This year has given TV fans some major episodes of their favorite TV Shows. Not only did Lucasfilm deliver the epic second season of Andor, but with it, two of the highest-rated pieces of Star Wars media of all time, with episodes 2.08 and 2.09 bringing in 9.7 and 9.6 ratings on IMDB. 2025 also delivered The Rehearshal and The Pitt with some of its highest-rated episodes, plus Season 3 of Invincible on Prime Video, and we haven’t even scratched the surface on the many episodes of One Piece and My Hero Academia that have cleared major ratings from fans. None of them are the highest of the year, though.
HBO’s brand new romance series Heated Rivalry, based on the book series by Rachel Reid, has become an instant success story for the streamer. Acquired for US rights from Canada’s Crave, Heated Rivalry is capping off the end of 2025 with major acclaim from fans and critics, plus a lot of viewership on HBO Max, resulting in a quick Season 2 renewal. The series has set an unexpected record with its latest episode, the penultimate of the first season, one of the highest-rated episodes of TV ever.
Heated Rivalry Episode Becomes Second TV Episode With 10/10 Rating
With over 22 thousand ratings on IMDB, Heated Rivalry‘s fifth episode, “I’ll Believe in Anything,” has landed a perfect 10/10 rating on the website and become just the second TV series to reach this achievement. The only other series to hit this landmark is Breaking Bad, with Season 5, Episode 14’s “Ozymandias,” which has landed a 10/10 after more than 273 thousand ratings from IMDB users. Both episodes sit above major television landmark episodes, like the series finale of Six Feet Under, “Everyone’s Waiting,” with a 9.9 after 15k ratings, and the penultimate episode of BoJack Horseman, “The View from Halfway Down,” with a 9.9 after 28 thousand ratings.
The reason that Heated Rivalry‘s latest episode has achieved a perfect score can be easily explained, but it does require a spoiler warning for anyone who may watch the series and wants to go in without any details. For context, the series tells the story of two gay hockey players, Ilya and Shane, whose romance and feelings for each other develop over the course of years and are complicated not only by the stigma of being professional athletes in a major sport but also by their countries of origin as Ilya hails from Russia. In the episode that has achieved a 10/10, though, the pair go through the emotional ringer, conquering not only personal obstacles that have stood in the way of their relationship but also confronting their feelings in the most direct way yet in the series, such as Ilya confessing his feelings for Shane in Russian over the phone.
Reactions to the episode may seem hyperbolic, with users writing “This is absolutely perfection!” and “Masterpiece and Masterclass,” but when you look at the sheer amount of reactions that echo similar sentiments and all have different little details that they call out as their favorite it’s clear that Heated Rivalry has amassed an authentic fan base very quickly, and has become one of the most liked shows of the year at the very end of the race.