Sunday, July 17, 2022

Netflix Retrospective - Heartstopper Season 1 Episodes 3-4

We’re back with another 2 episodes of Heartstopper and in the next exciting episode

  • Harry hires a hotel
  • Tao and Elle watch a movie
  • And Nick stands outside in the rain

Kiss

Charlie is still researching being gay and LGBT issues. He takes the ultimate gay quiz and finds himself 62% homosexual, which is meaningless because those quizzes are crap. Anyway, at school, Harry invites Nick to his 16th birthday party, telling him to invite other ‘cool people’. Imogen squeezes herself an invite almost immediately. We can see from her perspective that she has feelings for her, something Nick is largely oblivious too.

Nick then invites Charlie to Harry’s party, and he eventually agrees, excitedly texting his friends about it. Only it comes at a cost. He was supposed to be having a film night with his friends but forgot. Charlie’s dad drops him off, saying pickup at 10 and call if he needs him.

Charlie makes his way through the party that looks to have more people attending that is figuratively possible for someone of Harry’s age, but eventually Nick and Charlie meet. Elle comes around Tao’s for the movie night, but Isaac is feeling ill so won’t be coming, it’s just the two of them.

Harry forces Nick to speak with Tara Jones, who reveals to Nick that she’s a lesbian; her girlfriend is just behind her, and they’ve decided to make their relationship more open, not necessarily making a big announcement or anything but not hiding it so much. With that avenue closed off, Nick sees that Charlie has gone off and is about to head off after him when Harry stops him.

Harry mocks him, thinking he’s only hanging out with Charlie out of sympathy for him, or because he thinks Charlie has a crush on him. Nick snaps at that one, telling Harry he doesn’t even like him and storms off. Tao apologises to Elle for making things weird and Elle has an honest talk with how things were for her when she started at Higgs.

Charlie bumps into Ben as Nick begins his search. Ben apologises in one of those ‘I’m sorry but not really’ kinda ways and tries to grab Charlie’s arm, but Charlie pushes him into a wall. Tao wants Elle to promise that whatever happens, they’ll always prioritise their friendship. Nick passes Imogen on the dancefloor who confesses that she really likes him. He sees Tara and Darcy on the dancefloor kissing each other and smiles. But I think he knows the dancefloor is the last place Charlie would be and finds him sitting down on a sofa.

Charlie relays the story of what happened with Ben and thinks he may have finally gotten the message. Nick and Charlie decide to head somewhere quieter and head up a few floors, Harry had hired this entire huge Hotel. Charlie asks if Nick really likes Tara, to which he affirmatively says no.

The exchange that follows is brilliant, with Nick opening up that he maybe likes Charlie back, and it ends with the two kissing for the first time, and for the second time not long after. Unfortunately, they’re about to get cock blocked as Harry is calling out for Nick. Nick, completely dazed about everything that’s happened leaves the room, leaving Charlie feeling somewhat rejected. Nick is in such a daze he inadvertently makes it up with Harry, he soon goes back to look for Charlie, but he’s already gone.

He calls his dad to bring him home, he’s crying over the whole affair. The morning comes and it’s chucking it down with rain, as it tends to do in the UK. Charlie has no messages on his phone, but as he’s brushing his teeth feeling that the incident was a rejection. The doorbell rings and Nick is outside, completely soaked.

The story continues with a decent pace and begins to pay off on the romance, a lot earlier than many shows with 8 episodes would do, and I’m thankful for that.

Rating 8/10

In the next exciting episode:

  •  “I’m having a proper full-on gay crisis”
  • A game of Rugby in the rain
  • And Imogen messes with Nick’s hair

Secret

Charlie invites Nick inside, Nick didn’t check the weather and decided to not head home when it started raining. According to the comic he lives about 10 minutes away. Charlie’s mum makes a remark ‘you could’ve at least got out of your pyjamas’ and…

Charlie starts first, apologising profusely regarding the whole affair, Nick interrupts this by giving him another kiss. And now it’s his turn to apologise for running off after kissing Charlie. He’s been so confused about sexuality and tells Charlie he needs time to figure things out. Hugs to follow. Nick asks Charlie to keep their relationship a secret at school. Charlie is okay with it, knowing full well what it’s like when you’ve been outed before you’re ready. He gives Nick an umbrella as he heads out, Charlie chases after him and kisses him goodbye.

Nick heads to school on the Monday a lot happier than he had been previously, something Imogen immediately picks up on. They do have some chemistry which is important for what’s going to happen later. Charlie also more smiley than usual heads to form. They decide to meet up at school in the Art classroom, much to the confusion of Mr Ajayi. The conversation turns to Ben and Nick starts to feel like asking Charlie to keep it a secret is doing to him exactly what Ben did, Charlie reassures him that it isn’t.

In a practice Rugby match, Charlie couldn’t commit to tackling a guy and instead instinctively dodges out of his way, much to the annoyance of the other rugby lads. The Coach tells him that he needs to really commit to it. And it’s advice he takes to heart as he begins practicing tackling a practice dummy.

Word begins to spread among the Higgs students about the kiss. Imogen decides to confront Tara about the affair, what follows is possibly the most awkward conversation I’ve ever heard. Imogen talks past Darcy like she’s not even there and then has the gall to call herself an ally. I like Imogen in most scenes but this one shows her at her absolute worst, I’m not sure how she’s going to react to Nick when she finds out, especially given that she’s an original character not from the comics.

She also tells them that she and Nick are a thing. I think because she saw Tara as he only competition and that door is now permanently closed. Of course, Elle knows at least that Charlie’s still crushing on Nick, so this sets off alarm bells. Tao and Isaac are having Lunch and are discussing Charlie and Nick eating lunch together most days. Except Charlie isn’t with Nick at the moment, Nick’s with the rest of the Rugby lads, including Harry who throws a ball at Tao’s face without provocation because he's that kind of dick.

Tao decides to be a dick back, throwing the ball, but at Nick. I think Nick decides not to react for Charlie’s sake. It’s the day of the school’s match against St Johns, the first time Charlie is officially playing in a match. Tao, Elle and Isaac are all coming by to watch. Nick is worried he got off on the wrong foot with Tao but… Elle has brought along Tara and Darcy and Darcy immediately gets vibes from him and Nick that she questions him about. Charlie says they’re just friends.

We’re introduced to the St Johns Team; St Johns are a specialist sports school, so the players basically look like adults. Lots of tackles later, rain begins to fall, and St Johns are well in the lead. The rain gets worse, Charlie goes for a tackle, but the St Johns boy just knocks him aside and he gets a nosebleed. With the rain getting dangerous now, the coach calls off the match.

With that, Charlie heads to get first aid. One tissue later and he’s fine, still we get another romantic scene between. Charlie apologises for being clingy and Nick apologises for… something or another. Isaac walks in on the two and… nothing of consequence will happen as a result of this for the rest of the story.

Elle and Tao believe that maybe they should stop interfering with the Charlie/Nick thing as it’s clearly getting them nowhere. But they may have to get involved as Nick is ambushed coming out by Imogen, who asks him out. With all his friends watching, Nick agrees with Tao and Elle witnessing all this from above. Imogen was also pressured by the rest of the rugby lads, Harry in particular, so it’s not her I’m judging harshly here.

They continue to set a really good pace, developing some of the characters and introducing a new problem for Nick to have to overcome.

Rating 8.5/10

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