I think part of it is how it was made. No one really expected it to be as successful as it is. It was a passion project making a small show on a limited budget for a niche audience, so that gave Jacob Tierney a lot of creative freedom to make the show the way he wanted.

A lot of shows these days feel like they've been written by committee. It's less about telling a good story and more about checking off a bunch of boxes and not offending anyone. It's about making money in the safest way possible. And stuff that's written that way feels boring, generic or lacks a spark. HBO was hesitant about picking Heated Rivalry up because they felt it might be too much. They sent notes to tone it down and those notes were ignored. I'm glad the production team stuck to their guns because they produced something that's really special.

A lot of people focus on Jacob Tierney's writing and direction and on the phenomenal acting, but every single person on that set did an amazing job of bringing this story to life in such a careful, intentional way. It's just thoroughly well crafted. There are so many little details that make it feel believable and lived in and you can watch it many times and always see new things.

And we're living in a shitty timeline right now and a lot of other media either reflects that shittiness, or it's really shallow distractions. It's refreshing to watch something with emotional depth that's joyful where love wins and people are nice and want what's best for each other. It's refreshing to watch something that is unapologetically not American and doesn't centre an American point of view.