OK, I have a new obsession, and you might have heard of it (makes a change, right?) I present Heartstopper.
Alice Oseman wrote a series of comics featuring a love story between 2 male protagonists but chose not to make them having misunderstandings and arguments the central focus of their relationship, as other shows, even one I like, tend to do. But adapting a comic into movie form comes with its challenges, COVID in particular, in this case. To do this show justice and… honestly to minimise the amount of work I need to do, I’m gonna do 5 reviews for this show. 4 covering the series itself, and another taking a look at it as an adaptation, the comics, whilst a very good read and available online for free, are short and more was needed to make the show a reality.
Let’s begin, coming up in the first exciting episode
- Nick gets ink on his hands
- Tao buys an extra apple juice
- And Charlie starts a debate about Maths homework
Oh, and before we get to it, CONTENT WARNING – This review
will make reference to a non-consensual kiss, if this idea brings back
traumatic memories, do not continue to read this review.
Also, naturally, SPOILER WARNING, I highly advise you watch
the show and read the comic, the comic is available to read for free on Webtoon
and the show is available to watch if you still have Netflix. This is me
lightly riffing on and describing what I see to provide context for said
riffing.
Meet
It’s the first day of a new term at Truham School for Boys and
Charlie is happy to have an Instagram message telling to meet a guy named Ben
in the Library, unfortunately Ben decides it’ll be better for them to meet up
at break instead. It would’ve been awkward anyway, interrupted by Stephen Fry
telling the students they’ll now be in new vertical form groups, containing
students from every year.
Charlie heads to his new form group, and his form tutor, who
has ignored everyone else who has wondered in around the same time, decides to
say hello to Charlie especially and tells him he’s now sitting next to Nicholas
Nelson. I swear it’s the only table with only 2 people on it in entire
classroom. The music, being about as subtle as a brick to the face, instantly
tells us that Charlie finds him attractive.
Charlie eventually does meet up with Ben in the music
classroom at break time. But it’s a brief visit and he mentions at the end of
it not to tell anyone about this, I get the feeling he does that every time.
Charlie and Nick keep bumping into each other over the coming days. As they
both head to maths, Charlie sees that Nick is doing his homework on the way, he
says he can help but Nick doesn’t want his help, they end up tussling and
Charlie ends up with a pen mark on his hand. Nick makes it into a smiley face.
They pass by Ben, Ben is annoyed to even be talking to him
in public, making this interaction quite awkward. At Lunch, we’re introduced to
Charlie’s friends, Isaac and Tao. Isaac, and I really hope I’m not being rude
here, could’ve been replaced with a potato and it wouldn’t have made a
difference to the story.
Tao is more central and right now he’s annoyed, he bought a
drink for their friend Elle, even though she moved to their sister school for
girls, Higgs, after coming out as trans. It’s not the first time he’s done this
either, as he’s been doing it all week. He’s concerned that their group has
shrunk down to a trio.
Charlie’s mind is elsewhere, and Tao takes notice that he’s
looking at Nick. We get a flashback to the time Nick’s pen exploded and it
wouldn’t wash out well. Tao reminds him that he’s friends with a bunch of
people who are similar to those who bullied him last year. Tao decodes to
spread the news of Charlie’s crush over to Elle.
Elle is eating lunch on her own and gets her phone
confiscated. At the very least, they say she can have it back at the end of the
day, so point over Alex Rider, I guess, but like, it’s lunchbreak, why do you
fucking care?
Ben and Charlie meet up in the library and make out for a
bit but the conflicting emotions in Charlie have him decide to hide for his
lunch in the school art classroom. Turns out he was bullied for 3 months before
he told a teacher, and it went away. Now I wonder if Alice Osman, who is a
creator of the comics and the writer for this show wanted it to go down that
way, or whether she was forced to, I’ll explain what I mean in the adaptation
review.
As Charlie looks at, but doesn’t eat his lunch, he talks to
Mr Ajayi about his new ‘boyfriend.’ Mr Lange advises talking to Ben about how
he feels or talking to his friends, but Charlie is reluctant to do either. But
even as he’s about to talk to Ben, he sees him making out with his girlfriend.
That was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and Charlie breaks up with him,
much to his… annoyance, I’m not really sure.
Charlie struggles to eat his breakfast the next morning as
he’s greeted by his sister Tori who low-key steals every scene, she’s in. I
haven’t yet read Solitaire but it’s on my to-do list. He tells her that she
broke up with his boyfriend. On the bus ride to school, she asks what his dream
guy is, someone who he can a laugh with is his main answer.
We see that Charlie is a very fast runner, something Nick
takes note of doing PE with the year 11s. This gives Nick an idea and he meets
Charlie as he’s struggling to get everything into his locker. Ah the struggles
to which we can all relate. Charlie fantasises about Nick asking him out but
he’s not, he’s asking him to join the rugby team. Charlie has no idea how to
play rugby but ultimately accepts.
Still, the rest of the rugby team clearly don’t have much
faith in him. We cut to later in the first lesson as Charlie learns to tackle.
