Heartstopper Season 3 Review

I watched Heartstopper season 3 last night and it was so wonderful. If I'm being honest, I liked it better than I liked season 2. Season 2 wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, but of the three seasons, it is my least favorite.

This review will be structured like the one for season 2. I will be spending most of the review focusing on Nick and Charlie. After them, I'll talk about Tao and Elle, Tara and Darcy, Imogen and Sahar, Isaac, and then Tori. Then I'll give some hopes for season 4.

Before we get to the characters, let's give a basic overview of the season. Season 1 followed Volumes 1 and 2 of the comics, season 2 followed Volume 3, and season 3 followed volumes 4 and 5 as well as the novella This Winter. In terms of time passed, season 1 was from January until May (or so) of Charlie's Year 10/Nick's Year 11. Season 2 covered from then until August of the same year. So, the first 2 seasons covered about 8 months of time. Season 3 covered from when season 2 ended until the end of Charlie's Year 11/Nick's 6th Form. So, this was about 10-11 months which is quite the span of time. This means that if we get a season 4 (which we had better get!), it will be Nick's last year and Charlie's first year of 6th Form. Click here or here to get a basic overview of the system and here for info from the UK government.

After season 2, I was wondering (and I think I wrote this somewhere, but I can't find where) how they were going to do the story of Charlie going into the treatment center for his eating disorder and mental health issues. In the comics, the story jumps from August to December and the story is told through Nick journaling. Then we have Christmas and New Year's and then another jump where Charlie is telling the story through journaling. I was really curious about whether they would do this or try and tell the story as it happened. What they did was absolutely amazing. Episode 4 ("Journey") had a couple of minutes at the beginning and end in the present time, but most of the episode was told through Nick and Charlie narrating via journaling. It was the best way to handle such a time jump.

Let's start talking about the characters now. As always, we start with Nick and Charlie. They are the heart of the show and the reason the Heartstopper comics even exist. And this season, so much of the focus was on them, that there is no better place to start. I do want to state one issue I had with the season right here. Because this season focused so heavily on Charlie's problems and the issues that caused for Nick, everyone else really became secondary characters who didn't get the deeper storylines we've seen in previous seasons. Elle was an exception, but even her storyline wasn't quite as prominent as I would have expected. Everyone else did have stories going, and they were important, but they seemed to fade into the background more than before. I totally get why, because what Nick and Charlie were going through was so massive and so life-changing that it would have been almost impossible to tell it and all the other stories the way they had in the past, but it still was an issue I had.

Charlie was really the main character this season and Joe took full advantage of what he was given. Charlie's eating disorder and mental health issues, which were introduced in season 1 and given more prominence in season 2, really came to a head in the first three episodes and then continued to cause issues for the rest of the season. His journey this season was to accept that he has lifelong mental health problems and then learn how to live with them and how to not let them rule his life. And he really accomplished a lot.

In the first episode, his focus was on telling Nick that he loved him, so much so that he was having stressed induced imaginations about Nick saying that it was too soon to be saying that. Then, when Nick asked him to come into the water, Charlie refused to take off his shirt and got upset when Nick mentioned that he thought the Charlie has an eating disorder. In episode 2, Charlie spends most of the episode in his room in what seems to be a fit of depression between his mental health issues really rearing their head and not having Nick around because he's on vacation. At the end of episode 2, Charlie finally admits that he has an eating disorder and at the end of episode 3, he and Nick go to talk with his parents to ask for help. Then we have episode 4 (described above). In episode 5 (which includes the story from This Winter), he is doing better, but still having trouble with his family (Tori excepted) knowing what to do. After that, in episode 6, we get another jump from January to April and Charlie talks about another self-harm relapse (there was one in October too, which led to him going into a treatment facility faster) and talking with his therapist about wanting to have sex with Nick, which he does in episode 7 (although he insists on keeping his shirt on). Finally, in episode 8, we see Charlie ask Nick to take off his (Charlie's) shirt while they have sex. This last part was really, really important. Charlie is skinny and absolutely gorgeous but has these fears in his head that he is ugly, and that Nick will reject him. But his therapist, Geoff, convinces him to tap into his well of bravery and trust Nick. And when Nick takes off Charlie's shirt, he first looks at Chalie's bare chest with open admiration and then tells Charlie that he is hot. That is quite the journey for Charlie.

When I first read the scene of Charlie asking Nick to take off his shirt, I was really hoping that would make the show because it is such an important step for Charlie. He showed that he really wants to be with Nick and that he is recovering from his body image issues. I was so proud of him for being able to make that step. So, when they included that in the show, it brought me to tears. I was so, so happy that they made sure that was included because it really showed just how far Charlie had come.

That being said, it was also nice that the show stressed that his journey isn't over and that mental health problems aren't something that simply goes away. They are lifelong problems. People really need to understand that. And this lack of understanding and the not knowing how to help him out drove a lot of the conflict this season. Charlie and his mom had several fights about this. I will say that he was definitely being unfair to her in episode 7 when they had the fight about him having a sleepover at Nick's. He automatically assumed that she was saying no because of his mental health problems. I do think that was a part of it, but she also had a point that he had GCSEs coming up and really needed to be focusing on those. Her misstep here wasn't as bad as last year's with the banning Charlie from seeing Nick over the grade situation, but the reasons behind both was the same and I feel compelled to agree with her. The thing is that it feels like the position she took before Charlie stormed out and the position she took after he came back, and they talked it out felt pretty much the same. She just wanted him to wait a couple of weeks and then have the sleepover after GCSEs. I will also add that I have to wonder how much of his being angry had to do with him really wanting to have sex with Nick. When he came back from Nick's (after they had had sex), he was much more willing to listen. So, was he just anxious to have sex and then, once he had it, willing to wait since he didn't need a sleepover to have sex with Nick anymore? It is entirely possible.

Nick's journey through the season was almost as rough as Charlies, although for very different reasons. In the first few episodes, Nick is shouldering the burden of being the one person Charlie trusts enough to talk with about his troubles and he is clearly stressing out about it. Charlie clearly doesn't want to tell people, not even their friends, and when Tao notices that something off and he presses Nick for information, Nick (rightly) shuts that down quickly. While I wish Nick wouldn't have snapped at Tao, who was concerned about Charlie, it made sense. Nick took on a massive burden and wasn't quite ready to carry it. Let's look at where Nick has been in the past year. He realized that he's bi and was faced first with the burden of accepting that and then the process of coming out. And then he realizes that his boyfriend has serious mental health problems that he doesn't want to talk about, no matter how carefully Nick is about getting him to open up. I am not surprised that Nick is starting to show the stress of the pressures he is under. After Charlie goes away, we see the rest of Nick's storyline develop. And this storyline is a massive problem: Nick doesn't know who he is outside of being Charlie's boyfriend.

Given the fact that Nick and Charlie are each other's first real boyfriend (sorry, Ben doesn't count) and the fact that Nick came out because of this relationship, Nick and Charlie have a particularly intense relationship and one that can turn into something unhealthy. I *AM NOT* saying that this is a toxic relationship, far from it. But the two of them are so reliant on each other for support (although Charlie learns how to not do that over the course of this season) that neither has a particularly strong individual identity at this point. Nick has made being Charlie's boyfriend, support system, and protector into the core of who he is. When he doesn't have Charlie around, he is lost and definitely doesn't really know who he is. And Nick knows that this is a problem, which leads to him initially wanting to stay close to home when he goes to university. However, once he visits Leeds (which is about 5 hours away), he knows that he wants to go there. But he seems to be unsure if this will be a problem for him and Charlie. I don't think it will be, and Nick definitely needs to do what is best for himself here. Elle and Imogen made a good point that Nick is a people pleaser who too often puts other people first and that it is ok to put himself first sometimes. His desire to be there for Charlie is a good thing, but (like Charlie's protecting Nick last season and wanting to ensure that Nick had a problemless coming out) it can be to the detriment of his own mental health sometimes. Take the scene at the Halloween party where he is drinking pretty heavily and then collapses against the wall and cries as Tao hugs him. I will say here that I am so glad Tao saw Nick in trouble and just put an arm around him without asking. That was a great friend move and a far cry from season 1 Tao who thought Nick was just out to hurt Charlie.

