Seldom do we come across a series that we cannot get enough of. It is an easy question to ask as to why the heterosexual population would enjoy a story centered primarily around the LGBTQ+ community. The answer is that it is the exact same reason the queer community enjoys love stories centered around straight people. Love may always be political, and the freedom to follow your heart unabashedly only comes on very rare occasions. This is what makes Heartstopper such a sweet tale of love, but the hidden USP of it is that it shows how being queer brings that very liberation to do what one’s heart pleases. The best example of this is probably Ben Hope, who chose to remain in the trappings of a straight identity, which may have given him temporary societal approval but took away any chance for happiness. Let us go through the recap of Heartstopper and try to understand why this simple story is so extraordinary.
Spoilers Alert
Tao and Elle
We saw in Season 1 of Heartstopper that Elle definitely liked Tao, and he was only now beginning to realize what he felt for her. In Season 2, he is more than aware and is completely confused as to what to do next. Encouraged by Tara and Darcy, Elle decides to try expressing herself, aka flirting, with Tao in some way, but the boy is too awkward for life. This makes Elle believe that he probably doesn’t like her the same way she does. While she decides to try and get over him, Tao decides to make a move.
In the books, Tao had a decent hairstyle from start to finish, but the series made him look ridiculous in the first season. It may be a lead-up to his makeover in Season 2 of Heartstopper because Tao looks very handsome with shorter hair. He tells Elle that he likes her and wants to go out, and Elle is excited at the idea. But their first date was a disaster, for no particular reason other than that they were trying too hard, and things got awkward. Tao says that they were better off as friends, and as expected, Elle is hurt because, honestly, she has stuck out her neck way more in this relationship.
One of the reasons Elle was so hesitant about telling Tao how she felt was because she did not want to jeopardize their friendship. He, Charlie, and Isaac have been her safe spaces ever since she came out and transitioned. But once Tao himself mentioned that he had feelings for her, it was rather thrilling, which is why she was so heartbroken about him saying that they should never have ventured beyond friendship. When in Paris, Tao finally reveals why he is so hesitant to pursue things with Elle.
In addition to the classic “out of my league” doubts, he feared messing things up. We are often more scared to make mistakes around people we know than those we don’t. Tao tells Charlie that it was his mistake that he accidentally outed Charlie the previous year. He had been talking a little too loudly with Isaac, and someone overheard, and it spread around the school like wildfire. But Charlie assures him that it was a mistake, and we suppose that it must have been his forgiveness that finally allowed Tao to approach Elle. In the Louvre, Elle, and Tao finally kiss, and from there on, they are pretty much a couple. There is a little wobbliness when Elle gets accepted into the art school of her dreams, Lambert. Tao and Elle cannot be sure where this would take their relationship, especially since Elle wants to go there. They will probably try long-distance in the upcoming season because there is certainly no chance that they are breaking up.
Tara and Darcy
They have been the perfect couple ever since Heartstopper began, but this season exposed some of the cracks in their relationship. When Tara accidentally tells Darcy that she loves her, the latter is more reluctant to say it back. Darcy has a particular habit of deflecting her feelings by making jokes. This is why she initially could not confess back to Tara but tried to make up for it by organizing a surprise birthday for her and fulfilling her other girlfriend duties, but when Darcy gets sick at the same party, and Tara is taking care of her, Darcy tells her that she loves her.
Back at home, with some encouragement from her girlfriend and friends, Darcy selects a tuxedo as her outfit for prom, but her mother is completely against it. Her family is homophobic, and Darcy isn’t out to them. In fact, seeing how unsupportive they are of the community, Darcy doesn’t think she will ever be able to tell them the truth. She had always been a bright and cheerful person, but the secret was that while she had been out to the entire world from the beginning, the people she lived with had no idea.
Since Darcy wanted to help Tara through her journey of acceptance of her identity, she hid her own struggles. Darcy shows up to prom very late because she left her home the previous night in a fit of anger. When Tara goes looking for her and meets Darcy’s mother, she figures out what is going on. Later, when she talks to Darcy at Nick’s house, she tells her that it is time that she learned to be vulnerable with her. With this, they both confess their love to each other once again, and the ideal couple is back.
Nick and Charlie
As Nick and Charlie’s relationship continues to grow stronger, their dilemma of wanting to come out to everyone has continued from Season 1. The reason they want to tell people is so that they can be themselves and move around freely. Since Nick is not talking to his friends on the rugby team, the first person he tells his secret to is Imogen, with whom he still has a good relationship. She had already guessed the matter, and as before, she is completely supportive. The next person who knows about them is David, Nick’s brother. He came to know this when he saw Nick and Charlie’s pictures on Nick’s bedroom walls. He is a homophobic man who doesn’t know that it isn’t his place to share Nick and Charlie’s secrets or speak for Nick on whether he is gay or bisexual. Luckily, he is alone in this matter.
In Paris, our favorite couple is always together and rather lovey-dovey, which means that people are noticing. Some of Nick’s friends have already announced their support, but the surprise comes from Harry, who apologizes for his homophobic behavior and asks to be friends with them again. Nick is not talking to Harry because he is standing up for Charlie, but the victim here is Charlie, and he makes the decision to slam the door in Harry’s face. The book tells us that Charlie makes a whole speech about being happy that Harry is turning over a new leaf, but he doesn’t owe him forgiveness due to what he had to go through the previous year or the time at the cinema hall. In the series, this speech is saved for Ben. Imogen starts dating Ben but dumps him when she notices that he doesn’t care for her and is constantly looking at Charlie.
Later, Ben tells Nick that he never stopped liking Charlie and would want to be back with him. He doesn’t say this directly to Charlie, but at the end of the series, he apologizes to him and informs him that he is transferring out of Truham High. This is when Charlie tells him off and asks him to be a better person in the future.
Do Nick & Charlie Tell Everyone About Themselves
After lots of agonizing over how to tell people about their relationship, Nick and Charlie finally tell their friends at the game of truth and dare when they don’t stop hounding Charlie about the mark on his neck. Now, the only person left to tell is Nick’s dad, Stephane. He has always been absent from Nick and David’s lives, and he doesn’t even bother to keep up with them on a regular basis. When he meets Nick and Charlie in Paris, he can’t be bothered to skip work for long enough to spend time with his son. When he comes to meet them in England, and David is being annoying, Nick finally tells his dad that he and Charlie are boyfriends, and he doesn’t want to tiptoe around this issue in front of a man who doesn’t even care much for him. All we can say is that negligence is Stephane’s crime, but homophobia is David’s, and they have both been put in their place. With this, Nick and Charlie are out to everyone, and Nick even makes it Insta official soon enough.
Nick and Charlie are inseparable, and he finally asks Charlie about his eating disorder. Charlie opens up to Nick and says that it started around the same time as the bullying, and when people had been so openly homophobic and hateful towards him, he had ended up believing a lot of the things they said about him. Eating less was not just a way for him to control something in his life; he believed that he deserved the ensuing hunger and pain. Though he had gotten out of it, all of it sometimes came back to him whenever he went through a period of stress. Nick assures Charlie that he is there for him and wants to know if Charlie ever feels this way. At the end of Heartstopper Season 2, Charlie goes back home, wondering whether to tell Nick that he loves him, not knowing that his boyfriend is also on the verge of saying that.
Final Thoughts
We cannot believe that Heartstopper doesn’t have more hype around it. The way the details have been adapted from the graphic novel, complete with the tiny hearts that emphasize the moments Nick, Charlie, or any one of the others fall in love a little more with their partners, is simply magical. This show is a must-watch, and no excuse is good enough to justify missing out on it.
