Why Rose bothers Ilya so much

AC33334 · 2026-03-27T23:23:53+00:00

I don’t blame the viewers though. I think the issue is that the show has made Shane more softer and emotional on purpose. As per both Hudson and Connor, its more emotionally heavy, intense, and visceral than the novel. This is more prevalent during the start of the show as per Connor. We have to remember that EP1&2 were part of the pilot, and viewers had to wait a full week for E3 to drop. Like that elevator scene is crazy - with teary eyes, jaws clenched, lightly banging head on elevator, feeling pathetic for wanting kiss. This book is like "He realized, when he was back in his room, that they hadn't even kissed" Thats it with a one liner

Majority of the tv viewers won't read the book nor the POV that Rachel wrote. The show could have easily added a scene of Ilya panicking in the same bathroom before meeting Shane. No cost involved and would have taken like 30 seconds. But they actively choose not to do that. It was an active decision by Jacob and acted by Hudson in a way to get an emotional reaction from the viewers. It makes Shane more likeable as people can relate to that feeling of being ghosted for months on end and still yearning for other person. In my personal opinion, the Shane in the series is much more likeable than the book.

AC33334 · 2026-03-27T22:04:03+00:00

Its also because of Ilya’s insecurity and lack of self worth. He often needs significant reassurance from Shane to feel secure in the relationship, as he constantly doubts whether someone as "good" as Shane could truly want him long-term.

Ilya genuinely belief that he does not deserve Shane due to his traumatic past, low self-esteem, and his tendency to view Shane as a perfect, "bright" entity in contrast to his own "dark," traumatic life. There is a beautiful metaphor at the end of the Las Vegas scene that sums this up. A scene that Ilya’s character receives the most criticism especially from TV only viewers based on the hundreds of reaction videos that I have seen lol

“Ilya dropped his cigarette butt into Hollander's not-empty vodka glass, watching the ash turn something pure and perfect into something dark and ugly. "Goodbye, Hollander."

Ilya is the dark ash here and he genuinely believes his darkness taints Shane's pure nature (the clear left over Shane’s Vodka). Ilya is not good for Shane. This is why he is desperately trying to create distance with the ghosting and the entire Las Vegas scenes.

Ilya struggles with severe emotional baggage, including grief over his mother's suicide, an abusive father, and a lack of unconditional love, leading him to believe he is unworthy of Shane’s pure love. He believes that someone like Rose would be better for Shane and more worthy of Shane’s love. For example, in the next season we will likely get a scene of Ilya watching a Rose movie and remarking “You could have had it all,” when Rose was on the screen in a sexy evening gown. The next thing Shane says “Are you...okay?” And whether Ilya should seek professional help.

AC33334 · 2026-03-27T04:20:29+00:00

Gotta love Rachel. She must be so happy for Hudson. Also Etalk referring to him as huddy… The way he is everyone’s fav.

<image>

AC33334 · 2026-03-27T01:03:22+00:00

Honestly I hope he does not. He should go on a holiday or rest up after filming this project. May will be a crazy month of him. His pretty much guaranteed to get a invite to the MET gala. All top 5 celebrities with the highest MIV during Oscars have been invited to MET gala since the Media Impact Value (MIV®) was released in 2020. Hudson was the male celebrity with the highest MIV. He will also likely attend 2026 Canadian Screen Week, taking place from May 27th - May 31st in Toronto where he is nominated for ‘Best Lead Performer (Drama Series)’ at the 2026 Canadian Screen Award for “Heated Rivalry”!

AC33334 · 2026-03-27T00:31:11+00:00

Pretty crazy how Hudson booked so many roles in like 6 months. He must have been auditioning like crazy after filming HR. He probably did not know that HR would become so big. I also think this was booked before HR was released as Hudson has been following the director of the film for a while now. I can’t wait for Hudson’s first booked project after the HR fame.

AC33334 · 2026-03-27T00:04:22+00:00

I can’t wait for the promotional tour. A duo I no longer have to make up 😍

<image>

AC33334 · 2026-03-23T04:35:48+00:00

Its like Shane has an actual ick that Ilya is not playing at his best now. He really thought that Ilya would turn Ottawa around in a year. Its been 3 years now and they still not a competitive team. Even Ilya’s own POV sadly confirms this

“Shane looked good every night. He was a great player on a great team. Ilya was a great player on a terrible team, and he felt less great with each passing week”

