The Favorites

Kat returns to Illinois after Sheila’s funeral and receives a visit from Bella. Bella joins her for a skating session at Kat’s private ice rink, converted from the family’s old stables.

Bella admits that her affair with Heath began as revenge but then describes how they grew closer after Vancouver, when they both began working as coaches at Sheila’s academy. She asserts that she and Heath are just friends, though they have occasionally slept together. She claims that Heath misses Kat and urges her to return for one final run at the Olympics in Sochi, Japan, with Heath as her partner. She says that Heath and Kat’s experience would be an asset to the struggling US Olympic team.

In the documentary, interviewees discuss the shock of Kat and Heath’s return, especially with Bella coaching them at the academy. The producer asks Francesca about her and Evan’s move to a different training facility, but she insists that it had nothing to do with being in Heath and Kat’s shadow.

Kat returns to the academy, and her reunion with Heath is far more anticlimactic than she imagines—they do a warmup session together with Bella supervising. Things are awkward until a junior skater approaches Kat for her autograph and calls her an inspiration.

Heath offers Kat a ride home on his motorcycle. On the way, she learns that Heath and Bella live together at the Lins’ house, though in separate rooms. Kat and Heath stop at the beach along the way, and a photographer begins to follow them; Kat and Heath decide to put on a show for him.

Kat and Heath pretend to be intimate, but after the photographer leaves, Kat says that they ought to keep things professional. They agree that their feelings have gotten in the way of their skating performance in the past, and they want to give the Olympics a real try this time. Heath drops Kat off, and she is surprised to find yellow roses with an anonymous note that reads, “Welcome back.”

In the documentary, interviewees discuss Kat and Heath’s performance after returning. Francesca claims that she wasn’t paying attention to them, though she does note that they placed second to her and Evan in the 2013 Skate America competition in Detroit, Michigan.

Kat and Heath go to Russia for the Rostelecom Cup, where Yelena and her partner, Dmitri, are headlining. Having racked up numerous gold medals and titles since Vancouver, the Russian skaters are favorites for the next Olympic gold.

Heath and Kat take to the ice to perform, and Heath is momentarily rattled by Veronika Volkova’s presence; Kat manages to steady him. Midway through the performance, however, Heath’s skate snags on something, and he falls badly on his back. Kat discovers a sequin on the rink.

In the documentary, the interviewees discuss “GlitterGate.” Ellis claims that Veronika sabotaged Kat and Heath—a rookie Russian pair, coached by Veronika, skated right before the American team. Archival footage shows one of the Russian skaters pausing to brush his hand over the ice before leaving the rink at the exact spot where Heath fell. Veronika, however, denies all such allegations. Kat and Heath are disqualified from the tournament for failing to restart their performance, as they were arguing with the officials about the sequins.

Kat moves into the Lins’ house alongside Bella and Heath while he rests and recovers from his back injury. He is expected to be fully healed and ready for the US National Championships in January. Kat, Heath, and Bella watch the Grand Prix Final together in December, where the Russians place second to an unexpected gold for Francesca and Evan. Later that night, to Kat’s dismay, she hears Heath go into Bella’s room and stay there until morning.

At the Nationals in January, Kat and Heath prepare to take the ice. Heath’s back acts up during the warmup, and as Kat goes to find some muscle rub, she sees Bella collapse in the corridor.

The medics come to collect Bella and take her to the hospital, and Kat realizes that Bella is pregnant. Kat urges Heath to go to the hospital with Bella; she follows behind.

In the documentary, the interviewees discuss the shock of Kat and Heath’s sudden withdrawal from the Nationals, especially with the Olympic teams set to be announced immediately afterward. Archival footage shows Ellis asking Kat why she thinks she and Heath deserve a spot on the team.

To Ellis’s question, Kat answers that she and Heath don’t deserve to go to the Olympics any more than the other teams competing that night.

Kat checks on Bella at the hospital. Bella tells her that the baby was unplanned, as she and Heath are not in a relationship; however, she is planning to keep it, and Heath has agreed to support her either way. Bella is put on bed rest for the rest of her pregnancy. Kat reassures Bella that she is not angry and knows that Bella will make a good mother; she congratulates Heath as well.

Ellis arrives with news that Kat and Heath have been named to the Olympic team alongside Francesca and Evan. Bella insists that they go to Sochi rather than stay by her bedside, as Garrett will be arriving soon.

