A Gay PhD in Film Studies Reacts to (and Analyzes) Heated Rivalry - Episode 4 (Rose)

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]Previously on a gay PhD in film studies react to heated rivalry. Girl. Oh yeah.

[00:00:05]I felt robbed. I wanted to see. What?

[00:00:08]What? What? What? What the hell was that?

[00:00:10]>> Girl.

[00:00:13]>> Girl. Girl. Girl. If a man ever dared to shush me, [ __ ] [ __ ] you better start running. More of this, please. Like, I want more sex. Girl, this a lesbian relationship. What the hell actually was that?

[00:00:31]And now on a gay PhD in film studies reacts to heated rivalry. Episode 4, Rose.

[00:00:40]Mr. Fanny's back. Don't worry, he's not going anywhere.

[00:00:45]>> Okay, so we're back to hockey. So the previous episode we finished off with a text around the world. Um, we didn't even kiss and now here they are together. face to face. Ilia's smackt talking as he as he usually is. I have to say I I did miss these these colorful characters. So, I will say I did enjoy Scott and Kip's episode a lot more after I went back and watched it again after I read the book. I actually ended up enjoying the episode a lot more than I did the very first time I watched it.

[00:01:21]That being said, I missed I missed our guys. I missed our boys over here. I miss Shane and Ilia. And I I missed Ilia. I missed Ilia. That's what I realized. Ilia is such a well-crafted character. He's funny. He's sassy. Uh he brings the drama and of course he's going to bring the the emotions and the feels later on as well, but I I missed I missed the comedic relief that he provided. We didn't really get a lot of that. It Well, that's not true. We had Maria. Maria provided the comedic relief in episode three. But yeah, I missed Ilia. So, I'm glad I'm glad that we're back to seeing our our two guys. Okay, so here we are. We are back in Russia, aka Hamilton, and it's the summertime and we're going to be treated to some running, which we've seen previously, some running, some texting. So, you know, in the summertime, this is when they work out. This is when they, you know, get into shape, prepare for the next season. They're separated though.

[00:02:17]So, I feel like there's also just a bit of like, you know, the the exercise is also like about like sexual tension and sexual release, sweating. There's something sexual about it and it acting as a bit of a of a metaphor. It's interesting because we're actually also seeing two very different people here, right? Like Shane is working out um at the gym. So is Ilia, but then Shane's at home with his glasses on reading. Ilia is out partying with Sana, you know, at the clubs. Shane is here now doing another another advertisement, but he's by himself, right? He's almost a little more vulnerable. His clothing is see-through. So again, we're we're getting another mont Oh my goodness.

[00:02:55]What just happened there? Is Oh my goodness.

[00:02:59]What was that?

[00:03:01]What was that?

[00:03:03]What? Oh, I Oh, I for completely Oh my goodness. [gasps] Oh, my virgin eyes. I completely forgot that that happened. I forgot that them getting pushed up against the boards also led to them getting pushed up against the shower and the wall. Oh, yeah. I forgot that's so hot. That's a hot sexy edit. So, okay, we just went through an entire year in like a one minute montage. So, we saw them working out, we saw them playing hockey, we saw them missing each other, we saw them texting each other, we saw them, you know, hooking up. Uh, and a whole year has gone by and here we are back in 2015. I have no doubt that when this was made, it was just Connor just running around in circles again. They're working out, getting their sexual frustration out, also getting into shape, working on each other's bodies for the for sports or for each other, right? It seemed like they're again it brings us back to that very first scene of them right here.

[00:03:55]Again, we're we're seeing Ilia going out and having fun. Shane with his sexy glasses in bed reading. So again, extrovert, introvert, we're actually getting a juxtaposition of their similarities, but also their differences, right? But I think it's adorable. Like he's out at the clubs having fun, but he also misses Oh, he also misses he also misses his man.

[00:04:13]Okay, so this is interesting. So Shane's doing another advertisement, but this time he's like basically naked. his in his underwear. In the other advertisement, he was at least wearing like clothing and had like a wet t-shirt on, actually very similar to what I'm wearing here. But there he wasn't wearing anything really. He was in his underwear. So, okay. So, we're seeing this kind of stripping down. So, we're seeing their bodies being put on display, right? Their their bodies sort of colliding with each other on the ice.

[00:04:40]Their bodies colliding with each other uh in the hotel rooms, in the bathroom, in the bedroom. We're seeing their bodies being worked out again for the sport, for each other. Uh, and in the case of Shane, we're actually seeing something very interesting, right? We're seeing him being stripped down literally, but also metaphorically because remember the first time that we saw Shane kind of do an advertisement, it was with him and Ilia together. They were on the ice together. Shane was wearing his hockey uniform. But now we're sort of seeing that gear, that armor, okay, being taken away, right?

[00:05:16]That armor is is coming off. He's being stripped out. He's he's vulnerable. He's showing more of himself, more of his body, more of Shane. You know, in the previous advertisement, he had his mom come over and and start talking to him.

[00:05:28]But in this one, he's completely alone.

[00:05:30]No mother, vulnerable, just in his underwear. That's I think that's really interesting. Feel like getting murdered in a scary dark alley in Montreal in two weeks. again a reference to the oh now they're at the house. So we're actually getting throwbacks to earlier episodes in this juxaposition in this in this montage sequence right uh we're getting a throwback to you know the advertisement that Shane did with Ilia.

[00:05:55]We're getting a throwback to them you know hooking up in his in his in his condo uh when Ilia said you know you will murder me. Uh we're getting, you know, uh throwbacks to earlier sequences of them like working out at the gym.

