Every Rom Com Bonus: If You Like "Heated Rivalry" Watch/Read This!

[00:00:08] Speaker A: Hello, listeners, and welcome to a special bonus episode of every rom com about great things to watch and read. If you are a fan of Heated Rivalry, I'm joined today by three wonderful guests. First, we have Jess and Alexia from the Bawdi Literati podcast, who have been on the show before, most recently on our Pretty Woman episode. Welcome back, Jess and Alexia. [00:00:32] Speaker B: Hi. [00:00:33] Speaker C: I'm very excited to talk about Heated Rivalry. [00:00:36] Speaker D: Me too. Probably not as excited as Jess, though. [00:00:40] Speaker A: Nice. I can't wait to find out who's the most excited of all, of everybody. And we've got one more person. We can find out how excited she is. We also have a new guest on every rom com today, Melissa, who is known as Melissa 90s on Letterboxd AM, Melissa's profile on Twitter. And I met her while doing a guest panel for a podcast that sadly never got released. But at least I got to meet a cool new podcaster. So welcome to every rom com, Melissa. [00:01:08] Speaker B: Hello, Jennifer. Thank you so much for having me. And I guess in terms of Heated Rivalry excitement, we'll see who is the most between you, me, and Jesse. [00:01:22] Speaker A: Sounds right. It sounds right, but has Alexa been left off? [00:01:26] Speaker B: She just said she's not as. All right. Okay. [00:01:30] Speaker A: I'm still having brain fog from the wildfire smoke. [00:01:33] Speaker D: I loved it, but I didn't watch it more than once. [00:01:36] Speaker A: Oh, my God. I know. [00:01:38] Speaker D: That's why I'm like, I don't think I'm as excited as you guys. [00:01:41] Speaker A: Wow. Yeah, it's bizarre to me how many times I've watched that show. And we'll get to that in a minute. We'll talk about our different experiences watching it. But yeah, suffice to say, I. I have never watched a show more times in the first year it was out. So, yeah, one of the reasons I invited everybody to the show today is that you're all fans of the show Heated Rivalry. But before we get into the substance of our episode and recommending things to read or watch, if you like Heated Rivalry, I thought it would be good to just give a little basic info in case you're coming to the podcast without a lot of knowledge about it. So, Heated Rivalry began as a series of gay romance novels, such as Set in the world of hockey. Rachel Reed is the author, and she first wrote game changer in 2018, followed by heated rivalry released in 2019, and the subsequent TV series tells the stories in both of those books. There are six books in the series so far, and there's another sequel expected in 2027. Then the show is created by Jacob Tierney, who also wrote and directed it. It. It was originally produced by the Crave network in Canada and then it was picked up by hbo. And if, if you're not, if you're living under a rock, just know that it has become one of the most phenomenal successes in recent years on television. [00:02:58] Speaker C: I would say completely agree about that. I feel like so many people in my life when it first came out in December of 2025, were just like, hey, are you watching Heated Rivalry? And then literally by Christmas, I feel like I was having substantive conversations with people. Show non stop. It was amazing. [00:03:18] Speaker D: You know, there's still Heated Rivalry raves and parties going on in Phoenix that we have not been to yet. [00:03:25] Speaker C: Jess, gotta get on that. [00:03:27] Speaker D: That's how popular it is here. [00:03:29] Speaker A: Oh, man. I want to report, if you guys, if you guys end up doing that, I want to hear how it went. So you'll have to let me know. [00:03:35] Speaker C: We'll report back for sure. [00:03:37] Speaker A: So the show's very successful and production is currently underway this summer for seasons two and three of the show. And it's going to be based on Reid's other books, but especially the Long Game, which focuses on the same couple as Heated Rivalry. And the show stars Hudson Williams as Shane Hollander, Connor's story as his rival and romantic interest Ilya Rosenoff, Francois Orneau as Scott Hunter, and Robbie GK as Scott's love interest Kip. So with that basic information out of the way, I want to talk to you guys about like kind of what your experience with Heated Rivalry was. And first of all, I want to know, is there anybody who read the books before the show was a thing? [00:04:19] Speaker C: No, no, same, same. [00:04:22] Speaker B: I read the book after. [00:04:23] Speaker A: Okay, okay, so let me think, is there anybody who watched the show when it first debuted? Because I want to find out the earliest adopter out of us. [00:04:31] Speaker B: Jennifer, what's the debut date? [00:04:34] Speaker A: I think it debuted the same in Canada and the US around November 2025, I think. [00:04:39] Speaker B: Okay, okay. [00:04:41] Speaker D: I think I remember watching it in November and I don't know if Jess had text what happened. But then we had a watch party in December. But this was like Jess's third or fourth watch by the time we had our watch party. [00:04:57] Speaker B: I wasn't until January. [00:04:59] Speaker A: Okay, so I'm gonna let Jess and Alexia go first then. And just tell us a little bit about. Because you're the earliest adopters, tell us about kind of how you heard about it, what you thought of it, when you first watched it, how many times you've seen it and if you've read the books and you know, any. Anything else you want to add is fine too. [00:05:16] Speaker C: Yeah. Thanks, Jen. So I guess apparently I am the early adopter in this, which is kind of wild, honestly to think about. But I feel like I started hearing about this show in. It was like the first two weeks of December 2025. I was on Instagram on social media and I just saw a lot of people in my feed talking about this show called Heated Rivalry on H. That it was really good and that there was like a lot of little memes and a lot of little like things. You know, how they get that whole hype train going for shows and stuff like that. And so I at first was like, okay, whatever. You know, I'm the type of person where I wait until the whole show is out before I even sit down to watch it. And so I was like, oh, just wait. And then I don't know, it was like the following week. So maybe like the second week of December, maybe the third, I just, there was just so much and I was just like, okay, I have to see what is going on on this show. And I ended up watching the first three episodes and I was completely like hooked in. And I think that's when I started texting Alexia about it and was telling her about the show and that she needed to watch it. [00:06:43] Speaker A: Nice, Nice. [00:06:45] Speaker C: So for me, I feel like I was thinking about this last night and I. I've watched this show so many times. I haven't watched it like a lot recently because I feel like I overdosed between like December and March when, you know, I was telling folks about it, you know, our, our book club, I was telling folks I wanted to do a watch party. So we did an in person watch party with our folks here in Phoenix. And then I did watch party as well with our folks who were out of state and wanted to still watch it. Only one person came, but we had an amazing time. But I have probably watched this show, I want to say, five times. [00:07:28] Speaker A: Nice. [00:07:29] Speaker C: Fully, like all six episodes I've watched and watched the seasons probably at least five times. [00:07:37] Speaker A: Very nice. [00:07:38] Speaker D: Wow, that's amazing. [00:07:39] Speaker A: Yeah. And the watch party. How many people were at the in person watch party? [00:07:45] Speaker C: I think there was five of us. Alexia. We went to one of our members homes who, you know, doesn't have kids or adult children and they were like, hey, come over and you can watch it on my tv. And so we brought snacks and you know, and we sat down and we watched it. And I think there's about five of us. [00:08:06] Speaker D: Yeah, I think so. [00:08:07] Speaker B: I. [00:08:08] Speaker D: So I feel bad because I. If I had time and not a child that hogs my tv, I probably would have watched it more, like. So I was looking through our text messages, Jess. It was beginning of December. [00:08:22] Speaker C: Okay. It was okay. [00:08:23] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:08:23] Speaker D: You're like. The Internet got me. I started watching that heated rivalry. It's really funny. [00:08:31] Speaker C: Always the Internet. Always the Internet. [00:08:33] Speaker D: I watched the first episode and it was, like, the only alone time that I had without my husband or my kid. And then it was, like, a few weeks later that I was able to get to episode two and three, and then I watched the whole thing. So I guess I watched the first half of it twice. [00:08:50] Speaker A: Okay. [00:08:51] Speaker D: I think I saw. I'm really into, like, book talk and Instagram. Bookstagram, whatever they call it. And I. That's mostly what my feed is. So I kept seeing people talking about it. Yeah, I. I loved it. It was really fun to watch it with a group of people. I think that's the way to go. [00:09:13] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:09:13] Speaker D: I. Like, we all cried during a couple, like, an episode. Yeah, it was the Kip and Scott episode. [00:09:21] Speaker A: Oh, my God. Yeah. [00:09:22] Speaker D: Everyone was in tears. It was like, wait, episode three or [00:09:25] Speaker A: the end of five? Because the end of five gets me so hard. Oh, my