Heartstopper, one of Netflix’s most wholesomecoming-of-ageseries,returns for its third season on October 3rd.Based on Alice Oseman’sgraphic novels of the same name,HeartstopperSeason 1 focused primarily on Charlie’s (Joe Locke)budding relationship with Nick(Kit Connor), while Season 2 revolves largely around Nick’s coming out journey, also featuring further development of supporting characters like Tao (William Gao), Darcy (Kizzy Edgell), and Isaac (Tobie Donovan). TheSeason 3 trailershows Charlie and his friends taking on new challenges as they startthinking about their futures, and thoughOlivia Colman, who plays Nick’s supportive mother, will not be returning,Hayley AtwellandBridgerton’sJonathan Baileyhave also joined the cast. It’s been over a year since Season 2 came out, solet’s take a look back at where we left off with theHeartstoppercrew before the new season drops.
Nick Comes Out as Bisexual
Nick’s struggle tocome out as bisexualto his family and friends is one of the major storylines ofHeartstopperSeason 2. After coming out to his mom in the Season 1 finale, Nick begins to feel more secure in his sexuality but has a difficult time coming out to friends on the rugby team, especially after physically fighting Harry (Cormac Hyde-Corrin)over the homophobic commentshe made about Charlie in Season 1. One of the first people he’s able to successfully come out to is Imogen (Rhea Norwood), who tells him she basically already knew. Things take a turn for the worse, however, whenNick’s older brother,David (Jack Barton), walks into Nick’s bedroom to find Charlie lying alone on his bed while Nick is in the kitchen making tea, andsays he wants to meet the person who “turned his brother gay.“Nick angrily kicks him out and respondsthat he’s actually bisexual, but David tells him to stop lying to himself and denies the existence of bisexuality altogether.
Nick and Charlie attempt to play it cool and make it seem like they’re just friends while they’re at Truham, but during their class trip to Paris,Nick gives Charlie a hickey, and rumors start flying about who could have given it to him.During a game of truth or dare at Tara’s (Corinna Brown) birthday party, someone asks Charlie who gave him the hickey. Nick decides to tell everyone it is him, confirms his relationship with Charlie, and comes out as bisexual. While in Paris, Nick and Charlie meet up for coffee with Nick’s estranged father, Stéphane (Thibault de Montalembert), who leaves before Nick can tell him Charlie is his boyfriend. When Stéphane travels to the UK for work, Nick invites Charlie and his family for a dinner party at his house withthe intention of coming outto his father then, but David ruins his plan by making snide comments about Nick and Charlie’s relationship during dinner. Nick finally snaps and revealsthe truth about his sexualityand relationship with Charlie and confronts his father about how absent he is in his life.In theSeason 2 finale, Nick comes out publicly on Instagramwith a picture of him and Charlie, and the two attend prom together.
Charlie Opens Up to Nick About His Mental Health
Throughout the season, Charlie is very supportive of Nick onhis coming out journey, wanting to make sure he doesn’t have the same experience he did when he was outed against his will. Nick starts to befriend Tao during the Paris trip, and we later find outit was Tao’s fault that Charlie got outed.After Charlie came out to his friends, someone overheard Tao and Isaac discussing it and spread the news around school, leading to relentless bullying, which took a severe toll on Charlie’s mental health. While Charlie is very supportive of Nick, Nick encourages Charlie to be vulnerable with him as well, trying to get him toopen up about that dark time in his life, but Charlie is hesitant.
Nick notices that Charlie doesn’t eat much and tries to broach the subject with him, but Charlie brushes it off until he faints in the Louvre during the Paris trip. He admits to Nick that he sometimesfeels the need to control his eatingand did so a lot when he was getting bullied at school. After prom, Nick manages to get Charlie to finally open up about the bullying he experienced after he was outed and reveals that he used to cut himself when things got really bad. However, he doesn’t do it anymore. It’s a very intimate moment, andNick almost says, “I love you,“but is interrupted by the sound of his mom and brother getting home. Afterward, while Charlie is walking home, he types out “I love you” in a message to Nick,and the season endswith his finger hovering over the send button.