[00:06:09]We're getting throwbacks to them uh running around um Ilia running around uh that that castle. We're we're getting all of these throwbacks in in in this in this montage, which I think is very interesting. And now we're in the summer of 2016, which again, it's [laughter] just poor Connor must have been like just run round and round again. Ilia is by himself. Shane now is with Hayden. He has a friend with him. Here we see, you know, Ilia taking care of his father.

[00:06:36]Oh, we get a preview of the cottage now.

[00:06:39]So again, we it's a juxaposition. Ilia's relationship with his father. Shane's relationship with his father. Two very different father relationships. We previously in 2024 saw Ilia sort of making out with a girl. Two years later, he's not interested. Something that Fed Lana notices now that he's distracted.

[00:06:56]He's attached to his phone. That was a crazy 3 years. That was a crazy three years. We had like a three-year montage basically in like two or three minutes and now we're in Montreal 2026. So maybe two and a half years. Oh, right. Okay.

[00:07:12]So, we start with the aquarium sequence.

[00:07:16]I have to say when Okay, so this is quite visually striking, but I have to say that when I first watched this episode, I I didn't understand the purpose of this of this sequence. I'm guessing it has to do with maybe seeing Shane as not only a good friend to Hayden, but Shane as also like I don't know, maybe like a future wannabe father. There's something a bit heteronormative about it, like Shane taking hold of the baby. And I know that in the survey a lot of people identified this scene as something that they didn't really like or care for. And I'm I'm quite curious. I mean, given the amount of material that's in the book, and I'm not saying that a lot was cut out from the book, but but there were some things that were cut out. I wonder why given that these two characters only get five episodes, why Jacob Tierney decided to keep this even if there is like a metaphor behind it or if there is something that it says to us about like the like Shane about being like a father, maybe wanting to have children.

[00:08:17]Maybe it's he was just with his father so now showing him becoming a father himself. I know a couple of people mentioned they weren't the biggest fans of like Jackie and Hayden like Jackie's at home. She has like four kids. It was just a little but maybe it's an but maybe it's like a juxaposition between you know these two characters that one's living a more like traditional heteronormative life and one is at least closeted and maybe living like the bachelor vita loca life. Oh, I love this. I love that we're seeing like a preview of the cottage. I love that this is the preview that we're getting like this advertisement of like Shane like showing off his body being like all zen, all like bougie. Of course, we know later on we're going to see, you know, the two of them together in this exact spot. So, I love that we're seeing Shane here like doing this like I think this is a cobra pose, but I don't know, maybe it's also like a bit of like a crescent moon or maybe it's half of the sun, right? because we're going to see the two of them later on on that rock watching the sunset. We're going to see the sun there. So maybe he's making one half of the sun and and and Ilia's the other half is going to complete him.

[00:09:34]It's interesting because we're almost seeing like a parallel with um Elellanena and and Kip with the the female friend sort of keeping the the the male friend uh you know who's clearly you know desiring someone on their toes. Ilia's in a little bit of like the hot seat here and he knows it, but she's just trying to keep him honest and I I appreciate that. Sasha says, "Hi." Oh, Sasha. Gone but not forgotten.

[00:10:06]So, clearly what we're seeing at this point is a much closer relationship between uh Shane and and Hayden, which I think is great. Also, I love the way that like Shane like sometimes just stands like just kind of like awkwardly like at the side a little nervous even though like he's sharing a room with his really good friend. I think it's adorable.

[00:10:28]And again, so we we cut from one friend questioning uh someone about what they're doing, about their motivations, their desires, and we just cut to another sequence. There's a lot of intercutting of, you know, their experiences, the similarities in particular, as well as some of the differences, but we're kind of seeing Jacob Tierney being very uh particular with the way he's choosing to edit Shane and Ilia in the beginning of episode 4, right? Uh, a lot of compare and contrast and a lot of overlaps and a lot of tried to fill in the missing pieces. Even the way that Shane is doing, you know, yoga, it's almost like one half of the sun that's missing that will be completed later on at the cottage together. Oh, here we go. The infamous tuna melt scene. I mean, talk about real estate.

[00:11:19]That's a great place. I mean, yes, that's exact. And again, another fireplace. This representation of of I don't know, yearning, of passion, of fire. And again, the element of fire, fire, water. There's there's these elements of fire and water consistently playing out throughout the show.

[00:11:37]Showering, uh, the water bottles.

[00:11:42]Oh my god. Yes.

[00:11:46]Oh, this is by far one of my favorite scenes. Oh, the way he grabs him and turns him over. I meal. [sighs] I love this. I mean, this is a little voyeristic and a little puran. Like, there is no need for this to happen this way. But I again, I'm very happy that every once in a while, we get to see Shane's beautiful butt because I know that Connor gets a lot of the attention, but I like that Jacob T is like, you know what, just stand there and like walk to bed. There was no need for any of that, but I'm glad that Jacob Tyranny included it. Thank you, girl. Thank you.

