From defending your crush to your friends, overthinking the messages sent, and having unexplainable moments of happiness around one another, Heartstopper makes the feelings of love feel dreamy, giggly, and possible all at once. The show is an LGBTQ+ love story that focuses on many relationships, mainly the one between Nick Nelson (Kit Connor) and Charlie Spring (Joe Locke). Nick and Charlie are slowly becoming a love story for the ages with their wholesome storyline, young love theme, and authentic emotions. The television series came out on April 22, and is continuing to be an undisputable opponent in the charts weeks after, something that can be attributed to the fanbase rewatching the wholesome series over and over again.

Everything must start somewhere and Heartstopper started as a Webtoon, a digital graphic novel that quickly stole the hearts of readers everywhere. As the support arrived, so did the progression of the story by Alice Oseman. Then came the physical graphic novels, amounting to four volumes with a fifth in the works, and finally, the show that is captivating viewers around the world, Heartstopper on Netflix. This development of Oseman’s work growing in success is a heartwarming context to the cute and addicting plotline. Inside and out, Heartstopper is authentic and braves the genre of LGBTQ+ shows and movies with a relationship to dream about. 

Heartstopper is a show that makes you blush in awe or scream into your pillow out of adrenaline. This show did a great job of balancing the relationship of Nick and Charlie with the external relationships of Elle (Yasmin Finney) and Tao (William Gao), and Tara (Corinna Brown) and Darcy (Kizzy Edgell). Ultimately, the three relationships aim to involve all viewers; there are gay, lesbian, and straight relationships, all of which melt the heart of watchers everywhere. With this inclusion of so many sexualities and its PG development, Heartstopper is perfect for people of all ages, no matter who they love or where they are in their life journey. 

These relationships are nothing without the talented portrayal of each character by their respected actor. The actors are spitting images of their characters, literally. Personally, I thought the way the graphic novel was literally copied and pasted onto the TV was one of the best parts of the show. Along with the characters, the script was directly parallel to the WEBTOON, reciting fans’ favorite lines in an exact setting with spitting images of the drawings. Some of the most popular scenes were produced without change to the story, and this has created a viral trend of editing scenes from the show and panels from the novels next to each other. This show really helped the story of Nick and Charlie come to life. From the excitement of their first kiss in a hidden room at a party, to Nick carrying Charlie into the ocean that united them as boyfriends, every important scene is depicted from the books into the series. 

Hopelessly romantic, this show is definitely not realistic which some people argue defeats its purpose as a show for the LGBTQ+ community to look up to. However, I think the fantasy and ultimate invisible string holding Nick and Charlie together is exactly what is so admirable about this show. We see so many films such as Hallmark movies full of cheesy straight couples who always end up together, but so many LGBTQ+ films don’t end up the same way and include so many more problems in their plot. But Heartstopper is different. It is a show that helps heighten the imagination and fireworks of a young love. It makes you want to scream at every turn and every new Charlie-Nick scene. It is so important that the LGBTQ+ community is not shut out from the experience of imagining a perfect relationship, a soulmate, and more than that, a true love. Heartstopper is so important to me, and so many others, because of the hope it gives the community that they deserve a relationship that is special and unique to them. Connor and Locke who play Nick and Charlie have created something special, they created characters who many members of the LGBTQ+ community can resonate with and learn from. Outside of their relationship, Nick and Charlie both developed through the show and had their own personal storyline, giving dimension to each character. 

Overall, Heartstopper is a show everyone should watch. It has something to look up to for a lot of communities who have felt underwhelmed by series/movies in the past and creates a romantic world to escape to. It has an ability to change the outlook of viewers to be more hopelessly romantic, and it has a storyline that is so addicting. Obsession comes hand in hand with this show as Hearstopper has helped many people come out to families, be more comfortable in themselves, and be positive within the few weeks of its release. I do hope we can look forward to some of the heavier topics discussed in the books to be portrayed in the series next season, and that the second season continues to have this beaming energy the first had. Heartstopper has definitely stolen my heart and so many others, the show can expect an amazing run in following years.