Heartstopper Season 2 Went Way Out on a Limb: Did the Gamble Pay Off?
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Before we get started, I should probably mention in the interest of full disclosure that I am a Heartstopper superfan. It is my happy place. My family has watched Season 1 more times than we can count and can quote almost all of it verbatim. Yet I went into Season 2 with as much trepidation as Charlie Spring did Harry Greene’s birthday blowout.
Though I tried to avoid spoilers from series creator Alice Oseman’s graphic novels, on which the LGBTQ+ dramedy is based, I had “accidentally” gleaned that the new episodes would not be the nonstop dopamine rush of the first season. For starters, how could they be? Season 1 included Charlie’s idyllic snow day with crush Nick Nelson, their magical first kiss and, finally, euphoric confirmation that they are boyfriends; that’s a high bar. But I also knew that there was some heavy stuff coming.
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Thankfully, it turned out that I had no reason to fret. Yes, this time around Oseman goes far deeper and darker with her characters. Tao’s abandonment issues are explained in poignant fashion. Darcy’s toxic home life is revealed. Isaac’s questioning of his sexual orientation leaves more than him in tears. Charlie’s eating disorder becomes impossible to hide. Nick’s family dysfunction is exposed. (Alas, no, not every member of the Nelson clan is as delightful as Olivia Colman’s Sarah.)
But here’s the thing: All of that, in the context of Heartstopper, is OK. Is it hard to watch these kids about whom we care so much struggle and hurt? Absolutely. It’s Toy Story 3-level hard. Yet Oseman’s genius is that she never loses sight of the joy that makes the pain worth bearing — and she never lets us lose sight of it, either.
For instance, when the Emmy-winning EP serves food for thought in the form of Charlie’s admission to Nick that he sometimes feels compelled to control his eating, she follows it with the playfulness of the former rejecting the croissant that his boyfriend has “lovingly carried for [him] all day” in favor of a sandwich proffered by their teacher. When Oseman has Charlie confess that he has sometimes cut himself, she then buoys us by letting Nick come thisclose to saying the L word. And so it goes, wonderfully.
Heartstopper Season 2 Photos
My Season 2 fears, I see now, should have been Season 2 hopes. By further drawing out Charlie, Nick & Co., Oseman has taken a great risk that, miraculously, has yielded even greater rewards. So come what may in Season 3, I won’t be worried. The Truham-Higgs gang — and we — are in good hands.
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