Camille Pfister
Editor in Chief
Major spoilers for Season 3 of Heartstopper
TW: Discussions of ED and OCD
Fall is slowly approaching and sometimes all you need to do is cozy up under the blankets and binge watch an emotional but heartwarming show. That’s what I’ve been doing these past few days in between the pressure of assignments and work. For on October 3, Netflix dropped the third season of Heartstopper; the emotional Queer love story of Nick and Charlie.
Based on the comics of the same name written by Alice Osemon, Heartstopper is a British coming of age romantic comedy-drama television series. The show is written and directed by Osemon, who wrote all of the comics.
For those who haven’t seen the show (first of all, you’re missing out) let me give you a quick run down. The main character is Charlie Spring (Joe Locke), a gay teenager in England who, in the first season of Heartstopper, meets Nick Nelson (Kit Connor). They become fast friends and develop feelings for one another. Charlie was outed to the school the year prior to the show beginning. Nick realizes in an emotional scene that involves “crying at an “Am I Gay?” quiz” that he likes Charlie, and eventually, that he is bisexual. The other characters include: Charlie’s childhood friends; Tao Xu (William Gao), Issac Henderson (Tobie Donovan), Elle Argent (Yasmin Finney). Elle’s new friends; Darcy Olsson (Kizzy Edgell), Tara Jones (Corinna Brown), Sahar Zahid (Lelia Khan). Nick’s childhood friend; Imogen Heaney (Rhea Norwood).
In season two, Nick and Charlie explored coming out to family and classmates. They explored physical boundaries on the Paris trip, Charlie was there for Nick when he had problems with his absentee father and hurtful older brother, and Nick was there for Charlie when he had problems with mental and physical health. Viewers end season two with Charlie about to message Nick “i love you”, his thumb hovering over the send button as the credits roll.
In season three, Nick and Charlie are leaving the “honeymoon phase” and entering the raw and real relationship. After a beach day in the first episode, Charlie confesses his love to Nick while Nick is in the shower (real smooth Char), Charlie bolts from Nicks’ house, and Nick runs after him in a hoodie and boxers to tell him he loves him too. I simply cannot with these two.
I wish I could say Heartstopper stayed this sweet and heartwarming all season long, but it had to shatter my heart, and put it back together. Throughout the show, Charlie has been suffering from anxiety that is very clear to the viewers. Some of it clearly comes from the trauma of being outed at school and a past toxic relationship, however some of it is internal and unexplained. Which is completely normal.
Heartstopper’s greatest strength has always been how it portrayed internal thoughts and feelings to the viewers. As an adaptation from a graphic novel, there was an artistic element missing, but Heartstopper incorporates drawings into the show— specifically to show a character’s internal struggle. This is especially clear when Charlie is anxious about something said, or when Tara has a panic attack, another extremely impactful scene from season three.
Season three expands the anxiety Charlie has been exhibiting, and introduces another layer to his mental health — his eating disorder. Now, it didn’t come out of nowhere, which I appreciated. Throughout the show, when Charlie is anxious he looks at his food, or stops eating. In season two, when they are in Paris, Charlie faints because he hasn’t been eating. There have been signs to the viewers, and signs to Nick, who is the first person to notice.
Nick, along with Charlie’s sister Tori (Jenny Walser), bring up their concerns about his eating disorder and his mental health, and they get him to talk to his parents. The scene where Nick is on the beach talking to his Aunt Diane (Hayley Atwell) and she hugs him and says, “Love can’t cure a mental illness” just about broke me, because she’s right, and it’s hard. Nick cares so much about Charlie and this season is a harsh reminder for both Nick and Charlie that they need people other than each other. Nick especially, needs to put himself first sometimes.
Episode four is the most beautiful, heartbreaking episode of television I’ve ever seen. It starts three months after Charlie tells his parents about his eating disorder and that he needs help. The episode goes back to the present from Nick’s perspective as he journals about the last four months and everything that has happened. We then see those three months from Charlie’s perspective as he does the same thing. Because— for two of those months Nick and Charlie were completely apart. Charlie is finally able to get help and goes to an ED recovery clinic. “Black Friday” by Tom Odell plays in the background during when Charlie is on a downward spiral and during their goodbye, which I feel is unnecessary for how much it broke my heart.
Charlie is diagnosed with anorexia and OCD. The second half of episode four was great because, even though he is the main character of Heartstopper, he is so quiet, especially about his interior thoughts and feelings, we never get to hear from him directly. Charlie talking so candidly about the way his mental illness affects him on a daily basis was so impactful, and getting to see the day-to-day life living in an ED recovery clinic is something I don’t think is shown very often on television— especially on popular, geared toward teens shows.
