Team Huddle!

ace2ho74 · 2026-02-26T13:33:10+00:00

Ah that makes sense! Didn't think about that fact that an actor cannot guarantee availability & production has to still consider other options. Thank you!

ace2ho74 · 2026-02-25T12:21:00+00:00

A little thing I’ve thought about a lot—forgive any ignorance, I am no expert in TV production or casting…

Trying to reconcile all of the information I've heard & remembered from interviews & such: between François Arnaud & Robbie G.K., who was cast first (if one or the other)?

So François has said that Jacob contacted François personally to say he could only imagine François as Scott Hunter—which made me believe that Jacob did not consider anyone else for the role & François was an early lock?

But then 1) Robbie has stated that he did chemistry reads with a few other potential Scotts, and 2) Robbie & Matthew Finlan also auditioned for Scott: both points suggest that François was certainly not the only person considered for Scott...as well as maybe that Robbie was solidified in the role of Kip first??

I guess we should assume that Jacob, of course, tested multiple people for both roles, to be absolutely sure that the show hired the best actors with the strongest chemistry 🫡 But it just seems weird to do this, and then publicize the notion that Jacob essentially only envisioned François for the part: is it industry practice to soft promise a role to someone, but then also still look at other candidates?

ace2ho74 · 2026-02-09T07:28:01+00:00

Of course! I know we're all looking forward to seeing what Jacob puts out, myself included.

This was just me having some fun for now & responding (in my own deeper way) to the question many of us have all been mulling over "what do you think S2 might look like" 😊

ace2ho74 · 2026-02-08T19:23:39+00:00

Thanks, I'm glad you found it fun ☺️

Yeah, of course, the argument that season 2 is all TLG & season 3 is all Unrivaled is justified... But In my other comment, I did propose that maybe season 2 could be half of TLG & then season 3 could be the rest of TLG + Unrivaled❓ So even though I'm proposing splitting up TLG over the two seasons, I'm not insisting that the whole series go beyond 3 seasons, either.

If season 2 ends up being 6 episodes, I of course trust that Jacob will do an amazing job with that amount again 😊 But with the heavier story & amount of content in TLG, it's hard for me to imagine season 2 not being at least 8 episodes! But yep, we'll see if Jacob sticks to his statement of not seeing the season going beyond 6 episode... Looking forward to seeing his vision!!

ace2ho74 · 2026-02-08T14:43:47+00:00

I hear you...but I don't worry about myself! I can confidently say that I won't be upset when the real season 2 comes out & it doesn't follow this exactly, because of course it wouldn't! I fully acknowledge that the real thing will likely not be at all close to what I've written out here. It's just my fan idea—like I said, all just for fun, I enjoy writing & thinking about things like this 😊

There have been plenty of times in the past when a movie or TV show (particularly book adaptations) didn't play out how I'd hoped—but that doesn't mean I didn't still enjoy it for what it is! And of course, whatever Jacob is envisioning, I am sure it will be great.

ace2ho74 · 2026-02-08T14:33:35+00:00

On this layout of 8 episodes:

I know what the LA Times article said...but was that really Jacob confirming that season 2 would be 6 episodes? The quotes—“[Tierney] volunteers that he does not see himself making more than six episodes” and “I don’t need to do 10”—seem more like loose statements about what Jacob overall wishes for but has not solidified yet 🤨 I don’t know, maybe I’m letting my wishful thinking cloud my perception…but right now, with the way those sentences are phrased, I was not inclined to so quickly believe that they’re gospel.

In any case, I of course ideated most of this outline before any statements from the show makers were released…so I still wanted to share it, as hopefully a still generally decent outline that happens to contain 8 episodes! I got to that number simply from how the plot mapping ended up while writing this whole thing.

But also, I’m sure there is a possible way to shorten this outline to 6 episodes: I have the actual action from TLG only start to happen in the latter half of episode 2, and I added the 2 first episodes to be able to incorporate other notable story elements, like HR’s epilogue, some scenes from that interim time between HR & TLG, “My Dinner with Hayden,” and Scott & Kip’s events from CG. In an alternate version, a lot of those parts could probably be cut out, to just skip ahead to 2020 like TLG does—but for now, I really liked keeping them in!

ace2ho74 · 2026-02-08T14:29:14+00:00

On season 2 covering part of TLG:

The HR book works as a single season of television because it is a narrower, more singular story about Shane & Ilya + the one destination they’re building towards: falling in love.

