Mattyboy

A tire iron? Evidence that Noah has a vendetta against Brett? In the course of that they might find what that George has set up in the basement amounts to a torture chamber.

I'm slightly intrigued that Brett knows about the treehouse arson. Michelle didn't report it (and I'm not certain she knows about it). I guess Amy told him. But he's also fending off Colt who briefly looked like an option for his girlfriend, and is deflecting from anyone putting together "last year Brett threatened to burn down Noah's stuff" and "Noah's stuff just burned down." I'm not sure I'd mind a warrant being issued to search Noah's house of evidence of crimes.

There's not a lot Rylee's mean-girl act can do without a gang of henchmeanies. Pretty much everybody that Colt knows in this town knows and says they're ok. Perhaps Amy can work on Brett and Brett's Dad.

Yeah, the problem is that Colt and Noah have to believe that for themselves first. The rest seems pretty reasonable; especially if you cycle through an EMT plus a state trooper finds naked kid in the basement tied up with cock ring on.

Ooh, there's also "report it to the sheriff with a statie standing there as a witness"

I feel "try telling the sheriff that it's definitely ongoing child abuse including rape" maybe should be tried? With a very clear escape plan? There's always also calling the state troopers to bypass the sheriff

What do Dr Paladins travel around on? Horses? Armored ambulances?

will fit right in! probably should have a motorcycle

I'm not sure we have it nailed down beyond Noah's fears that Brett's Dad would necessarily be in cahoots with George. "George told Noah that . . ." and "things that are true" is a Venn diagram with maybe a bit of overlap, but it sure ain't one circle.

Yeah the ex-wives seemed primed to have at it. Might be a bit embarrassing for them, though, that Nathan has been getting buffed up in the press, and the home that Martin's offering Benjamin and Justin is obviously objectively good.

This is kind of a Mastershakeme-story signature move: characters get the news that a crime has been committed, and that the cops will probably be over later today to ask questions, so it's a good time to smoke up/ start drinking if underage/ start a vehicle they're not licensed to operate/ some other illegal thing they'd probably get away with if they didn't do it right in front of a cop. Things get worse in threes (at least)

Yeah the various accident reactions were weird. Lug nuts do sometimes loosen on their own, the assumption of tampering for an old truck that lost a wheel was strong. Re the rape/abuse theories about George. Noah told Colt he couldn't have that kind of sex, and didn't explain why, but it kinda seemed to line up that maybe George is doing "inspections" if not raping Noah. Quite awful either way, but I think that was a clue.

It's sorta not though. He went onto someone else's property to grab a kid. Colt ought to point out to Michelle that George should be staying on his side of the property line.

woo, I'm glad this story is back in business

Good for Amy! Ugh, what the hell is Rylee up to?

I think Heated Rivalry got a bit lucky that voting was right during its "peak buzz" period. Yeah it was a kinda average year otherwise. There's quite a good cop show called St Pierre that I enjoy (not particularly gay). A few cringe comedies I think pulled votes from each other.

Michelle maybe didn't think about the treehouse much, but I hope she gets around to an appropriate level of alarm that her property has been attacked by an arsonist.

Ugh, I hope that was enough convincing Michelle not to stampede George into murdering Noah. The "it's easy and we won't get caught" plan to attack Brett is ominously worrying.

There's a rather recognizable style of cover art for the hockey romance books; but I have no idea what's well-done and what's just trying to jump on the bandwagon. Do you ( or @W_L ) know anything about authors other than Reid and Sarina Bowen/Elle Kennedy? Just tried to look this up and there's 409 books rated on Goodreads . I've heard of Tal Bauer too, on there.

Hudson Williams had a date for the CSA who he identified as a partner (Katelyn Larson). He wearing a pair of rather feminine or drag-coded diamond earrings (and had one less button done up on his shirt each time he went on stage). So seems to be hetero but Hudson also seems to quite clearly know who his fans are and why he's now getting the invitations and awards of an A-lister.

Actually wouldn't be that hard to explain; Colt could use, "I've been making friends with Noah, who's been using the treehouse to escape from bullies, and they didn't like that." Any ranting about how Noah had it coming because he's a f-- would just corroborate the story. While Amy talking probably triggered this, I can't imagine she approves.

I see Heated Rivalry won a Peabody Award. It's not eligible for Emmys as it wasn't a US production, but last night at the Canadian Screen Awards (previously known as Genies) it won for Best Drama Series, Direction, Writing, Lead Performer (Hudson Williams), Supporting Performer (Sophie Nélisse), Photography, Picture Editing, Sound, Production Design/Art Design, Costume Design, Visual Effects, Casting, Original Music, Original Song for “It’s You,” and Best Guest Performance (Nadine Bhabha). Also the Cogeco Audience Choice Award and Sophie Nélisse was also presented with the Radius Award (for emerging talent and international success). The 16 trophy wins is a record. Last week Rachel Reid was down to only one book on the bestseller list (Heated Rivalry at #8). Elle Kennedy, who got her start with M/M hockey books, is on the list at #'s 3, 5, 6, and 10, but all four seem to be M/F hockey romances. The Kennedy books are linked to a TV adaptation called Off Campus, I hear. Hockey lit has been a thing for a long time, but this thing that the fiction bestseller list is mostly hockey lit is absolutely a new thing. And I did not have on my 2026 bingo card that M/F hockey romance would ride the coattails of M/M hockey romance to dynastic control of the Globe and Mail bestseller lists.

If Brett for sure knew about the treehouse and has threatened that, then yes maybe, but I'm 50/50 it could have been George. The dinner thing does seem to line up with the poisoning/drugging hypothesis. I hope Colt tells Michelle that someone's attacking their property and setting stuff on fire. Awkward to explain why, of course.

Yeah, we really don't have much to go on for this. Colt gets some points for being honest with Amy, but would have been better if he'd thought over whether doing it in front of Brett was a particularly great idea. And I hope Amy got the car home safely.

Hmm maybe. Does seem to be a town where status depends on who you're paired up with, and "Amy wants a boyfriend" doesn't rate in the top group of crappy things people have done so far. People have gone for the "beard" deal before; a ultra-low-maintenance sure thing date for major events has its appeal for some folks.