To state the obvious, there are spoilers in this. Please do not read any further if you don't want to be spoiled.
So I watched Heartstopper last night and it was absolutely lovely. It was very much like Love Victor's first season in that it was about young love and figuring out who you are. The show is based off of comics written by Alice Oseman, who also wrote all of the episodes. She wrote these comics to tell the story of how Nick and Charlie met and became a couple. She had previously written a book called Solitaire (which is next on my reading list) which was about Charlie's sister Nora. In Solitaire, they were already a couple, so Alice decided to tell the story of how it happened. If you haven't read the comics, you should do so. I was able to finish each volume (there are currently 4) in about a half hour. I read very quickly, so it will probably take other people longer, but it is worth the time.
Speaking of the comics, I have been having some second thoughts about whether or not I should have read the comics before watching the series. On the one hand, reading the comics (I read them for the first time about a month ago and then again over the course of the last week) gave me the opportunity to really fall in love with the characters. On the other hand, there were several scenes which I was expecting which I suspect lost some emotional impact because I knew how they would turn out. There was only one scene where I was truly emotional and that was in the last episode when Nick had the rugby ball and was looking around for Charlie. When he saw him, he tossed the ball and ran off to the sidelines. When he did that, I immediately sat bolt upright, my hands flew up to my mouth, I muttered "Is he really?", and I started to tear up (I am actually tearing up now just thinking about it). When he took Charlie's hand right in front of everyone, I said, "He did!" and teared up even more. That was a big step for Nick and I was so proud of him. I tell that story because I seriously suspect that there were other moments where I would have had a similar reaction if I wasn't expecting them. But that point is really moot, it just makes me wonder.
Before I get to my thoughts about the rest of the season, let's look at the thoughts I posted on Wednesday about the episode titles. When I posted those thoughts, I was trying to figure out what scenes from the comic would translated into which episodes. And all of my guesses were pretty much spot on. There was a lot that wasn't in the comics, but that wasn't covered by my guesses. Here's what I said:
"[1] Meet- They meet and Charlie joins the rugby team
[2] Crush- Nick realizes he has a crush on Charlie and is trying to figure out what to do
[3] Kiss- The party, Nick and Charlie kiss, the misunderstanding
[4] Secret- Nick and Charlie sort their stuff our, Nick works on how to come out
[5] Friend- Nick continues to work on how to come out, to the world they are friends, the bowling party
[6] Girls- The concert, Nick comes out to Tara and Darcy
[7] Bully- Dealing with his dickish friends at the theater
[8] Boyfriend- Nick and Charlie go to the beach, Nick comes out to his mom"
The one big thing I missed was Nick and Charlie coming out to Elle, which happened earlier in the show than it did in the comics.
As I said earlier, there was a lot in the show that wasn't in the comics. This really isn't surprising since you can do a lot more on screen than you can on a page. We got to know Tao, Elle, Darcy, and Tara a lot better than we did in the comics and we got two new characters: Isaac and Imogen. I do have to say that I am not really sure why Imogen was added. She really only seemed to be there to cause a bit of drama between Nick and Charlie. Before I saw the episodes, I assumed that she would be replacing Tara as someone that Nick had been interested in at some point, but that wasn't the case. Instead, she was a girl who was interested in him and who asked him out after he realized he liked Charlie. I'm glad that he ended up gently turning her down, but she didn't really seem to have a point other than that. Well, and the scene where she declared herself to be an ally to Tara and Darcy. (Sidenote: If you are not a member of a particular minority group, you don't get to declare yourself an ally, only a member of that group can declare you to be an ally. OK. Thanks!) As for Isaac, he also didn't seem to do a lot. He mainly sat around reading and staying out of all the drama. This morning, Alice said that she wrote him to have aroace vibes (see https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=aroace for a definition), so maybe it was a way to get some aroace representation into the series. Assuming the show comes back for a second season, I'd love to see both of them get more substantive stories.
A couple of more general thoughts before looking at characters. First off, I loved how the show used comic drawings to illustrate strong emotions or fantasies. Like when Nick went to ask Charlie to join the rugby team and Charlie was imagining Nick telling him that he is gay and asking Charlie out. Or when they were going to hold hands and you saw sparks or flowers or something like that. Or when Elle was looking at Tao with affection and hearts were circling around her head. Or when Charlie's world shattered and the screen was broken up into sections. I loved seeing that and it really helped drive home that the show in based on a comic. The second thing is the way that the show allowed for perspectives outside of Nick and Charlie's. We got to see Tao and Elle talking about how Tao was hurt that Charlie was growing closer to Nick and we got to see Higgs which we never saw in the comics. Because we got to see Higgs, we got to see Elle adjust to being there and we got to see her become friends with Tara and Darcy. Getting to see these things helped to make the world richer and also gave the supporting characters a story outside of just being Nick and Charlie's friends. The third thing is that because the show had more time, it really helped fill in some gaps that weren't as explained in the comics. I'll get into those in individual character's paragraphs.