[00:12:21]Okay. So, in that sex scene, it's really interesting because Shane was on top and like he was riding Ilia and he was owning him. You know what I mean? In previous sequences, it was Shane sort of on his back being more on the receiving end or sort of like bent over. I don't want to say was more submissive, but he was definitely letting Ilia have control and do the work. In this instance, we see Shane getting on top, riding, owning, being confident. You can see that he is more sexually aware and again sexually confident. And I think it's interesting that that sexual confidence is coming out in Ilia's home because up until this point, we've only seen them at the hotel rooms or in in Shane's uh apartment. This is the first time we've seen them together in Ilia's place. And it's funny how he in this instance got the courage to kind of get on top of Ilia and be like, I'm in your place now, but somehow there's almost like this confidence that he's demonstrating being in his place, which is very different than how we saw him sort of like walk in. I I really liked it. And then of course, we had that sort of playful tussle where Ilia grabs him and like turns him over and they continue. So they're they're they're definitely sort of playing around with domination, submission, being on top being on the bottom. For Shane in particular, I'm seeing somebody that's more sexually confident. And I appreciate that. I love it. I love it that Ilia is giving him crap about Hayden. Like, he just does not like Hayden. And again, I think there is there is a an envy and a jealousy there, right? Because Hayden is Shane's, you know, best friend, but Ilia wants to be his best friend, but he can't be around him as often as as Hayden. And yeah, we're going to see more of that play out in later installments.

[00:14:12]the beauty and just the wonderful feeling of being a big spoon or a little spoon just cuddling in bed on a sunny afternoon.

[00:14:25]>> Wonderful.

[00:14:27]>> Just wonderful. We just it's those sometimes it's just those soft quiet moments that just really are about the sense of being touched and that's obviously so important to the show and the romance genre. But I I like how Tyrney does that. I like how he really focuses on not just seeing them touching, but like imagining us in our own bodies like feeling being touched in a good way, in a safe way, in a way that's consensual, all those good things. your tuna melt.

[00:14:59]>> Oh, tuna milk.

[00:15:00]>> You make me tuna. I was going to make one for me.

[00:15:04]>> As if he didn't have all those ingredients there. He has his ginger ale, his cold ginger ale.

[00:15:09]>> Ginger.

[00:15:11]>> He's checking to see if the ginger ale is cold enough. Ilia has it there for him. He knows he likes ginger ale. He's not much of a drinker. Doesn't shame him. Asks him if it's the right temperature.

[00:15:21]There's a level of care there. And again, remember one of the things that we saw Ilia doing, not only taking care of his body at the gym, but he was taking care of his his father. So, we're we're seeing him be set up as someone who is actually caring. So, in the way that we saw Shane uh pulling down that armor, you know, taking off that gear, taking off that armor, being stripped down vulnerable. We're seeing that with Ilia, but in a different in a different way, right? We're seeing him less as this tough guy and this sassmouth, which is exactly how we saw him on the ice in the very beginning, you know, trashtalking Shane. We're actually seeing him as vulnerable as well as more of like a caretaker. I love the way that they're sitting and I love how the artwork in the back, the big stone on top for this is the small stone at the bottom, the big stone at the bottom, small stone on top. Again, a bit of like a ying and yang. Opposites attract. The paintings are separate. They're separate. The paintings almost representing Shane and Ilia. one being maybe more headstrong. I love how separated they are from each other here.

[00:16:19]Legs wide open, arms crossed. Like, it's interesting how they go into this place of discomfort once they're out of bed. I love how Shane, the ever Canadian. I love how he represents Canada in a way.

[00:16:33]It's very he he comes to really represent, the more I think about it, this idea of what Canada is. Uh multicultural, multi-racial, nice, but only when he has to be. cuz we've we've we've seen him throw down. We've seen him get nasty. We we have. Not just in the bedroom, by the way.

[00:16:51]I'm just saying. Oh, yeah. I love how like I love how Ilia goes straight into straight guy mode. Almost like hand in his crotch just kind of like there laying back holding on to his you know what. So, let's stop and take a moment and look at this. Okay. So, what do we see here? First of all, we see a distance between these two characters.

[00:17:12]We see two very different body languages. Obviously, Ilia is a lot more relaxed. Shane seems a bit more tense, a bit more uptight. Ilia's kind of like lying down with his hand on his genitals. So, it's interesting that I mean, what is he doing? Is he holding on to his genitals to protect them? Is this conversation what maybe like castrating him, challenging his authority the way that he's starting to mention Fet Lana?

[00:17:34]The way that he's talking about playing hockey, about where he's liked, where he's disliked. Is there some insecurity that's coming in? He needs to hold on to his manhood. Shane is there with his legs crossed. Although, it's interesting that he has his foot on the table. And some people I know online mentioned like Shane having his foot on the table next to his ginger. You know, maybe he's so uncomfortable he's not even thinking about these other sort of like micro comforts that are just out the window, right? And again, we have this sort of chaotic artwork in the middle that for me just kind of almost recalls the previous episode with Scott and Kip with all of that artwork when they were having their their their conversation in the smoothie shop. You have the pictures in the back almost representing each other. I like how they both have two separate drinks. So yeah, there's an element of mirroring here and yet almost like not exactly opposites, but there's there's a it's it's like an actual reflection where you're seeing the same thing, but obviously in the reflection it's going to be slightly different, right? Left is going to be right, right is going to be left, etc., etc. Just the detail in the shot composition is is exactly what makes this just such a high quality show and something that just begs for re-watching.

[00:18:43]You know me, I'm lazy.

[00:18:49]>> I don't know that side of you at all.

[00:18:50]>> So, it's interesting how on one hand, Ilia is trying to be like machismo and like masculine after having sex with another guy, talking about like St. Lana and being able to hook up with girls and kind of being almost broish.

[00:19:06]And yet at the same time in being this kind of bro, he's actually disarming himself and he's sort of highlighting to Shane and showcasing to Shane like, you know, I'm lazy. I don't really want to.