God. [00:09:29] Speaker D: Is that that. Which one's the one? That's Scott and Kip. Is that episode. [00:09:33] Speaker C: That's three? Yeah, that's three. Yeah, that's them. [00:09:36] Speaker D: Okay. That's the episode where everyone was in tears and then. Yeah. It was just so fun to watch it with others. [00:09:44] Speaker A: Yeah. No, that's cool. And have either of you read the book subsequently? [00:09:50] Speaker C: I did. [00:09:50] Speaker A: Yes. [00:09:51] Speaker C: So I think I ended up reading the books in March, I believe. And I only have read the first two that were based off of the show because I got them off of my library card and I had to return them quickly and I wasn't able to read any more past that, so. But I have plans to go back and read all six of them in the series before the next season comes out. Just because, you know, it's always nice to be informed. And plus, I love Shane and Ilya so much and everybody else who gets introduced. There's so many. There's so many people. It's amazing. [00:10:27] Speaker A: I've read ahead, too, so I'll talk about that at my section, but I've read ahead. I know what's gonna happen. [00:10:33] Speaker D: I can't. [00:10:33] Speaker A: I. [00:10:34] Speaker D: So Jess and I are going to talk about it on Body Literati. [00:10:37] Speaker A: Nice. [00:10:38] Speaker D: And I have to read it like, the day before, or I will forget everything, every detail. It doesn't matter if I've watched the show four times, read the book three times, I will forget everything. So I have to read it, like, the day or two before. [00:10:54] Speaker A: So is there anything else you two want to add about your experience before we talk to Melissa? Because Melissa is the next in line in terms of discovering it, I think. [00:11:02] Speaker C: Yeah. I think for me, it's just so incredibly amazing to see a show like this get the attention and the accolades that it deserves and to also elevate Hudson and Connor into the stardom that they both absolutely deserve because Hudson is such a diva. He's so amazing, and Connor is amazing as well. But it's just incredibly satisfying for a person who has read romance and erotica for many, many years to finally be in this portion of our understanding of pop culture that stuff like this is relevant, necessary, and can be a worldwide phenomenon. So just incredibly, incredibly happy to see this and hoping for more, which I think we are going to get in the future. So, yeah, I also. [00:11:56] Speaker D: I wanted to add the music. I don't know who chose the music, but it fits amazing in this show. [00:12:04] Speaker A: Yeah, I think Jacob Tierney, the creator, actually chose most of the music and tried to get. If anyone knows better than me, but I think he tried to get sort of smaller bands a lot of the time, and Canadian bands, too. [00:12:15] Speaker D: They. The music's fantastic. Like, you can listen to a song. If you've watched the show, you can listen to a song and you know exactly when that song was played, and you could feel the emotions from that scene like it is. They've. They did such a great job with music. Like, I have four or five new songs that I'm obsessed with, and I played way too much, and my kids like, wow, you really like this. And I'm like, yep. And I'm not telling you where it came from. [00:12:44] Speaker C: I think that tattoo song, not to say that it's a new song, but that tattoo song got reintroduced, I think, to a whole host of folks and still to. And I feel like now is greatly attached, associated with this show, and it's just incredible. Like, even just thinking about it, I hear all the things she said, you know, it's just like. It's so amazing. I. Yeah, I agree with Alexia. The music was fantastic. Great choices. [00:13:13] Speaker A: All right, Melissa, how about your experience? So you're the next one, because I didn't adopt heated rivalry until, I think, the spring. So tell us what your experience has been like with it. [00:13:24] Speaker B: I think I. I heard some buzz here and there, and I'm sure one of the people I heard about it from was this person, Henry Evil on Twitter. It's just. He's a Toronto person, like me, and he's like a. I just see him as, like, my own tastemaker. Like, I'm always following him and whatever he likes. And then I think the hype just got really crazy, as Jess was saying, and it was unavoidable. [00:13:51] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:13:51] Speaker B: And at first I was like, I don't. I don't know if this is. If I'm gonna even like this. But then I tried it. Obviously not until January. I just decided, okay, let me try this. And then, of course, I got really suckered in. And my angle on it is I'm Canadian and I'm half Asian, like Hudson and his character Shane. And I can't believe that a show that started on Crave is this big. It's re. It's ridiculous. It's unheard of. And Canadians always make fun of our own pop culture, our own movies, our own tv, not our music. Our music is unassailable. You can't say anything bad about Canadian music, but our TV and our movies is always like. We make fun of it. And, you know, 90% of our pop culture growing up is American. And it's. It's unbelievable that a Canadian show is this good, is this respected, is this popular? It's unbelievable. And I watched the whole thing in two days, and then I just kept watching, and I kept trying to find other shows, but I was like, oh, I'm just gonna watch Heated rivalry again. And I really recommend the app called Serialized. It lets you log your TV shows. And. And now I know exactly how many times. So I've seen the whole series five times. However, this is going to be so Controversial for you 3. The Scott and Kip episode I only saw once, and I was just like, I'm done. I don't care. I don't need to see this again. I think just because I care so much about the Asian stuff and the fact that Hudson is a biracial person playing a biracial character. This is so rare. It's so rare that I keep a list of this on letterbox. I care so much about this. I care so much about Asian representation, Canadian representation, biracial representation. So this show has it all and more. So that's how I care about the show. And so, yeah, between January and February, I saw it five times. And I kind of. I'm like, jess, I had to give up for a while, I had to find other shows. Thank God other shows came on because I think I found it in a good time. January is like a dearth of programming. There's nothing to watch. So I just kept watching it. But now I'm giving myself a break because it's like, okay, I got it. I gotta. I gotta leave this apartment and see other things, you know? But, yeah, I loved it. And I love the acting and I love the representation. I love that it's Canadian. It's so Canadian. The only thing that's not Canadian is Connor and. And that's it. But it is so unbelievably Canadian. And then. That's really awesome. [00:16:32] Speaker A: Yeah. Like, actually, I think I have one Canadian movie in my rec. No. Two Canadian movies in my recommendation. So I'm gonna continue the Canadian representation with my picks. [00:16:40] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:16:41] Speaker A: But also, like, I was gonna say. Yeah, I think actually Canadian TV shows are often really good. Like, Kim's Convenience made it over here on Netflix for a while, and I thought that was the awesome show. And I've got to. [00:16:52] Speaker B: Sure, they're good. It's just. As a Canadian, it's like a. It's like, you know, it's like a. It's like an insecurity thing. It's like, you know, I tend to go for American things first, which isn't right, but they kind of have to earn our respect more, which is. It's not. It's not fair. But, yeah, that's how I'd put it. [00:17:12] Speaker A: I've got to see your letterbox list, too. You said keep a letterbox list for, like, specifically, like, biracial representation or. [00:17:18] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. God. So let me just say right Now I have 1400 lists on letterbox. So just that. That lets you know how insane my brain is. [00:17:27] Speaker A: Okay, if you. If you can, then send me a link to that particular list. [00:17:33] Speaker B: Absolutely. Because the reason I bring that up is because there are movies about biracial people that are not even played by biracial actors. Like, they'll just hire a white actor or they'll. You know. Another example is to all the boys I've loved before, she's supposed to be half Asian, and they just hired a full Asian actor. Now, that's fine and all, but then on the other side of it, there's the movie Crazy Rich Asians, and two biracial actors were hired for that cast, and people complained. So my response is, if you don't let us play biracial characters and you don't let us Be in Asian movies. What roles are we supposed to play? So they actually hired Hudson to. Who is biracial. To play a biracial character. That makes me very happy. [00:18:16] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, I can see that. Yeah. Send me that link and I will put it in our show notes so that. [00:18:21] Speaker B: Okay. [00:18:21] Speaker A: And see that problems. I would be interested to see it myself. And I probably don't have time to look through 1400 lists. [00:18:27] Speaker B: No, no, no. It's just. I'm just teasing because I bring up my lists a lot. They're just good reference points. [00:18:32] Speaker A: No, I love letterboxd lists. They're great. Yeah, fantastic. [00:18:35] Speaker C: That's incredible that. That amount of lists. But then also, I'm also biracial, so half black, halfway. And so I also very