Lest you think that I am going all doom & gloom over Nick and Charlie, I am not. I just think that we do need to think about how this relationship, which is healthy and inspirational in so many ways, does have its issues. One thing I loved (and was so waiting for) was the final minute or so of the first episode. It was the iconic shower scene where Nick is in the shower and Charlie tells him (through the door) that he loves him. When Nick doesn't reply, Charlie leaves and is upset. Then Nick rushes out of the shower, starts to go out, realizes he needs to get dressed, puts on shorts and an open zip up sweatshirt and runs out (shoeless) after Charlie. He asks Charlie to tell him again, tells Charlie that he loves him, and then they kiss. It is such a lovely scene and I am so glad they kept that in.

Since we are talking about Nick, I want to briefly digress to discuss his Aunt Diane, played by Hayley Atwell. Aunt Diane was a character in the comics, although she was really only mentioned. In the series, her part was beefed up because Olivia Colman couldn't make it back to be Nick's mom, so they gave Diane the stuff that Sarah would have had. While I definitely missed Sarah and everything Olivia brings to the role, Hayley did an excellent job stepping in to have that very important talk with Nick about how he shouldn't expect himself to be able to shoulder what is going on all alone and how he needs to find other people to help Charlie out as well. That whole conversation was really lovely. Kit knocked the emotions out of the park and Hayley just killed it as a good source of emotional support for Nick.

One other thing I appreciated about the show was that they had Nick and Charlie being incredibly respectful of each other's boundaries and what they did or didn't do physically. And it wasn't just Nick and Charlie, Tao and Elle had the same thing going (more on that later). There was no rush to have sex of any kind, much less penetrative sex. While they didn't have a full-on discussion, there was a line from Charlie about how there are multiple ways to have sex. It modeled respect for each other and made it clear that waiting is something you can do if you want to.

I loved the scene in the final episode where Imogen, Tara, and Elle took Nick to buy condoms and lube after they found out he and Charlie were having sex. It was really, really funny to watch. I actually really enjoyed watching their visits to different unis. You could tell Nick was in love with Leeds and that he really wants to go there. The question is if he will develop enough of a sense of a personal identity before he goes to uni to be able to go so far away. I suspect he will, but that should be an interesting storyline in season 4. 

I also loved seeing Mr. Ajayi nominate Charlie to be Head Boy and for Mr. Farouk to encourage him to run because he will be an inspiration to many students. When Mr. Farouk looked at that desk and saw himself as a sad kid, it was such a heartbreaking moment. The fact that Charlie is completing (or has completed?) the application and is seriously considering running is another big step for him.

The other really fun scene? Nick and Charlie going to see Jack Maddox. I don't know if I've ever read that mini-comic, so I wasn't really familiar with the character. But I really enjoyed watching Nick's face when he was watching Charlie ask Jack a question. And his "Yeah, he's really hot." as they were walking away was just funny.

Now for Tao and Elle. I want to start with Elle because, after Nick and Charlie, her storyline had the most time spent on it. She is going to Lambert for art and becomes somewhat famous online for her art, which leads to her being interviewed on a radio show (supposedly) about her art. When she gets to the interview, it starts out about her art, but the host quickly changes the topic to being about her being trans and the "trans debate". The host mentions having a TERF (trans exclusionary radical feminist) on the week before, only calling her a "feminist". That whole thing was just awful and really affected Elle. She could barely make art after that and felt like she couldn't share her feelings with Tao because he wouldn't understand. Then he made that video and assured her that even if he didn't fully understand he would fully support her, which helped her turn that corner.

And before that she and Tao were having trouble being intimate with each other because her dysphoria was flaring up when they would start to get physical with each other. That was another story that felt masterfully handled, and I have no doubt that Yaz was a major part in crafting how that all worked. I love how much Tao has grown since the beginning of the series. He has (for the most part) become much less self-involved and much more tuned into what other people are feeling. The one exception was Isaac, but we'll talk about that when it we talk about Isaac later.

The only real problem they had was the newness of their relationship, which caused 2 issues. The first was that Tao was (once again) trying too hard to be the perfect boyfriend for Elle. You'd think that, after the debacle that was their first date, he would know better. But he didn't. To her immense credit, Elle forcefully (and lovingly) set him straight by assuring him that she wouldn't be breaking up with him, even if she was going to Lambert. The other issue was that, for a while, they were ignoring their friends. The main issue here was Isaac, but that is also part of a larger story for him that I want to discuss in full later on.

Then there is Tara and Darcy. Darcy has moved out of their mother's house and was initially staying with Tara until they finally moved in with their very cool grandma. And was they so much better off because of this. They got to explore their gender identity and started using they/them pronouns. I also loved their haircut, which seems closer to the one Kizzy has. I liked the fact that Darcy questioning their gender identity was hinted at early in the first episode when they were talking about not liking the idea of gender and wanting to wear more masculine type clothing. If you go back to season 2, just think about the prom outfit they bought. It was an incredible purple suit that they looked damn hot in. I don't think Darcy would have been able to do any of this if they had still been living at their mother's house.

And Tara was definitely showing signs of stress. She is a high achiever and from what I saw of her GCSE scores, she seemed to do a good job. I didn't get a super close look, but it looked like a few 6s and 7s with a bunch of 8s and 9s (9s are the highest score you can get). Her stress levels went into overload at Charlie's birthday party and he managed to use some of the skills he had learned to help her come down from a panic attack (which really impressed Nick). And it appears she won't be going to Oxford. I do wonder if, like Darcy, she's going to take a gap year. My main reason for thinking about this is that the show stressed so heavily that her parents are excited about her going to uni and she has been trying hard to do well academically so she can go to one. It would be interesting if she ended up waiting a year before going.

Other than this, her main purpose was to be a sounding board for Nick when he couldn't talk to Charlie. And she did a really good job with this. When he was worried about Charlie coming back, she was the one who encouraged him to journal (and therefore gave us the first part of episode 4). She also was the comforting voice on their drive back from the uni visits.

Tara and Darcy were definitely on better footing than they were last season. Now that Darcy is out of that toxic house, they are flourishing (as I talked about above). Tara and Darcy aren't perfect, but they are definitely a solid couple, and I don't see much shaking them any time soon.

Now Imogen and Sahar. These two had an....interesting....journey. Sahar admitted to Imogen that Imogen is the reason she realized she was bi. And I don't think Imogen is straight. Given the fact that she kissed Sahar at least twice, and that conversation she had with Nick, she is definitely questioning her own sexuality and identity at this point. Imogen and Sahar are definitely not a couple, in fact they stated they want to just be friends, but I have to wonder if they will become more during season 4. I will also say that I think Imogen suffered the most by Nick and Charlie's stories being so prominent. She was definitely shoved into the background, more so than she was in season 1. I hope she gets more screentime next year.

Isaac. Like last year, I am placing him here because I don't want his story (which is after Nick/Charlie and Elle) easily the most important storyline of the season. At the end of last season, Isaac had come to the realization that he was asexual. This realization spurred his story in the first couple of episodes. In the first episode, he told Charlie that he was asexual and probably aromantic. Then he told the rest of the group in episode 3, when they were at the zoo for Nick's birthday. The biggest problem he had was that he was feeling very much like a third wheel. He is surrounded by happy couples who often don't think as much about him. Tao and Elle are in their honeymoon phase and even made out when they were at a movie night with Isaac. And when Nick was gone on vacation and Charlie was in his room, he also ignored Isaac. I don't think any of this was on purpose, but it hurt Isaac tremendously. When he and Tao snapped at each other at the zoo, I was completely on his side. Well, almost completely. I do wish he had explained to people that being the third wheel was hurting him, but he didn't. Tao, however, was definitively in the wrong here, as Elle managed to masterfully point out to him. I am glad he told everyone he was aro/ace because they needed to hear it.

Isaac's story is particularly important because by having an asexual in the show, they force us to consider the importance of nonsexual and nonromantic love. Isaac loves his friends and gives them hugs and support, but there is nothing romantic about these relationships. It's like when Tao hugged Nick to comfort him or Tara hugged Elle or Tara hugged Nick, etc. These are really showing the importance of these relationships. That is one thing that Charlie definitely learned. His relationship with Nick is vitally important to him, but he also needs to make sure he is maintaining his friendships with everyone else and he needs to care for his relationships with his family. Nick definitely needs to learn this, and I hope that Charlie can help him learn it.