[00:19:18]So again, we're seeing these layers really starting to come off here in very very different ways. Shane being a bit more vulnerable. You can see sort of like that that pain and that sadness in his face, but then also that joy when, you know, he starts when when Ilia releases these little sort of like hints, ver verbal hints about how he actually feels. And now they're eating this lovely tuna melt. Mhm.

[00:19:48]>> girls.

[00:19:50]>> And then we get into this really weird conversation where Ilia's asking about Shane and and liking girls. I never hear you, you know, talking about them. I mean, it's private, but like girl, like they've been hooking up for like this is coming up on what, six years now?

[00:20:07]They've never talked about this before.

[00:20:09]Come on.

[00:20:13]Come on.

[00:20:14]Come on, girl. No. Don't tell me that you haven't been talking about the people you've had sex with this entire time or why Shane doesn't like girls or if he does like girls.

[00:20:24]No. No. I don't believe this.

[00:20:34]>> It's interesting the way that they constantly like miscommunicate with one another, which is really frustrating, but that's also central to the construction of art, right? Like I remember one of my professors like decades ago when I was like an undergrad said characters never say what they want to say. They always allude to it. Right?

[00:20:54]If if characters were just expository and direct, then it wouldn't really be good art. In fact, the entirety of art of of narrative fiction, of narrative storytelling, whether it's in film, whether it's in a book, whether it's television, is that characters don't say what they're supposed to say to each other. Again, they're always alluding to it. Of course, in film and television, we have, you know, all of these visuals that add to, you know, the communication of what these characters want to say to each other, should be saying to each other. And now we have a very uncomfortable conversation between Ilia and his brother. And yeah, every time every time his brother gets on the phone, it just makes my blood boil because he deserves better. He deserves better. I hate it. I I hate I And so again, like there's a vulnerability here where where Shane is there listening.

[00:21:43]And again, more focus on the artwork.

[00:21:45]Jacob Tyranny loves artwork, but it's also about the way in which these art pieces say something about what's going on and about where the characters are.

[00:21:52]So again, ying and yang, opposites, one side versus the other, mirroring, doubling, almost coming to the middle, but then sort of opening up and being reflections of each other. And of course, reflections are never uh symmetrical or perfect. They're they're slightly different and yet they come together in the middle. I mean, this is also hilarious because it's like watching two buddies hang out that just met each other. There's a level of discomfort that's still palpable, but you can see it coming down. Oh, that smile when Ilia smiles like that. Oh, and then he grabs him and then he puts his hand on his head and the way Shane just wants to put his chest there. And it's interesting that this happens in his home right after he talks to his brother about his father. He's starting to realize like, I don't want to be this person. I don't want to be my brother. I don't want to be my father. I can have my own family. I can be my own man. I don't have to be these people. I can make choices. I want to be this tender person and in fact I am this tender person. I am this caring person and and that's what that conversation was about.

[00:22:57]Oh my god. Well, I mean tenderness does lead to other things. There's nothing wrong with exploring each other's body.

[00:23:03]It's healthy.

[00:23:05]And again, Shay goes right back on top.

[00:23:07]He takes his own shirt off. He also like really takes control. Literally grabs the joystick, the clutch, and is driving the car.

[00:23:18]Oh my goodness. again.

[00:23:21]Just Yeah.

[00:23:28]You gonna come for me, Rosa? Make me.

[00:23:30]That [ __ ] make me. Oh, and he spits in his hand. So nasty.

[00:23:36]But again, let's talk about the confidence. Let's talk about Shane getting on top. Let's talk about Shane grabbing a hold of Ilia. Let's talk about Shane, you know, asking him, being in control, do you want to come for me?

[00:23:52]Shane's doing the work. Shane has him literally by the, you know what? And again, before we saw Ilia holding on to his genitals, holding on to his his package. But now, honey, honey, who has control of it now? Whose hand is on? And now, who is master of that domain over there? It's Shane. I like this more confident Shane. I also like that we're seeing a self-identified bottom, someone who likes to bottom, not only being on top, but not necessarily being submissive. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I like that it's also deconstructing that position and that identity and that that alignment, if you will, right? That you can be a bottom, but also be on top, also be in control, also be dominant. I like that we're seeing more of that diversity uh play out here. And I like that we're seeing Shane, you know, the total bottom taking control. I like it.

[00:24:46]I like it. That's a That's a three fan salute. I like it.

[00:25:00]>> [gasps] >> Oh, and look at the differences in their faces between Ilia and Shane.

[00:25:15]Ilia has just gone into the deep end.

[00:25:18]And Shane is swimming to the shallow end and ready to get out of the pool and run to the hills.

[00:25:27]>> [clears throat] >> Okay, so now if you remember this scene started with Shane walking in with his jacket but also a white t-shirt and then of course they took their clothes off, went to bed, and then Ilia handed him one of his t-shirts which he then wore around the house and then promptly wore out of the house. There's a metaphor there. Ilia has penetrated him. He penetrated him psychologically in a way that he wasn't expecting. There was a breakthrough of intimacy. And so now he's literally leaving with Ilia's clothing, taking that shirt with him.

[00:26:06]But he's also leaving with this emotional and psychological seed that has been planted in his mind. So Ilia is now literally a part of Shane. Shane is now changed after that visit to Ilia's house. He has taken a part of Ilia with him. Ilia is now inside of him, but in a very different way. There's something about them calling each other by their last name that kept it almost informal.