In the documentary, Ellis admits to having spoken to friends of his on the selection committee to help Heath and Kat secure a spot. Kirk and Garrett discuss Kat and Heath’s training before the Olympics. They stayed close to Bella for as long as possible, leaving for Sochi only when they absolutely had to.

Kat and Heath arrive at their hotel in Russia to discover that their room is unavailable despite having booked months in advance. They are assigned the last room that is available, which is tiny and worn down and has just one small bed. As they try to fall asleep, they hear a noise outside the door: a delivery of a dozen red roses in a crystal vase with a card addressed to Kat that reads, “Welcome back.” The vase is filled with what looks like blood.

Kat remembers the yellow roses from back home as Heath tells her that in Russia, flowers in even numbers are only delivered at funerals. When they tell Bella about what happened, she warns them to watch their backs.

On the first day of the ice-dance competition, as Kat puts her foot into her skate in the dressing room, something stabs her deep in the arch, and she screams.

In the documentary, Ellis discusses how Kat and Heath were being sabotaged. Archival footage shows Kat rushing out of the dressing room and warning Heath about his skates; when he turns them upside down, thorns fall out of his skate. Kat and Heath accuse Veronika, Yelena, and Dmitri of sabotage; in the documentary, Veronika claims that she had no idea what was going on.

Kat manages to skate through the short dance by surviving on “adrenaline, spite, and a dry-swallowed dose of ibuprofen” (389), but her foot is swollen by the end of the night. However, Kat and Heath are in first place.

Event officials question them about the incident. Kat and Heath are sure that they didn’t leave their equipment unattended except for the 10 minutes during which Kat was taking a shower in the hotel room and Heath had stepped out for food. They realize that whoever sabotaged them has access to their hotel room. This is confirmed when they finally return to their room after the event and find their door open.

Kat’s skating costume is soaked in blood and laid out on their bed, covered in rose petals. The police arrive but don’t do anything besides writing up a report, as nothing has been stolen and no one is hurt. As Kat and Heath wonder what to do, Ellis arrives and offers them his room in a different hotel with working security; he is spending the night with Kirk.

In the documentary, Veronika again denies any involvement with these incidents.

In Ellis’s room at the Radisson, Kat and Heath shower before taking the anti-doping, agency-approved painkillers for their respective injuries. However, Kat doesn’t feel any relief from the medication. As she massages Heath’s sore and scarred back, she expresses her regret that he had to undergo the torture he did under Veronika’s training. Heath confesses that Veronika never actually harmed him, but before he can reveal who did, they are interrupted by a phone call from Bella.

Kat and Heath fill Bella in on everything that has happened so far and tell her that they are still determined to skate in the free-dance event. Afterward, Heath expresses his doubts that the Volkovas are behind the sabotage; he claims that Veronika is not the kind to target other skaters and that Yelena is kind, but he avoids Kat’s question about who caused his injuries. They admit that they have each done things they are not proud of to get back at the other. Heath says that his life revolved around Kat for far too long, which is unfair, and that he is trying to find his own purpose and passion. They mutually decide not to waste any more time being apart.

In the documentary, Veronika once again insists that she was not responsible for any of the sabotage. Ellis discusses all the speculation surrounding them, while Francesca notes how she blocked all of it out and remained focused on the gold.

The next morning, a skating costume arrives for Kat from Yelena; she had it couriered overnight from Moscow. Kat admits that Yelena is different than what she believed, and Heath expresses his regret that Yelena has to skate with Dmitri. He finally reveals that Dmitri is responsible for his scars: Heath stood up for Yelena when Dmitri was berating her, and Dmitri pushed him through a glass window. Heath tells her that Dmitri’s family are powerful people with ties to the mafia; even Veronika doesn’t dare discipline him. However, Heath doesn’t believe that Dmitri is smart enough to be sabotaging them on his own.

In the documentary, Garrett, Ellis, and Kirk describe the crowd’s surprise when Kat arrives at the final event wearing one of Veronika’s old costumes from the latter’s performance at the 1988 Olympics.

Kat heads backstage for a final touch-up before the event and sees Dmitri leaving the women’s dressing room; only Francesca is inside, and Kat realizes that the two of them are together. When Kat tries to warn Francesca that Dmitri is dangerous, Francesca’s response is cool. Kat realizes that Francesca masterminded all the sabotage.

