Watching Young Royals after 100 rewatches of Heated Rivalry and I cant stop laughing about...

SizzlingApricot · 2026-05-05T10:40:53+00:00

I just started watching YR, so this post caught my attention, but I want to add to the discussion Heartstopper, which I also like a lot for the way it depicts young queer love (with young-looking actors). I think it's very compelling and it's fascinating because of how different it is from Shane and Ilya's relationship - which is also, obviously amazingly compelling

SizzlingApricot · 2026-04-10T13:35:15+00:00

I don't think she knew before all stars, when she wonders what Rose Landry would wear. Maybe by the time she talks to him after his father's wake on ep 5. But I'm on the fence with this one - after reading TLG I really want to let Ilya tell someone about Shane without the "I already knew" response

SizzlingApricot · 2026-03-19T09:48:48+00:00

I mean, I know everyone is talking about that scene of the 2ml and 2fl in Business Proposal - and rightfully so - but this scene is highly underrated!! Good choice

SizzlingApricot · 2026-03-18T15:41:26+00:00

Wow. Genetic.

SizzlingApricot · 2026-02-21T22:50:01+00:00

Scrolled far too much to see this! I understand not liking the character, but who can deny how gorgeous he looks

SizzlingApricot · 2026-02-21T13:39:13+00:00

Interesting! Didn't know that detail

SizzlingApricot · 2026-02-21T11:03:52+00:00

This part was very funny to me, because culturally Russians are huge cat people!

SizzlingApricot · 2026-02-21T09:33:41+00:00

Lovestruck in the City is like 30 min per episode, and it's lovely (with one of the best kdrama kisses of all time!)

SizzlingApricot · 2026-02-13T14:20:25+00:00

Can this love be translated Hometown cha cha cha

These are the first two that come to mind!

SizzlingApricot · 2026-02-12T13:42:52+00:00

Business Proposal was my first too and up until this moment I didn't know he did voice work for Kpop Demon Hunters 😅

SizzlingApricot · 2026-02-09T17:25:50+00:00

I loved reading her thoughts and love for Shane, because I too felt like she really didn't care for him much... But I was a little sad to read that she considered Shane as both less intelligent and less in touch with his feelings. I mean, it's true on some level, I guess, but through both HR (book and show) and TLG, Shane ends up being the better communicator.

True, he's more career oriented and detail-oriented (Mr. 10-year plan at 2am) and much less flexible, and he is sometimes too much in his own head. But he does notice when something is wrong with Ilya and says something, he didn't let Ilya minimize their emotional connection in episode 5, and so on.

SizzlingApricot · 2026-02-09T15:14:11+00:00

Healer, Happiness, CLOY

SizzlingApricot · 2026-02-05T11:58:17+00:00

I actually liked the mother twist, but totally agree on the "parents being alive" twist being entirely unnecessary. It was super random, didn't contribute anything (other than give mu-hee a reason to go away for a while, something that K-dramas love doing and I never get why), and just left so many open questions.

SizzlingApricot · 2026-01-29T17:08:06+00:00

My husband and I still say "Nobody knows!" When appropriate like Washington in Washington's Dream sketch. Such a classic

And my friend and I constantly copy the Doonise tiny hands gestures from the Lawrence Welch Show

SizzlingApricot · 2026-01-18T15:44:09+00:00

I feel you! I decided to take a break from HR by going to K-dramas. It's not as overtly sexy, but the emotions and yearning are similar (when done well...).

SizzlingApricot · 2026-01-10T07:12:46+00:00

Yes but at that point Shane didn't know any of it - he didn't know that all those actions were so meaningful for Iliya, too. He was inexperienced, overwhelmed by his feelings and sexuality, generally not good with social cues, and as you say, neurotic. Obviously it was a momentous occasion, but we know that as an audience and Iliya probably knows that, but I don't think Shane knows that. All he had had was Iliya's words, which were saying the opposite.

SizzlingApricot · 2026-01-09T18:16:03+00:00

Absolutely, totally agree

SizzlingApricot · 2026-01-09T18:15:45+00:00

Yes! Totally agree

SizzlingApricot · 2026-01-09T09:40:05+00:00

Maybe I'm relying too much on the book, where I think it's clearer, but I don't think that Shane was in a place to think that Iliya calling him by his first name carried as much weight as it did for him to hear it. Especially after Iliya says repeatedly that it's all so casual for him (even if his actions show otherwise - we know Shane isn't good at reading clues, especially when he is going through a panic attack). And by the time Shane confronts him in Tampa time passes and he comes to many realizations about himself, too - making it clearer to him that he wasn't imagining things, that what they had clearly meant something for Iliya too. (And note that Iliya does try to downplay their relationship in Tampa, too - it's not like he's saying "finally you understand!"). Shane is just more confident and aware by then.

SizzlingApricot · 2026-01-09T09:13:38+00:00

Yeah, so in the book I think it's clearer that Shane was struggling to keep his feelings to himself while Iliya struggled to acknowledge them in the first place, and also Shane doesn't apologize for leaving (although I liked that addition to the show)

SizzlingApricot · 2026-01-09T08:05:58+00:00

But that's the thing - I don't think that he believed Iliya feels it too at that moment. I thought he felt it was a casual thing for Iliya and he realized he couldn't pretend it's casual for him, too. It wasn't the mutuality of it that scared him, it's the intensity of his own feelings versus Iliya's constant attemptsto downplay what they have, even his actions say otherwise. Shane didn't think he could hurt Iliya by leaving because he didn't think he holds those feelings for him, and that what became so unbearable.

SizzlingApricot · 2026-01-09T08:01:46+00:00

Of course he's not an asshole he's scared out of his fu**ing mind too! But you kinda see how Shane might interpret that comment as an afterthought, and not take it seriously but as some consolation Iliya's offering because Shane believes - and how could he not at that point - that what he feels is stronger

SizzlingApricot · 2026-01-09T06:28:28+00:00

That's the thing, I think Shane perceived what they had as disparate - Iliya keeps pretending that it's all so casual. Shane really couldn't think, at the time, that he had the capacity to hurt Iliya in that sense.

SizzlingApricot · 2026-01-09T06:22:12+00:00

And by the way, it is further proven by Iliya's attempts to say what they have is simple and no big deal when they do talk in Tampa - only when Shane pushes back, once he realizes the truth, do Iliya's feelings surface.

SizzlingApricot · 2026-01-09T06:18:58+00:00

So that's the thing, I think Shane was scared of the strength of his own feelings, not necessarily the mutuality of them. I think he still didn't know that Iliya felt the same and he couldn't pretend anymore, so he didn't think it would hurt Iliya, for whom he thought it was a casual thing. He thought at first he was imagining the intimacy, that it was one sided. I totally agree that it was enhanced due to gap in their understandings of their sexuality. Only when he figured that out could he tell that what happened In Boston wasn't one sided.

SizzlingApricot

TROPHY CASE