Ok, now is the time for my thoughts about the show. I'll go through character by character since that will be the easiest way to organize it. That way, I can go through all the episodes with a particular character and then repeat with the next.
First off, Charlie. I have to admit that doing Charlie and Nick separately is not going to be that easy since this season was mainly about how the two of them became a couple. That being said, they both have their own things happening, so I'll focus mainly on that. When we first meet Charlie, he is periodically meeting up with a boy named Ben who is saying the right things, but whose kisses leave a hell of a lot to be desired. The kisses we see barely occur and are tremendously tepid. By the middle of the first episode, we realize that the reason for this is that Ben has a girlfriend and is either trying to figure out his sexuality (and is so far in the closet, he is visiting Narnia) or he is trying to hurt Charlie. I suspect the first, but the question is never really answered. Anyway, Charlie breaks things off with Ben and falls for Nick, who is really nice to him and invites him to join the rugby team. Watching Charlie and Nick figure their stuff out was so cute. I loved how, like in the comics, Charlie was reassuring Nick that it was ok to not be out. Since Charlie was outed rather than coming out, he is really sensitive to that. This led to something that was hinted at in the comics, but made much more explicit in the show. When Charlie and Nick are talking about how it's ok that Nick wants to keep their relationship a secret, Nick is worried that he is putting Charlie through what Ben did. To Charlie's credit, he realized this was happening and quickly reassured Nick that these were two different things. The other thing which was more implied in the comics, was the amount of emotional damage that both being outed and Ben had done to Charlie. He has become so used to being put down by other people and being used that he expects it and even tells Nick that it's ok when it happens because he is used to it. I love that Nick was adamant that these were not ok. We are definitely seeing seeds being planted about Charlie's anxiety and his anorexia, but neither has been directly addressed yet. Other than this, most of Charlie's story really tracks with the comics. He and Nick start going out in secret, Nick's friends (particularly Harry) are really dickish, Charlie's friends don't understand what is going on, and they ultimately start openly dating (although without a big coming out announcement).
I wanted to devote a paragraph specifically to Tao and Charlie. These two are really good friends and there is a lot of damage inflicted that could have been avoided if different choices had been made. A lot of the damage inflicted on the friendship is a result of Nick not being ready to reveal that he and Charlie are dating. Because of this, Charlie can't explain to Tao how he knows that Nick is a good person. The thing is that Nick's friends were among the people who really bullied Charlie when he was outed the previous school year. Because of this, Tao doesn't trust Nick or his friends. And I can't say I blame him! Because Charlie has a habit of downplaying the effect of things that happen to him, Tao is not entirely sure he can trust what Charlie is telling him about how Nick is different. But because of all of this, Charlie doesn't tell Tao that he and Nick are dating, even when the rest of their friend group knows. It's never stated outright, but I really suspect that Charlie was upset that Tao was making things worse by verbally retaliating against Harry and that Tao was being jealous of Charlie and Nick's friendship. Given all the givens, I don't see how this could have turned out differently. Ultimately, I think more of the blame lies at Tao's feet. I do get that he was trying to be a good friend, but the choices he kept making made it hard for Charlie to tell him that he was dating Nick. Notice that Charlie had no problem telling either Elle or Isaac, and neither of them were as openly hostile towards Nick as Tao was. Not that most of what happened was Tao's fault, but I do think his choices played a bigger role in their estrangement. I do love that we got to see Nick go to Tao and talk with him. It gave the two of them a chance to clear the air, gave Nick the impetus to go look for Charlie, and gave Tao what he needed to make up with Charlie.
Speaking of Nick, watching him figure out who he was was absolutely delightful to see. Meeting him at first, he seemed like the "nice jock" stereotype. Some of his friends (particularly Harry) were the "awful jock" stereotypes, but Nick was always different. We never saw him be mean to anyone, although he did do a lot of sitting around while awful things were being done, which is a definite character flaw (albeit an understandable one given his age). It wasn't until he became friends with Charlie and started to get feelings that he started standing up to his friends when they were being mean to people. A lot of this flowed from something that is very understandable: peer pressure and wanting to fit with your friends. Also, as Nick said to Imogen, "Do you ever really feel like you're only doing things because everyone else is and you're scared to change?" This is the central struggle Nick has the entire season. He knows he like Charlie and he knows that he wants to be with Charlie, but he is trying to figure out what this means when it comes to who he is and how he lives his life. When he told Tara and Darcy that he and Charlie were dating, it was absolutely adorable. And when he acknowledged to Charlie that he is bisexual and that he wants to be with Charlie, it made my heart sing. I absolutely loved the beach scene and when Nick came out to his mom, it was beautiful. Her reaction was almost perfect. I wasn't super fond of her saying that he didn't have to say he liked girls. On the one hand, it was nice that she was encouraging him to be open and honest. On the other, it was treading really close to the stereotype of the gay guy who uses bi as a stop on the way to being "truly gay". That being said, it was really nice to see Nick figure out that he is bi. Watching him focus on both Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom when he was his mom were watching Pirates of the Caribbean was really cute. That was when it really struck him that he really was attracted to both guys and girls.