[00:26:33]And that informality was reflected in some of the the distance between them, the physical distance, and the kind of almost broish awkward conversations, you know, now that they're calling each other by their first name. Hello, call me by my name. Hey, hey, you know what I mean? Shane uh does have a bit of anxiety and so he panicked because now it's real. And so now we cut to Shane meeting his parents for lunch. So again, it's it's interesting because there's it's a table for four, but Ilia's not there. So this is also going to foreshadow the eventual conversation at the dinner table, right, at the cottage where it's going to be the exact same setup except the table will be set for Ilia. This time Ilia is not there, so they took away the place setting, but it's still a placeholder for him. He's still there spiritually as a as a ghost, if you will, and he will be sitting there later on.

[00:27:30]>> I get like 2 weeks off a year. I don't want to spend it next to someone I don't know.

[00:27:34]>> 2 weeks next to someone I don't know. Of course, as we know later on, 2 weeks is the time that he offers Ilia to come to the cottage and spend with him. Someone that he knows and he wants to spend time with, not some stranger. of a ginger ale, please. Oh, we don't have that sparkling water.

[00:27:51]>> Sure. Thank you.

[00:27:52]>> So, he came from Ilia's place where Ilia provided everything for him, takes care of him, knows him here. They don't have it. So, it's a it's a reminder that Ilia can give him what he needs and what he wants because he knows him and he cares for him. I'm getting emotional watching this dinner table conversation. It's upsetting me. Oh, the mileand. I love the mileand. Love the mileand. If you live in Montreal, I mean, if you live in Montreal, you know, but if you don't, and if you've never been, go to the mileand. It's like an extension of the plateau, which is on the eastern part of Montreal. Really fun place. But the mileand, at least back when I was there, was known as being just a bit more like hipster, although the plateau was pretty hipsterish. But like, do hipsters even exist anymore? Is that a thing? Or is everyone too poor to be a hipster to pretend that they're poor because everyone's actually poor?

[00:28:46]Do you have any ginger ale?

[00:28:49]>> I do. But actually, just a beer, please.

[00:28:52]Whatever you have.

[00:28:53]>> What if this man can't get a ginger ale?

[00:28:55]What if this man can't get a ginger ale in peace? Is it Is it So, like, this is Canada, girl. What the hell is going on here? This is Canada. This is the land of Canada dry. This is the land of ginger ale. Why can't this man get a ginger ale anywhere he goes? Why is it always a hassle to get a ginger ale? The bars are harassing him getting a ginger ale. The restaurant doesn't. First of all, how dare a restaurant not have ginger ale. This is part of the Canadian Constitution. I'm taking this to the human rights tribunal. I'm taking this to the Supreme Court is what I'm doing.

[00:29:23]The audacity. Why can't this man get a ginger ale? What the It's ridiculous.

[00:29:28]When I used to work as a flight attendant, let me tell you, ginger ale, we needed to have double the amount.

[00:29:33]Also, if we were doing flights to the US, Diet Coke as well. But no matter where we were going, Ginger ale before there was heated rivalry, there was ginger ale and Selen Dion, Helenus Mores, and I train, but Ginger ale was definitely one of her top cultural exports. So again, like peer pressured into drinking, which he didn't necessarily want to do.

[00:29:55]Clearly not liking it. So, it's interesting here because again, we're seeing that Jacob Tierney yellow orange kind of lighting that we see at the restaurant at the awards ceremony with Scott and Kip when they were dancing with uh Elena at that function, that charity event. So, in a way, the lighting just kind of foreshadows him, I feel, like meeting Rose. Like, there's there's just something about the lighting that sort of suggests almost like romance, romantic meeting. This is the kind of lighting that that Tyranny tends to use for this sort of connection. We finally get our introduction to Rose. It's interesting how the episode is named Rose, but we don't meet her until like the last third of the episode.

[00:30:37]>> And I I bet that being the only Asian kid didn't make it less intense.

[00:30:44]>> I wasn't the only one. There was one other >> Notice what he said there. He said, "I wasn't the only one." And so it kind of took the spotlight off of me. So the other kid got made fun of. So, first of all, it's acknowledging unfortunately the reality of racism and the experience of racism. It's also creating a parallel with a common narrative that a lot of queer people feel, right? And in fact, unfortunately, a lot of closeted queer people who divert into bullying, which is a theme we actually see play out in one of the the other books in the series um with Tough Guy, right? where sometimes in order to shield yourself from being the victim or under the spotlight, you become the bully or you just kind of step away and let someone else become the lightning rod for the harassment and and abuse. So, it's creating that intersectional um connection and that intersectional experience, which is um unfortunate nonetheless. So, this is clearly kind of almost being set up like a bit of like a first date. It's not quite a meat cute the way that like Scott and Kip's, you know, uh, interactions were, but it's definitely friends kind of intervening to introduce these two together. And I will say they're actually quite cute together. And they have they're they're vibing. They have a chemistry. Oh, those Montreal winters. Nothing. I have to I'm going to give the people of Montreal credit. The weather there like it's on an island. It's always cold. It's humid.

[00:32:08]In the summertime, there's spiders everywhere. In the winter time, there's snow everywhere. But honey, let me tell you something, okay? Let me tell you something. You better You better believe the weather and the spiders do not get in the way of the people of Montreal going out to have a good time.

[00:32:26]It doesn't. When you're there, you live.

[00:32:29]So, we end with Shane grabbing Rose's hand, suggesting a connection, and then we cut to Uh-oh.