much clock, like, these things about biracial characters who be. Are being played by fully other character or other, you know, ethnicities and racial, you know, identities and stuff like that. And so that's amazing. And I love that as well. [00:18:59] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, I love that stuff. I'm always noticing that stuff. [00:19:05] Speaker A: Very cool. [00:19:05] Speaker B: Very cool. [00:19:06] Speaker A: All right, so I'm gonna. I guess I'll tell. Unless. Melissa, do you have more you want to add? Because if you want to add anything more, otherwise I'll tell about my experience or. [00:19:15] Speaker B: I think that's pretty good for now. That just kind of gives a full picture of why I like the series. [00:19:22] Speaker A: All right, so my. I kind of. I did one of these things. I try not to do this, but I did one of these things with this show where it was so hyped that I thought it had to be overhyped. Right. By the time I got around to it, I was like, oh, my gosh, this can't possibly be as good as everyone's saying it is. And like, finally we were doing a sports rom com series for every rom com, and I'm like, well, this is a sports romance, so probably I should be familiar with it. And so I started watching it and like, I think, like, the first two episodes I thought were really good and, like, well produced. And like, I like the actors and everything, but it was actually the Scott and Kip episode that bought me in fully. And I think it's because I'm not as much of a slow burn kind of romance person. I very much like a traditional meet cute kind of rom com a lot of times. And that's what episode three is. It's that traditional meet cute intense love. But then there's an external obstacle. So when I saw episode three, I was like, this is like seeing Like a perfect one hour romantic comedy, but in a television show. And the writing is so sharp, like on the whole thing, but on this one in particular, you get like almost the whole story in one episode. And I was, like, flabbergasted by how well done it was. And then of course, episode four, everything gets more complex, more interesting. Episode five is my favorite. I think it's a total masterpiece. And. Yeah, and then episode six is a great ending. And I've watched the show a total of four times now. The third time I watched my husband, and he liked it too, so that was awesome. So I've seen it four times all told. I think the thing I love so much about it is that, I mean, there's a lot of things I love, but just the romance genre a lot of times doesn't get a lot of care put into it by creators. But this is an example where the writing is so good, the production values are so good, the set design, the music choices. As you guys were saying before, the level of the acting is so good throughout. It's like a lot of times you see these streaming romances and they're very throwaway. Like, just. You can tell that, like, not much budget was put into it. Not much, like, artistry was put into it because they're just like, ah, it's just a romance. Who cares? This is like, you can tell that everybody cared. You know what I mean? [00:21:33] Speaker D: Yeah, I like the breathing room. I think this show has breathing room. Yeah, I think I've complained about that in, like, other episodes of. I think maybe the one that you came. You watched Fear with us. And I was complaining about, like, modern tv, but there was a lot of, like, just time, like, to process. So, like, you could see Hudson just processing his emotions. You could see Connor, like, just processing, I don't know. Or breathing room. It was really refreshing and not overstimulating. [00:22:05] Speaker A: Yeah, you wouldn't get something like that phone call scene where Connor speaks in Russian and Hudson doesn't understand him. You wouldn't get that. But. But, you know, but he understands sort of the emotion. You guys know what I'm talking about in episode five. [00:22:17] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:22:17] Speaker A: Yeah, you would not see that. You would not get that in most streaming stuff. Like, you wouldn't get something so complex and so deep. So I love it. I really appreciate all the different tones the show has. Like, you have really two romances in one because you've got episode three, which is like more traditional. Meet cute, and then you've got your slow burn kind of hookup. At first, almost enemies to lovers. Not quite at that, but, like, similar. You know, it's got so much. So I love it. Really respects the genre altogether. [00:22:45] Speaker D: Was anyone surprised by the amount of, like, spice that was shown? [00:22:50] Speaker B: I was, yeah, I. I feel like [00:22:52] Speaker C: I was as well. Like, it was. It felt like, like, from go. Like, there was, like, intention of creating, like, this sexual tension between the two of them. And then when it was released, it was like, dynamic and, like, actual, like, things you would kind of see or feel or, like, read. You know, Alexi and I do a book romance podcast. And so, you know, when we're reading, we're just like, oh, some of these scenes are really well written, and you kind of can be a voyeur in a lot of respects. And I feel like that's what Heated Rivalry did with those scenes was that they created the atmosphere that you were in the room with them and felt everything that they were feeling. [00:23:34] Speaker A: Yeah, it's unapo. Unapologetically gay, man. Like this. [00:23:37] Speaker D: They're. [00:23:37] Speaker A: They're gonna portray these men having hot, steamy scenes, and I love that. I mean, you've got a gay creator and a gay writer and director, so go for it. And at least a few of the actors are potentially queer. At least one is bisexual. Out. Bisexual. So nice. I love it. So now we're gonna do some recommendations for things that you can watch or read if you love heated rivalry. And. And I think we'll each do one at a time if that suits everybody. And then, like, so I'll go first and then move on to the next person and we'll. Does that sound okay to everybody? [00:24:09] Speaker B: Sounds good. [00:24:10] Speaker A: Okay. And I'm going to do. And I think I'm actually going to do my second recommendation first because of all the things I've watched, this is the one that reminds me the most of the themes in heated rivalry. So I'm going to recommend a movie called Mario from 2018. It is streaming all over the place right now. Prime Tubi, Roku channel, Plex Mubi YouTube TV. So Mario is a Swiss film directed by Marcel Gisler, and it's about gay soccer players. Okay. In Europe and the challenges that they face. So there's two gay men on a soccer team, and they kind of fall in love with each other, but they have to deal with being closeted with homophobia, with fears of what being involved with each other might do to their careers. I think it's. It's not. I'm going to warn you right now. I'm sorry to give A spoiler, but I think I should. That it's not going to give you the same happy feeling, you know, as he did. Rivalry. But I think the chemistry between the actors in the movie is so good. Some of the love scenes are also very good between the actors, and I feel it's very authentic. You know, unfortunately, we haven't come very far, unfortunately, with gay athletes being, you know, able to express themselves fully in that world. It's definitely something the makers of Heated Rivalry have commented about, about Real World hockey, you know, that they still have a long way to go. So I think if you're interested in kind of an authentic expression of what it might be like to be a gay athlete. Mario is going to be a really good movie to watch. And yeah, I've seen it a couple times and I found it very, very emotionally affecting. And I'm going to also do a couple honorable mentions after that. Some other gay men in sports movies include Beto B E Y t O from 2020, another Swiss film, and this one has a Turkish immigrant as one of the characters. And it adds another wrinkle of discrimination and difficulty. Handsome Devil from 2016, which has Nicholas Galitzine, who is always hot. And it. That one takes place at a boarding school and has gay characters at a school that is famous for rugby. And then another rugby movie in from The Side from 2022 is another movie about gay sportsmen, gay athletes and the challenges they face. And I will put all the things we recommend in the show notes so you don't have to be taking notes while you listen to our podcast best. But yeah, again, my main Recommendation, Mario from 2018. Check it out. [00:26:47] Speaker C: Excellent. Yeah, Jen, this recommendation is really good and I feel like I'm gonna have a whole bunch of movies and TV shows to definitely watch and keep up with after this. So thank you for that one. [00:26:59] Speaker A: Nice. Well, that's. That's why we're doing the show. Right. We can recommend things to each other and to the audience. Yeah. [00:27:05] Speaker C: Okay, so I. I'll go next with my recommendation. And I realized as I was thinking about, like, recommendations, that I very much am like a main pop culture, like, kind of girly in my recommendations. So I'm not going to pull out, you know, some of these Swiss ones and stuff like that. So just a fair warning to everyone just because, I don't know, I felt like I was just like, man, these are like, so kind of like in pop culture or very mainstream, like recommendations. And I apparently need to widen my scope of male. Male, you know, Stuff that I watch. [00:27:41] Speaker A: So, you know, but the classics are the classic for a reason. [00:27:43] Speaker C: True. [00:27:44] Speaker A: Don't worry. Don't worry. [00:27:45] Speaker B: Very true. [00:27:46] Speaker C: So my first recommendation, my main recommendation is Brokeback Mountain 2005. It's a movie, obviously, hopefully everybody has heard about Brokeback Mountain. It's currently available on Hulu. So again, it's one of the more well known gay movies of the last 25 years at least has very well respected and well known actors in it. Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger, Anne Hathaway, Michelle Williams, Randy Quaid, Linda Cardinelli and Anna Faris are like the main couples and people kind of like in the mix of this movie. You know, the movie takes place in the 1960s. So Jake Gyllenhaal's character and Heath Ledger's character are two men who get hired to go up on a mountain and do some work. And so as they continue to, they meet and they work and they kind of share space and stuff like that, they start to kind of have, you know, some, some feelings, some. Some things are happening between the two of them on that mountain. And it's similar to heated rivalry in the understanding of what homophobia and like the repression of yourself can do to a person. But obviously, you know, as Jen said, with what heated rivalry is, you know, it is more of a happy, happily ever after kind of ending for the characters. But you know, in Brookback Mountain, again, hopefully folks have seen it, but it doesn't have a happily ever after ending. And I'll just say that if you haven't watched it, the movie had eight Oscar nominations and won three of those. It won the award for best achievement in directing, Ang Lee. It also won best writing and adaptive screenplay. And then it also won best achievement in music written for Motion pictures, an original score that year. And so again, if you haven't seen it, please put it on your list of movies to watch because it is one of those sentimental and very foundational gay movies that have come out in the last 25 years and really should be celebrated in the way that heated rivalry is celebrated for the performances of everyone. But specifically Jake Gyllenhaal in Heath Ledger in the roles that they played as two closeted gay men. And that's my recommendation. [00:30:28] Speaker A: Yeah, Ang Lee is a wonderful director and he also had in his early career another film with gay couple main characters at the wedding banquet, which. [00:30:36] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, that's right. [00:30:38] Speaker A: Yeah, like. And this is like the ultimate yearning film that you've brought us, Jess. So straight in. [00:30:43] Speaker B: It's a Great movie. I. I love that one. And yeah, that's one of my favorites. [00:30:50] Speaker A: Angley. [00:30:51] Speaker B: I mean, he's incredible. Yeah, for sure. I. It should. I think it should have won Best Picture. I'm sure that's a very popular opinion. [00:31:00] Speaker D: I just recently watched this. It's called Our Flag Means death. It's on HBO. It came out in 2022. There are no more seasons coming out, unfortunately. It's loosely based off of real pirates. It says it's based on a true story. There's absolutely no way it's based on a true story. It has Rhys Darby and Taika Waititi in it. And just by watching the trailer, you would think that it's kind of like a what we do in the shadows movie type of show, where it's kind of quirky and just, I don't know, just really funny. And it was. But everyone's queer in the show, which is not something that they show in the trailer. So it was really interesting watching this and just not even noticing, to be honest, because they have so many background characters and they're all played by real queer people. And a lot of them are midlife, they're not teenagers, or. It's not a coming of age story, which I really enjoyed. So basically, this show is about a pirate, Stede Bonnet. He is a super wealthy aristocrat. He kind of has a midlife crisis and decides he wants to be a pirate. So he leaves behind his wife and five children to become a pirate, which he has no experience in at all. And he's a terrible pirate. He's absolutely terrible. He's, like, scared of violence. He doesn't like dirty things. He likes to dress in, like, very fine clothing. And he, like, makes the ship super fancy and makes the pirates or all his, like, his crew, they all have to have meetings to talk about their feelings to make sure everyone's doing well emotionally. Like, if it kind of feels like the Office, but on a pirate ship, nice to be honest. And then it just starts getting really into adults developing relationships, and it all feels very natural and just being whoever they want to be. So, like, Taika Waititi plays Blackbeard, and he. He's absolutely hilarious as Blackbeard. And he ends up playing the love interest. And you don't realize that they're like, they become friends. They're complete opposites. Like, Blackbeard is trying to kill Steed, so he just becomes friends with him to try to take his identity, and then they kind of end up becoming really good friends, and then they end up falling for each other. And the last episode of the first season, they kiss and you're like, what? I had no idea. I don't know. It was just a really fun show and I liked that it was portrayed a lot of queer characters played by actual people who are queer in real life. So, yeah, that's my recommendation. [00:34:07] Speaker A: I've had that show recommended to me by a lot of people. But I have to say, your take your hyped for it makes me want to see it. So I think I will finally watch it this year. Like, even though I tend to be more of a movie person, but. And I don't get into TV shows as easily, but you have sold it to me, I think. [00:34:23] Speaker D: Yay. [00:34:23] Speaker B: It's really short. [00:34:24] Speaker D: The episodes are like 20 minutes or 25 minutes, which makes it, for me, easily digestible when I don't have very much time. There's only like 10 episodes a season, so it's really quick. I don't know. It was just really unexpected and it was fun and it's dry humor. So you're sitting there just watching these pirates be terrible pirates. I don't know. I loved it. [00:34:47] Speaker C: Alexia, that is such a great recommendation. I loved that show. It was incredible. Just highly, highly recommend that show as well. [00:34:57] Speaker A: All right, Melissa, what have you got for your first recommendation? [00:35:01] Speaker B: Okay, my first recommendation is Killing Eve. Killing Eve is a BBC television show that ran for four seasons. Seasons. And there is a lot. There are a lot of parallels between heated rivalry and Killing Eve. It's basically like a gender flip version almost of heated rivalry and, you know, age the characters up a bit. It stars Sandra oh, who is, you know, Asian and Canadian like Hudson Williams is. And she stars as a American MI5 agent in the UK who is tasked with chasing a female assassin, a Russian female assassin played by Jody Comer, who is a British actress. And it is a. It. It actually another thing is that the series is based on books, so, like, heated rivalry. And the show plays out like a cat and mouse chase kind of for. For four seasons. And I recommend it for those reasons. But also, it definitely has LGTBQ themes. Jodie Comer plays Villanelle, who is this crazy assassin. She. I think she gives a generational performance. I. I just think she's so fantastic. I was even Villanelle for Halloween once. [00:36:34] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah. [00:36:35] Speaker B: And I believe Villanelle is bi. And Sandra oh's character, she starts the show. I think she thinks she's straight and she's married to a man, but her and Villanelle become so obsessed with each other and infatuated that, you know, I don't want to say too much, but there's definitely lesbian, gay themes in this show and it's very violent, so beware. And it's, you know, I found it really electrifying and it was so exciting to watch when it was still on. And, oh, the, the stats for it, it's on Apple TV and Netflix. It started April 8, 2018, and it, like I said, it ran for four seasons and I just recommend it in general. It's a great show and I'm sure, you know, BBC quality, the shows are pretty quality. And like I said, I just think Jody is such a fantastic actor and she's gone on to do all sorts of movies after the show and, you know, she's won some awards here and there. But yeah, that's my, my first recommendation. That definitely the Asian themes, the, the LGBTQ themes, the whole cat and mouse thing, it's all like a very good parallel, I'd say. [00:37:55] Speaker A: Yeah, I've definitely heard good things about this show too. Everybody's giving me shows to watch. I'm going to be so busy. [00:38:01] Speaker C: Yeah, another incredible recommendation. Loved this show as well. [00:38:05] Speaker B: Oh, great. [00:38:07] Speaker A: All right, so I'm going to go to my second recommendation now, which is actually a French Canadian movie. In French, J to est ma mer. In English, I Killed My Mother. And this is a 2009 film directed by Xavier Dolan. He also is the main actor in it. And I guess he was like something like 20 years old when he directed this film, which is amazing. I think he wrote it too. I should have written that down. But at any rate, he's the creator of the film and also the star. But the co star who plays his boyfriend is Francois Orneau, who plays Scott Hunter in Heated Rivalry. And this is a chance to see Francois or no, when he was much younger in another gay role. And I think like the, the store, the movie itself is very impressive. Like, it made my like top five first time watches for June and