How Heated Rivalry Uses Phones & Text Bubble to Show a 9-Year Relationship

Heated Rivalry spans nearly a decade, covering 2008 to 2017. And it's absolutely wild to know that the TV show was shot in just 37 days.

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So, how do you make an audience feel the weight of ten years passing when your actors look exactly the same from week to week? The wardrobe and hair departments definitely did their part, but there’s another brilliantly subtle tool the showrunners used to ground us in the timeline: cell phones and text bubbles.

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A huge thank you to @maggiehollowaybooks on Instagram for letting me adapt her incredible three-part video series for this deep dive. You can check out her original video series here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

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Here's a chronological breakdown of how Heated Rivalry uses technology to tell the story of time passing.

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A Quick Note: The "Typing & Erasing" Mechanic

Before we jump into the years, we have to talk about how the show visualises texting. Notice how sometimes we see Shane type out a message, stare at it, and then decide to erase it? This mechanic is so important in showing what's going on in Shane's brain - His anxiety, his hesitation, and the things he wants to say to Ilya but can't. It's a great way to build Shane's character and worth a mention before we dive into the years.

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2008-2011: Episode 1

In the episode, we see Shane using a Sony Ericsson, while Ilya is using a Blackberry Curve. The text bubbles in this episode stay pretty simple and generic.

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Although iPhones already existed around that time, their market share was actually pretty low compared to today. So, Shane and Ilya not having iPhones is historically accurate.

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Fun fact: Blackberries were incredibly popular among professional athletes at the time. Jim Balsillie, the co-CEO of the company that made Blackberries, actually tried desperately to buy an NHL team three separate times during this era. So the hockey/Blackberry connection for Ilya is spot on.

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2011-2014: Episode 2

As we move into episode 2, phone designs get more chaotic. This was an era of massive tech transitions where the physical keyboards were disappearing, and phone designs were changing drastically every single year.

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There are at least four different phones shown in this episode alone. This is also the episode where Shane becomes our first iPhone adopter in the show. We also see the text bubble style change from the generic ones ("I don't know. Maybe twice?") to a Blackberry style text bubble ("We didn't even kiss"):

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Side note: During the Sochi Olympics (set in 2014), on Shane’s phone (timestamp 15:21), there is a rolling eye emoji 🙄. That emoji actually wasn't introduced to iOS until the year after in 2015:

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2013/14: Episode 3

Episode 3 shifts focus to Scott and Kip, and you’ll notice a huge drop in the usage of phones. Why? Because unlike Shane and Ilya, who use texting to bridge the physical distance between them, Scott and Kip are physically close to each other. They don't need to text. They just talk in person.

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We do get some phone moments. Kip is checking his iPhone near the beginning of the episode while he works at Straw+berry. And near the end of the episode when Scott sends Kip a photo of the banana socks near the end of the episode. If you look at the text bubble, it kind of looks like the style of WhatsApp during that time. Given that WhatsApp is an encrypted messaging app, it would make sense for Scott, a closeted captain, to use it to protect his privacy.

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Side note: You may notice at the end of that text message (timestamp 34:20), Scott uses the melting face emoji 🫠. That emoji didn't exist until 2021!

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2014-2017: Episode 4

In the beginning montage of Episode 4, we see Shane and Ilya texting from different phone ecosystems - Ilya is still an Android guy, while Shane has switched to an iPhone. We can see the text bubble styles are different for them:

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We can also see Shane's iphone at 05:30 and Ilya's Android phone at 03:55:

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At the end of the episode, we see Rose using her iPhone to react to Shane’s message with a heart "tapback". In the show's timeline, this happens in November 2016. In the real world, iOS introduced tapbacks just two months earlier in September 2016. Another great attention to detail in Heated Rivalry.

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2017 Episode 5 & 6

As we reach the last two episodes, phone screens become less important. Shane and Ilya are finally communicating and talking in person. Texting is no longer their primary way of communicating.

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Phones are still there, of course, but it serves as tools for plot rather than connection. In beginning of episode 5, they use them to check the paparazzi photos of Rose and Shane. We then see an iPhone interface when Ilya ignores a call from his brother, and phones are used for the Russian monologue phone call as well. At the end of the episode, they are texting on iPhone after Shane's injury.

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Side note: We see a clear shot of Ilya’s phone as he scrolls through photos of Shane and Rose, and he's still an Android guy, but when his brother Alexei calls him, the display shows an incoming call screen that resembles the iOS design:

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By episode 6, phones are practically non-existent. They are at the cottage, isolated from the world. The only major phone moment is THAT call with Hayden.

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But there is one final, subtle tech detail in episode 6. David Hollander mentions that he left "the old charger". The cottage episode is set in 2017. In August 2016, Samsung switched their phones from micro-USB to USB-C ports. David's comment likely means he uses a Samsung phone and was caught out by the cable switch.

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