Bridgerton season four and Heated Rivalry spoilers, ahead.
On paper, Bridgerton and Heated Rivalry don’t share much in common beyond steamy sex scenes and the obligatory happy ending inherent to the romance genre.
Based on the second Game Changers novel by Rachel Reid, Heated Rivalry is a modern “rivals-to-lovers” story of two closeted hockey captains who fall in love off the ice. On the other hand, season four of Bridgerton—adapted from Julia Quinn’s novel, An Offer From a Gentlemen—is a Regency-era Cinderella story about a rake falling for a maid amid his search for a mystery woman he met at a masquerade ball (spoiler alert: it’s the same woman).
And yet, one X.com user noted a couple striking similarities between the love stories. In a post that has been shared over 4,500 times and liked by 32,000 users, @CrazySadAzn points out that both stories feature an “Asian [main character that] falls for a bisexual white boy but they are kept apart by the expectations of others.”
Oh, and don’t forget “there’s a cottage.”
It’s true that both Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha) and Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) fall in love with bisexual men they feel they can’t love publicly. For Sophie and Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson), the conflict stems from imbalanced social status; Benedict is a member of high society while Sophie was forced to work as a maid by her evil stepmother (though she’s secretly the daughter of a Lord). For Shane and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), coming out as gay and bisexual could put their professional careers at risk, and pose further dangers for the Russian-born hockey star.
And yet, neither couple can help but dig themselves deeper and deeper, which is where the cottage stuff comes in. “I’m coming to the cottage” became a rallying cry for Heated Rivalry fans the moment Ilya decided to take the leap and invest in his emotional relationship with Shane after witnessing his fellow hockey star Scott Hunter (François Arnaud) celebrate his championship win by kissing a man on national television.
The season finale of Heated Rivalry was titled “The Cottage,” as it takes place almost entirely at Shane’s ridiculously large lakeside estate on the outskirts of Ottawa. Throughout the 52-minute episode that aired on December 26, Shane and Ilya solidified their bond and formulated a plan for their future before literally riding off into the sunset together. Happy ending, secured.
A month later, the mansion-sized cottage propaganda continued with Bridgerton season four, episode three. When Benedict and Sophie are forced to stay in one of his family’s other properties during their journey back to London, we get to witness the pair’s relationship shift as they get to know each other on a deeper level away from too many prying eyes. (And just like Ilya Rozanov, Benedict Bridgerton can’t resist a dip in the lake…)
Luke Thompson as Benedict Bridgerton, Yerin Ha as Sophie Baek in episode 403 of Bridgerton.
LIAM DANIEL/NETFLIX
Many Heated Rivalry fans felt they couldn’t escape their cottage-related psychosis thanks to the latest season of Bridgerton. As one fan wrote on X.com, “If I had a nickel for [every time] a cottage was a huge plot point in some of the most popular shows of the year, I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice. Right?”
Unlike Heated Rivalry, however, Bridgerton season four has yet to reward its main couple with their happy ending. Upon their return to London, reality sets in for Sophie, who is does not want to put her future at risk by entertaining an affair with Benedict. And yet, the pair can’t hide from one another other in the Bridgeton home. Their sexual tensions builds until they can no longer resist, culminating in a stairwell rendezvous that would make Shane blush (not Ilya, though. Russians do not do this).
Unfortunately, Benedict ruins the moment when he asks Sophie to be his mistress, immediately pouring cold water on the heated exchange. Luckily, there’s still four more episodes to go—someone take us all back to the cottage, STAT!
Part two of Bridgerton season four drops on Netflix on February 26, 2026. Heated Rivalry season one is available in the U.S. on HBO Max.