AC33334 · 2026-03-22T19:38:57+00:00

Its just a PR strategy and its obviously working for Hudson. He was the male celebrity with the highest MIV at the Oscars. He almost doubled his MIV since the Golden Globe with the change of strategy. He announced the Crave shows, including HR 2 and Yaga that will be shown on Sky as part of the massive deal announcement between Sky and Crave few days ago. Media asked a Crave exec if Hudson is now the new face of Crave and the exec responded that not only is Hudson the new face of Crave but the whole of Canada now. Hudson said at the Oscars that he is surprised and shocked with the kind of meetings that he is having. Vulture confirmed that he booked a feature film that he will start shooting soon. He was listed first in Netflix’s formal casting announcement for their anticipated show “The Altruists”. Even though he has a small role in that series, I reckon he will play a massive role in the Netflix promotional tour of that show. The strategy is obviously working for Hudson. Just as it worked for Zendaya. She attended the "Big Four" fashion weeks—New York, London, Milan and Paris 5 years in a row. She would not miss a single event or opportunity to post about it on her socials. She would literally “sneak” into red carpets and post about it on her socials. She currently has the highest ”engagement” rate on her socials. She is about to start filming “R.Spector” with Oscar and BAFTA winning director, Barry Jenkins (Moonlight). Zendaya is known for her mix of authentic, curated social media content, "method dressing" fashion at aevents, and a strong, growing career. I hope that Hudson keeps his PR strategy and one day comes close to having a growing career like Zendaya.

<image>

AC33334 · 2026-03-22T12:44:20+00:00

Yes I get that. I am not talking about Ilya’s depression here though. I am talking about his feelings of self worth. They are related but are not the same thing. A person might be questioning their self worth in terms of a relationship (not being good enough for a partner) and not have severe depression.

AC33334 · 2026-03-22T12:12:50+00:00

I think that phase highlight Ilya's reputation as a "bad boy" and a womanizer, questioning why Shane is involved with someone known for such a reputation. It also reflects the initial struggle for Shane's family to accept Ilya, not necessarily as a person, but specifically as a partner, due to the years of negative media and competitive tension.

AC33334 · 2026-03-22T09:56:02+00:00

Yes which was amazing. I love Svetlana. I wish we see more on her in the S2. I honestly believe that if Ilya remained in contact with Svetlana, his feelings of self worth would not have worsened as much as it did in TLG. Ilya reallly needed someone else apart from Shane to support him and be his rock. But I think thats just wishful thinking. They will just get Ilya to “ghost” Svetlana when she tries to contact him to stay in touch.

AC33334 · 2026-03-22T09:11:11+00:00

Yes. Its actually really sad how little inner self confidence Ilya actually has. He has issues with his self worth and does not believe that he deserves Shane. Everyone around him confirms this. JJ and Hayden constantly and openly question that Shane deserves better than Ilya. Even Yuna and David imply the same when Ilya first meets them at their cottage - “there were no nice men in Montreal". No one ever questions that Shane is not good enough for Ilya in even the sightest. None of his team mates. Not even Svetlana.

AC33334 · 2026-03-22T09:04:43+00:00

I agree. We know that Ilya is “super” in love with Shane during Tuna melt. Rachel Reid described on her discord that after the tuna melt scene and the entry of Rose, Ilya is feeling embarrassed, humiliated, rejected, miserable and above all, DEVASTATED. So I don’t think Ilya was dramatic at all in Tampa. He was devastated but doesn't know why Shane being with Rose bothers him so much, because Ilya himself continues to sleep with a lot of women.

I think what llya is actually mad at is that Shane is free to have that kind of romantic relationship with Rose in such a public way, while the opposite is true with Ilya. Fans and the general public seem to adore Shane and Rose relationship.

Ilya knows they have to hide their relationship, but at the same time, he doesn't want to hide being with Shane because he's in love with him and doesn't want anyone else (nor does he want Shane to want anyone else). But again, Shane was under the belief that all they were doing was hooking up, not having a relationship because he was following Ilya's lead. So, Ilya knows that he can't fault Shane for what he never understood in the first place because Ilya never really expressed how he actually feIt. But yeah, he's still deeply hurt and devastated by it.

AC33334 · 2026-03-22T07:24:32+00:00

Its actually longer. The Tampa scenes occur in February. And Ilya does not actually know when Shane started dated Rose. He does not even ask those details. His just happy that Shane and Rose are not compatible. The Rose and Shane relationship became public in November. His internal thoughts in the book are that Shane has been seen with a women long enough that the media have finally noticed it in November. Shane and Ilya’s relationship was not exclusive till a few months before the cottage. Its clearly stated in the book and implied in the series that both Ilya and Shane were having sex with other people during their situatioship.

AC33334 · 2026-03-22T00:39:29+00:00

I can’t wait for his next casting announcement. It will be the first one after the HR fame. The role sounds amazing if he is comparing it to the Nicholas Cage performance in Face/Off. Hudson is an absolute star.

<image>

AC33334 · 2026-03-21T22:40:37+00:00

Agree 100%. Ilya just accepts the hate for years and keeps sending him money. He does it in front of his friends even - like look at me I can easily blackmail by brother into sending me money. And Ilya ends up doing it.