Now for some Charlie/Nick stuff. Their pasts definitely caused some issues with their getting together. Given how badly his outing had gone, Charlie was understandably very nervous about the same thing happening to Nick. That was good since Charlie was very understanding about Nick needing time, but it also was exacerbating Charlie's anxiety and contributing to his feeling that he was not good for either Nick or Tao after they both got in fights with Harry when in fact he was wonderful for Nick and what happened with Tao we looked at above. And Nick knowing about how badly things went with Charlie was causing Nick some problems. He was worried that he was being like Ben and he was concerned about how to come out himself. All that being said, watching the two of them discover being in love was so much fun. From tentatively taking hands to the first tentative kiss to the other much less tentative kisses to figuring out when and how to come out was oh so sweet. And in the last episode (most of which was not in the comics!) when Nick left the game to take Charlie into the school? Oh, my queer heart was fluttering a mile a minute.
Now for Elle. she is a trans girl who came out as trans not long ago. She had been going to school with the guys, but transferred to an all girls school after coming out as trans. Seeing real positive trans representation was lovely. She is really a lovely person and it was so nice to see her make friends with Tara and Darcy. I also loved that we got to see her and Tao have some scenes alone. You could see that there is a really deep friendship there and you could also see that there was definitely more. I really had to feel for her when she figured out that the milkshake outing was an attempt to get her and Tao together. While Tara, Darcy, Nick, and Charlie really were trying to help, I can totally see how and why it was an overstep and it was nice to see everyone look somewhat chagrined when she called them on it. Although the fact that being there gave them the opportunity to acknowledge to her that it was a "triple date", hence letting her know that Charlie and Nick were an item was a wonderful thing, as was her reaction.
As for Tara and Darcy, these two really can't be separated. 95% of their scenes were together, and the only time this wasn't the case was a scene or two when Nick was talking with Tara alone. I got the impression in the comics that the two of them were pretty much out to the school, but that was definitely not the case in the show. I did enjoy seeing Tara working her way to being open, but the reactions they showed were really, really bad and it really made my heart ache for her. I was glad to see Darcy be such a support for her and the rest of the friends will also rally around her as needed. Other than being an adorable couple, most of their story was serving as an inspiration for Nick about what his relationship with Charlie could be.
When it comes to Tao, I don't have a lot to say that I haven't already said. It was nice to see him and Elle get some screen time together and watching him and Charlie grow apart was heartbreaking. So yeah, refer to what I said above regarding Tao and Charlie or Tao and Elle.
The rest of the characters really were just secondary. Harry and Ben were antagonists. Seeing Nick go after both Ben and Harry when they were being awful was nice to see. Harry in just awful and homophobic and tries to laugh it all off as "being a joke". I talked about Ben above, but I just wanted to add that he is an unspeakably cruel individual. Between the time he sexually assaulted Charlie (yes, forcing someone to kiss you is sexual assault)and the time he told Charlie that no one would want to be with him, he is just awful. He may be very confused, but he is also just cruel. As for Isaac and Imogen, I already stated my feelings. Tori (Charlie's older sister) was just fun to see. She had some wonderfully delivered lines and when he broke down crying and she just held him, it was lovely and heartbreaking. I loved Mr. Ajayi. He's a gay teacher (I'm assuming gay, he only ever talks about liking guys, so the implication is there) who let's Charlie eat in his room when things get to be too much. He is such a wonderful support for Charlie and Nick. And I loved, loved, loved, Nick's mom. I know her from the show Broadchurch, so seeing her in this was quite nice. The only issue I have with her is that she assumed Nick was straight, which is never a good thing. That said, it is so common that it is hard to fault her for it. But she handled his coming out with such love that it really made up for it. And as for her line apologizing for anything she did to make it harder for him to come out? That was right out of the comics and it stole my breath away it was so lovely.
I know I plan on watching it the next few Fridays, so I may write more about it another weekend. I really hope we get a season 2, because I want more!
