Heated Rivalry, the Canadian collection streaming on HBO Max primarily based on the bestselling romance novels by Rachel Reid, has taken over group chats, algorithms, and brains. For many who haven’t watched, it follows queer, closeted skilled ice hockey gamers as they navigate falling in love and all of the angst that comes with it. There’s additionally a number of intercourse. So. A lot. Intercourse.
However for all of the speak of homosexual hockey smut, the present at its core may be very candy.
Emma Glassman-Hughes is a author, reporter, and editor at Popsugar, and he or she doesn’t assume Heated Rivalry is an anomaly. She says the present is profitable as a result of it faucets right into a common expertise: craving. “I believe the individuals are craving each which manner,” she instructed Vox. “In a extra basic sense, we’ve seen the success of Heated Rivalry and The Summer season I Turned Fairly. Each these have blown up and actually are good examples of how everyone seems to be simply excited proper now in regards to the burn of a real crush.”
On the most recent episode of Clarify It to Me, Vox’s weekly call-in podcast, we spoke with Glassman-Hughes about pining in popular culture and what it says about us.
Under is an excerpt of our dialog, edited for size and readability. You’ll be able to hearken to the total episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts. In case you’d prefer to submit a query, ship an e-mail to askvox@vox.com or name 1-800-618-8545.
Are you seeing this craving anyplace else, even past TV and flicks?
Yeah, I consider craving in a fairly broad sense across the Mamdani marketing campaign in New York. My feeds had been stuffed with power and enthusiasm and true craving and aching for a greater future for some new choices. I’ve additionally seen this New Yr’s decision pattern on TikTok, the place individuals are aiming to obtain 1,000 rejections in 2026. Which means placing your self on the market at the least a thousand occasions and proving to your self that you simply’re prepared to attempt to be weak and face the prospect of failure. That’s huge yearner power. Alongside the best way in between the thousand rejections, you’re sure to get some yeses, whether or not that’s romantic companions or jobs or group organizing or no matter it’s that you simply’re chasing.
I believe that’s so fascinating, to consider craving past simply the romantic.
If we glance round, it’s actually exhausting to exist on the planet proper now, and we’re being inundated with distressing information occasion after information occasion. I believe craving might be seen as a distraction from that, however I truly assume it’s a grounding pressure.
Craving is that this deeply bodily human expertise to despair over not having what you need and to really feel the ache of being so shut but to date. We’re all conversant in the idea of beautiful ache, and I believe craving can present this type of masochistic pleasure too — and all of us want extra pleasure in our lives proper now.
Crushes are enjoyable, however they are often excruciating. On the identical time, they’re type of nice. It’s exhausting to explain the way it’s each painful and gratifying.
After I consider craving, the phrase that comes up is all-consuming. Going again to the romance issue, I’m in a long-term relationship proper now, so it’s been a very long time since I’ve had a real crush, however I truly actually miss that feeling. There’s a nostalgic high quality to some individual type of taking on your complete world for nevertheless lengthy. It’s [reminiscent] of an easier time, while you’re 13 and that’s all you may take into consideration, and nothing actually issues past that.
If I open up my telephone proper now, I’ll in all probability see a number of textual content messages about Heated Rivalry. It’s in every single place.
It’s positively an enormous matter of dialog on the Popsugar group. I’m queer, and all of my queer feminine mates are very taken with this present and really drawn to those extra weak depictions of masculinity that we don’t actually get to see very a lot of.
I wish to discuss who yearns. Heated Rivalry is particular as a result of it’s about queer males.
I argue in my essay that girls are continuously the objects of craving, however we see fewer depictions of feminine craving on the market. I believe we see a number of depictions of ladies passively wishing or hoping for one thing, however to me, that’s not true craving.
I’ve been excited about this rather a lot since Popsugar posted in regards to the essay on our Instagram. Somebody truly commented one thing that has caught with me: They had been saying that we’re at all times seeing depictions of ladies who need and by no means obtain, and that actually made me assume. I believe there’s a distinction between the passive wishing and the actual gut-level craving, and the latter is what I wish to see extra of from ladies and queer folks this 12 months. Not simply wistful stuff, however the tornadoes and the storms and the shattered glass of all of it.