Speaking of Isaac, I do have to talk briefly about James. The two of them appear to remain friends, and James has figured out that Isaac is asexual. But James more or less disappeared from the show. I really wish they had him in longer. There may have been a reason for why he wasn't in as much, but I definitely felt the lack of his presence.

On a last Isaac note, I was a little distressed that they are apparently taking away the storyline of Tori being aro/ace. In the comics, she tells Charlie this while they are on the ferris wheel. It is possible that she will turn out to be aro/ace in season 4, but I was looking forward to that part of their talk on the ferris wheel and we didn't get it.

Speaking of Tori, I thought she did a lot this season. Her concern for Charlie was omnipresent and she and Nick were working well together to help Charlie as much as possible. I appreciated that she messaged Nick while he was on vacation, which is what led to him calling Charlie and Charlie admitting to having an eating disorder. And then there was here and Michael Holden. He was just hilarious because he had a very monotone, matter-of-fact voice and would just randomly walk up and say stuff. You didn't get a lot of the two of them together, but what we did get was amusing.

And now for the rest of the characters.

Mr. Farouk and Mr. Ajayi were so cute together. They are dating and trying (and completely failing!) to hide it from the students. And as I said above, I loved the scene where Mr. Farouk said that students would be inspired by Charlie running and saw his younger self. As I said in the first season, I really feel for Mr. Farouk. Like him, I came out really late in life, so I missed out on all the queer teen experiences. I also grew up in a conservative family, so that had something to do with it as well. And I know there are other adults who feel the same way. It also mirrors the way we feel about the show itself. I really wish this show (or one like it) could have been out when I was younger. It would have really helped me out.

Mr. and Mrs. Spring are the well-meaning parents, who don't always get it right. Charlie and his mom butt heads a lot. As I said before, I think he is sometimes unduly suspicious of her motives. That being said, she doesn't help matters by being the parent who comes down way too hard when she doesn't know what else to do. I hope she keeps on doing better.

I also loved the fact that they had Oliver on the show, even if it was as a younger cousin rather than a brother. I get the change, since it would be a lot to have to deal with a 7- or 8-year-old on set, but I still sort of wish he was there. So, getting to see him, even if it was in a limited capacity, was quite fun.

Geoff was quite good. I loved the rapport he and Charlie had. He helped Charlie to open up and to be able to take some quite large personal steps. I wonder if Charlie will keep on seeing him.

Now about season 4. As of this writing, we do not know that there will be one for sure. I really hope that there is one so that Alice has a chance to wrap up Nick and Charlie's story (as well as everyone else's). If it comes out, I am suspecting the very end of 2025 or (more likely) early 2026. But we'll have to see. I know the few pages Alice has drawn and released so far from Volume 6, but I don't have a sense of the overarching story yet. Assuming season 4 is created, it should include volume 6 and the novella Nick & Charlie, which covers the tail end of Nick's time at Truham. So I can't say what I hope to see from the comics, because it isn't out yet. But here is what I think we'll be seeing:

[1] Charlie and the Head Boy race

[2] Nick developing his own identity apart from his relationship with Charlie.

[3] Elle, Imogen, Nick, and Tara deciding what to do after they finish 6th form

[4] Imogen figuring out who she is (in a relationship or out of one)

That's all I can think of at the moment. I am hoping to hear soon about season 4.

Young Royals Thoughts

Last night, I watched the series finale of Young Royals. For those of you who do not know about Young Royals, it is (was?) a Swedish show on Netflix about a prince (Wilhelm or Wille, played by Edvin Rydings) who meets a half-Swedish/half- Latin American student named Simon (played by Omar Rudberg) at Hillerska, a fancy boarding school. Omar is Venezuelan and Swedish, but the never specify (that I can find or remember) where Simon's mom is from, so Latin American is the best descriptor I can think of. Simon is very much a common person, he and his sister Sara (played by Frida Argento) are only at the school because they have scholarships. He is often referred to as a Socialist, but that seems to be a disparaging remark aimed at his not being rich and his more egalitarian views.

In the first season, Simon and Wille meet and quickly develop feelings for each other. BY the end of episode 3, they are secretly together and then Wille's brother Erik (the crown prince) is killed in a car accident, so Wille becomes crown prince. At the end of episode 4, they have sex and are filmed by August (played by Malte Gardinger), Wille's second cousin. At the end of episode 5, August releases the video online. Under pressure from the Royal Court and his mother, Wille says that the person in the video wasn't him. He also tells Simon that he wants them to be together secretly, but Simon says no. Near the end of episode 6 (the finale), Felice (played by Nikita Uggla), a student at the school who had a crush on Wille, figures out that August released the video and tells Wille, who is incensed. He gets even angrier after he learns that his mom already knew and decided to say nothing to protect the family.

Season 2 focuses on Wille trying to get revenge on August by systematically taking away everything he cares about, Wille adapting to his role as Crown Prince, and Wille and Simon trying to figure out their feelings in the midst of everything. The Royal Court decides to make August Wille's backup after he goes off on his mom and the Court because he was forced to deny his feelings for Simon and he threatens to no longer fulfill his royal duties. August and Sara also start a relationship, with him telling her that he wants to make up for what he did. The season ends with Simon telling Wille that he wants them to be together even if it is in secret and Wille revealing to the world (in a speech being broadcast on live TV) that it was him on the video tape.

Season 3 focuses on the aftermath of this revelation. Simon and Wille are openly together and Simon is being harassed by people online and his house is damaged when someone throws a rock through the window. They realize that there are some pretty big differences in view that they hadn't really thought about. Wille gets worried about becoming the king too soon because his mother's health and mental state have taken a turn for the worse due to everything that has happened. At Wille's 17th birthday party (just Wille, Simon, and Wille's parents), Wille goes off on his parents for not supporting him and not being the parents he needed. After this, Simon breaks up with him because he can't be trapped in the troubles that are going on in the Royal Family. In the finale, Wille decides that he really doesn't want to be King and that August would, in fact, make a better king, so he abdicates his position as Crown Prince and decides to be with Simon.

So that's 18 episodes (each season has 6) summed up pretty quickly. In terms of time, the show takes place over the course of a single school year. Wille comes to Hillerska during the fall term and the first season ends right before their winter (Christmas?) break. Season 2 starts in January and goes for a month or two. Season 3 ends with the school year ending. Now, let's talk about characters.

Wille is the central character of the show. It really is his story that is being told and his actions that move things along. He was sent to Hillerska after he got into a fight which was taped and posted online. His position as a member of the Royal Family is what causes the tension between him and Simon. His fighting with August has consequences throughout the second and third seasons which makes his abdicating in favor of August surprising. That being said, I think his abdication makes sense. I was surprised at how unprepared Wille was to be Crown Prince. Granted, he had an older brother who was Crown Prince, but you'd think they'd prepare him just to be safe. But they didn't and it shows. Wille is decidedly uninterested in being Crown Prince, he does it because he feels that he has to and because he wants to honor Erik's memory. In the third season, August reveals that Erik was one of a group of people who hazed him (and others) by making them watch gay porn while naked and disciplining them if they got an erection. This shook Wille's memory of Erik and was, I think, one reason why Wille was able to choose to abdicate: he no longer felt that he had to live up to the image he had of his brother in his mind. Wille could be quite impulsive, which is also not the best quality in a prince. 

Simon is not the central character, but he is right there next to Wille. After Wille, he is the one who has the biggest storylines throughout the series.  I really don't think he seriously thought about what it meant to be the boyfriend of a member of the Royal Family until near the third season. Don't get me wrong, he obviously knew that Wille was a member of the Royal Family, but it doesn't seem that he actually realized or thought about how that would affect him or their relationship. Wille keeps trying to tell him that there are limits to what can be said or done online, but Simon just does not get it until the fifth episode of the third season. Before that episode, I think he had an idea because the Royal Court has to step in to protect him after his house has the rock thrown through the window and they tell him that he will need to curb his online presence for safety's sake. And when Wille yells at his parents, Simon is completely shocked because he didn't get that Wille was really angry because he wasn't getting the parental support and love he needed. In the finale, he told Wille that he wasn't breaking up with Wille, but that he was breaking up with the Royal Family. And yes, I think this was also part of what got Wille to stop being Crown Prince.