Tao makes Charlie a video diary of his friends; them feeling his absence. Isaac, the book lover of the group, is mad at him for recommending the very sad Song of Achilles. Darcy is trying out they/them pronouns (more on that later), Elle, the fantastic artist, is blowing up on Instagram for her artwork. Tara is a prefect at the high school, is doing a University prep group, and does a ton of extracurricular activities. Nick punctuates the video with a poignant: “Hi Charlie. I love you.”
The core of Heartstopper is friendship. The friend group is in every episode they impact each character in unique ways. Friendship is how each character stays grounded and loved and connected through the hard moments.
Charlie and Nick talk on the phone while Charlie is away and Nick eventually does start visiting, but that doesn’t make their reunion at the door of Nick’s house at the end of the episode any less sweet.
Charlie’s struggles with his ED don’t get magically resolved in one episode, which is always a danger when it comes to how shows portray mental illness. He fights with his mom over it, he fights with Tori over it, he even fights with Nick over it. But each fight is resolved with healthy communication and connection between people who love one another.
Charlie’s ED is not the only heavy subject covered in the show, either. Darcy has been kicked out of their mom’s house and is at first living with their girlfriend, Tara, before Tara communicates that they need some of their own personal space. For the rest of the season, Darcy lives with their supportive grandmother. Darcy has also started exploring being non-binary and what that means to them. Throughout this entire season, Tara is completely supportive and it never causes unnecessary drama for the sake of plot. Tara encourages Darcy to cut their hair in a really beautiful scene that is so full of joy.
Tara is also experiencing high school stress and how that can impact a person’s psyche. She is under an extreme amount of pressure from school and helping to comfort Darcy. Heartstopper never diminishes one person’s stress or trauma or gets into the minefield of “comparing traumas.” This season also explores the real emotional labor that comes from caring from someone with a mental illness or someone going through a trauma. Nick and Tara are used to being the “stable ones” but they both experience cracking under the pressure this season, because loving someone who is hurting in this way is hard.
Isaac explores identifying as aromatic and asexual, which becomes difficult for him when most of his friends are in romantic relationships and he feels “third wheeled.” His friends aren’t intentionally hurting him, but the harm is still there, and Heartstopper, and Isaac’s friends, acknowledge that. They also acknowledge the difference between romance and friendship and how Isaac isn’t alone, but not wanting the romantic and sexual experiences his friends desire is always going to put some distance between him and others.
Tao and Elle have just had their “summer of love” and Tao is battling insecurities to prove he is worthy to be with Elle. Elle is coming into her own at her new art school, making new friends again, and learning that being a transgender artist might mean people just want you to talk about transgender issues. When Elle lands a radio interview for gaining social media fame as an artist, she is so happy, until the radio host begins asking political questions that she wasn’t prepared for. Tao wants to do something, anything, but doesn’t know what to do, and Elle doesn’t know how to talk to him about this.
Heartstopper also explores Elle’s dysphoria the first time Tao and Elle get close to having sex. To have a show explore so many sides of a trans person’s identity is really beautiful as Elle sat with her friends; Felix (Ash Self) and Naomi (Bel Priestley), who are non-binary and transgender respectively, just holding hands, holding that space.
All of the characters get their space, their moment. Tori gets more screen time than in previous seasons as she explores her identity and her relationship with her brother, the “only person she loves.” The characters interact with each other. Nick drives Tara to ballet and they talk about Charlie and the pressure of being the caretaker.
The most important thing about Heartstopper, is and always will be, the happy ending. Osemon is currently in the process of writing the sixth and final graphic novel of Heartstopper, which as the third season included some pieces of the fifth graphic novel, will be the final piece should Heartstopper be renewed for a fourth season (looking at you, Netflix). Nothing has been said about this sixth graphic novel except the words “happy ending” and this season is no exception to the rule.
Despite the heartbreaking season plot lines, Heartstopper ended with a happy ending. In the penultimate episode, Nick and Charlie have sex for the first time, but Charlie is still too nervous to take his shirt off. In the final episode, Nick (a year older) goes on a road trip with the girls (Tara, Imogene, Elle), to visit Universities and is running late to Charlie’s concert. Nick is worried about Charlie “needing him” but Charlie, having reached a new level of confidence, is out at the festival in a short sleeved shirt and plays the drums with excellence. (Nick and the crew even make it for the last few songs.) Nick apologizes for being late but Charlie says it’s okay, “I was okay.”
The episode ends with Nick and Charlie—- finally alone—- in Nick’s bedroom and Charlie asks Nick to take his shirt off. The two of them lay together, laughing, cuddling, making out, holding hands, sleeping while “Million Little Reasons” by Oscar Lang plays us out on another spectacular season of Heartstopper, and of Nick and Charlie.