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Heated Rivalry mania has taken over the country. While it hasn’t cracked the top 10 most-watched shows in the United States at the moment, the “gay hockey show,” as it’s lovingly referred to online, is decidedly having a moment.

Produced by a Canadian entertainment company, the show has had hundreds of millions of streaming minutes since its release on HBO Max in late November. (I’m a non-insignificant contributor to that figure, having rewatched it three times.) Its two lead actors, Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams, have become overnight sensations, appearing everywhere from the late-night shows to the Golden Globes. People are thronging into bars for watch parties; the fan base borders on the evangelical.

In case you’ve been living under a puck, Heated Rivalry follows the relationship of two professional hockey players—one of whom is autistic—who are in a secret situationship. Much of the reaction to the show has been focused around the filth level, which is a 10/10 measured on a scale of any mainstream piece of entertainment, queer or straight. An adaptation of a popular romance book series, the show remains true to its source material. The sex never really stops through the six-episode arc.

But despite appearances, the more pioneering piece of the show is its wholesomeness, not its commitment to smut. (Although it is committed.) At its heart, Heated Rivalry is a love story with a happy ending(s). It’s not one that exists in some fantastical reality where homophobia doesn’t exist. Throughout, the characters struggle with being closeted in a traditionally masculine sport. But there’s no death, no tragedy, no illness. It’s emotional, but its overall emotional takeaway is one of joy and sweetness and care, not violence, brokenness, or regret. We have decidedly left the era of Milk, Dallas Buyers Club, or even Call Me by Your Name.

And while there are other, more modern shows that feature queer relationships, there are none that have popped the way Heated Rivalry has over the past couple of months.

The representation has been healing for some. Former competitive hockey player Matt Kenny, who was in a secret relationship with another player during his time in the sport, told CBC News that the gay community isn’t used to seeing stories like the ones in Heated Rivalry, nor watching “the world radically embrace something that you carried intense shame over for many years.” Williams, one of the main actors, has spoken about receiving messages from still-closeted professional athletes, although it remains to be determined if a show beloved by the “girls, gays, and theys” will do anything lasting to nudge culture inside the real-life sports world.

Still, we shouldn’t underestimate the value of representation, which actually features prominently inside the show’s plot line. It has been incredibly moving to take in the personal reactions (warning: mild spoiler) from LGBTQ as well as autistic viewers—not to mention satisfying to enjoy the irony of a Canadian-produced show based around the Canadian national sport becoming an American cultural phenomenon after President Trump’s comments about annexing the country enraged our northern neighbor last year. Even as so much else regresses, culture marches to the beat of its own drum.

—Emma Varvaloucas

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By the Numbers

100: Percent of basic food needs able to be met in Gaza, the first time since October 2023

80: Percent of countries expected to have seen declines in poverty in 2025

200x300x50: Measurements, in micrometers, of the world’s smallest autonomous robots, which are smaller than a grain of salt

2029: Predicted year heat pumps will outsell ACs in the US, given current rates

$1.8B: Value of the clean energy deal just signed by Egypt, an (ambitious) attempt to reach 42% renewable energy in its electricity mix by 2030

Quick Hits

👓 A Finnish company has created auto-focus glasses, which use eye-tracking sensors and liquid crystals to automatically adapt to the needs of the wearer. They look like regular glasses, too.

🧔‍♂️ We’re in our dad era: Millennial fathers—and mothers—are spending more time with their children than previous generations. The childcare- and housework-gender gap is also closing fast.

💊 A $370,000-per-year cystic fibrosis treatment will cost as little as $2,000 now that a Bangladeshi drug manufacturer will make a generic version. The “revolutionary” drug delivers normal life expectancy to patients, who otherwise die as young adults.

🏥 The European Union has prohibited the use of desflurane, an anesthesia drug and climate “super-pollutant,” except when medically necessary. American hospitals, too, are dropping it.

🦍 Some rare good news from war-ravaged Congo: Twin mountain gorillas were born in early January, a major event for the endangered subspecies.

⚖️ Rohingya Muslims are testifying to alleged atrocities committed by Myanmar in an international court for the first time, in a landmark genocide case at the United Nations’ top court.

🧑‍⚖️ Wyoming’s top court has struck down two laws barring abortion, including the first US pill ban, saying they violate the state’s constitution. Lawmakers plan to schedule a vote on a constitutional amendment.

📉 London recorded its lowest murder rate on record last year; violent crime is also down in Washington, DC (and, less controversially, in New Jersey).

🔬 AI is transforming drugmaking and the pharmaceutical industry, with the potential to boost success rates and redesign how trials are run.

👀 What we’re watching: Syria is working toward the elimination of the chemical weapons program developed under the Assad regime.

💡Editor’s pick: Is the world’s main economic problem pessimism?

TPN Member Originals

(Who are our Members? Get to know them.)

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• Trump’s 2026 | Diane Francis | Diane Francis

• Some useful Trump-Hitler comparisons (in light of Minneapolis and Venezuela) | NonZero | Robert Wright

• The Cassandra complex | The Edgy Optimist | Zachary Karabell

• Actually, nobody wantsVenezuelan oil|The Preamble| Sharon McMahon

• The Iranian regime will fall | Middle East Uncovered | Faisal Saeed Al Mutar

• The top risks for 2026 | Eurasia Group | Ian Bremmer

• ‘Buying’ Greenland is not an option | TFP | Tyler Cowen

• What MAHA gets dead wrong—and right |TFP | Ezekiel Emanuel

• Zohran Mamdani’s strong start | Slow Boring | Matthew Yglesias

• The sins of the moderates | NYT ($) | David Brooks

• The normalization of ‘FAFO’ might be good for English | NYT ($) | John McWhorter