And now for August. He is proof of the idea that abused people abuse others. He is a distant part of the Royal Family and his family had wealth, but it was lost and he ends up needing Wille's help (although he doesn't know it at first) to stay at Hillerska. He is prefect and captain of the rowing team and a star student. He loves having power and status, so much so that when Wille threatens that power to protect Simon, he releases the video Simon and Wille having sex. For the record, non-consensually taping 2 underage people (or any two people for that matter) having sex is horrific enough, but to then release it into the world is even worse. I would deem it unforgivable, and I know Wille agrees. I liked that August, in the finale, actually apologized for what he did. He had said something before that, but it didn't really seem sincere to me. I also loved that Wille told him he appreciated the apology but didn't forgive him or accept it. I thought that was the right thing to do. This was another part of Wille deciding to abdicate. He managed to let go of what August did and realized that August would enjoy being Crown Prince when Wille would not, making the choice incredibly mature.

I love Felice. She is newly rich and part of the modern nobility, who are looked down on by the families who have been around for longer. She really is a wonderful, loving girl and great friend, especially to Wille, who really needs a friend who is more familiar with his world than Simon is. Once they become friends partway through the first season, she and Wille only have one blip in their friendship. That is when Wille kisses her in the second season because he is trying to see if he could make a relationship with a girl work. She is hurt because he knew that she had a crush on him. Once he realizes what he did (he forgot about the crush), he instantly apologizes for what he did and they hug it out. I really do not think he could have asked for a better friend. Felice is also friends with Sara and that becomes fraught (for reasons I'll get to in a bit). She also had sex with August, who likes her, but she doesn't like him at all.

Sara is a very interesting character. She has ADHD and is on the autism spectrum (she says she has Aspergers), which leads her to not be the best with people (although she is great with horses) and towards a certain amount of social awkwardness. She becomes good friends with Felice (because Felice has a horse that Sara helps take care of) and eventually starts a relationship with August, which causes problems with Felice because Felice finds out Sara knew what August did and started a relationship anyway. She broke off the relationship after she realized that he wasn't going to admit to what he had done, so she turned him in, which caused a ton of problems on its own and caused a rift to form between her and Simon. Sara was separated from everyone else for most of the third season, but she and Felice eventually made up. She is a little snobby at first, wanting Simon and their mom to have sparkling manners, but became better relatively quickly. At the end of the fifth episode of the third season, she and August kissed, which he thought meant they were getting back together un 

Overall, I really loved this show. I was really surprised at how similar Swedish is to English. There were a whole bunch of words which were close enough to English that I could have understood them even without the subtitles. And the actors' English was remarkable, for the most part pretty accentless. I could not stand August and almost wish he had been exiled at the end of the series, but (on reflection), I like the ending. Wille gave up the crown of his own free will rather than having it taken from him, which makes all the difference in the world. I do feel sorry for August because of the "hazing" he endured, but I also can never forgive someone who tapes other people having sex and then releases it. And to add to everything, he outed Wille (Simon was already out to people), which is equally heinous. So he did something unforgivable three times over. He only escaped punishment because he had dirt on Wille and Simon, both of whom did things out of character because of August's influence.

I'm going to talk about the show on the April 11 episode of Queerly Popular. Please tune into it if you are interested. You can also see all my past episodes including reviews of Heartstopper; Love Victor; Love Simon; and Red, White, and Royal Blue (book and movie). 

Heartstopper Season 2 Review

 I watched Heartstopper season 2 last night and it was wonderful. Just like season 1, it kept to all the big points in the comics and expanded the scope to give you more about different characters, particularly the supporting cast. Last season was all about Nick and Charlie getting together with hints of a Tao and Elle romance and some Tara and Darcy thrown in. With Nick and Charlie together and spending their time learning more about each other and figuring out how to come out (Nick individually and as a couple), that gave us more of a chance to see Tao and Elle's relationship develop, get a glimpse into the inner working of Tara and Darcy, learn more about Isaac and Imogen, and be introduced to a few new characters.

So, let's start with the heart of the show, Nick and Charlie. I want to start with looking at them as a couple and then examining their individual journeys. I loved seeing the two of them together openly in front of their friends. There was a whole lot of kissing going on and Charlie actually got rebellious! (more on that later) These two are so in love with each other and that is what helps keep everything light even as we explore darker themes like self-harm and mental health issues. Both of them are determined to protect the other, which can be the one flaw in the relationship. Don't get me wrong, protecting your partner is a good thing for the most part, but it can be taken too far, which happened with Charlie (again, more on this later). But otherwise, the two of them have a tremendously healthy and functional relationship. They are mostly good at communicating (again, Charlie has an issue here, and again, more on this later), and seem to get how far they can push the other to talk if they are not willing to. This stands in marked contrast to Charlie's relationship with Ben which was a mirror image.

While we're there, let's discuss Ben before digging into Charlie and Nick. Ben's part in Heartstopper is at an end. To be honest, I was surprised he got as much screentime as he did last year given the fact that he basically disappeared from the comics after he assaulted Charlie. But I get why Alice kept him around. Like him or not, Ben is an important part of Charlie's story. He showed Charlie everything a relationship *SHOULD NOT* be. After Charlie was outed, Ben caught him at a low point and then used his charms to get what he wanted (kissing a boy) while denying Charlie everything *HE* wanted (a boyfriend). This led Charlie to think that he was only worthy of the scraps Ben was giving him. To Charlie's credit, he realized that he deserved more before he got together with Nick, but the way Nick was treating him and seeing Ben kiss a girl made him realize how badly Ben was treating him. I really appreciated that Alice allowed us to bring Charlie to the point where he was able to tell Ben that he was not going to be forgiven but that Charlie hoped he could be better. That last conversation gave Charlie the closure he needed to put Ben behind him. I will say that in the comics, that conversation was actually between Charlie and Harry after Harry showed up at Tara's birthday party. I was a little upset it wasn't there because I loved seeing Charlie standing up for himself, but when I saw that it was used with Ben, that helped. The conversation worked much better as closure for the Charlie/Ben relationship than it did with Harry, although it was a very satisfying putdown when directed at Harry. Getting the background that Ben's parents won't accept him also gives me sympathy for him. No, I don't mean that I like him or that I think any of what he did was justified. However, I do have some sympathy for his situation. He has parents who won't accept the real him and he needed something he could control, which ended up being his personal relationships (first Charlie and then Imogen). I do truly believe that he has feelings for Charlie, but I am not sure if those feelings are love. It was definitely not a good love, it was more of the controlling thing people call "love". Anyway, Ben is gone now. I'll miss Bash, but I won't miss manipulative, controlling Ben. I do also have to say that I felt sorry for him when the rainbow wave came close to lapping at his shoes before he walked away. It seemed to symbolize him not being accepting of the queer community and walking away from it.

And now back to the characters we actually love. Let's start with Nick because his stuff is less complicated than Charlie's. He's newly out and trying to figure out how to navigate the coming out process. He wants to tell people, but is scared of doing so, something most (if not all) queer people are intimately familiar with. Coming out is scary, particularly at first. Nick told his mom and Charlie's friends and now wants to figure out how to tell his friends. And he's concerned about how they'll take it given how badly they treated Charlie when he was outed and even after he joined the team. Watching him struggle to tell Imogen was the one part when I got a little annoyed with him. After his mom, she is the safest person for him to tell. I know, my annoyance was unfair, but he was so close to telling her a few times and then backed down right as he was at the edge of telling her. Don't get me wrong, I fully support telling everyone when you are ready, but being that close and then backing away for a non-obvious reason was like teasing the audience. But when he was actually ready to tell her and she then told him, I had to laugh. She was so mortified about it, it was funny. And her immediate reaction to give him a hug was the perfect reaction. He needed that from her. And then there were his rugby friends. Given how they treated Charlie, there was a ton of distance at first. I liked that they kept in the scene where the one friend said that Nick and Charlie were good mates (to the other's annoyance) because it was just amusing. Then there was his dad and brother. I just don't have a ton to say about either. David is a bully and an asshole, period. He forced Nick to out himself to his dad (art imitating life imitating art) and was just an all-around bad guy. And Stephane was....well, he just was. He hasn't been much of a presence in their lives at all. I'm glad Nick realized that his dad's approval really didn't mean much at all, but that was a sucky time and way to realize it.  On a good poing, when Nick came out at Tara's birthday, I so loved it. Same with when he posted that pic on Instagram. He got to a place where he is comfortable sharing, which is a good thing.

