EPISODE 6: THE COTTAGE
SYNOPSIS: Ilya spends two weeks at Shane’s architecturally sublime summer cottage. They confess their love for one another. Shane’s dad swings by for his phone charger and catches the two of them making out. Things that could have turned out badly do not turn out badly at all, because this is Heated Rivalry, bitches.
All of the songs are played in the car! ALL OF THE SONGS ARE PLAYED IN THE CAR!
L’ANARCHIE DES JOURS HEUREUX
On the ride from the Ottawa airport, we get this 2015 cut by Nadia Essadiqiis, a.k.a. La Bronze. The title translates to “The Anarchy of Happy Days” and plays as they are driving to the cottage. The destination is Shane’s happy place. Ilya admits that he is frightened but he is clearly glad to be there. But they have been loving each other on the down-low — living by certain strict rules — and now that they will have two weeks of freedom, what kind of chaos is in store? The song is reaching for something with joy in its throat. But will the joy or the anarchy win out in the end?
On a superficial level, this song was also the theme song to a French series titled Le Chalet. So there’s that.
UNRAVEL
Most of the time when I watch this episode, I wonder which one of them turned the radio on for this stressful, canonically ten-minute drive to Yuna and David’s house. Shane, out of nervous habit? Ilya, thinking it might help? The scene lasts just 10–15 seconds, not long enough for this moody and mellow Ellisa Sun track from 2025 to make much of an impression. But it’s called “Unravel,” and the singer’s last name is “Sun,” and…they needed a song for the car! Because ALL OF THE SONGS IN THIS EPISODE PLAY WHILE THEY ARE IN THE CAR!
BAD THINGS
The 2018 Cailin Russo cut that closes the season was sent to Jacob Tierney by Michelle Mylett, who played Katy on Letterkenny. The start of this song has always sounded like a church organ to me, almost marital in tone, though it certainly doesn’t stay very churchy. As Tierney says, “What I loved about it for that moment was, it’s another love song, but it’s also horny and naughty. … I didn’t want to let people think we’ve forgotten about being horny.”
My favorite recent online observation for this song was “When Cailin Russo said ‘saddle up,’ I didn’t realize it would be indefinitely.” See you all next season, folks, if they ever let me out of the backseat of this car.
REFERENCES
- Book and Show Timelines from Reddit
- Mostly Complete Playlist
- NME: Every Song on the Heated Rivalry Soundtrack
Rolling Stone Interview with Jacob Tierney (Internet Archive/paywall-free version