I was watching a lot of LGBTQ films for Pride Month that month. So I watched like at least 26 different films with those themes for Pride Month and this was one of the top ones I watched. Just a really well made film. It's a story about like a kind of like 18 year old sort of gut boy and his mother and their very fraught tense relationship. No mothers get killed in this movie. Okay. Like, I'll just say that it's more of just like a dramatic kind of thing. Where a teen's going through, like, kind of an adolescent kind of time where they're kind of against their parents and their complex relationship. But Francois Arnaud's character is just this really sweet, supportive boyfriend. I heard that, like, Tumblr, there were a lot of Tumblr edits of their love scene. Apparently when this movie came out. I was not really active on Tumblr at that time, but apparently this movie had a lot of Tumblr edits because it was so cute and kind of like nice chemistry between them. So, yeah, if you want more Francois or no content and Canadian content, you can have it here with J' A Tui Ma Mer I Killed My Mother, which is currently available on Kanopy, the library streaming service, and Hoopla, another service you might have through your library. So that's like a free service you should get if you don't have it already. Totally recommend. And then I've got a few honorable mentions I'm going to deliver also, because nobody else brought these up. So I'm going to do some other honorable mentions for places you can watch some of the other actors in the Healed Rivalry. So other Francois Arnault. Midnight Texas is something that would be fun to watch if you really like his performance or you just like to look at him. I recommend kind of only season one of Midnight Texas, though, because it's based on Charlene Harris novels. Kind of like True Blood. And I don't know if you guys have experience with Charlene Harris stuff, but sometimes it jumps the shark at some point. [00:40:45] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, a thousand percent does that. Yes. [00:40:49] Speaker A: Yeah. The same thing happens with Midnight Texas Season 1. You're like, yeah, this is good. This is the right amount of strange things happening and interesting characters. And then season two, you're like, what? Like, what just happened to my life? So. But still, it's. It's a great. Francois knows the main character in that show, so if you're a big fan of his, you should definitely check Midnight Texas out. Twinless, he had a small role in, which is a great, very different, but interesting film with gay protagonist from 2025. He, Francois Arnaud appears in the Winter House with Lily Taylor in 2021, and there he's playing her straight love interest. And that's also a really good film. And then Connor Story, he appeared in Riley in 2023 in a supporting role, and that's also a gay sports film, so about a athlete who is gay and closeted. Connor Story plays somebody who might be a potential love interest there, and he looks way different in this phase. He has like long curls. And then I actually did watch the movies that Connor Story directed. He directed two short films. They are very out there horror shorts only. Watch them if you're really interested in avant garde horror or if you really just want are curious about what Connor Stories made. They are on his YouTube channel which is called Sinmonger Pictures. And again, I'll link all this in the show notes, but I did watch them just to check them out. I like horror, but like I think I'm not quite as avant garde about my horror as Connor is. Like they're very experimental in certain ways. [00:42:20] Speaker C: So yeah, fascinating. [00:42:22] Speaker A: That's my report on some other stuff. [00:42:27] Speaker C: Okay, I will go with my second recommendation. So my second one is Interview with a Vampire slash vampire Lestat TV show that came out, started in 2022 and just currently wrapped up its third season literally at the end of July here within like the last week with the Vampire Lestat Season 3. It is available on Amazon, AMC plus and Netflix. And it is a TV show I hope everyone knows about. One of the greatest male male shows of this decade. Sam Reed and Jacob Anderson play Lestat and Louis. It is a show that does depict Lestat and Louis as lovers and you see the back and forth of who they are and their relationship and how Lestat became obsessed in a lot of respects with Louis and the understanding of their toxic nature between the two of them and the relationship that they build over over decades. Honestly, again, vampires. And so you're able to kind of do a decades long TV show. It's very different from heated rivalry, obviously. Obviously the vampire element does bring a lot of differences into this. But you know, with this version of Interview with a Vampire compared to the movie that starred Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise, you do see Louis and Lestat as lovers and their relationship and how much they just go back and forth in the understanding of why they [00:44:09] Speaker A: create [00:44:09] Speaker C: the environment that they do surrounding each other and their backstories. Season three was an incredible experience because it was solely focused on Lestat. And if you know Anne Rice's books, you understand, you know that whole thing about like interview the vampire vs vampire, Lestat vs queen of the Damned and kind of the story arc and stuff like that, but an incredible, incredible representation of male male romance and on screen. And Sam Reed is the best Lestat I have ever seen on screen and I want to give him all the flowers that he possibly can have because he is incredible. So that's my second recommendation. [00:44:57] Speaker D: So I need to watch that show. I Think I watched the first episode because I had like a, like, trial for a. Is it AMC that it's on or was on? [00:45:08] Speaker C: Yeah, AMC Plus. [00:45:09] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:45:10] Speaker C: Come to Netflix, like, usually by the end of the year. They usually tend to have the episodes up on Netflix. So the first two seasons of Interview the Vampire are available on Netflix as well. [00:45:22] Speaker D: Is this song with, like, the rock show, like Lestat? [00:45:26] Speaker C: Yeah, that's Vampire. That's season three that just got released. Released and ended literally within the last week. [00:45:33] Speaker D: I've just seen, like, TikTok snippets of it and I'm like, dang it, I need to watch this. [00:45:38] Speaker C: Yeah, I finished it literally last night and it was incredible. Incredible. Highly recommend. [00:45:48] Speaker D: So my second pick is Righteous Gemstones. It is a very vulgar, over the top, just ridiculous show. This had John Goodman, Danny McBride, Adam Devine. Walton Goggin is. Goggins is hilarious in this. [00:46:08] Speaker C: Baby Billy. Baby Billy. So incredible. [00:46:12] Speaker D: But this show was a little surprising to me because it's. It's about this family, the Gemstones. They own a megachurch and it's just showing them being, like, absolutely terrible. They're horrible people. Like, they blow their money. They're just. They're not very nice. They're very greedy. And then you have, like, the youngest, which is played by Adam Devine, and he plays a character called Kelvin, and he's a youth pastor, and he's trying to kind of stand out a little bit and compete with his siblings. And he doesn't want to be a youth pastor anymore. And it's ridiculous because he ends up saving this Satanist guy at a rave called Keith. And they become best friends. And for four seasons, you get the slowest. The slowest slow burn ever with these two characters. You see Keith and Kelvin just becoming good friends. They rely on each other quite a bit. Keith is always helping Kelvin and not like a I'm your servants type of way, more of like an emotional support or like just a hype man. He's always there. I don't want to spoil the ending, but it's a very happy ending with him and Keith. And it was kind of surprising for a show about a mega church family in Texas. And I. I loved the ending, but, yeah, if you're looking for something completely off the wall, I recommend it. [00:47:46] Speaker A: Nice. Yeah. No, that's interesting. I've definitely heard good things about this show as well, but I hadn't heard that angle about it, so that's cool. [00:47:53] Speaker D: It's. It's wild, though. I just. Just a heads up It's a wild show. [00:48:00] Speaker B: So my second recommendation is Fire island. And Fire island is a movie that was released on Hulu June 3, 2022. Canadians can watch it on Disney. We do not have Hulu, but Fire island is a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice starring a predominantly Asian and LGBTQ cast. Joel Kim Booster, who plays the Elizabeth Bennett character, actually wrote this screenplay. So instead of having female characters being the Bennet sisters, it's. It's all men. And like the title says, they all just go to Fire island for the summer and, you know, they all have romances like Pride and Prejudice. And I recommend it as an associate to Heated Rivalry because it is so rare in North America to get movies starring an Asian cast, especially a romantic comedy, and things have been slowly getting better. I give full credit to crazy, rich Asians. A simple favor, movies like that. But it is even more rare for Asian males to get to play romantic leads. Even more rare for Asian gay men to play romantic heroes. And this movie, you know, has it all. And Conrad rickamora plays the Mr. Darcy, and, I mean, he's wonderful and sexy