[00:32:39]So, it's unclear how much time has passed here. It's it's not entirely clear, but it seems relatively recent.

[00:32:45]Like, maybe this is something that happened in a couple of weeks, but you can see the devastation, right? Like Shane walked out the door. It doesn't seem like they've talked to each other and he's like, "I can't do this. I I can't come out. I I can't be I can't be gay. I can't be in love with you. I can't be these things. It's It's cost too much." And this is giving Taylor Swift if I'm not mistaken, right? Like, but of course, Scott and Kip. Scott down on the ice. Kip up there. But again, what we're seeing here is heteronormative privilege, right? Where not only is it okay, but it's actually being celebrated. It's being documented.

[00:33:16]Whereas with Scott and Kip, Kip couldn't be public about it. I mean, he was there, but it was always very subdued.

[00:33:21]He was quite nervous. Both of them didn't almost want to make a big display of it. But here, she's wearing the jersey. She's showing it off. The the the teammates are kind of gathering around him to be like, "Hey, there's your girl." So, we're seeing like the performance and the performativity of straightness, the privilege of it, the showcasing of it, the fact that it's all over the internet, but it's all very positive. That's not going to be the case if they end up, you know, coming together publicly. So, it's interesting now because we're also seeing the way in which social media is starting to penetrate the social sphere, right?

[00:33:56]Social media in the early uh uh 2000s wasn't really a thing, but it wasn't until like social media kind of took over people's mobile phones that we sort of entered this new social media era.

[00:34:09]And you can see that reflected in the narrative. You can see that, you know, affecting the characters and the story, right? It's literally right in his face.

[00:34:17]He can't escape it. And it's now news in and of itself. Oh, the social. Well, this is E Talk, but it's with Laney from The Social. So, again, the relationship between like movie stars and athletes.

[00:34:29]The way that this is now news, the way it's being displayed everywhere, talked about under the microscope, but celebrated. No one's angry. No one's losing any deals.

[00:34:39]>> We'll look to put some distance tonight [music] between themselves and their arch rivals, the Boston Raiders.

[00:34:45]>> See what Ilia Rose has to [music] say about that.

[00:34:48]>> So, instead of it being Ilia, it's it's Rose, right? So, a replacement, a temporary replacement is going on in his world, but also for us as well. Oh, and it's the invitation to the club. Oh, I'm not ready.

[00:35:07]Ooh. Well, and they're not even making eye contact, are they? They're not even looking at each other. And now he's only making eye contact with himself, and he's angry.

[00:35:18]Another If looks could kill. God, I do not want Connor story to ever look at me like that. I think I would crumble.

[00:35:24]>> Tell people.

[00:35:25]>> Tell people. Oh, we're going to the club. Okay, hold on.

[00:35:30]I need to prepare for this.

[00:35:37]I know that the first time I saw this, I I knew something something the the the use of tattoos song and the transition into it was was a was a huge signal for me like something was going to go down here.

[00:35:55]So Shane arrives, he meets up with Rose, even though he really doesn't necessarily want to be there. We get introduced to Miles. Now, I do know that like Miles's character, like Miles made people like uncomfortable. I know that in the survey that I did, a lot of people talked about Miles and how they didn't really like him just because of the way that he kind of was like up in Shane's space. Now, this sequence is is is infamous. Like, I have a whole separate video on the club scene where like I did an analysis on the club scene. I talked about how I think it's a reference to and it takes from another uh Kebeekqua filmmaker Xavier Dolong and how the club scene here references a scene that happens at a house party in his film Leamur translated in English as uh heartbeats instead of uh imaginary love. I don't know why, but um yeah, there's a scene in that movie where uh again, two characters are sitting on a couch looking at their object of desire. Um and you know, the the character the object of desire is like dancing and they're sitting there just kind of like staring at him with like we're not exactly sure what they're thinking. Um and I think that's a reference to that because again Jacob Tierney is also from Montreal. Francois Arno was in Xavier Dolan's movies. But I also think now in retrospect, there's another movie, not exactly a queer film, but there are queer elements to it. And this might be for people who are a bit older like myself, uh, that I'm not saying that Jacob Tyranny referenced this, but it does remind me of a scene from Basic Instinct. There's that scene where, uh, Sharon Stone's character, uh, it's Kathern Tremal, right? and Michael Douglas's character, they go to a club, but then Kathern Tremal's girlfriend is there. She's dancing with someone. And I just remember the way that she was dancing. She was watching the two of them together. She was very jealous, very envious. And I just remember her movements being very like static and very almost aggressive and violent and angry. Just the way she was like went back and forth and her head was like whipping around and she was just like like this. I just remember it like being like very effective. Uh, again, I'm not saying that Jacob Tuni was referencing that there, but and in the analysis video, I talked a lot about like the role that the the the dance floor and the club plays in like gay male culture, uh, gay male sexuality, the coming out experience, you know, and the way that it's a compromised space. It's a place of trauma where, you know, you can be rejected, you know, where it's, you know, you're you're you're vulnerable, where you go to meet people to release your body and be free. But, you know, it it's it's a place of freedom as well as a place of possible rejection. Anyways, you can go watch that video if you want.

[00:38:41]In that video, I actually play this entire sequence all the way through, and I got flagged for copyright issues. Uh, so I won't be able to show too much from here, but we'll play some snippets here and there. So, we see Shane go onto the dance floor with Rose. Miles leaves, goes to the bar to order a drink. Ilia's there, and of course, as we know, he makes eye contact with Ilia. And then the second Ilia makes eye contact with him. Oh, he knows. And he acknowledges that, right? Like, hey, how's it going?