Then there was the biphobia and bierasure. First, everyone assuming that he was gay because he's dating Charlie, although most people seemed to not say anything again after he and Charlie specified that he is bi. And then there was David who insisted that Nick is actually gay, just not wanting to come out completely. Bi is bi is bi is bi. No matter who a bi person dates, their bi. And all this stuff was really affecting Nick's ability to come out and to be comfortable with himself. In episode 3, he had a Charlielike vision of people beating him down verbally because of all the biphobia and bierasure that was being flung at him. 

And now for Charlie. Charlie is complicated, not the least because he has trauma from being outed and bullied, trauma from Ben, and now he is trying to be uber-protective of Nick's coming out. I loved that he wanted Nick to come out in his own time, but he was so concerned with Nick that he was neglecting himself. This neglecting of himself and his needs stems, at least in part, from what happened with Ben. Even though Charlie intellectually knows that he is deserving of everything Nick is giving him, he still has emotional scars from everything that happened to him. And that leads him to hide some things that he should talk about and also leads him to not think about his own needs while he is caring for Nick. Seeing him rip into Harry or Ben was always satisfying if only because it is showing growth on his part. He is feeling secure enough to defend himself, which is a good thing. As for his rebelliousness at the beginning, I am going to have to admit that I am with his parents. He is in a relationship, which is great for him, but his grades are slipping as a result of it. I don't like the idea of not allowing them to see each other, but I do think it was coming from a good place. I get why Charlie is being rebellious, but he was having a problem that needed to be solved. It was a situation with no great solutions to it unfortunately. So, I will say that I see both sides and leave it at that. The whole hickey situation was an absolute riot. I loved the look on his and Nick's face when they saw the hickey.

The other big storyline for Charlie, which actually started last season albeit very subtly, was his disordered eating. Last season, we saw him not eating when he was stressed or upset. For example, at the movie theatre with Ben, Harry, and the rugby lads. Or when he sat in the corner of the classroom, opened his lunch and didn't eat it. Or when Tori offered him food in the last episode, but he didn't take it. But this season, it reached new heights. And I think a lot of it had to do with him stressing out about Nick not coming out. He wanted Nick to come out, but also didn't want to force anything. For someone who has mental health concerns, holding that tension is practically guaranteed to cause problems. Don't get me wrong, he was not to force Nick to come out. But we also have to acknowledge that Nick's not coming out was causing him tremendous mental and emotional stress. And it culminated with Charlie passing out in the Louvre. Fortunately, Nick was there to catch him, so he didn't end up getting hurt, but it was scary. I appreciated that he eventually opened up about his issues around food and his previous self-harm to Nick. And I loved that Nick seemed to know just how hard to push and knew how to ask questions to get Charlie to open up about what was going on and what had happened. The two of them need to continue communicating with each other and things will be good.

Next, I want to tackle Elle and Tao. The feeling between the two of them were pretty obvious last season, so seeing them tentatively taking steps to become a couple was cute to see. I wanted to smack Tao on the first date because he was trying way too hard. And I do get that that is who he is. He is the person who goes over the top and gets super dramatic. So, when he toned it down in the future, that made me happy because that is what Elle really wanted. She didn't want him to only do what she wanted, she wanted him to be himself because that is who she developed feelings for. Eventually he got that, and that is when things took a turn for the better. I *LOVED* Elle's prom dress, that was incredibly gorgeous. And her painting was so beautiful. Her safe space is Charlie, Isaac, and Tao. That gave me all the feelings.

As for Tao, I now have a bit more sympathy for him from the first season. It's no secret that I felt that he was not a good friend in the first season because he did not listen to Charlie and what he needed. He said he was trying to protect Charlie, and I think he thought he was, but by not listening to Charlie, he was not being helpful at all. Having said all that, this season had two revelations that gave insight into why he acted the way he did. First, he lost his dad when he was 12 and this led to him having a fear that people were going to leave him. The other revelation is that he knows he probably inadvertantly outed Charlie, which led to the bullying and to Ben. In the comics, Aled tells Charlie that he thinks this happened, but in the show Tao knows this himself. Knowing these things, it gives me sympathy for him. He overreacted to events from last season because he didn't want to lose Charlie and because he was feeling guilty about what he did (however inadvertant it was), so he was being overzealous about protecting Charlie. Doesn't make me like it, but it helps me understand him and softens the edges just a smidge.

And now for Tara and Darcy. Seeing more of Darcy's home life and how hard she has it made me want to give her a big, massive bear hug. Her mom is homophobic and not a great mom. It seems like she and Darcy fight a lot, which is why Darcy isn't out to her and has never had Tara over. It is also why Darcy is so overtly out at school. School is a place that is safer than her home, so she is overcompensating. Watching the two of them flip the normal script was interesting. Last season, Darcy was the loud, confident one and Tara was quieter and still working things out. But this season, we saw Darcy's brashness as the cover it truly is, which just leads to a whole ton of sympathy for her. They need to work on communicating a bit better (mainly Darcy, TBH), but they have a solid relationship that should be able to withstand a lot.

And last, but definitely not least, Isaac. I was trying to figure out where to put his story in here. Leaving it until last gives the impression that his story is lesser (which it isn't) but I didn't want it getting lost between longer paragraphs about couples, so I went with it as the final person in the group. We've known since last year that this season was going to be about him realizing that he is asexual, so seeing that be his story for the season was nice. I loved that James was interested in him and kept flirting with him. That made me happy. When they kissed and Isaac did not react to it, I felt so bad for James. I think that Isaac was hoping to feel something for James after they kissed, but he didn't. And add to that the fact that everyone around him was coupling up and that they kept asking him when he was going to kiss someone, and I get why he exploded at them. It can't be easy being a romantic (remember him reacting to Narlie last season?) and not feeling what you "should be" feeling according to everyone else. Meeting the aro ace artist was very good for him though. It gave him a label and also allowed him to have an idea of who he might be. I am really looking forward to seeing more of this story next season. The other thing I loved was when they showed him asking Harry why he lacked empathy. Having that conversation made Harry defending Nick and Charlie on the Eiffel Tower make sense. In the comics, there wasn't a reason given for Harry's sudden change of heart, so seeing the reason here was really cool. Great addition.

And now for the remaining characters:

Imogen is just fun. A little dramatic on occasion, but fun. And she needs to get better taste in guys. Granted, having the hots for Nick shows good taste, but the fact that he is utterly besotted with Charlie made that a no go. And having the hots for Ben? Oh honey, you can really do better than that.

James was a cool addition. His character did exist in the comics where Charlie was dared to kiss him (just like in the show, albeit for different reasons), so this just expanded his character and gave him a bit more to do. If you didn't realize it, he is the student who asked Mr. Ajayi if he was going to make Nick play rugby after Nick ran off the field and then off with Charlie on Sports Day. I feel bad for him that things didn't work out with Isaac, and I hope he sticks around and becomes a part of the group.

Naomi and Felix were also cool. Neither really did a whole lot, but I expect we'll see them next year, assuming Elle goes to the art school. I didn't realize Bel Priestly (Naomi) was trans, so when she revealed that it was a surprise to me. I love this show and the way they have honest, accurate representation. Except for Isaac being asexual (at least as far as I know). But Alice is aro ace, so I think the representation there should be good.

I also loved Sahar. I don't remember her being bisexual in the comics (although I may be not remembering properly) but seeing that was cool. So, we now have a gay guy (Charlie), bi guy (Nick), 2 lesbians (Tara and Darcy), a bi girl (Sahar), 2 trans girls (Elle and Naomi), and an asexual guy (Isaac). I know that the actor who plays Felix is trans (I believe a trans guy, but I could be wrong), but I don't know if the character is, so I don't want to include him of the list yet. I will say that I was pretty upset at someone who was live tweeting the show and revealed that Sahar was a "bi icon". I don't like live tweeting a show like this where it is going to spoil stuff for people and having that spoiled upset me.

