one of my serious favorite things abt heated rivalry is that they're still acting during sex. this seems obvious maybe but i think during a lot of movie sex scenes, actors revert to typical, expected mannerisms, where as connor storrie and hudson williams have specific mannerisms specifically for their characters that reflect their internal struggles/truths/experiences. this is difficult to talk about because people think i'm joking/don't take it seriously bc it's sex, but i'm serious. it's easily noticeable from connor storrie - ilya likes watching himself go in & out of shane & looks down to see it quite often; ilya likes groping shane's chest; ilya makes that one face all the time; ilya likes putting his fingers in shane's mouth. but it's also apparent from hudson williams - shane is very repressed and stunted about his pleasure at the beginning of each scene, but loses himself/relaxes continuously (particular favorite of mine is the first time they go all the way - shane is at first annoyed/embarrassed by ilya repeatedly asking him if he's okay [shane's complicated relationship with masculinity] but by the end is just moaning and has allowed himself to go lax, facedown); shane is clearly learning tricks from ilya (ex. the chest groping & fingers in mouth); shane gets overwhelmed when he looks at ilya for too long during sex and has to look away or close his eyes.
i just have an insane amount of respect for these guys. and i could make a whole other post about how they use sex to show the shifting dynamics in shane & ilya's relationship and especially the significance of sex in episode six