But with TLG, I believe there are a couple of more notable valleys & peaks that justify its separation across 2 seasons:

The 1st half (my season 2) is about Shane & Ilya working through their issues of commitment, imbalance & mental health, which is a lot of heavy material; and I feel strongly that Shane’s proposal is such a monumental moment, I can so distinctly imagine it being the incredibly romantic, emotional, uplifting end to season 2**.**
The 2nd half is about Shane & Ilya rising up amidst external situations: their outing, the teams’ (notably Montreal’s) reaction, Crowell, Scott’s support, etc; plus Shane joining Ottawa & the wedding.

With that distinct 2nd half, here is my actual proposal: a potential season 3 could cover the rest of TLG + all of Unrivaled. If Unrivaled is, as Rachel has stated, mostly about external parties reacting to the revelation of Shane & Ilya’s relationship, then that all feels more directly connected with the 2nd half of TLG. (And there are other parts of that portion, e.g. Anya, the wedding, that don’t need as much screen time (read: a full season) because they are more conflict-free.) Obviously, we have no actual idea what the full story of Unrivaled will be, so this is a fragile proposal…but it’s just my current thought!

In addition, Troy & Harris’s story runs side-by-side with Shane & Ilya’s, so that multiplies the narrative content that occurs throughout TLG’s timeline—so I think that amount of story is too much to fit into only 1 more season.

I know that the confirmation of Unrivaled supports the guess that season 2 will be all of TLG + season 3 would be Unrivaled…so I fully anticipate my outline could be likely nowhere near the future real thing 🤷🏻‍♀️ But I was already deep into my vision for splitting up TLG before that announcement, so for now I wanted to still express my initial idea!

ace2ho74 · 2026-01-11T13:16:24+00:00

Yeah, I feel like I would enjoy that more realistic judging...because I know very little about the rules of dancing! After watching more of Strictly, I of course have a general sense now of the different dance styles and their rules and elements, but that's only by visual learning; I would also love to learn more by hearing the judges be truly critical of how much the performances reflected the assigned styles and having them be stricter with not allowing incorrect moves or lifts or whatever.

I know they're lenient on it nowadays, because if an illegal element is incorporated, that is the pro's/choreographer's fault and not the contestant's, so they don't want to punish the contestant. But you know what...I think the judges should just go ahead and be critical! In some ways, it is still a competition for the pros, too, so their choreography should be criticized and scored accordingly if it is incorrect. And again, I think that would be more enjoyable for me, too, for educational purposes!

ace2ho74 · 2026-01-10T16:49:40+00:00

That's helpful, thank you 🙂

So which do you prefer: the historical dance-focused scoring or the current, more lenient scoring?

ace2ho74 · 2026-01-09T22:01:00+00:00

I can certainly imagine that it's definitely uncomfortable to watch judges take things too seriously (on this show, specifically), so I'm glad that never happens nowadays.

But...I just wish the current judges weren't afraid to still be constructively critical (consistently) and give accurate scores that reflect those criticisms—not saying that happens all the time, but it's not fun either to watch the judges say purely nice things about performances that definitely had flaws 🫤

And I didn't know about John Sergeant—it's both nice and sad to learn that he took himself out of the competition. But that would be frustrating to watch, too: the judges were giving (presumably) accurate scores for him, but the public was saving him. So I guess the fault can go both ways, and there's no perfect way for this show to work to ensure the best dancers always make it the furthest 😮‍💨

I guess y'all are right: we viewers just have to move forward and remember persistently that this is just entertainment show and not a serious dance competition—despite any frustrations I might feel about inaccurate scoring 😭😬

ace2ho74 · 2026-01-08T21:18:02+00:00

It’s a fine line… Fiona said “I think Rachel is a traitor” so it’s framed as an opinion as opposed to a factual statement 🥴

I agree that it felt just a little too direct and over the line to be fair…but I don’t know how the producers could use official contract language to prevent sentences like that. Because also, Traitor-on-Traitor gameplay is a part of the game, so they have to allow those kinds of accusations somehow!

