Yeah I super wonder how they will split up the rest of it, which couples they’ll focus on etc.

So curious about that!

Even if they really want to just focus on The Long Game, I think everyone appears in that. Maybe not Eric and Kyle. But Kyle has been on screen already. So opportunities for flashbacks at the very least?

I don't know whether I hope someone throws more of a budget at season 2 or not, working with limited resources (I assume) so far has gotten such good results...

One of the things I think is funny in the books and I think could be very amusing on the show is the way Carter/Georgia is entirely unseen just mentioned occasionally and Maria/that Finnish player are just a little in the background. Like, token straights with their offscreen romances. But not taking up valuable time from anyone actually important.

Fancast for Mati Jalo? I feel like it would be impossible to match how he's described in the book. But yes, let's give Maria her background HFN.

I support token straight representation.

But yeah I think Eric and Kyle aren’t really in Long Game, Ryan is mostly in it as seeing them at camp, which could be someone else? So might make sense to have Season 2 be Troy’s story mixed with Long Game? But if there’s the possibility of a season 3, then you’d have to reassess.

I think Ryan's story is important for getting Ilya to the place where he is in The Long Game, where he can see the issues with hockey and the league a lot more clearly than Shane can. Plus, Ryan's conflict isn't about coming out or anything really related to that -- Ryan, plus Troy's part in the Dallas Kent story, are all connected through showing the darker side of the league and of hockey culture.

We got a little Ryan Price easter egg in this season, so I'm hopeful.

Watching the internet discover in real time what "cottage" means in Canadian has been a delight these past two days.

Yeah, from the previous episode I was thinking rustic lodge/bungalow, not Ozymandias' lake palace.

lol it’s toned down from the books, there he has his own ice rink at the cottage!

I kind of wish they could make a Scott/Kip spinoff series -- fill in the stuff we didn't see, continue to Kyle/Eric, have Ilya and other characters sometimes stop in at the bar, and the bar setting leaves a lot of room for new stories and new characters. Then that would leave the original series more focused on the Canadian teams and the storylines more centered on Ilya and Shane. Lots of potential for crossover episodes.

This would require a lot more money than they seem to have, though, and more time than Jacob Tierney probably has available.

I binge listened to the Empty Netters podcast reviews of the episodes on my long drive today and man, that kind of renewed my faith in straight men, hearing them love on it?? Amazing.