I am wondering if Harry is going to get some sort of redemption arc. He hasn't in the comics, and I don't want him to get one at Charlie's expense, but if he can genuinely become a better person for the sake of becoming a better person, that would be cool.

Loved that they kept the Mr. Ajayi and Mr. Farouk romance in the show. LOVED IT!

And then there was the dinner party from hell. That came *A LOT* earlier than it did in the comics, but I don't think that should have much affect at all. I talked about it a little before, so I don't want to dwell on it now other thatn to say that it helped clear the air of some things that needed to be said. And it felt like a little jab at the people who forced Kit to out himself. Yes, I know it was just like in the comics, but it still felt like a well justified jab.

And then there was the ending, Did Charlie send the note to Nick? I hope not, because I so want to see the scene where Nick is in the shower and Charlie says I love you and then Nick chases him down the street because that is just iconic. But doing that does depend on Kit being comfortable doing that, so it may or may not happen.

And that is all for season 2. Can't wait for season 3!

My Thoughts About Love Victor's Final Season

I watched the final season of Love Victor last night and my feelings were complicated, to say the least. I was really, really excited for this season and I felt like it really didn't live up to what it could have been. When they announced that the third season would be the last season and would only be 8 episodes, I was concerned. And as it turns out, I was right to be concerned. Having said all this, I didn't hate the season, I was just disappointed and didn't love it either.

Let's start, like we have in the past, with looking at the different characters. I want to start off with (surprise, surprise) Victor. One thing I have appreciated is seeing how much he's grown over the course of three seasons. In the first season, he relied on Simon very heavily because he didn't have anyone else to talk to while he figured stuff out. Then, in the second season, he would turn to Simon less and less frequently as things with Benji progressed. The whole sex message debacle turned out to be very much a one off last season, and a very amusing one at that. the season ended with Victor telling Simon that he could stand on his own now that he had a support system in place. This season, we never heard from Simon at all. And that was a good thing. Victor has learned to stand on his own and has been getting better about standing up for himself and what he want/needs. He's still not great about it all the time (I totally relate to this!), but he is better.

Victor and Benji have a tremendously complicated relationship. Turns out that Benji's drinking never really stopped, he only drank when he was stressed. I was glad to see him go to rehab, because he needed the help, but also because it gave him a chance to really work on the shit that gave them trouble last year. As I said in a prior post, "I think Benji was feeling tremendous pressure to be the perfectly knowledgeable boyfriend/guru, which is not a good combination. He seemed to feel that he couldn’t share his feelings with Victor because he didn’t want Victor to shut down, but he needed to find a way to share them. When he didn’t, he exploded at Victor and one thing led to another and they took a break. Benji seemed to think that he couldn’t be vulnerable or needy or anything other than the strong flying buttress of support. And no one can be that." Because Victor was so new to everything, Benji felt that he had to be ok with everything and that led to him bottling things up, which led to the fight at Benji's birthday dinner and the fight when Isabel walked in on them having sex. I loved that Benji decided to really take time and work on his own stuff.

I can't say I'm as fond of his decision to completely walk away from Victor for most of the season. I get not wanting a boyfriend, that really makes sense. But Victor is also his friend and that is where I have trouble. That being said, what Victor and Benji have is really intense, so I don't know if Benji could have been just a friend with Victor. It's really, really obvious that Victor and Benji really care about each other, like when Benji saw Victor upset in the hall and came up to find out what was going on. That was really cool, but I also think Victor had the right reaction. Benji wanted to cut off contact and then they met through the app (which was completely hilarious, BTW) and then Benji's dad came over and told Victor in no uncertain terms to stay away from Benji. More on that in a bit. So Victor's getting mixed messages about what Benji wants, is conflicted about the award, and is generally feeling like he is just hurting people. Was he a unfair to Benji? Maybe a bit, but I also think the reaction was completely understandable. All that said, the tie these two share is undeniable. Hence, Victor going to make a final plea to Benji to not go to boarding school and the ending make sense. And I'll have more to say about the ending later.

As for Benji's dad, I wanted to hurt him so badly. I know that he thought he was protecting Benji, but he really wasn't. He just saw Victor as someone who was hurting Benji and refused to see that his own actions had caused and were causing so much more damage. Between telling Benji he wasn't smart, the homophobic comment about not wanting Benji to be gay, to taking Benji to the strip club, to insisting that Victor was bad for Benji, he just kept causing damage. And trying to foist off Benji's relapse as all Victor's fault? That pissed me off so much. Laying all that on a 16-year old is just beyond unfair and just makes me see red. I was so glad when Victor told Benji what his dad did and I also loved that he completely ignored Benji's dad when he went to talk to Benji. That was fun.

And parents being clueless about how to help their kids and the damage they were doing to their kids was really a theme this season. Ok, this has been happening for the entire show. The first season, we had Isabel and Armando fighting constantly and Lake's mom belittling her in the name of "improving" her. The second season, we had Isabel's horrible reaction to Victor's coming out, more about Lake's mom, Mia's dad lying about Stanford, and Benji's parents just being clueless upper class white parents (sorry, I can't think of another way to put that). This season we had Isabel trying to set Victor up with Nick over Victor and Armando's objections, Armando being way too overprotective where Pilar was concerned (it felt really misogynistic), Lake's mom continuing to put Lake down, Mia's mom, Rahim's mom shoving Rahim back into the closet, and Benji's dad. Interestingly, the only parent who we saw who wasn't this way was Felix's mom.  And that was because their relationship has been one where Felix was the parent figure and now she can be and is really stepping up. I loved that both Lake and Rahim sat down with their moms to explain how their actions were causing pain. That was a good thing.

And now we have Isabel. I love the fact that she really was trying to make up for what she did. She was feeling really, really guilty over how she treated Victor and Benji and she was determined to be the perfect ally for Victor. So much so that it annoyed Victor. But, unlike last season when he was only really able to swallow his thoughts to avoid conflict or get upset at her, this season he very calmly explained that while he appreciated the thought behind what she was doing, she really needed to listen to what he needed. And she did. This is the relationship that Victor really could have used last season. When he and Isabel sat down and actually talked through stuff, it was really amazing. She gives good advice and is a great listener. It was definitely really nice to see them together again.

As for her introducing Nick, this is one area I was definitely conflicted about. First off, I wasn't happy that they brought in a new love interest in the last season, especially because it was a short season. I did appreciate that he did help Victor get through some of the time after Benji broke up with him, but I cannot say I felt any spark between the two of them. Don't get me wrong, they were gorgeous together and they were obviously physically attracted to each other, but I can't say that I ever felt like there was anything more than that. So having the two of them not stay together was a good thing, particularly after Nick realized that Victor was still majorly hung up on Benji.

As for Victor trying to help Liam, that just made me cringe. I get that he really did have good intentions, but in trying to force a bond with Liam to help him, he massively overstepped. The reason Simon was able to help him and the reason he was able to help Rahim was because he and Rahim reached out to get help. Liam never did. Victor just heard the notification from the app go off and realized that Liam had the app to and decided to just step in. Not a good idea. That said, he seemed to have learned his lesson, so hopefully he won't try that again. And seeing Liam and Nick end up together was sort of funny.

As for Rahim, he and Victor had a rocky road this season, First, Victor chose Benji and then just tried to pretend that everything was ok with Rahim without ever actually checking in to make sure Rahim was ok. And then there was the award. This was the tricky one. I get why Victor was reluctant to take it, but I also really get why Rahim was insistent on Victor taking it. Being awarded for existing (as Victor saw it) does seem a little degrading and infantilizing. However, what Victor was missing is that the award meant a lot to people like Rahim, people who aren't as straight passing as Victor is. Seeing the homophobia when the group was at the restaurant was shocking because there hasn't been that much blatant homophobia in the series. Yes, there were people on the basketball team who were being homophobic when Victor came out and Rahim did meet up with the femmephobic guy at Brasstown, but it wasn't as bad as what we saw there. And that really opened Victor's eyes. I hated that it took that to open his eyes, but it was nice to see Victor learn from Rahim. Victor never meant to hurt Rahim, but he managed to several times. Seeing Rahim end up happy with Connor was really nice.