and etc. So, yeah, it's a watchable, funny, cute movie. And also what I like about Fire island is it really delves into, you know, dating and romance as an Asian person, the. The racial insecurities we have, the fear of rejection we have, you know, the stereotypes that we deal with in North America. So it acts like it's a light movie, but there. There's really some deep stuff going on. You know, lots of themes of friendship and racism and dating and being lgtbq and. Yes. So that, I think is a nice, much lighter companion piece to Heated Rivalry. [00:50:30] Speaker A: Yeah, no, like, I like that movie, too. I think it's one of the better kind of Austen adaptations, and if we. We eventually will do an Austin series on every rom com, and we're definitely gonna include that in our series when we do. But I'm glad you brought that one up. [00:50:44] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, it was. It's good. And I've. Now I've seen it a couple times, and I feel like, ooh, this could even be, like, a new comfort for me. [00:50:53] Speaker A: Nice. [00:50:53] Speaker B: Because it's super easy. [00:50:55] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes you just need a nice story like that. Yeah, for sure. [00:50:59] Speaker C: I love a Pride and Prejudice modern take on things, and this one sounds really fantastic. So thank you for bringing that to us. I'm definitely going to put it on my list. [00:51:08] Speaker B: Cool. Yeah. [00:51:09] Speaker D: Adding to my list, too. [00:51:12] Speaker A: All right, so for my last recommendation, I'm going with another Canadian film. [00:51:17] Speaker C: Woohoo. [00:51:18] Speaker A: Okay. I don't know. I don't understand, like Melissa's saying that you guys are hard on your own films. But I, when I watch Canadian films, I often feel quite delighted by them. [00:51:28] Speaker B: So you guys have a more open mind, I think, than I do. [00:51:33] Speaker C: Interesting. [00:51:34] Speaker A: Well, this one is called Breakfast with Scott and it's from 2007 and I found it on tubi. If you don't have tubi already, guys, you got to get Tubi be because they have so much in their catalog and they have a really good category system. So I actually found Breakfast with Scott just like looking down there, like LGBTQ film list, and I was just like going through and like checking off, put, adding to my watch list, like everything that seemed halfway decent this Pride month. And this was one of them. Breakfast with Scott is about a Canadian ex hockey player who has become a sports commentator. And his partner is a lawyer and they are out to like their friends and family. But the ex hockey player who's the sports commentator isn't really out in his work because he worries about, you know, getting discrimination for being gay in the sports world. So it's related to heated rivalry in that way. The hockey connection, it's. The story is a little tropey at times, but the tropes work for a reason. The main trope we have here is that this ex hockey player and his lawyer partner end up being end up with a kid that they need to be the guardians for because one of their relatives is kind of flaked out on it. And so they've got this like, I think 13 year old kid that they end up being the guardians to. And the 13 year old kid like, expresses like himself very freely in ways that don't necessarily match his gender. So like, I think in this movie they're assuming he is gay. People today might think that he's trans. Like it's not really nailed down what Scott's identity is, but Scott, the boy that they end up taking care of, he's very free and open with who he is and expresses himself. But the ex hockey player has to deal with kind of his own internalized homophobia because he's kind of afraid of how freely Scott's expressing his identity and how that might affect him being out of the closet or not. Let's see. Do you guys understand what I'm saying? I'm just. Sorry, I'm wondering if I should back up. [00:53:42] Speaker C: Yeah, no, I, I do understand because I, I feel like, as you said, like The. The understanding of, like somebody being out and then other people feeling a certain way about, like. [00:53:53] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:53:53] Speaker C: Their place in that and then their own identity. So, yeah, for me, it was very clear. [00:54:00] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:54:01] Speaker A: Okay, good. Yeah, it's like. It's like Scott isn't even necessarily out as anything. He's still young enough that he hasn't really labeled himself, but he's. He'll wear like a feather boa and he'll sing songs and he'll, like, wear makeup and like, he's not self conscious about, you know, how that makes him look. And this really affects the ex hockey player, sports commentator character, like, who has lived kind of a butch life where he's kind of presenting this kind of manly exterior to protect himself from discrimination. And I think he's both afraid for Scott, you know, like, how he might be affected, but also afraid for himself. Like he isn't ready to deal with what it would be like to be open with everybody yet. So I think it's a really interesting movie that brings up a lot of complex issues, but in a very tropey, family friendly package. Okay. It's very like. Like, it's almost too family friendly because the main couple doesn't really, like, express a lot of physical affection towards each other. Like, I think they do a good job playing a couple, but, like, what. For whatever reason, there wasn't a lot of kissing or making out or anything. So if you're looking for that, unfortunately this movie doesn't have that. But I think it's a nice family film that, like, just explores some issues that are worth looking at. [00:55:14] Speaker B: So. [00:55:14] Speaker A: Yeah, that's. [00:55:15] Speaker D: That sounds really sweet. [00:55:17] Speaker A: Yeah, I found it very sweet and my husband watched it with me and he enjoyed it as well. [00:55:21] Speaker B: So. [00:55:21] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:55:22] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:55:23] Speaker C: I also agree it does sound incredibly coming of age, like, type of like, situation and what that means for somebody. And as you. As I said, like the effect that every that decision has around everybody else and how they identify. I love. I love those types of things. So, yeah, amazing. [00:55:42] Speaker A: And I'm gonna also give my last two honorable mentions. These have nothing to do with breakfast with Scott, but they're just my last two that I want to throw in. As if you like heated rivalry, you might like. So God's own country from 2017 is sometimes talked about as like, a more positive, happy ending version of Brokeback Mountain, so. And that's got Josh o', Connor, who, like everybody may know from Disclosure Day or Challengers. Great actor, wonderful movie. And then Riviere from 2023, which I believe is On To Be Still. And that is about a. No, a teen girl who is a hockey player and she has a little romance with another girl. Kind of like more of a drama. Not a down ending, but not entirely happy either. But like I like to have some women playing hockey representation too you. So that's another one you might want to check out. And that's all of my recommendations. And now we'll hear the rest of yours. [00:56:39] Speaker B: Yay. [00:56:40] Speaker C: Thanks, Jen. So my last recommendation, I'm actually going to throw out a book and it's a book that both Alexi and I have read. It's called God of Fury by Rena Kent. It came out in 2023 and it is available on Kindle Unlimited Audible Hoopla. Or you can shop your local independent book seller as well because you know folks out there who love those physical copies of books get out there and you know, shop local and independent if you can. But this book is book four. I believe in the series and Alexia and I read the first book is which is called God of Malice in this series for Body Literati for our dark romance season. So it is a male, male dark romance story of college aged men who one of them is in the Mafia, which is wild to even think about because they don't even talk about the mafia a lot in this book and has really intense anger and boundary issues. And the other one, Brandon, he is, is very repressed and has to control everything because so much of his life is supposed to be one way but it's not and he feels like he has to hide that from everyone. And so the book just kind of covers, you know, their interaction, how they started, you know, being in each other's world, how much Nikolai Nico has, has so many persistent like things where he will not let Brendan have a breather and is glued to this boy in so many ways that it does feel really, really stalkery. But it is incredible in the sense of what it means to be have a have repression in your life and the effect effect of trauma and living in a world that is privileged but then also you feel like you're an outsider. And it is a really good understanding of how these two characters who Nico is gay where Brandon thought he was straight but is really gay. And so he's only ever had girlfriends which he hates him his girlfriend in the books and talks non stop about how much he hates her but she is like a part of his image and stuff like that. And so for me this book is probably one of the best books in the Rena Kent Universe. This book is a part of a larger like 36 book universe. Kind of telling of their grandparents and their parents and then these kids. And then Alexia has been reading a little bit more and there's like nieces and nephews as well