With the scent of beach days, the sounds of laughter, and the euphoric soundtrack it is easy to tell that the new season of Heartstopper is out to add a little bit of extra light into your life. On Oct. 3, Heartstopper debuted its third season, giving fans more of the great representation on mental health and LGBTQ+ realities in relationships that they have come to love.
Heartstopper is a coming-of-age, romantic comedy series based on the graphic novel series of the same name by Alice Oseman, who also worked as a script writer for the Netflix adaptation. The series is beloved by fans, and is centered around Charlie Spring and his ongoing relationship with Nick Nelson and their friendships, struggles, and overall lives.
All of the characters are maturing, and entering different phases in their lives, which brings a host of struggles and worries like preparing to go to college, being an overused outlet for friends, mental health, eating disorders, self harm, and the bittersweet feeling of inevitably growing up and moving onto the next chapter. Though many fans were nervous for how these issues would be executed, and if they would be accurately portrayed, the show exceeded expectations and did not cherry pick the conflicts it chose to highlight.
This season is a continuation of where the story left off in Season Two. In the previous season, Charlie has struggled with his eating habits leading from a place of obsession and compulsion, and this season addresses those issues head on and shows not only the impact on his mental and physical health but also the impact it has on the people surrounding him. It shows a the situation realistically in the way that Charlie deflects when it is initially mentioned, how he pretends to eat and moves the food on his plate in front of others to not attract suspicion, how he doesn’t believe he does have an eating disorder when he is confronted about it, and how he successfully hides it all from most of his close circle.
The show brings this conflict to a realistic conclusion through showing how he researches the topic of eating disorders and anorexia, and comes to the realization that he did need help and wants to get better. The show has proven to be skilled at visually representing what they want to be noticed in scenes, especially in the ones dealing with tough topics. Instead of being blunt and telling the viewer what was going on in Charlie’s head when he struggled to eat, they do this by adding sketches and shadows either around his body and face or the food he is staring at that portrays his mixed emotions. The show is using a motif that has been continued from Season One, but has now taken on a darker tone with the harder situations in this season.
With these struggles come some very tough situations, and even tougher decisions. With all of the family and mental health issues that are affecting Darcy and Charlie, their partners, Tara and Nick, are left to help them to the fullest extent they can. They are put in a hard situation as they love their partners and would do anything for them, but learn that in many cases the issues faced are out of their control and that Darcy and Charlie need more help than their teenage partner can give. Giving their partners the comfort they need also takes a toll on their mental health. It also leads them to undermine their own issues, because they are seemingly easier than what Charlie and Darcy had to go through.
This season also enters a new era in the characters lives as it shows much more struggles and how with life there will always be ups and downs. While Charlie is not at that stage yet, his boyfriend and close friends Nick, Elle, Tara, Darcy, and Imogen are beginning the process of looking at colleges and deciding what they want to be. This comes with the issue of not wanting to leave all that they have ever known behind and the fear of not fitting in anywhere else. Specifically Nick is more reserved and held back by the idea of leaving Charlie and his Mom behind, which sets up future conflict between the young couple.
With so much going on in every character’s lives they are also still learning how to be young adults and good friends. This season Issac finds his voice and stands up to all of his friends and communicates how he feels left behind when they are in their summer of romance as he is the only character without a partner. Issac learns that it’s best to give his friends his honest opinion and that it’s the only way for them to know how he is feeling.
Beyond the plot of the show, Heartstopper also excels at mastering the overall aesthetic that the show has become known for. One thing that can make or break a show is the soundtrack, with Heartstopper it is unfathomable what the series would be without the curated feeling within the music chosen. With everything from popular mainstream artists like Beabadoobee, Grimes, Billie Eilish, Sufjan Stevens, and Olivia Rodrigo to much smaller and upcoming artists like Baby Queen, Wolf Alice, and mxmtoon, these songs perfectly set the scene for this show. The songs are always perfectly matched to the feeling of the character and adds an extra layer to the show and scenes. Though there is a large range and variety in the music chosen for the show they all are connected and all leave a lasting impression and memory of the show when they are heard again after watching.
This season was a great transitional period in the show which depicted the changes as the characters are becoming young adults, and showcased less sugar coated realities. The producers successfully kept all the factors that the fans had loved in prior seasons, and while adding more layers to all of the characters they had come to love. They also made them feel more realistic and much more relatable and real.