Elle and Tao Start Dating in Season 2
In Episode 2, Elle (Yasmin Finney) visits the Lambert School of Art, where she befriends Felix (Ash Self) and Naomi (Bel Priestley), another trans girl. Though she has friends at Higgs, going to Lambert would give Elle the chanceto fit in among other openly queer and trans studentswhile pursuing her passion for art, but she feels bad about having to leave Tao behind. This is made even more complicated by her crush on Tao, but her attempts to flirt with him fall flat, and she figures her best option is to attempt to get over him. Once Tao realizes he also has a crush on Elle, he finally asks her out and takes her on a super awkward date to the cinema to see her favorite movie,Moonrise Kingdom.
Things are weird between them after their date, as Elle doesn’t want Tao to change himself to be with her, but they make up and agree to remain friends during their solo excursionto an art museumduring the Paris trip.Their romantic feelings still linger, and during their class trip to the Louvre, Elle kisses Tao. They start dating, but it’s bittersweet, asElle gets into Lambert, and Tao fears losing her when she moves away next term.
Tara and Darcy Say, “I Love You”
In Episode 3, Tara tells Darcy she loves her, but Darcy doesn’t say it back.Tara writes it off as a “casual ‘I love you’” and doesn’t expect Darcy to reciprocate, but every time Tara tries to bring it up, Darcy changes the subject to Tara’s frustration. During the Paris trip, Charlie tells Tara that he’s jealous of how she and Darcy can be physically affectionate in public. Tara, in turn,tells him she’s jealous of Charlie and Nick’s ability totalk about their feelings. Darcy turns everything into a joke and doesn’t like having serious conversations about their relationship despite how much she clearly cares for Tara. Later, Darcy drinks too much during Tara’s birthday party and drunkenly tells her she loves her, and they look forward to going to prom together.
Darcy buysa suit to wear to prom, but when her homophobic mother walks in on her wearing it, she yells at her to take it off and proceeds to kick Darcy out of the house. She shows up to prom late and disheveled, and when they take the party back to Nick’s house, she finally opens up to Tara aboutwhat she’s been going through. Darcy explains thatshe struggles to open up because she doesn’t want to tell Tara about her toxic home life.Though she’s confident around Tara and their friends, she’s not out to her parents and hideswho she really iswhen she’s at home because her familywould not accept heras a lesbian. Tara understands, and they make up and say “I love you.”
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Isaac Realizes He’s Asexual
Always with a book in his hand,Isaac is thequietest member of Charlie’s friend group, and, once Elle and Tao get together, finds himself the only onenot in a romantic relationship.This leaves him feeling like the odd one out, but Season 2 does introduce a potential love interest for Isaac in James (Bradley Riches), the only other openly gay student at Truham. They start hanging out at school and during the Paris trip, butwhen James kisses him during Tara’s birthday party, Isaac isn’t feeling it. He feels pressured to bein a romantic relationshiplike his friends, but doesn’t have the same feelings about romance that everyone else seems to have.
During the Lambert art show, Isaac speaks with one of the student artists who explains their piece about coming to terms with being aromantic and asexual and overcoming societal pressures to prioritize romantic relationships and sex. Thisreally resonates with Isaac, and he laterpicks up a book at the library about asexuality, though he still hasn’t vocalized his feelings to any of his friends.
Ben Apologizes to Charlie After the Art Show
During GSCE prep, Nick is assigned to sit next to Ben (Sebastian Croft), Charlie’s exwho sexually assaulted him. Nick doesn’t like Ben for obvious reasons, and when he starts dating Imogen, Nick warns her thatBen isn’t a good guy, but doesn’t tell her the extent of what he did to Charlie. Imogen ignores his warning, but during the Paris trip, he stops paying attention to her and Imogen ditches him to hang out with Nick, Charlie, and their friends. Whenshe dumps him in front of everyone, Ben calls her a bitch, and even the now-reformed homophobic bully Harry tells him that was uncalled-for. When Nick and Ben are paired up for a French assignment, he tells Nick he wants Charlie back, but Charlie later assures him there’s no chance of that happening.
After the Lambert art show,Ben approaches Charlie and Nick and finally apologizes to Charlie. Ben tells him he wishes he could be outlike him and Nick, but his parents would never accept him for who he really is.Ben won’t be returning to Truham next term and is clearly looking for forgiveness, but Charlie details just how much his treatment negatively affected Charlie’smental health and sense of self-worth. In his words, “Sorry doesn’t make up for everything you did to me.”
The first two seasons ofHeartstopperare available to stream on Netflix, with Season 3 dropping on October 3.
Heartstopper
Teens Charlie and Nick discover their unlikely friendship might be something more as they navigate school and young love in this coming-of-age series.