And now about that ending. That was one part I really disliked. Let me start off by saying that I am not a fan of ambiguous endings. I appreciate that they didn't want to end it like this was the end of their life or their story, but I really think we deserved more of a concrete ending than what we got. I assume that Victor and Benji got back together given the fact that they were kissing, but I am really not sure given that Benji was talking about how he still had a lot of stuff to work on. I really felt that having some sort of coda on the end would have made it so much better. Not a flashforward through their whole lives, but if there could have been a scene of the Victor, Benji, Lake, Felix, and Andrew graduating with Victor and Benji together and happy, that would have given us more of a sense of closure and finality for this chapter of their lives. Instead, it just petered off which left me feeling incredibly unsatisfied, a little confused, and not happy. I did like that they let us know people's next steps, but the whole thing also felt a bit rushed.

I would actually say that about most of the season. It felt like they knew where they wanted people to end up and they came up with stories to explain it. It's not that the stories didn't make sense, it's that they felt a little inorganic. If they had a longer season or even just one more season, I think it would have made everything a whole lot better. Just overall I can't say that this season was anywhere near as good as the other two and that was a big disappointment for me personally.

So now onto other characters. Let's start with Benji. We got to see how he ended up drinking and we got to see the leadup to and the aftermath of the Accident. I really did appreciate seeing the troubles he had. In the first season, he was pretty chill and seemed to have it all together. That came apart in the second season when he and Victor fought and the third season explores why Benji is the way he is. He is someone who is always anxious and drank to combat that. As for his parents, while they may have wanted the best for him, they never knew how to help him. In fact, they caused a lot of his problems. Watching Benji blame Lucy for the pics of guys in various states of undress was both amusing and cringeworthy. I probably would have done something similar. Actually I did, only it wasn't to my parents. It was to my roommate the first semester of my junior year at college. I let him use my computer and he stumbled across some pages I looked at (no nudity, just shirtless or underwear shots from what I remember). So I totally related. I just wonder if Lucy ever found out about that. And I loved that Benji eventually decided to let Victor know about his feelings. Unfortunately, just like last season, he has a horrible sense of timing. Of course, that's expected from a drama, so it wasn't shocking.

I did love watching Benji and Rahim together. Benji was, for obvious reasons, pissed at Rahim. As for suspecting Rahim released the news he was in rehab, I get that but it was also a tad bit unfair (from an outsider's perspective). When it turned out that Rahim ended up being Benji's tutor, I just giggled. Forcing the two of them together was a good thing. It let Benji see that Rahim is not the awful person he thought he was, while also giving Rahim the chance to see Benji as a person. So it was something they both needed.

I'll also say that I am glad there was no real love triangle this season. I am never fond of those, so not having one made me happy. As for my thoughts about a triad, I still think it would have been nice, but given all the givens, I feel like it was a good thing that it didn't happen. I don't know if Benji would have been in a good enough place emotionally to handle an open relationship. The other issue is that the intensity of Benji and Victor's feelings for each other would probably have caused problems for the third person. And Rahim deserved better than that. I do think he and Victor could have been good together, but seeing him happy with someone who accepts him as he is was such a wonderful ending that I'm just happy for him.

Now for Felix and Pilar. I have to say that I sympathize with Pilar when it comes to hiding things from Armando. Watching him not know how to handle her having a boyfriend was how I was expecting him to act regarding Victor being gay last season. He was all machismo and misogynistic overprotectiveness and it was ugly. I really did not like him for a while. As for Felix choosing to not get Armando and Isabel mad, I have a lot of sympathy. It's obvious that he had to grow up way too fast and he never really had a solid parent figure in his life. He had to take care of his mom when she was unwell and be the adult in that relationship. So having parental figures who were actually parents was something he needed and couldn't just give up. I don't know what that means for him and Pilar (again, their ending was really ambiguous), but it seems like they're at least friends again.

Lucy and Lake were adorable. Watching Lake completely freak out about being attracted to Lucy and various other things (like sex with her) was actually adorable. There were some parallels between Lake and Victor in terms of coming to terms with their identities, but there were also a lot of differences. Neither Lake nor Lucy never labelled themselves. Based on what we saw, I would guess that Lake is bi or pan and that Lucy is a lesbian. My guess about Lucy mainly has to do with the fact that she indicated that some stuff had made her some to realizations about herself and I am assuming she is referring to Andrew here. I could be completely wrong about her, but that was my sense. The fact that they never labelled themselves is something that seems to be more and more common. I see a lot of youth insisting that labels aren't important, and when you're younger I really get that. You're figuring things out and trying on different labels to see what works. However, for me, I find labels to be really important. Not because they box you in, but because they let people know who you are and they can help you find a group with similar interests. That said, using or not using a particular label is a really personal thing and I get why some people may not use them.

Mia and Andrew. You know, I really wish they just wouldn't have gone to see Mia's mom because it was such a wasted opportunity. They got a great actress and barely used her. I know there could have been a lot of reasons for that, but it still felt like it was nothing more than a device to sort of reconcile Mia and her dad. I get why Mia was upset about her mom going to Prague, but expecting her mom to just drop a fellowship she had already accepted on a moment's notice was massively unfair. I get why it was important to Mia, but it was also such a bad idea and she way overreacted to what her mom said. I enjoyed seeing her and Andrew together and loved seeing her figure out how she could still fit into Lake's life given that Lake now had a girlfriend. I also loved seeing her visit her dad and Veronica and thought that moving back out there was the right thing to do under the circumstances.

As for Andrew, that boy has grown up a lot since we first met him. He's still cocky and self assured, but he's not the asshole he once was. He figured out how to let the good person he was on the inside finally shine through, and that was a good thing. Was sacrificing his chance at letting a scout see him at a game to go with Mia to Palo Alto a good thing? I have my doubts. While I get that he's trying to be there for her, especially considering her abandonment issues, I'm not sure it was the right thing. That being said, I also get that he had to do what he felt was right.

I don't really have much more to say right now. I plan on rewatching the third season tomorrow night and seeing if I have any different reactions. If I do, I will post them here Saturday morning. But tonight, I will be rewatching Heartstopper for the 13th time. To sum up my feelings about this season, I felt that they could have done a lot better. A lot of the smaller beats felt good, but the ending and some of the bigger beats, particularly between Benji and Victor, just felt like they didn't live up to what it should have been. If I was ranking the seasons, I'd go Season 2 as my favorite, Season 1 as the middle, and Season 3 as my least favorite. Maybe that's gonna be controversial, but it is where I am right now.

If you have any thoughts, comment below.

Some Thoughts About the New Version of Gossip Girl

So I've been watching the new version of Gossip Girl on HBO Max and I've gotten through the first 6 episodes (the episodes before they took a short break). I watched the first two last fall, but couldn't get into it. But I heard good things about it and decided to give it another try. I'm not exactly regretting my decision, but the show is definitely not a great show.

I loved the original, even if it was completely wacky and severely problematic. It was a fun show to just immerse and lose yourself in for a brief period of time. Were the characters sometimes annoying? Oh, hell yeah. But they were also memorable and it was fun watching some of their convoluted plots play themselves out. I fell like the show lost its way in the last couple seasons and became too convoluted, but it was still fun to see.

The new version doesn't really have any of this. None of the main characters are super memorable. While I don't love drawing comparisons between characters from rebooted shows with characters from the original, here it is hard not to do, particularly since this show has taken great pains to tie itself to the original. So here are the comparisons that I see:

Julien is more or less a Serena lite with some Blairness thrown in. She's missing the drug habits and wants to rule/influence people (this is the Blairness part, Serena rarely actively wanted to rule unless she was pushing back against Blair), but she has a lot of Serena like qualities. I wish they had gone one way or the other. The show needs a Blair to really push things. And Monet doesn't count, because she's a supporting character, not a main character. 

Obie is a mix of Dan and Nate. He has a lot of physical similarities to Dan (particularly when he is the t-shirt and hat at the Halloween party) and he seems to have some of Dan's morality and wanting to support the non-elite, but he also has definite elements of Nate in his niceness some of his other attitudes.

Zoya is a mix of Dan and Jenny. She is definitely the outsider and wants to fit in, but she is also much less likely to compromise her morals the way Jenny did. 

Aki has Nateish elements. Like Obie, he is really kind and often the voice of reason. 

Max is Chuck (well, mostly). He is also the best of the characters IMNSHO. He's not quite as amoral as Chuck, but he chases anyone who catches his eye. I am definitely enjoying him.

