u/Meer_meerkat

Has anyone overheated - watched and watched until all emotional power had been wrung out - and later returned to the show anew?

I reheated and reheated until I memorized every millisecond and felt like I was chasing a feeling that had already passed. But it’s been three or four months, and I’m getting the itch to return. Part of me has the fantasy of not re-watching again until right before season two so I will have forgotten enough to be emotionally walloped. I love the emotional walloping. But another part of me wants to turn it on tonight.

Has anyone successfully taken a break from reheating and made the show new(ish?) for themselves again?

From an Oregon coast restaurant.

My teen was very excited to point it out to me on the menu. So kudos for marketing your drinks to middle aged tourist ladies, Mr. Restaurant. But this felt like a low effort attempt. Either commit and make it a vodka drink or stay nonalcoholic and make it a ginger ale cocktail.

Years ago, in a writing workshop, a (brilliant) classmate said “the best scenes hover long after you’re done reading the story.” I always think about that when I’m reading/watching anything. You young whippersnappers call it living rent free in your head.

I wonder what HR scenes hover for folks. I stopped reheating months ago now but the top three scenes that hover most in my mind are (in order):

1. Don’t marry Svetlana, especially that amazing Shane-in-pain spectrum of micro expressions.

2. The impossibly tender car ride to the cottage, especially Ilya’s “but also like terrified, yes?”

3. The tuna meltdown “Hollander? Hollander?” Oy that second Hollander. The angggst!

At the time of peak reheating, I would’ve guessed the Russian tunnel declaration, the whole Skip kiss sequence, and the “I love you” “holy shit” scene based on the amount of my sobbing. Not so much, it turns out.

What top 3 scenes hover for you?

I have marveled at everybody’s fan art as someone who can barely draw a stick figure. Imagine my joy at finding a crafting opportunity at exactly my level of artiness. I present you…the beaded HR keychain of my heart.

Hi Loons! It’s been, well, a lot of months since the start of my full-blown HR obsession. I feel like I’ve settled into it by now. I’m done reheating, and my social media no longer is all HR all the time, and the soundtrack isn’t on perma-repeat, and I’m only peripherally tracking Hudcon (except when they do something huge like the Met and they’re inescapable and very adorable).

Other media is finally affecting me, like this remarkable video that I can’t stop watching (this is only half of it): https://www.reddit.com/r/oddlysatisfying/s/drkO0P0RQQ

But even so, HR has infused everything, which is still wild to me, as a new to fandom old-ish person:
*my marriage (20 yrs together & we started new counseling during my deepest HR thrall because I wanted to get closer & it’s work & it’s working)
*my reading (through GC & RR stand-alones and onto m/m romance generally)
*my writing (I set aside a novel draft I wasn’t feeling & I’m onto a new, kind of audacious, romance-adjacent book idea)

Where are you all at?

*Still watching/listening/consuming HR regularly?
*Consuming HR-related content like other RR books/fanfic/edits/reaction vids/podcasts?
*Following Hudcon closely or otherwise?
*Feeling the effects of HR in your life?

Edit: fixed weird line break that was bugging me.

Now that I'm (mostly) done reheating (for now), my favorite way to consume HR content is podcasts. Gardening? Listen to an HR podcast! Cooking? Listen to an HR podcast! Cleaning? Listen to an HR podcast! Driving? Listen to HR soundtrack (because I contain multitudes).

My faves:

**Caveat: I tend toward the deep dive recaps and analysis more than interviews with cast/crew, who I only wish a lifetime of success and happiness forever and ever. The story itself is what hooks me. YMMV.**

Shelf Aware: I love love love the slow roll of this podcast, hosted by two sisters, one of whom is a M/M romance writer. They go on the deepest of dives, analyzing about 7-15 minutes of show each week. They're smart, literate, funny, and they take the show as seriously as it should be taken (seriously serious but with humor!) I love that they're still on ep 4 of the show, even though they started weekly eps right after the show ended.

Mutually Assured Destruction: I wish there were more of these! These were real-time (as the show was first airing) weekly recaps between two friends. One of the hosts, Rae, cried all the time, she was so deeply moved by the show and the characters. I loved how soppy she was, because it was how soppy I was!

Puck Crew: Three friends who normally recap The Pitt, but veered into HR. They're chaotic in just the right way, which is to say chaotic with devotion to the show and with solid insights. They're now onto the GC books, which I need to reread, maybe in the Great Rachel Read order, before I listen to those.

Long Game: I really like that these hosts are two gay men at different stages in their dating life. They bring great, earnest perspective, and on top of episode recaps, they have a bunch of overview eps, like trauma and HR, the women of HR, masculinity in sport, including several crossover eps with the Shelf Aware hosts. Also now onto the GC books.

Tell me your faves, please! I want to expand my listening.

I geek out about all the ways this series breaks storytelling conventions. I'm convinced it's part of why it feels so unprecedented and addictive. I know some of these get lots of hate, but I love them all. Which is your fave?

1. Time jumps in eps 1-2

2. Interrupting Hollanov for Skip for all of ep 3

3. Breaking the fourth wall at the end of ep 4 when Shane and Ilya both look right at us during not-with-each-other sex

4. Having the big rom com climax at the end of ep 5

5. A tiny one -- ending ep 5 with Shane's little noise of wowed incredulity instead of the iconic "I'm coming to the cottage"

6. Ending the season on a quiet exhale and letting the credits play over all their touching and talking.