that get introduced in this series. And so if you are a Rena Kent fan, God of Fury and the whole Legacy of God series is incredible. Highly recommend. But Nico and Brendan's story in God of Fury definitely has ups and downs. It is very violent. Again, it's dark romance, so a lot of kind of like violence happens in those books just in general, but incredible telling of this story between these two men. And probably my favorite book out of this six book series. [01:00:29] Speaker A: So like, what's the spice level then, would you say on this book? [01:00:32] Speaker C: I would say it's pretty, it's pretty up there. I, I give all Rena Kent books Probably like an 8 out of 10 on spice level because she goes way, way in. And it's not just like spice, but it's like, you know, like danger of your physical self and like what that is and stuff like that. So I would give it an 8. Alexia, I don't know if you have another rating that you, you want to give to this. [01:01:01] Speaker D: I think that's fair because she also goes into detail like, so her characters talk out loud about what they want to do to each other. So there's a lot of buildup. And yeah, that's. It's pretty spicy. And then she does go over a lot of, I guess what you would consider dark kinks or fetishes. [01:01:22] Speaker A: Yeah, [01:01:24] Speaker D: a lot of it times involves like pain and some sort of bondage or something. So I would, I would rate it pretty high. And then I'm glad you added a disclaimer because her books are not light reading. It's. No, you need like a, A mental health check. Read your. The content warnings. Yeah. Be prepared before you go into. [01:01:46] Speaker A: So they do have content warnings available that you can see online or something like. Okay, okay. [01:01:52] Speaker D: They're usually at the beginning of the book. I believe they're at the beginning. [01:01:54] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:01:55] Speaker A: Okay. [01:01:56] Speaker C: Absolutely. But yes, that's my third recommendation again, had to bring a book because by Little Rossi, you know, podcast about books. So we gotta. You gotta throw in a book here. And then I want to do an honorable mention, full disclosure and disclaimer on my end. I have never seen this show, but I have heard such an incredible amount of good discourse about it. So it's pose the TV show Pose with Billy Porter, MJ Rodriguez, Dominique Jackson, India Moore. It was created by Ryan Murphy. So in the Ryan Murphy universe. But it's about gay and other folks in New York City in the late 80s and early 90s that kind of focuses around the ball culture and the gay and trans community that is dealing with the AIDS community crisis and capitalism. And it is a stacked cast of black and brown folks in this show. It ran from 2018 to 2021. It is available on Hulu. At some point, I do want to get to, you know, being able to watch this, but I have heard nothing but incredible things about this show. And so I wanted to bring it as an honorable mention, mentioned here and recommended to folks. [01:03:17] Speaker A: Nice. Appreciate that. Yeah. [01:03:20] Speaker D: So I feel like this is. Everyone's probably already seen this. Schitt's Creek, it's also a Canadian TV show. It's on HBO right now. And it has the Levy family. So it has Eugene Levy that plays the dad with his son, Dan Levy, who plays his son, and then his daughter plays one of the townspeople. Catherine o' Hara is absolutely amazing in this. She's hilarious. And then it has Annie Murphy. Have any of you seen Schitt's Creek? [01:03:49] Speaker A: I began watching it, but I haven't finished watching it. And I was gonna say, though, I heard that Francois Arnault also played a character on Schitt's Creek at one point. So it does have another heated rivalry connection. I guess it does. [01:04:02] Speaker D: So he played a terrible character. [01:04:04] Speaker A: Oh, no. Yeah. [01:04:07] Speaker D: He plays this, like, fancy, like, photographer from New York. That's. I can't. I think his name's, like, Sebastian or something. And he was just a terrible ex boyfriend to Dan Levy, who plays David. And he just goes to this tiny town to kind of make fun of their family and see how bad they've done and, like, just make fun of how poor they've become, which is really sad. I know one episode and of course he, like, is still hot, but you're like, oh, he wears them. I don't know. [01:04:47] Speaker C: Yeah. Incredible. It's just an incredible show. [01:04:50] Speaker A: Yeah, it's weird. [01:04:51] Speaker D: So it took me a little bit to get into it. So maybe, like, there's a few shows where it takes me, like, a season to get into it. I feel like this was one of them. So it centers around the Rose family. They were super wealthy. They lost everything, and they have to rebuild their lives in this tiny, rundown town motel. And there's so much growth in this, and the growth is so good in the show. It doesn't change their personalities completely. It doesn't change their identity. The growth feels very realistic. So, like, they're the same people at the beginning of the show, but they are just making different choices and have centered their life around things other than money. And so I don't know. I just. I loved it. My honorable mentions are kind of weird and all over the place. I feel like I have to mention Rocky Horror Picture Show. That is just a classic queer movie. Like trans aliens coming down to earth to create, like, the perfect man. [01:06:05] Speaker B: Like, it just. [01:06:06] Speaker D: I don't know. I felt like I had to give an honorable mention to Rocky Horror Picture Show. [01:06:10] Speaker A: I feel like Connor's story would have been the perfect man they created, to be honest. Like, he has that same physique kind of thing going on. [01:06:17] Speaker D: So they. [01:06:18] Speaker A: He probably would have been. Been cast in Rocky Horror if it were made today. [01:06:21] Speaker D: Did you see his skit on Saturday Night Live where he played like a stripper who got run over before a performance? And he still goes on with the performance? [01:06:31] Speaker A: Oh, my God. [01:06:31] Speaker B: No, I saw that. I saw the episode. [01:06:35] Speaker D: I could see him being in Rocky Horror now. [01:06:37] Speaker B: Yeah, [01:06:39] Speaker D: I put in. But I'm a cheerleader. I noticed. So when you asked her recommendations, I realized that most of the movies that stuck with me were lesbian couples. I don't know why. I don't know what that says about me. [01:06:54] Speaker B: Hey, why not? [01:06:56] Speaker C: But. [01:06:56] Speaker D: But I'm a Cheerleader is just such a campy movie about conversion camps and it makes light of conversion camps. And I just. It's. It's fun. It's from 1999. I love the colors in it, the. The weird scenarios that they get put in, the humor. Super campy. It definitely makes light of conversion camps, which is not a light subject. [01:07:25] Speaker A: No. But I think it's nice that there's a movie that has a light touch that's about that dark subject. Because, like, especially in 1999, there had not been a great many cheerful, positive movies for the queer community. So I think that's one of the reasons people embrace that movie so much. [01:07:41] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I. I spend a lot of time online and there was a TikTok edit of Blades of Glory. I don't know if anyone's seen that movie. [01:07:52] Speaker A: Sophia recommended it on our. As a double feature for our cutting edge episode. So I've heard about it. [01:07:57] Speaker D: Yeah, okay. There's like an edit where they put like, the heated rivalry music to the edits of Blades of Glory. And I was like, this is the same movie. It's the same show. It was so Funny. And I just had to give it an honorable mention. I feel like it's one line away from being an LGBTQ movie. [01:08:26] Speaker C: But, yeah, definitely see that. [01:08:28] Speaker D: Alexia with Will Ferrell. [01:08:31] Speaker B: I don't know. [01:08:32] Speaker A: I'm sure there's a letterboxd review that talks about that. Like, one of my new hobbies is, like, reading the most popular letterboxd reviews and seeing how many reviews down somebody has a queer reading of the movie. Do you know what I'm talking about, Melissa? Like, how. [01:08:44] Speaker B: Like, oh, my goodness. Yes. Like, I'm sorry, but every. Every movie, it's all okay. Any movie about any subject, the first review is always, they should have been gay. Every. Like, every. [01:08:59] Speaker A: Sometimes. Sometimes. [01:09:01] Speaker B: At first it was funny, and now I'm like, okay, it's every. It's. It's every review now. [01:09:08] Speaker A: So sometimes it doesn't happen. But, like, there's rare movies where nobody says the people should have kissed or, like, oh, wow. Or they noticed that there was tension. But, like, usually it's about three, four reviews down. There's like a. A queer reading of any. Any particular movie on Letterbox? Yes, it's just a particular quirk of letterboxd, I would say. Yeah. [01:09:27] Speaker B: Anyway, definitely have noticed that. It's. It's. It's like another one is like another cliche on the site is like, they'll just name whatever role that person played in a Marvel movie. Like, Doctor Strange is battling pepper pots or whatever. It's like, okay, like, why do we always have to go back to Marvel? Just, can you review the movie? Like, there's lots of quirks that letterbox has. Like that. [01:09:54] Speaker A: Yeah, Like, I mean, it's fine, but, like, let me see. I'm just gonna check really quickly, though. Oh, yes. Okay. This is the top review for