Charlie begins to improve and even gets along with the team.
But as the montage ends we see Ben in the music block, he texts Charlie to meet him
there to talk. Charlie does so reluctantly, but Nick takes notice of this.
Charlie at least decides to make a definitive end to it, but Ben has other
ideas, trying to force a kiss onto him.
It’s only stopped as Nick followed Charlie into the music
block and… did you run after him, how are you this out of breath? He couldn’t
have, because he managed to overhear most of their conversation. There’s a cute
conversation about how Charlie says sorry a lot and the two head their separate
ways home.
The two begin texting each other on… how much did Meta Pay
for this Instagram product placement? Charlie sends Nick and ends it with an x
A pretty solid opening episode, establishing a believable
meet cute and giving us the foundation for the world they inhabit
Rating 8/10
Crush
In this exciting episode:
- Nick checks his Instagram
- Elle corrects some French
- And Tao reminds us that some people are straight
Nick has spent much of the evening on Charlie’s Instagram. Thinking
back to the bullying Charlie received the year before. They communicate through
Instagram, and we get that all important relateable moment where Charlie has no
idea what to text back.
Nick asks if he wants to talk about what happened. And
eventually Charlie relents, explaining that last September, Ben has approached
Charlie whilst he was playing the drums. He heard about him coming out the year
before, even though that wasn’t by Charlie’s design, it just got found out.
Anyway, the two got together but it was never really a relationship in the way
Charlie wanted it.
Charlie thanks him for being his supportive straight friend.
It’s form time at Higgs ad one of the teachers approaches Elle about her not
having made friends in her form group. She offers to assign a girl named Tara
Jones to look after her, but Elle doesn’t want to be a bother, she instead is
forced to promise to make friends with someone over the coming half-term.
As the days pass, Elle begins to feel more and more distant.
Meanwhile, Tao is telling Charlie that Nick is straight as they come and him
continuing to have feelings will only cause him pain in the long run. Mr Ajayi
gives him pretty similar advice.
Back with Elle, some hope arrives when Tara gives Elle back
her pencil case and the two begin to talk, Elle asks if the teacher asked her
to make friends and she says no. Elle is invited to have lunch with her and her
friend. Cut to Lunch and we meet Darcy, Tara’s friend. Back at Truham, Nick is
showing Charlie pictures of his dog, Charlie’s parents don’t like animals he
doesn’t have animal comfort at home.
Nick invites him around on Saturday, and we cut to Saturday.
Charlie gets his hair cut but like Tori, I can’t tell the difference. Charlie
heads to Nick’s and it a bright sunny day without a cloud in the sky, so
naturally it’s gonna snow in about 5 minutes. They play Mario Kart and Charlie
wins at it repeatedly before they head out and play in the snow, Nick allowing
Charlie to ‘borrow’ one of his jumpers to keep warm, or warmish anyway.
Nick and his mum talk about Charlie, she remarks that he
seems much more like himself around him. Half term comes and goes, and Nick’s
still thinking about that line, and we’re introduced to Imogen, who interrupts
as Nick is about to ask Charlie around for another meet-up. He’s reluctant to
talk to her about it.
Cut to a rugby match as Charlie is sitting in reserve next
to Tao. They both want to talk to each other at Nick. Nick and Charlie have
been hanging out most of the half term and given their little gestures, Charlie
thinks there’s a chance Nick likes him the way he likes Nick. Tao says he’s
been digging around and Nick supposedly has a thing for a girl named Tara
Jones.
Seeing that this isn’t dissuading him, his friends stage a
plan. They ask Elle to ask Tara if she likes Nick back. Elle isn’t happy about
it but knowing it might help Charlie agrees to ask if it comes up in
conversation.
We cut to french at Higgs, they’re talking about friends and
family at Elle has to partner up with Tara and Darcy. Tara asks Darcy if she
has a boyfriend, she responds with the feminine une, making the response be
that she has a girlfriend. Elle asks Tara the same question and she responds
that she does not have a boyfriend. Subtle, Elle, real subtle.
Nick and Charlie meet in form and Charlie envisions Nick
proclaiming himself to be straight. Rather than confronting the issue, Charlie
invites Nick around his house. Elle sees Tara and Darcy talking and can tell
that this is more than just a friendship. Since the classroom is empty, she
asks about it and it’s confirmed, the two are dating.
Nick comes to Charlie’s house, makes a mess of playing his
drums, and the two watch a movie together, Charlie falling asleep midway
through and Nick feeling the urge to hold his hand, feeling the fireworks as he
goes to do so. As Nick leaves, he calls Charlie, wrapped in a blanket, cuddly,
and they hug for a full 16 seconds. Tori remarks after he leaves that she
doesn’t think that he’s straight. Again, I’ll circle back to that in the
adaptation review.
Nick’s having a lot of confusing thoughts and Charlie
consults his friends, Elle now confirming that Tara definitely doesn’t like
Nick that way. Nick begins searching on his laptop, typing ‘am I gay?’
The show does a good job making their relationship seem
believable without yet confirming anything one way or another.
Rating 8/10
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