It is impossible to hate Heartstopper as there is barely any substance to connect with. It's all so raw yet so sterile; so distant yet so heartfelt. That is precisely why Heartstopper confuses me.
I binged season 2 in a day. It was pretty easy since the series doesn’t require heavy brainpower to articulate the happenings. The show operates on an abrupt tell-don’t-show narrative, undertaking an idle not-so-radical definitely-have-been-done-before plot. Nevertheless, here are a couple of titbits about Heartstopper season 2 that got me thinking.
I hesitate to categorize the teenage queer love in Heartstopper as a widespread experience. I know people who claim to heavily relate to the purist depiction of queer love. However, queerness often comes with belittling and politicized strings. The show doesn’t have an appeal because of true relatability but rather because most of us haven't experienced an isolated iteration of teenage queer love, rendering the show a breath of fresh air.
The series clearly removes certain social identity intersections from its focus. The narrative is almost income neutral apart from the one scene where Darcy alludes to being slightly poorer than the rest as they all chip in to help buy her dream tux for prom. I appreciate the array of queer experiences, yet the deliberate exclusion of income discourse annoys me.
On Nick’s coming out, doing so "on the gram” doesn’t really exist like that anymore I feel. Maybe it does? I don’t know. Let me know if I’m missing something here.
The cyber media in the show is new and exciting. I appreciate the lack of seamlessness in transitioning from real-life to cyber interactions. The cyber nature of queer love is disjoint in nature. Seamless blends would imply that the cyber is a continuation of the material rather than escapism from the latter. Cyber media disables the social damnation one would experience in the material world. A minute yet impactful concern is that everyone uses their phones in light mode. Might seem unimportant but it would add a much-needed ease of connecting with the narrative if the user interfaces of cyber media in the series were to mimic that of the target audience.
We witness two apologies in season two: from Harry and Ben. I felt empowered by Charlie’s rejection of both apologies. Queer youth are oft-expected to forgive former bullies in absolution once said bullies “know better.” I also commend the series for highlighting how queer youth might have queer bullies (Ben) and that not all bullies are straight (Harry) by default.
(my high school bully was queer. perhaps due to envy. I stopped reading into this a while ago.)
Frankly, I couldn’t care less who learns what and at what pace; no individual, queer or not, is obligated to absolve anyone of the consequences of their actions.
It was refreshing to see Isaac under the spotlight. His path to naming his world was perhaps the most radical journey we have witnessed in the show (acknowledging that the viewer does not get a glimpse of Elle’s beginning transition). In a world where romance and sex are prized above all else, Isaac’s unsubscription from the sexuality-obsessed world of Heartstopper made me smile.
Anyway, I…liked season 2? Guess I liked it enough not to hate it.
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