Blades of Glory on Letterbox, the most popular review. While watching this, my friend asked me, how is this movie so gay and yet so homophobic? I didn't have an answer for him. And. [01:10:13] Speaker C: Oh, the second. [01:10:14] Speaker A: Here's the second review. The B in LGBT stands for Blades of Glory. [01:10:18] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:10:19] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:10:19] Speaker C: Love it. [01:10:20] Speaker B: See, those are font. That's. That makes sense. All of that. I get that. [01:10:25] Speaker A: And I think. Let's see, we go down to, like, the sixth review or so, and it says so gay, it cancels out the homophobia. So I think you're on to something here, Alexia. [01:10:35] Speaker D: See, I saw that TikTok edit, and it was, I mean, two male figure skaters dancing together and lots of practicing and touching and intimate connection and staring into each other's eyes. [01:10:50] Speaker B: Yeah, interesting. [01:10:52] Speaker A: Anyway, yeah, very good. [01:10:55] Speaker B: So my third recommendation is the Cutting Edge, and it's kind of like Brokeback Mountain. I think most people have heard of the Cutting Edge because it ended up being pretty popular and it's spawned several sequels. It's a franchise. It came out March 27, 1992. Unfortunately, I don't think Canadians can check where it's streaming for Americans, but for us, it's Super Channel. And Hollywood Suite is where I saw it recently and I recommend it. It's. It's actually kind of like half Canadian. It's about the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary and it was filmed in Toronto and Hamilton, Canada. And it's. I recommend it for Heated Rivalry fans because of the major hockey connection and because I just think it's one of the best sports action romances out there. I just love the movie. I saw it when I was a kid and I saw it again recently and I was thinking, wow, this really holds up for me. It's stars DB Sweeney as a hockey player who somehow gets roped into having to learn figure skating for the Olympics with Maura Kelly. And it ends up being a funny, romantic story about how these two characters have to learn to work together. It's not as dramatic of a culture clash as Heated Rivalry, but I do find it so enjoyable, you know, the whole hockey player having to be more refined and delicate with figure skating. And I think Maura Kelly is so fantastic in the movie. She plays like a. Like, I love her being like a high powered, bitchy character and the clash between them. I find it to be just such an entertaining movie. It's just so romantic and, and I just love it. So, yeah, that was my, my third recommendation and I, I gotta say, we [01:13:00] Speaker A: just covered that on every rom com. So we have a very recent episode where we covered that movie. We go all into things like, is the Pamchenko the move they have to do the figure skating move in the movie? Is it even possible? We go into all kinds of things about the history of figure skating and yeah, my co host, Sophia really loves it. I'm. I like it. I don't love it as much as her and you, I suspect, but yeah, really interesting movie and certainly, like you said, very popular and I definitely see the connection. I actually recommended Heated Rivalry as a double feature on our Cutting Edge episode. So now it's been recommended going both ways. So I like that. [01:13:37] Speaker B: Yeah, I think it's good at the sexual tension and. Yeah, okay. And I'll. I'll go to my honorable mentions the first is the Broken Hearts Club. This is a movie from the year 2000. I don't think many people know about it. It's a. A. It's about a baseball team of all gay male players. It has a fantastic cast, actually. Billy Porter's in it, Timothy Oliphant, lots of great guys like that. It's just like a. I just was really blown away. I saw it recently and I was like, oh, my God, I love this. Well, I'm a big baseball fan. [01:14:11] Speaker D: Oh, cool. [01:14:12] Speaker B: Please Like Me is a BBC show from 2013 about a young British man who is coming out. And I just remember really liking it back then. The Black Mirror episode called san Junipero from 2016. Now this is like a big cult favorite, I'd say. Black Mirror obviously has been on for, I think, seven seasons. And this was, I don't know, third or fourth season. But it is a lesbian love story that takes place in the 1980s. It's a biracial. It's an interracial love story between a white woman and a. And a black woman. And I mean, it just blew people away. It's. It's very romantic. There's an incredible soundtrack. It's very nostalgic. The style, the romance, the. The tension. It's. It's an incredible. It's an incredible. It's almost like a mini movie, as a lot of Black Mirror episodes are. But this one is just. Just a fantastic lesbian focused story. I definitely recommend that. That's on Netflix. [01:15:20] Speaker A: And unlike other episodes of Black Mirror, it doesn't leave you wanting to, like, crawl into, like, a closet and cry. So, yeah, it's a pause. It's a very positive feeling you get from that one. [01:15:30] Speaker C: Yeah, for sure. [01:15:32] Speaker B: A lot of people say that's their favorite Black Mirror or top five. Yeah, yeah. Then I, you know, kind of. This is kind of funny, but. But the honorable mentions, I haven't seen Youngblood. This is kind of an inside joke because people say Connor's story looks like Patrick Swayze and people compare Hudson Williams to Keanu Reeves because they're Asian, white and Canadian. And they were actually both in a hockey movie together called Youngblood in the 80s. Wait, and Keanu Reeves were in a movie when they were Young in the 1980s called Youngblood. I have not seen it, but, you know, it's got to be kind of heated rivalry. Ish. There's hockey and, you know, so that's pretty cool. Saving Face is American Chinese rom com about two women. And I've always heard amazing things. I Feel bad that I haven't seen it yet, but that one always comes recommended and then. [01:16:28] Speaker A: Oh, sorry, before, before you go on. Yeah, yeah, I have seen Saving Face. It's very, very good. And we covered another movie by the same director, Alice Wu. We covered the half of it on one of our very first episodes. So yeah, she's the half of it is also a story of a young lesbian. So she, she makes some great movies, beautiful movies. So definitely. That's cool. Yeah. [01:16:49] Speaker B: I also thought of Bound. Bound is a huge cult favorite starring. It's a movie starring Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly. And Jennifer Tilly is also Asian and white, so that might be a cool like parallel. I always hear good things about it, but that's another one I haven't seen. I think that's like a thriller noir. [01:17:13] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:17:14] Speaker B: So yeah, those were the three that I. That I haven't yet seen but that I definitely thought of when it comes to heated rivalry. [01:17:21] Speaker A: So you guys all brought wonderful recommendations to the show. Thank you so much for participating, giving your thoughts about heated rivalry and giving people some ideas of new things to watch or read if they love heated rivalry. And before we leave though today, just please remind everyone where we can find you on social media or on a podcast platform. [01:17:41] Speaker C: So I'll go for us. So Body Literati is our podcast, Alexia and I, where we talk about fiction, that that's our tagline. And we're in our 4C season. We're actually wrapping up our fourth season and we'll be starting production of our fifth season here soon, which is very much tied into the conversation that we had today. So just a little hint on what you could potentially expect from our upcoming fifth season of Body Literati. You can find us on social media on Instagram at Body Literati, but you can also find us on, we have an email address Body litter Roddy podcast gmail.com come and find us. We would love to have you on there in with us, Alexia. Anything for you. [01:18:28] Speaker D: No, this is my first season so I am super excited about filming next season with Jess. It's been so much fun to just trash talk smut and enjoy it together. Which is really weird to say, but no, I've had such a great time. So yeah, come hang out, listen to us talk about some popular books and over analyze characters. [01:18:57] Speaker A: Awesome. Well, hopefully I'll put all that in the show notes and people can go and find you and hopefully listen to your episodes and get some recommendations for some books to read. And Melissa, anything you want to share about where to find Yuk. I know that you don't have your own podcast yet, but you also do have a presence online. [01:19:15] Speaker B: Sure. I am Melissa's profile on X or Twitter. I also, like I said, I'm a big pop culture person, so I'm Melissa 90s on Letterbox, serialized and music board. Same handle across all three. I love the 90s. Pretty simple. And yeah, I'm really active on letterbox. I will send you the list of the biracial representation, my heated rivalry playlist, and I will send you me and my villanelle costumes for Halloween. [01:19:50] Speaker A: Nice. [01:19:50] Speaker B: That's from my Instagram. Melissasgraham on Instagram. [01:19:55] Speaker A: Nice. Okay. Looking forward to all of that. Yeah. So thank you so much, everyone for being here today. It was great having you. [01:20:03] Speaker B: Thank you so much for having us. Bye. [01:20:06] Speaker C: Thank you. [01:20:07] Speaker D: Thank you. [01:20:08] Speaker A: All right, goodbye, listeners. Thanks for listening.