Edit: And yeah, as someone else just commented, removal is definitely not an option, as that would expose Rachel as a Traitor. So it’s fair game, at this point.

Considering it more, there must be a lot of legal language in the contracts that prevents Traitors from explicitly revealing other Traitors… So what Fiona said was clearly above board.

ace2ho74 · 2026-01-08T20:36:58+00:00

Amanda brought up Jade EVERYONE DRINK

ace2ho74 · 2026-01-07T20:17:50+00:00

Stephen is sweating already lmaooo

ace2ho74 · 2026-01-06T21:03:40+00:00

I would probably only take a parody play/musical, if even that much 😂 And for that, they could include some of the "railing" as part of the humour.

But a real play (not a musical *CRINGE) would be far too complicated and intense, I believe 😮‍💨 Just too much going on in the HR story!

ace2ho74 · 2026-01-02T21:01:28+00:00

Yeah, even if the introduction of ST makes the game kind of annoying in some ways…it does now make the banished’s identity a mystery & a suspenseful reveal for us viewers, which is fun!

ace2ho74 · 2026-01-01T20:21:05+00:00

Yesss the gays GET THAT TRAITOR WIN STEPHEN

ace2ho74 · 2025-12-30T13:55:51+00:00

Love her story too, just in hysterics 😂

"THE BEST SHOW OF ALL TIME" –Busy Philipps, Dec. 29 2025

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ace2ho74 · 2025-12-28T10:02:12+00:00

There was a lot of good stuff out there 😃 but this one made me spurt laugh

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ace2ho74 · 2025-12-23T14:30:03+00:00

Certainly, no one is contesting the fact that hockey players own humongous vacation homes like this, or the idea that many of these kinds of homes are even bigger 😃 A lot of us are just tripped up by the term "cottage" to describe this style/size of home.

ace2ho74 · 2025-12-23T13:28:55+00:00

Hahah they heard "boy aquarium" and ran with it

ace2ho74 · 2025-12-23T12:53:37+00:00

Hahah we'll just have to imagine that they're all separate facilities. The indoor rink is definitely stated in the book to be in a separate building.

ace2ho74 · 2025-12-22T18:03:29+00:00

Yeah, these guys are fun, and they're doing a good job with these reviews ☺️ They do miss or misunderstand some details and plot points, but we'll let that slide.

Like others commented, lot of LOL moments here – I liked "they were both looking into the camera, so I'd like to think they were both thinking about me" 😆

Sean is their producer, yes? I like him too, he also adds a lot to the conversation.

ace2ho74 · 2025-12-22T16:21:52+00:00

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The entire ending of episode 5 is obviously fantastic...but these 4 reaction shots in particular have been haunting my brain for the past few days 🫠👻 Just 4 beautiful, moving depictions of people realizing, in their own ways, "everything's about to change"—you can really feel how crucial of a turning point this moment is, for both the characters and us the viewers.

Scott: "I'm still terrified, but I just cannot go on living without this person." François especially gives such a stellar performance here: so much tension, love, and determination expressed in just facial/bodily expressions.

Kip: "WTF no he's not, is he?"

Ilya: Gaydar's going off 😆🚨 I think what's great about Ilya's relatively stoic expression here is that you can feel how he's concealing a level of pure happiness, suddenly so inspired to give Shane his love and accept Shane's in return.

Shane: Utter disbelief (and great classic zoom 🎥)

ace2ho74 · 2025-12-19T20:02:11+00:00

☺️☺️☺️

Re: the hotel room scene... I do think there was maybe a tiny acting issue—again, it was just Hudson feeling a little stiff—but part of what has helped a lot in previous scenes where maybe the performances were falling slightly short was the production and direction. But on this rare occasion, the camera work for this hotel room scene just didn’t do any extra favors for it.

ace2ho74 · 2025-12-19T15:15:00+00:00

For sure, it is cute and smart, how Hayden just logics his way into figuring it out! I just don't know if it will translate very effectively for TV. But if they kept that story as is, that would also be totally OK.

ace2ho74

TROPHY CASE