[00:39:10]But he's also almost pointing towards where he should look. And he knows. And he turns around. You have this cinematic kind of like head turning one way, camera turning the other way. It's in this dark red lighting. Uh-oh. And he sees it. He was angry before and he wanted to go to take out his aggression.

[00:39:28]And oh my god, he's wearing that Versaceesque shirt that just screams like Eastern European in a really good way. I like how Eastern European men can wear things that's very I don't want to say gay, but things that in the like in in the West would be considered gay, but there it's not. Fashion and and and and location and geography and culture. So contextual, you know, here's Shane forcing himself to drink. I know this scene over here made a lot of people uncomfortable. the way that Miles got really like close to Shane. Shane is so uncomfortable with his sexuality even when he's in private with Ilia. But again, like let's look at what's going on here, right? Let's take a good look at what's going on here. Miles comes from the bar, walks up right behind Shane, gets real up close and personal with him. So, there's two things that are happening there. One, on a metaphoric level, Miles is Shane's subconscious, right? It's his gay desire. And what is he doing? He's behind him. That's where Ilia was when they were cuddling in bed because Shane is the little spoon and Ilia's the big spoon. So, he's taking the position of Ilia. That's his gay desire. He's in this position of like protection, but also Shane's the bottom. So, that's the position of of of penetration. And he's getting right up behind him, touching him, putting his arms on him. He's breathing on his neck. He's kissing his neck. So literally his gay desire is breathing down his neck. Not only is he so uncomfortable there, but even though he's with Rose dancing with her, facing her, he can't escape his gay desires.

[00:41:03]It's literally breathing down his neck.

[00:41:05]And not only can he not escape his gay desire, but he can't escape Ilia because in that moment, Miles acts as a placeholder for Ilia, who is not too far away. And the second the Miles returns, touches him, takes the position of Ilia.

[00:41:19]Oh, in the same way that Ilia knew that Shane was there the second he made eye contact with Miles, Shane knows that Ilia is there, too, because he's the metaphoric standin. The second Miles touches him and breathes on him, which is what he's used to feeling with Ilia.

[00:41:35]Sheay knows and he looks and there he is. And what does he see?

[00:41:41]Right.

[00:41:42]Well, he sees Ilia dancing with that girl. So, this whole episode is about mirror reflections, but about like these reversals. Ilia saw Shane dancing with Rose. Now Shane sees Ilia dancing with this girl. This whole episode is about the two of them completing each other and being similar and yet different, being one and the same. And we see this playing out here in the club. And then, of course, we know Veil sh veil down.

[00:42:18]The second that that music changes from fast to slow.

[00:42:24]It's over.

[00:42:26]We're going to play that. We have to hear it. The [music] light flashes.

[00:42:34][music] >> [singing] >> So Shane saw Ilia's teammates. And so in the same way when Ilia saw um Miles, Shane knew that something was off. Shane knew that Ilia was there, too. When Miles ends up coming back and starts getting really close to him. They start drinking. He gets close to him and then he sees Ilia. That's when we have the transition into that far more devastating melancholic slow reverb version of all that she she said by by Harrison. It's a complete shift. It brings us out of reality, the club space into this dream space. The the strobe lighting gets more intense. It gets darker. Um, and we go into this really heavy emotional space. Shane again running away. It's too much for him.

[00:43:33]Similar to when he heard his name before when Ilia called out his name. He stops and he looks at him again. This confrontation. And then of course we get this justosition with the future. So this dream space, this future, this past, sexual desire, sexual um these experiences, the way Ilia is licking this girl's neck, touching her, kind of using her body really. Um, this is the one instance where we see sort of like women being sort of used as an object between sort of like men. And of course, Ilia is kind of using her as a way to hurt Shane, which of course we can see that he is just utterly devastated. And again, Ilia is saying, "You hurt me when you left, so I'm going to hurt you right back." Revenge, vengeance, mirroring reflections.

[00:44:25]The way Ilia, you know, his face was devastated when he stuck his arms out to call him back and Shane just left anyways. He's like, "Okay, I'm going to hurt you, too. I'm going to put on this display because I can be I can perform heterosexuality. I can perform straightness because I's bisexual. So, he can actually take pleasure in this and he can choose to only show that side of himself to the public if he wants and it wouldn't necessarily um I don't want to say that it wouldn't affect him, but he could just show that one side. And for a long time, that's all he's really has been showing, at least most people, not like Spetana. But Shane can't do that. And what he's saying is, you can take all those pictures with your girlfriend. You can have all those social media posts. You can be on the news, but I know that that's not really you. I know that that's empty. I know that that hurts you. I know that that's not real. I know that you're already in pain performing that. And he's really rubbing it in his face. This is such a devastating scene.

[00:45:24]I I I I want to watch the whole episode literally like this. Like I I mean really like I I it's it's it's it's like I can't even really watch.

[00:45:37]It's I I it's just it's too much. It's just it's so layered and it's really painful because I think gay or straight, we've I think a lot of people have been in positions where a friend or a lover has purposely hurt you, this act of vengeance. How many movies and TV shows and TV episodes have been made about um you know lovers hurting each other or friends hurting each other, vengeance and all of that, but oh god, this one just somehow really just took a knife and just kind of didn't even just like stab just like got right in there and twisted and pulled out some organs too.