Audrey doesn't seem to have a counterpart in the original. There's a bit of Blair in her in terms of attitude, but she is missing Blair's sense of entitlement to rule everything, which is part of what made Blair so much fun to watch. The closest she came to this was when she kept haranguing the hospital staff. I don't enjoy the haranguing itself, but it was still fun to watch because of its Blairishness.

Not going to bother with the adults except to say that having the teachers be Gossip Girl is just creepy and a large part of the reason I am not sure how much I actually want to keep watching this (there's more on other reasons below). I loved not knowing who Gossip Girl was in the original and really wish they had kept it that way.

As for Luna and Monet, I have a few thoughts. First off, Monet is the closest thing we have to a Blair on the show (although she is more of a Georgina in some ways). But unlike Blair, she wants to be the power behind the throne rather than being on the throne herself. And Luna is a somewhat interesting character, but also not really memorable. Also, I wish they would actually say whether or not the character is trans. When I look up character descriptions, she is labelled as trans (and the actress is trans), but (unless I completely missed it), they have never said so on the show. If they want her to be trans, they really need to say something explicitly because it isn't even hinted at.

My other big issue with the show is the pacing. Every time I see an episode, if I pause at some point during the episode, I invariably feel like I have been watching it longer than I actually have been. Like I'll think I'm 30-45 minutes in, but only be like 15-20 minutes in. It really drags a lot. This is not a good sign. When the show feels a lot longer than it is, that is a sign that the show is just not well paced.

I'll probably finish the first season, but unless the last 6 episodes are a *DRASTIC* improvement, I don't think I'll be back for a 2nd season. 

Some Thoughts About the Trailer for Love Victor Season 3

So it's finally here! The trailer for the third season of Love Victor has come out and I have some thoughts about it (I know, a total shock!).

A large part of the trailer focused on who Victor is going to choose. I've made my thoughts on that clear (see past blog entries for more), but lets deal with what we can see. Based on the trailer, I suspect that Victor goes to Benji's house because there are several shots of them talking in formal wear about what is going on between Victor and Rahim. Victor clearly wants to be with Benji, but he also clearly has feelings for Rahim and he tells Benji as much. At some point, Benji says that in order for them to have a chance, he needs to work on his own issues. I was so happy to see this because I have been saying that Benji has crap he needs to work on and that he and Victor need to work on stuff before getting back together. It also appears that Victor and Rahim remain friends and that Benji avoids them, at least for a while. He also makes it clear that he is not fond of Rahim, for understandable reasons. This tension is probably going to last the entire season. My bet is that Victor is going to pull a Simon, that is, he is going to invite the person he really wants to be with to ride with him on the ferris wheel in the last episode.

And then there is Nick, the new character played by Nico Greetham. Based on what we are seeing, it appears we have another contender for Victor's affection. Nick is someone Victor meets at church, so it appears that we will be exploring a more accepting version of religion this season, which will be nice. I have to say that I really hope this is one sided because I am not sure how many complications they can sort out in 8 episodes. Unless, of course, they're going for polyamory or Victor dating all three of them at once. That could be cool.

Lucy and Lake are officially going to be dating! I am curious what this means for the two of them. I assume they're both either bi or pan given that they've both been interested in and dated guys, but I could be wrong. Seeing them have 2 girls in a relationship is going to be really cool and interesting. And Felix's response to Lake's announcement was just funny. He was clearly flummoxed and was trying to be supportive, so naturally, he starts babbling.

Felix and Pilar keeping their relationship a secret from her parents? Not entirely sure why. His parents like Felix, so it can't be that. I gonna guess that it has something to do with Felix sort of being a part of the family, but I could be wrong. And it appears that the secret keeping is her idea, not his, so this could definitely be a source of tension for the two of them.

Mia and Andrew are going strong and they both seem to want their relationship to last forever. Not sure how likely that is, but you never know. And we see them seeing her mom, so this could be a very interesting ride. Given the fact that we see Mia holding a baby (presumably her half-sibling) and we see them in school, they come back after visiting her mom.

We don't get a lot about anyone else other than glimpses, so not a whole lot more to say.

So here are a couple of guesses about what will happen:

In episode 1, Victor and Benji talk and Benji leaves. I am betting that either in the episode or at the end, there will be a time jump to have Benji gone for a while and then coming back.

As I said above, in the last episode, Victor is going to try a last gambit to be with the guy he wants and will invite them onto the ferris wheel.

Given the descriptions released earlier, it seems that this season goes into their senior year (hence part of the reason for the guess about the time jump). Victor receives an award of some sort (the speech scene) and the descriptions talk about the gang making decisions about their future, so this really makes sense. It seems that season 2 was probably the first half of junior year (based on the first season being the 2nd half of their sophomore year), so if they want to do senior year, there is going to be at least one major time jump. A time jump in the beginning makes the most sense. It's also possible that there could be a time jump near the end of the last episode. For example, Victor goes on the ferris wheel with the guy he wants and then they have a time jump to their graduation or even further ahead.

Anyone else have any thoughts?

An Open Letter to Netflix About Heartstopper

Dear Netflix,

I'm not sure where you are in your process about whether or not to renew Heartstopper, and I'm not sure if one letter will make a difference, but here it goes.

I am a queer, transfeminine, non-binary individual who is 44 years old. Given my age, I am well outside of the target demographic for Heartstopper. But this show is a show that is tremendously important (for three examples, see here, here, and here; and there are a lot more out there) to a lot of people of wildly varying ages. There are teens who have used it to come out to their parents, who can see themselves finally portrayed in a joyous way on television, or can see the challenges that a lot of queer youth face.

For adults like myself, this show produces feelings of melancholy and intense joy. The melancholy comes because we never had this growing up. Growing up, I only ever heard jokes about queer people, I never heard anything good about being queer. If there was a queer person on TV, they were either the completely unsexualized sidekick or some sort of devious villain who backstabbed people or acted in other nefarious ways. Even queer movies were, for the most part, centered around sadness, trauma, and pain. Sure, you might have a movie which ends happily, but the path to getting there was one of pain because of the amount of crap the people had to get through to be with the person they loved. But seeing two teenagers who are falling in love and seeing it portrayed like it is on Heartstopper where their sexualities are important but not the focus of the show? That was something that I never would have even dreamt of. Seeing it now does bring on the intense feeling of joy because the new generation will be able to see this lovely relationship as it is growing and developing, just like cisgender, heterosexual people have seen their relationships grow and develop onscreen for decades.

Another reason this show is so important for me as an adult is that it allows me to have some experiences that I never had growing up. I always knew that I had feelings for guys growing up, but because of society and religion, I forced those feelings down and tried to erase them from myself. I never got to experience that young feeling of falling for a guy and just being with them. Did I have crushes on people? Absolutely, but I never allowed myself to even examine them because I was scared about how my family or friends or society might react. I had a teacher in middle school who people assumed was gay. He got sick and it was bandied about that he had AIDS (this was in 1990) and he was laughed at and about. That sort of thing is a big part of the reason that I never acknowledged to myself that I was queer until after I graduated college (I came out around 2002 at the age of 24). Seeing Charlie and Nick's relationship develop (and seeing how Tara and Darcy develop theirs) allows me to experience these joys that I was denied when I was younger.

A third reason the show is important is less personal and more about the queer community. Studies have shown that the more authentic queer stories are told and as acceptance of queer people (particularly in our personal lives) grows, it helps to cut suicide rates of young queer people because they feel seen and loved. A show like Heartstopper helps teens know that they are not alone and it has helped form online communities which can be tremendously important for them. It gives them places where they can connect with other queer people, share any difficulties that they may have, and also allows them to build a community of shared interests. Also, because the show is so popular with older queer people, it allows for intergenerational communities to be formed where queer people of all ages can talk about the show and can also support each other.

I know Heartstopper is not the most popular show you have, but I truly believe it is one of the most important. Its meaning to the queer community is not something that can be measured financially. Its meaning is one of queer joy and love. It allows us to see ourselves portrayed in a way that cisgender, heterosexual people have for a long, long time. I don't know any of the financial stuff around the show, but I do know that this show needs to continue on. It is too important to just let it die.

Sincerely,

Mychel Vandover