Heartstopper Season 2: Every Episode Leaves Us Elated

Trigger Warning: The review below mentions eating disorders.

A show beaming with the adorable aspects of teenage queer love, “Heartstopper” has captivated audiences of many ages and sexual orientations. Now that the new season has come out, Variety has reported that “Season 2 of ‘Heartstopper’ soared to second place on the Netflix Top 10 during the July 31 – Aug. 6 viewing window” and “After premiering on the service on Aug. 3, the new installment recorded 6.1 million total views.” 

The series is created by the author of the book series the show is based on, Alice Oseman, and stars beloved actors Joe Locke, who plays Charlie Springs in the series, and Kit Conner, who plays Nick Nelson. The actors and creator come together to make a brilliant depiction of how love affects the youth, so it’s no wonder it has garnered so much popularity amongst Netflix users. 

The show takes place in Kent, London, where the main characters are students of Truham Grammar School and Harvey Greene Grammar School for Girls. The show’s premise is Nick and Charlie’s love story and their coming-of-age stories as they grow together. 

Charlie and Nick’s friends are also a crucial part of the story, and a new member of their friend group is added in season two. The season also continues the story of Tao, played by William Gao, and Elle, played by Yasmin Finney. In the first season, Tao and Elle came close to sharing a kiss. The second season continues to explore this tension.

The second season of Heartstopper focuses on Charlie Springs’s eating disorder after hinting at it in the previous season. Comic readers and show watchers alike may wonder if the depiction of Anorexia was correct after following some pretty cliche plot lines such as the refusal of food as well as his lack of eating throughout the show. 

Charlie states that while sometimes he eats with a semblance of normalcy he often relapses into a vicious cycle of self-restriction as it feels like it’s the only thing he can control in his life. This train of thought is easily identifiable with disordered people like anorexics (EDNOS in general). 

Eating disorder representation in media is often reduced to the stereotypical symptoms associated with the disorder depicted. Anorexic people can eat like any other normal person once in a while and still exhibit symptoms of anorexia; the self-induced restriction can come and go which is where disorder plays a part. 

People with eating disorders are not a monolith, the same, and instead, land on the vast spectrum of disordered eating that branches out from binge-eating to prader-willi syndrome. In all, Heartstopper covered the topic of an eating disorder in a good way because not only did it create more exposure for a sensitive subject but it also showcased it in a non-stereotypical way. 

The second season also focuses on Nick’s struggle to come out to his brother. His brother comes back home from college, and Nick’s relationship with his brother is turbulent. His brother, David, played by Jack Barton, is blatantly homophobic and starts to wonder if Nick is gay. Because of this, he constantly teases him. 

In the second episode of season two, we see David grabbing Nick’s phone to see who sent him hearts. He then discovers that Charlie sent them and teases him about them being a boy or a girl. 

Further into episode two, David walks into Nick’s room unwarranted and sees Nick and Charlie sitting on top of Nick’s bed. That confirms his suspicions, and he starts making fun of Nick. While Charlie is in Nick’s room, the two brothers get into a fight. Nick comes out to David, but David doesn’t believe Nick is bisexual and just calls him gay. 

The Paris trip provides an escape from Nick’s home life, but when they return home, Nick has to face his brother once again.

During a tense family dinner with Charlie’s family as well, Nick is forced to come out because of rude quips from David. The family then begins to fight and things get tenser. After the argument dies down and Charlie and his family go home, David realizes that even their father supports Nick, but that doesn’t change his mind and he still exhibits homophobia.

After all this, and Charlie being there to support him, he feels a little better about his family situation, although his brother is still not accepting. 

The second season of “Heartstopper” also gives a spotlight on the growing relationship between the two teachers: Mr. Ajayi and Mr. Farouk. Light and fluffy queer romance media is often aimed at queer youth, leaving little room for queer relationships between adults. 

During the Paris trip, Mr. Farouk remarks that he never got to experience a relationship in his youth as he recalls his lack of identity as a queer man. Mr. Ajayi then reassures Mr. Farouk by claiming that it’s never too late to experience a relationship that fulfills one true self. 

Shows focusing on relationships between queer adults fail to represent queer joy most of the time opting for more mature topics that are largely based on tropes with negative connotations like the “bury your gay” trope which encompasses the death of someone in a same-sex relationship. 

This scene represents the qualms felt by older queer people regarding relationships and their lack of experience in their youth due to social stigmas and the like and instead validates them by presenting a healthy queer relationship between two adults. 

In all, the second season of “Heartstopper” masterfully conveys hard-hitting topics while displaying the triumphs of queer relationships. 

You can experience the second season of “Heartstopper” via Netflix for yourself and rewatch the first while excitedly awaiting the third season.