EPISODE 4: ROSE
SYNOPSIS: Ilya’s friend-with-benefits Svetlana and Shane’s teammate Hayden are starting to think their friends might be getting serious about that person they’re always texting. After a hookup at Ilya’s Boston apartment, he asks Shane to stay the night. They nap and watch hockey; Ilya tells him about Svetlana. Ilya makes Shane a tuna melt, which my therapist says is Canadian for “I care about you.” Shane overhears Ilya talking on the phone with his sick father, leading to a new level of intimacy between them, which leads Shane to freak out. At a party soon after, Shane hits it off with the movie star Rose Landry and figures he might as well try girls again, leading to a jealous standoff between our two heroes at a Montreal nightclub.
This episode has a lot of work to do. We have just previously spent an hour — almost a whole book’s worth of story — in New York with Scott and Kip. Now we are back with our main guys, and we need to remember why we care, where we left off, and cover quite a bit of ground. This episode, more than any other, neatly uses songs to set up multiple acts.
ACT ONE: MY MOON MY MAN
Reminder-era Feist to the rescue again. On the other side of our rapid-fire Skip romance, the moonlight is rising in a cold open montage that is far warmer than the one in episode 2. Summer 2014–October 2016: off-season training, playful texts that alternate between sexy and competitive; in-season hotel room fucks, stairway makeouts, and blowies in the shower. Club nights and days with his ailing father for Ilya; reading in bed, commercial shoots, and back-to-back championship cup wins for Shane.
Two seasons, two summers, and it’s getting harder for these two to look up from their phones. Svetlana and Hyden clock the “Jane” and “Lily” situation, reflecting some gentle light just like the moon does with the sun perhaps. But it’s a fake-out. The episode’s first chapter ends after the tuna melt scene, with a cracking open and a covering up, a disappointing heartbreak that needs no music to underscore it. That light in the sky was just a rock.
ACT TWO: DE LA TETE AUX PIEDS/ BIG HAITI/ GRENN PWONMENNEN/ TU T’EN SOUVIENS/ EN DEDANS/ C’EST TOI
This collection of tracks at JJ’s friend’s restaurant — the after-hours party where Shane meets Rose — is honestly just a vibe. If I were like Shane Hollander and never left my house, this party would still feel pretty good to be at.
The seductive Caribbean groove of the Richy Jay track “En Dedans” kicks in here shortly before Rose tells Shane, “your winter doesn’t scare me,” a line that I have seen given a lovely importance elsewhere as it pertains to Shane starting to trust Rose. The title means “inside” in French, so the soundtrack definitely agrees. Next we hear Satine’s “C’est Toi” as the romance plays out on social media and IRL. “I love that there’s this kind of female energy that is so exquisite to me,” said Tierney of the Satine cut in Rolling Stone. “I love this for Rose, and I love this for that montage in episode four where Ilya is looking at all of this press coverage of Shane and his new girlfriend. It felt exactly like the right cheeky, cute, poppy earworm.” And it continues until Ilya turns off the TV and stubs his toe — enough of this torturous self-harm, thank you very much.
ACT THREE: ALL THE THINGS SHE SAID
Like “I’ll Believe in Anything” and Peter Peter’s score, this song — the t.A.T.u. original and the Harrison cover — have become a sonic fingerprint for the series’ first season. Rolling Stone says, ”Heated Rivalry’s de facto ‘Running Up That Hill’ moment, this mix of the original and remix serves to underscore the agony of hidden love.” Tierney says, “I wanted some Russian in there. Even though I know that there’s controversy about the queerness of it, it was queerest Russian pop hit that I can think of. Other than ‘Rasputin’ [by Boney M.]. I did not think I could afford it, but as soon as we put it in, I was like, “‘Oh, we need this.’”
All I can add is that I used to hate this song. Do I love it now? Yes, I think so, probably.