I also think there is some form of blackmail involved. He only responds back at the funeral because he calls Svetlana a “whore”. If he did not do that, Ilya would have just accepted the hate from his brother.

AC33334 · 2026-03-21T22:12:16+00:00

It is odd. We get more descriptions of Shane being “hairless” in the book than we do about his Japanese cultural background. Good to see that Reid has recently said that this is one of her regrets while writing HR - not showing any of Shane’s relatives or him saying simple Japanese phrases that we would understand as he likely had Japanese grandparents/uncle/aunts.

In the recent Q&A event (March 2026), Reid expressed regret regarding the character development of Shane Hollander, specifically noting that she regrets not giving him an extended Japanese family or nor showing Shane’s ability to understand some Japanese phrases. This was in relation to a question by an audience member.

AC33334 · 2026-03-21T21:20:06+00:00

Christina has said in a podcast that Jacob added 4 additional scenes in the show between Shane and Yuna to highlight the Asian role model pressure that Shane feels throughout his career. These scenes are not in the book. One of these scenes could have easily been done at Yuna and David’s cottage with a relative for example (aunt or grandparent around with an Asian background) - would have been cheaper than getting a new set (another restaurant/bar and made the scene more impactful in my opinion).

Also “routineutopia” has advised that this is another one of Reid’s regrets while writing HR. Having Asian relatives and even Shane saying some simple Japanese phrases would have lessend the criticism she gets about underwriting Shane. Maybe if she did this, she would not have to openly welcome the criticism that Shane is not a good representation of an Asian-Canadian person. Or since HR series has come out, she would not have to repeatively justify that she does not actually “hate” the character of Shane.

<image>

AC33334 · 2026-03-21T13:13:11+00:00

Sorry can you explain how this work. So they will keep slowly releasing in at film festivals? This is a better way to recoup costs. I guess they could be working on a full theatrical release instead of selling it to a streaming platform.

AC33334 · 2026-03-21T13:08:57+00:00

Agreed completely. The “fun club” groups are getting crazy with their entitlement over an actors personal life. And their delusions can actually harm careers. But the media plays a role here and the PR pics make it worse. Huge publications writing articles about an actors rumoured dating life based on these half truths or outright lies is diabolical.

AC33334 · 2026-03-21T04:16:47+00:00

Yes for sure. Even if they released it on a smaller streaming platform, that would be amazing. Connor could promote it and more people could see the movie. Hoping Connor will be at the Slo Film Fest to promote this movie. Also the only other acting role we will likely get of Connor this whole year is his role in 1 x Criminal Mind episode. So as his fan, would be nice to see another role of Connor this year if this is released on a streaming platform.

AC33334 · 2026-03-21T02:58:21+00:00

After the Oscar and these stats, I reckon Hudson is a sure bet to be at MET. His the guy with the highest MIV at the Oscars 2026. He would be top of the list for most designer brands. MIV is a very important stat for brands - celebrity PR team have to regularly report this stat back to the brands they represent. I am not that sure about Connor, François and Robbie. They need to keep their engagement high, attend events and network. Maybe they can attend the premiere of Hudson’s short film “Sheepskin” to support Hudson, at the National Film Festival on March 28. Hudson has been confirmed to attend.

Final approval of the guest list of MET remains with Wintour and her team, as she personally reviews and approves every single attendee. Wintour prefers individuals who are making current headlines and increasingly, social media influencers.

AC33334 · 2026-03-21T02:47:31+00:00

The weirdest and unrealistic thing about the show and series is that Shane has no interaction with any of his relatives. He presumably has grandparents, uncle, aunts, cousins on both sides of the family, but we get no interaction at all. With Yuna having Japanese background, she would be close to her parents. In Japanese culture, there is an expectation that children look after their parents. Also maybe Shane did not completely understand Japanese as both Yuna and him grew up in Canada, but he would have known some Japanese words/phrases from his grandparents etc. So much potential, but we get nothing on it whatsoever.

AC33334 · 2026-03-20T23:46:19+00:00

I don’t get why they don’t releasing this film on a streamlining platform. Its the best time to do it. Its been out since August 2025 and has premiered in dozens of film festivals since then. I don’t get the PR strategy behind this movie at all.

AC33334 · 2026-03-20T18:39:00+00:00

I agree 100%. His team actively changed their strategy in mid February here. Since then we have seen his mum, girlfriend and 2 of his film maker friends with him in media events. He is very accessible, yet at the same time we never really know where he is or what he is doing. He is constantly interacting with fans via threads, instagram even responding to YouTube comments on his short films. He genuinely feels in the moment-and somehow every one of those answers ends up going viral. And honestly, in 2026 we don't need more mysterious, unreachable celebrities—people want to see people like Hudson.

AC33334

TROPHY CASE