EPISODE 2: OLYMPIANS
SYNOPSIS: After two years of Ilya pitching woo and Shane ducking it, they finally hook up again at Shane’s Montreal apartment. Despite this success, the next time they see each other is at the Winter 2014 Olympics in Ilya’s native Russia. The Russian team gets knocked out early, and Ilya suffers the disappointment of his countrymen — in particular his father. Ilya ices Shane out hard. Shane learns that Russia isn’t particularly evolved when it comes to LGBTQIA+ rights. Six months later, the pair presents a sportsmanship award together at the MLH awards. Shane confronts Ilya about not returning texts, Ilya wins MVP, then they get filthy in Ilya’s hotel penthouse suite; Shane is heartsick about it afterward.
MANGETOUT
This opening sequence is everything: Between summer 2011 and fall 2013, there is flirty texting only, both men rising in the league, the rivalry heating up — all to Wet Leg’s “Mangetout.” “Mange tout” technically means “eat all,” but it’s also a variety of pea. The singer says she’ll give him “magic beans” and hope he gets out soon; the real name of the song, I think, is “Man Get Out.” I used to think Wet Leg was just an oversexed version of Dry Cleaning, but I honestly cannot think of a hornier, more menacing, more perfectly fuck-you-but-not-like-that-OK-maybe-like-that song for this hot AF episode 2 cold open. (Yes, I know what else “magentout” could mean, and I know that it happens in this episode. But not by the time this song plays.) This is now one of my go-to karaoke songs, and let me tell you it is FUNNNN. It came out in 2025 and is one of the most anachronistic tracks on the soundtrack, but who gives a shit when the snarl just fits?
CHELSEA MON AMOUR
This, on the other hand — Jesus. The bittersweet, acoustic Philippe B ballad we hear when we first see Shane, Carter Vaughan, and Scott Hunter in Sochi, Russia, became another favorite of mine immediately, even before I translated the lyrics. I have done the long-distance thing. I know its glimmering highs and confounding lows. I have stayed away when I didn’t want to. I knew that I knew this song’s feeling before I knew what it was actually trying to say.
Chelsea, my love
Polaroids on the carpet
Backlit shots
Of buildings and taxis
Awakening in a hotel called Marcel
A piece of sky in my bed
Chelsea, my love
I walk and you run
I sleep and you dream
And we love each other in turn
Chelsea, my love
Stay in the shade of the plane trees
Until I return
Under the Manhattan sky
Under the iron stairs, to relive
Our story in reverse
(“Vegas Remains” by Reclinerland is a version of this song from my own life. And I will not be taking questions at this time.)