[00:46:21]God damn it. And the way that they kind of cut between each other >> [music] [singing] >> This is the one instance I think of the entire show where we're seeing men using women's bodies as leverage as as tools, right? Like Shane is using Rose to protect himself. Shane is also using Rose to delilute himself, convince himself that he's straight or can perform straightness. Ilia was using that girl's body at the club to purposely hurt Shane to be like, "You can't be straight. Look at me. look at how much I'm enjoying this woman's body.

[00:46:59]You're not enjoying your girlfriend's body. I know you're not. But again, I think that's the only instance where that's happened. And and and again, when you're there is that whole, you know, the metaphor of the way in which kind of women's bodies can be used between men.

[00:47:14]And a really famous queer theorist, Eve Kasovki Sedwick. She kind of laid the foundation for woman alcohol queer theory with her book between men, where she talked about like homos relationships and the way in which competition between men and the way in which men kind of use women as a a sex object between the two of them is actually about their eroticism together.

[00:47:35]So, we're actually seeing elements of queer theory here and the way unfortunately women's bodies can be used between two men to channel energies, homoerotic energies and homosexual energies through that female body towards towards each other. You know, we're watching Shane have uncomfortable sex. Ilia's like in his head, right?

[00:47:55]He's like, "I know you don't really like this, but I do." And then he goes back and we are forced to stare into Shane's face, basically having uncomfortable sex that he doesn't want to have. He's consenting to it, but he's not. And I think I I would venture to guess that for a lot of queer identified people, that was very difficult. It was very difficult for me to just know what it's like to force yourself to do something that is supposed to be so pleasurable and so intimate and joyful that we've seen with Shane and Ilia when they're together that causes trauma uh and and and pain. Um that whole sequence, I mean, I I'm trying not to get too upset and I'm trying not to get too emotional, but it's it's tough not to. There's just a lot that's that's packed in there. Um, and then of course Ilia is back in the shower, you know, and we get to see, you know, his his body. I was, you know, that's never a bad thing, but he's there. And but he's not with that girl.

[00:48:47]He's by himself. So Shane is kind of alone. He's alone. And yet they're both having a kind of sexual experience alone in many respects, even though Shane's with with Rose. And yet they're kind of being intimate with each other because again there's a penetration that happened during the tunimlt scene. Shane left with Ilia's t-shirt. He penetrated him. They penetrated each other psychologically. They said each other's names. They are now part of each other.

[00:49:15]There's almost like a I don't want to say a marriage, but there's at least an engagement there where they are part of each other. No matter where they are, they're kind of with each other now.

[00:49:24]even though we're looking at them and we're being interpolated and we're almost being confronted by their gaze, which I think makes me uncomfortable.

[00:49:32]And I know in the survey uh that I put out there, some people said that this scene made them uncomfortable because of the way that you are confronted in your voyerism. And you're like, "Oh, I've been actually looking at your naked bodies and watching you have sex this entire time." They're actually looking at each other. They're breaking that wall and they're looking at each other because now they're always looking at each other through social media. Um, and again, just metaphorically, I actually did a short video where I intercut the the club scene where they're staring at each other and staring each other down and then them looking at each other like being intimate separately. And again, it's it's the power of the gaze, right?

[00:50:09]The the way that they look each other, the way that they've penetrated each other, the way that they own each other, the way that they fused their personalities together. Again, the whole episode was mirroring. And yet here we see that fusion of them together, their eyes together, their even though their bodies are not together, their minds have been melded together. They're in each other's heads. That's that's it.

[00:50:33]And I think this is the moment where they realize that he, you know, Ilia realizes, I don't want to be with girls and I don't want to be, you know, in the shower by myself. And Shane realizes like, I don't want to be with Rose. We belong together because we are together.

[00:50:48]Yeah. Yeah, this is uh this is the episode where I think everybody, myself included, just got hooked. That is a cinematic masterpiece. It doesn't matter if it's on television, it is cinema. In fact, this entire series is cinematic.

[00:51:07]But that is cinema. That has to be one of the best sequences in televisual history. I mean, the history of moving images. And I I I studied film and I can tell you hands up one of the best sequences. Um and I could talk more and more about it. And I think if you go through and just analyze every eye exchange, every every second of it, you can come up with something different.

[00:51:33]But this this is the claw. This is that sequence, right? That's that moment where I think everybody got hooked. That was a pretty intense episode, right? We started off with this montage that took place over a couple of years and then we kind of dive into the tuna melt scene which was intimate and beautiful. It seemed like the relationship was moving forward. Shane panics, runs away, puts his blockade. All of a sudden he does a 180, starts dating Rose and then that basically brings us to the devastating club scene. When I saw that for the first time, I was so emotionally drained. I was so devastated. I didn't know how to feel. I watched that scene I think another 10 times and I think I ended up watching this episode at like until 1:00 in the morning. It came out at midnight and I stayed up until 1:00 a.m. watching it and I think I had work the next day too. Okay, so thank you again for joining me. I hope you like this episode. Um please do like and subscribe as a new channel. Uh having people that like, subscribe, and comment helps to grow my channel, helps to grow my presence. uh and it it signals to YouTube that I'm putting out good work that uh you know it should push to other people. So again uh please comment, please like, please subscribe. Next week is episode five where we start off in Tampa Bay and you know we're just a few weeks shy of uh heading to the cottage afterwards. So until then uh stay heated, stay reheated. Goodbye for me, goodbye for Mr. Fanny, and of course, goodbye from Georgie. Bye everyone.