‘Heated Rivalry’ Celebrates Queer Joy

By Frankie Colao

Published March 12, 2026

With Connor Storie recently hosting SNL, it may be important to talk about why “Heated Rivalry” was such a huge success. A low budget television show about gay hockey stars doesn’t seem like it would pull in a lot of numbers, let alone be picked up for a second season, yet it resonated with audiences everywhere.

For starters, the show is hot as hell, but there’s a deeper reason for its huge success. In a time where being queer is so demonized and feels so daunting and scary, it’s really beautiful to see queer joy being celebrated, and the act of simply being queer being presented as a positive thing.

This is especially exemplified by Scott Hunter’s coming out scene, in which he wins the Stanley Cup, invites his partner, Kip, to join him on the ice, and very publicly kisses him. The crowd erupts in applause and cheers at this simple act of love and affection as the commenter says, “Good for Scott Hunter.” It is this moment that eventually encourages Illya and Shane to actually be together.

The second scene that really ties in queer joy as a theme throughout the show is Shane’s coming out to his parents. Coming off of Will Byer’s highly anticipated and highly awful coming out scene in “Stranger Things,” Shane’s was so well thought out and written with so much love and care. His parents end up being accepting of both him and Illya, despite having despised him for years. All they really cared about was that their son was happy, and with so many coming out scenes ending so negatively, it was really wonderful to see both of these moments treated as a moment of celebration.

Ultimately, with everything going on politically, it was really beautiful to see queer joy and such a positive portrayal of queerness, as that in itself is resistance.