Crush
Episode 2 of “Heartstopper” begins with Nick looking through Charlie’s social media photos. He laughs at his quirkyness… until he finds a message written in the dark school hallway, reading “I hate this place.” It’s a sober reality check, one that harks back to Charlie’s days of bullying. This, as it turns out, stems from him being gay. There are some really nice visual cutaways here too; scribbled figures depict bullies as they taunt Charlie. ..
Nick and Charlie continue to communicate with one another, both of them feeling angst as they wait for messages from the other. Charlie calls Nick his “straight friend” (clearly trying to provoke a reaction) but it doesn’t quite work. Tao believes that Charlie needs to give up on Nick given he’s straight, but Charlie is not so sure. ..
Charlie’s teacher, Mr Ajayi, is the beacon of all knowledge. He asks Charlie about what to do, but Charlie simply tells him he needs to suffer through this.
Elle, a new student at her school, finds herself struggling to make friends. Her teacher is concerned and encourages Elle to try and make a new friend before the end of term. The thing is, it’s not as easy as just breaking into a friendship circle- Elle finds herself struggling to start up a conversation with any of the girls. Thankfully, a chance encounter comes her way. ..
After dropping her pencil case on the floor, Tara encourages Elle to join them at lunch. Elle does just that and appears to have made some new friends.
Meanwhile, Charlie heads over to Nick’s place that weekend where they find it snowing outside. The pair end up having a snowball fight and then lie on the ground together, talking. Funnily enough, Nick’s mother points out that Charlie is a good friend and has noticed that he allows Nick to really be himself around him.
Nick is worried about what people will think when they hear he’s in love with a girl. He’s never been good at letting people know how he feels, so he’s been careful to keep his relationship with Tara under wraps. But rumours are starting to circulate and it seems like everyone in school knows about their relationship. Nick is worried that his friends will think he’s a idiot for being in love with a girl and they’ll laugh at him. He doesn’t want that to happen, so he decides to tell Elle the truth.
That night, Elle agrees to at least try and broach the subject with Tara, in order to see if Nick likes her back. She cleverly does so through speaking French, learning that Tara does not, in fact, have a boyfriend. It turns out Darcy and Tara are actually dating so no, there’s no chance she’s going to be dating Nick anytime soon. ..
After school, Charlie invites Nick over to his place and they help each other play the drums. Eventually, they watch TV together but Charlie falls asleep. Nick thinks about holding Charlie’s hand.
As Charlie and Nick walk away from each other, they can be heard shouting in excitement. It seems like their final goodbye will be quite the show. However, just as they are about to part ways, Charlie’s sister Tori comes up to them and tells them that she thinks Nick is gay. This shocks both of them and they quickly turn around to face her. As they do so, they can see that she has been watching them and has not said a word.
That much seems to be true as Nick begins his search for “Am I gay?” on Google that evening.
The Episode Review
Heartstopper is an excellent show. The characters are well written, there is a sweet core to all of this and the inclusivity is fantastic. The show has a way of allowing you to easily warm up to all of these characters, and it speaks to a whole generation of kids who haven’t received this sort of coverage in mainstream media. This is shaping up to be one of Netflix’s best originals this year. ..
The writing is strong across the board, and not only that but Heartstopper accompanies its ensemble with a great soundtrack and some slick visuals too. Will Nick and Charlie become a couple? We’ll have to wait and see!
