The second season of Netflix’s Heartbreak High reboot begins with Carrie-esque visions of a school formal erupting in flames, as if to say: this season will be louder, busier, and more sensational than the first. And perhaps racier: within the first half-hour, the protagonist – Hartley High student Amerie (Ayesha Madon) – has had sex at school.
Comparably indelicate moments from the original production, created by the late, great Michael Jenkins, came with a sting: the show dipped in quality along its 200+ episode arc but it was originally as much social realism as soap opera, with a streetside energy that felt raw, unfiltered and a bit dangerous – like smoking your first cigarette.
