I’m glad Heartstopper exists. When it premiered last year, it fulfilled a desire to see queer teens be queer teens. Before Netflix’s wholesome high-school drama came along, young people had to look to shows such as Riverdale, Elite and the new Gossip Girl for representation, only to be shown gorgeous 28-year-olds playing a decade younger. Heartstopper, which Alice Oseman has adapted from her extremely popular webcomic series, was made to be authentic, to directly mirror the people watching it. The show returned for season two today and its cast, now newly minted queer stars after season one’s runaway success, look older and more mature. It’s strange, then, that their characters seem frozen in time.
What is particularly sweet about the Heartstopper comic is Oseman’s painstaking attention to the nuances that make up the relationship between her central lovesick couple, Nick and Charlie (Kit Connor and Joe Locke). She began the series in 2016 and Nick, 16, and Charlie, 15, only hit third base last month (yes, really), with the timeline of the comic to date taking place over roughly a year. Heartstopper strives to capture that adorable, chaste honeymoon period early in a teen relationship; all soppy texts, giggling between classes and having your mum pick you up after a cinema date. It’s great as a comic, for those willing to wait out its slow burn, but as a TV series, it’s a lot less rewarding.
