Season 1 Episode 3 of Heated Rivalry, “Hunter” is the Skip episode, but you will not be skipping it, sit down and respect your queer hockey elders!

Han, Cil, Rachel, and Niki are here to walk you through Scott Hunter's gay little disaster of an episode where we have a lot of thoughts, zero restraint, and one bone to pick with an art gallery that did not deliver. We dig into why Scott and Kip are freak for freak, crazy for crazy, and U-Hauling at a speed that would give the rest of us the ick — except the show makes you believe it, which is a magic trick we fully break down. We also get into the serial killer conversation that somehow passed for flirting, why Maria is our in-universe fujoshi and we love her for it, baby’s (Shane Hollander’s) first chirp, the grown (not actually) 45-year-old man it spiritually destabilized, and the heartbreaking symbolism of covering up your gay ass socks.

We get into the ongoing fandom debate about whether Scott and Kip were still dating during those three years (one of us has a thesis) plus how this episode is doing something genuinely important: cracking open queer conversations with straight audiences who feel it but don't fully get it yet.

Come for the rom-com, stay for the yearning, and ugly cry with us and Scott at the window.

📔 Articles & References From This Episode 📔

🫂 Eddie Diaz and Ilya Rozanov Parallels – Check out this week’s Patreon-exclusive Best Buddies Mini-Segment here!

💦🐤 Our Reaction to Heated Rivalry’s Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams Read Thirst Tweets – Patreon Exclusive!

📰 Heated Rivalry Cast & Crew Press, thoroughly compiled by _mika60_ on Twitter 🫶🏼

📰 'Heated Rivalry': What Happened Between Scott and Kip Off-Screen Before Episode 5? (Exclusive), Swooon

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Music by DIV!NITY

Chapters

(00:00:00) Puck Drop – Intro

(00:04:28) Post Game Highlights – Our Favorite Moments

(00:15:54) Line Change – Our Reactions & Review

(00:34:26) Chirp of the Week – Loving Roasts 🔥

(00:44:42) Scott Serves Shane a Low Blow Chirp

(00:49:46) Man in the Crease – Production Appreciation

(00:54:22) Why Scott & Kip’s Story is Episode 3

(00:58:36) Differences Between Hollanov & Skip

(01:02:16) RomCom Lighting

(01:08:43) I’ll Believe in Anything – Needle Drop Music Discussion

(01:13:42) Mirror Watch – Symbolism

(01:17:14) Faceoff – Book to Show Adaptation Comparisons

(01:22:54) Did Scott & Kip Break Up?

(01:34:25) Sin Bin – The Opinion Penalty Box

(01:46:18) Game Changers Didn’t Start as Fanfiction

(01:49:37) Wrap Up & Outro