"Girl." "GIRL." "GIRL!!!!!"

Heated Rivalry, episode 3, brings us fringe characters and fruit symbolism.

Heated Rivalry is actually the second book in Rachel Reid’s series, and the correct choice for the TV adaptation because of the juicy enemies (not by choice) to lovers (very much by choice) angle. But the show can’t ignore the first, Game Changers, because the events therein become important to Ilya and Shane. I’m curious whether Jacob Tierney has ever discussed whether he contemplated handling this like a more standard TV series with multiple characters, threading both books across all six episodes. I am glad he didn’t; sticking with Shane and Ilya and living in their bubble makes their journey a lot more intense and intimate. It was the right call. But because Game Changers has to live up to its name, this structure does mean we have to pause for a side quest: the story of Scott Hunter.

I am not mad about this. Why? Well, here are at least six:

It’s jarring to leave our main squeezes when they’re struggling, and yearning, and Shane was rubbing his face on an elevator wall and trying n…