockey romance series 'Heated Rivalry,' responded to speculation over whether stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie are queer: 'I don’t think there’s any reaso...

Non-Penske related, but seeing mainstream pubs aggregate queer media interviews like this is…telling.

Like, this is kind of HBO Max’s fault for releasing this 9 days after announcing their acquisition with a holiday in between, but still. #HeatedRivalry

HBOMax has started showing a 'remastered' 4K Mad Men and they’ve messed things up so during Roger’s oyster vomit scene you can now see the crew men with the vomit hose on the right

I love the absurdity of the Penske of it all: THR published a full feature story on #HeatedRivalry, and Variety and Deadline have just aggregated the exact same OUT interview as clickbait.

So the discourse around the first movie meant that I was vaguely aware of what happened in #WickedForGood, and I knew some key songs, but didn’t know the whole score.

And yet SOMEHOW I was able to clock the new songs immediately? Huh. Can’t imagine why.

Oooh, which ones?

New shows always invade my TikTok FYP, but what’s happening with #HeatedRivalry is…different, probably because the algorithm is categorizing it as both TV and Gay Stuff, two of its favorite categories for me.

Obviously I am already watching, but imagine this happening to someone unaware.

As much as my social feeds have become dominated by variations on “ #HeatedRivalry 🥵,” which obviously tracks, I think there’s more going on here and I’m glad to see Episodic Medium subscribers agreeing.

My review of episode two: www.episodicmedium.tv/review-heate...

Update: for some reason my payment information was out of date? Can't imagine why.

Review: Stranger Things, "Sorcerer" | Season 5, Episode 4 At long last, Will Byers gets to do something

And thus @lilywrites.bsky.social's initial batch of #StrangerThings reviews concludes—some great insights, the designation of the Strangest Thing in each episode, and dynamic conversation. Support this and the rest of Episodic Medium's work by becoming a paid subscriber to keep reading.

As much as my social feeds have become dominated by variations on “ #HeatedRivalry 🥵,” which obviously tracks, I think there’s more going on here and I’m glad to see Episodic Medium subscribers agreeing.

My review of episode two: www.episodicmedium.tv/review-heate...