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I think this is going to add a lot of depth to his story arch in season 2 (his anxiety about and unwillingness to come out, his selfishness in comparison to all the sacrifices Ilya is making) and make him a much more empathetic character. Because in addition to all the other reasons being in love with Ilya is complicated, Shane is a brand. He's already the poster boy for Asian hockey players, which comes with a lot of responsibility—I just know he's thinking do I really want to be the poster boy for gay hockey players, too? Do I want to risk falling short of the image I've so carefully crafted for the public eye? Do I really want to give them another reason to see me as different, to add another minority identity I’ll have to represent and the impossible standards that comes with? Not to mention the intersectionality of being queer and Asian, and all the harmful stereotypes about femininity and Asian men that are bound to come into play alongside all the run of the mill homophobia that exists in sports. 

But what I see mostly in The Long Game is anxiety, perfectionism, and not wanting to come out treated as personality flaws. Homophobia happens near Shane, but we never see him actually experience it. We know that at least some of his team doesn’t love that he’s gay, we know his coach says homophobic things, we know that the commissioner tries to bully him into staying in the closet. Is it hockey that blinds Shane to what Ilya needs, or is it what hockey asks of him? To be perfect, to be straight, to be quiet?

The first half of The Long Game has no interest in exploring where Shane’s anxiety comes from, why he’s scared to come out, what he’s afraid of losing. It has no interest in the fact that Ilya’s on a team that embraces him, that’s a space place for queer hockey players, that has a respectful coach and a positive atmosphere; meanwhile there is plenty of textual evidence that Shane doesn’t have that, that he has no reason to expect a positive reaction to coming out more publicly or to revealing his relationship. It makes no connection between Shane’s fears in the beginning of the novel and the fact that all of them come true when his relationship is outed. All of this stuff is factually true in the series, and on the page, but the text never connects it to why Shane acts like he does.

I think it makes perfect sense in the context of Shane’s character why he might be a little blinded to what Ilya wants/needs with respect to coming out. I think having a hero arc for him in The Long Game makes sense - he has to overcome his own fears and anxiety, to realize that as much as he loves hockey, hockey as it stands in his life doesn’t really love him back right now, and that he is going to have to work to make the sport more accepting and inclusive, and that starts by celebrating the environments within the NHL that are already like that, and by standing up for himself. I think it makes sense for Shane to have to come to grips with how his own fears and anxiety have hurt someone he loves, even if he was trying to protect Ilya and himself. And I think it makes sense for Shane to realize the role that the toxic masculinity and homophobia have played in hockey and thus necessarily in his life, and to finally stand up for himself and the love of his life.

And I wish that had been what had happened in The Long Game, instead of what actually happened which was that Shane was given anxiety and perfectionism as personality flaws, never explored the connection between homophobia in the NHL and his own experiences as a gay man in the NHL, got in a big fight with his boyfriend who then almost died, and then changed his whole life without any introspection whatsoever. The last 40% of The Long Game is suddenly a great read for me because a switch flips in Shane and he’s now aware of what’s going on with Ilya, of homophobia in sports, of what’s wrong with NHL leadership, and is aware how these things might have impacted his and Ilya’s experiences. And I'd be interested in a book (or show) that actually explored how he got there, and what he needed to understand/change to get there.

The book does such a good job exploring Ilya, his mental health, the impact of his experiences on who he is today, what he needs and wants and thinks about the world. And I wish that Shane’s experiences had been explored with equal compassion and validity, even if the narrative remained that those experiences and the behavior that resulted from them made him miss what Ilya had sacrificed for him, and what Ilya needed from him. For a hero arc you need to learn and grow, which means acknowledging where you’ve come from and what you need to change to be better in the future.

Champagne Supernova hug

— 23/11/2025 Sao Paulo

If you are a socially anxious person, you have to socialize. Your panic/anxiety attacks will only get worse and trigger more frequently if you constantly avoid contact with The Public. Not saying that you need to be a social butterfly- but there is a genuine problem with not being able to order your own meal at a restaurant. And it cannot be solved by always having someone else do it for you.

fact checked - our dad is indeed a global superstar