Francesca says that Kat and Heath cannot win, and, feeling sorry for this woman who has gone to such extreme lengths to win, Kat hugs her. However, afterward, she cannot stop thinking about Francesca’s confidence in Kat and Heath’s defeat. She finds Heath taking the approved painkillers again, and, as she studies the pills, she realizes something.

Kat tells Heath everything she has discovered, including her suspicion that Francesca switched his painkillers with some kind of banned substance—Heath left the bottle behind in their hotel room on that first night. If they win, they will be drug-tested, and if he fails, they will be automatically disqualified. While Kat has only taken two pills, Heath has taken quite a few since the previous night. Despite the inevitable disqualification, Kat and Heath decide to compete anyway to prove to themselves that they can do it.

In the documentary, the interviewees discuss the anticipation that preceded Kat and Heath’s final performance.

Kat and Heath dance exquisitely, and as they complete their performance, Kat punctuates it with a kiss.

In the documentary, the interviewees discuss how the crowd applauded Kat and Heath’s performance in unison. Everyone was sure that they had won.

Kat revels in the crowd’s cheers and deepens the kiss with Heath. She tastes blood just as he collapses.

In the documentary, Francesca claims that she never expected Heath to be coughing up blood. Archival footage shows Kat clutching Heath in terror as he spits out a mouthful of blood before going still. Ellis tells the producer that there was nothing anyone could have done.

Kat is stunned as medics swarm the ice and take Heath away. She is sure they have won but thinks to herself that it cannot end like this. As Heath is rushed to the hospital, his and Kat’s winning marks are released. However, shortly afterward, the US physician announces that Heath suffered a cardiac arrest and bleeding in his lungs; while he will survive, the presence of an unidentified substance was detected in his blood. A disciplinary hearing follows.

In the documentary, the interviewees discuss the tragedy. Francesca claims that she never imagined it would be so awful; when the producer asks what she means, she falters and claims that she was referring to her first Olympics. Garrett and Ellis assert that someone definitely drugged Heath to sabotage him, while Francesca points out that Kat’s refusal to be tested made her look guilty.

Kat and Heath are not granted the delayed public hearing that they request; instead, Kat is forced to appear alone while Heath recovers in a hospital in Geneva, Switzerland. Despite the overwhelming evidence that they were sabotaged, especially the clean drug tests they had before Heath’s post-competition results, judge Jane Currer refuses to budge. She asserts that the presence of the unidentifiable designer drug in Heath’s bloodstream and Kat’s refusal to get tested are both in breach of protocol. The gold medal is awarded to Francesca and her partner.

A furious Kat accuses the committee of having made up their minds about Kat and Heath years ago. She is angered by their refusal to investigate Francesca and Dmitri despite Ellis’s assertions on his blog about their involvement in the sabotage. Kat storms out before the committee declares their verdict.

By the time she returns to Heath, the committee has released their decision to sanction Kat and Heath, strip them of their medals, and remove their scores from the record books. However, Kat tells a recovering Heath that she doesn’t want to appeal; they and the rest of the world know that they are the rightful winners, and Kat doesn’t need the actual medals as proof anymore.

In the documentary, Jane defends her decision, and Francesca storms off after being questioned about her relationship with Dmitri; yellow rosebushes can be seen in the background of her shot. Ellis reveals that during the season following Francesca’s win, her family tripled their annual donation to US Figure Skating. Garrett and Kirk describe how Heath recovered and returned to the US in time for the birth of his daughter, Mei Lin-Rocha. Kat, Heath, Bella, and Mei moved to Illinois to start a skating school. The interviewees discuss Kat and Heath’s legacy, with Garrett asserting that they are just getting started.

At Bella’s skating school, Kat, now an instructor, overhears two young skaters discussing the documentary. Bella joins her, and Heath and Mei, now nine years old, arrive at the rink; Mei shows off her skating to “Aunt Katie,” who cheers her on. Heath, who never regained his full strength, only skates in private now, at the rink attached to his home with Kat.

Although they are still unmarried, Kat still wears the original engagement ring that Heath got for her. She reflects, “I may not have an Olympic gold medal, but I have something better: a life where I spend every day with my favorite people in the world, doing exactly what I love. If that’s not winning, I don’t know what is” (434).