Abbie Sears
The following review contains some spoilers for Heartstopper Season 3
When I think of autumn, the first word that comes to mind is ‘cosy.’ I think of cuddling up next to a fire under a blanket with a hot chocolate, being kept warm with hugs from someone special. If I were to think of that feeling being captured in the form of a highly bingeable Netflix series, Alice Oseman’s Heartstopper would be a perfect match. Season 3 has now arrived on Netflix, just in time for pumpkin spice season!
Heartstopper Season 2 ended with Charlie (Joe Locke) typing out a message saying “I love you” to Nick (Kit Connor). We were left to decide whether he sent that message over the past year, until S3E1 (“Love”) which kicks off with Charlie declaring his love for Nick in the mirror in practice. Evidently, he never sent that text.
I remember being their age, and I can’t tell you how many times I typed out a message and spent 20 minutes feeling both excited and frustrated not knowing if I should send it but wanting to. So I completely get it. But in Charlie’s case, I think he should have taken the plunge!
Perhaps it is better said in person anyway, but Charlie is portrayed as a very anxious character and there’s nothing I relate to more than that. Sometimes you can’t look someone in the eye while you tell them something like that. You need space to hide after you tell them, too, of course.
In the end, even after all the prep, Charlie confesses his love to Nick through a door while Nick is in the shower. That would throw anyone off guard. Before Nick has a chance to respond Charlie heads out the door, only to be chased down the street by Nick and the two declare their love for each other in an adorable and perfect way.
Season 3 of Heartstopper follows two main themes: Charlie realising he has an eating disorder and getting help; and the couples of the show having sex for the first time. These are both such important topics for the show to address for its young audience. However, there is a pattern that stood out to me throughout these emotional episodes that I wanted to talk about because it feels important to share, and that is the ongoing theme of acceptance.
It is easy to look at Heartstopper from the surface and see it as portraying an idealistic world full of love and happiness. But when you peek underneath, you are exposed to the dark side of adolescence and surviving teenage struggles. I think we all know and remember this too well, but there is something I found surprising in Heartstopper which perhaps should not be seen as surprising at all.
As a couple, Charlie and Nick are open with each other and share their honest thoughts and concerns without receiving any anger or judgment in return. They don’t give each other a reason to feel like a burden. Unfortunately, I found it unrealistic when Nick’s friends asked him what was going on with Charlie while he was away receiving treatment and they accepted and understood when he said he could not talk about it. I thought, “Well that would never happen, they would hound him for answers or tell him he’s hiding something.” When Tara opened up to Darcy about needing her personal space, I expected Darcy to be angry, but instead, she understood and wanted to help. I found myself doubting that scenario too. Does that happen? Perhaps the level of support and the lack of shame surrounding these characters felt idealistic to me because of my own toxic past friendships and relationships where there was no option to open up to someone or freely speak your mind without fear of negative consequences.
Actually, it reminded me of a video I saw online recently where a woman woke up her boyfriend because she was sick and he got up and ran to the store before closing to pick up medicine and supplies. I found myself thinking “Yeah, right.” The comments let me know I was not alone in that response. A lot of us out there can’t believe he wouldn’t just be angry that she woke him up instead of going out of his way to help. Why would he do that? But actually, it was pointed out that this behaviour should be considered normal. Your partner should want to help you and never see your problems as a burden.
This came to light for me during Season 3 of Heartstopper, and among all the important issues addressed, on a personal level this was the biggest message I left with, and it tugged at my heartstrings. The characters face the lowest parts of growing up today and through every step of the way they find acceptance and support from those around them. It is so important for a show with such a big impact to portray this to educate its viewers in knowing how we deserve to be treated by people who love us. We and our problems should never be a burden, and as friends or couples, we should always support and help each other even if it does mean going out of our way to do so. I found this aspect of Heartstopper both insightful and comforting, and I wanted to highlight it here.
Something else that I want to touch on is how we interpret characters like Charlie or Tao relying on communication from their partners to make them happy. It may appear cute and innocent to long to hear from someone, but I have fallen victim to letting it take over my life, especially when I was their age, and sometimes it can become very dark. You can easily find yourself at the point where you spend your whole day thinking about someone simply texting you back, and the only time your mind feels at ease is when you are with them in person so you don’t need to wonder what they are doing. I believe maybe Charlie reached this stage in Season 3.
Charlie relied on Nick to be the thing that cheered him up and created his happiness. When Nick went on holiday that seemed to be the beginning of Charlie’s spiral, where his worries about having an eating disorder proved themselves to be a reality. I think that the two things relate like this: Charlie believed he could control his eating disorder when in reality it controlled him, and Charlie believed that he could control communication between him and Nick when all control had in fact been taken over by the hope and waiting for Nick to reply and wondering when they would next talk. In a lot of relationships, this behaviour stems from distrust towards your partner but I don’t believe that to be the case here. I believe it is simply rooted in Charlie’s insecurities within himself that seem to be brought on by his eating disorder and not feeling good enough. Despite how real the love between the pair is, perhaps Charlie was able to use Nick as a distraction from his troubles and when he went away on holiday the sinking gut feeling Charlie faced when he couldn’t see Nick forced him to accept his realities with food.
I do not have an eating disorder, so I cannot speak too much on the portrayal of Charlie’s anorexia, but I do believe that it was handled delicately and I was able to put myself in his shoes through the raw emotion and sadness in these scenes, and I felt strongly for Charlie. I do, however, suffer from severe anxiety and Joe Locke’s acting is brilliant in portraying the physical movements that come along with nervousness. The way that he pulls at his sleeves and rubs his arm, and can’t keep his hands still resonates with me. Those little things make these moments very touching and realistic to someone like me.
Season 3 also took the time to build on the personalities and lives of the supporting characters and look into some of their backgrounds. Isaac came out to the group as asexual and aromantic, and this seemed like a very complex journey for him to take. It’s hard to understand something that there isn’t much information available on and I’m happy that Heartstopper can bring some more awareness to those who may be feeling similarly. Those who don’t have the same experiences as their peers can easily feel left out of their friend group and with Isaac being surrounded by couples this leads to him feeling like an outsider. But circling back to the feeling of acceptance in this show, when he expressed his true feelings he was met with love and continued support from his friends.
One more moment that felt special to me this season was Tao opening up to Elle about his dad who had passed away. He mentions how his dad would take pictures of him and he hated it so he wouldn’t pose for them, but now he wishes he had posed for the pictures. This made me a little teary having lost my dad last year. It’s so true that you look back and wish you had done some of the little things differently, no matter how strong and loving your relationship was. It meant a lot to me to have that insight into Tao’s emotions towards his loss and I know it will have the same impact for others too.
Heartstopper Season 3 was an impactful journey all together for me. I may not have touched on everything, but these topics are what I left thinking about and what will stick with me. I really enjoyed Season 3 and even with such important issues addressed I left feeling warm and fuzzy from all the beautiful aspects of this show. Things like the stunning sets and the little animations that portray the feelings of the characters. Heartstopper is full of love and it gave me a sense of hope. I highly recommend checking out the show.
We haven’t had an official update on Season 4 yet but I hope that it’s in the works, I am sure those involved would be happy to bring the characters back again and I would love to see it happen.
