Heartstopper S3 story

Nick and Charlie are going steady in their relationship, but that that doesn’t prevent them from facing conflicts that they have to deal for themselves. With them wanting to their relationship to next level, Charlie suffering from eating disorder, there are also other characters having their own journey. Elle and Tao learn to be with each other, while Isaac eases into him being aromantic and asexual, Tara and her partner Darcy discovering their self-expression.

Heartstopper S3 review

Every season of Heartstopper feels like a warm hug enveloping you at the right time needed. This season too is very much that, but notches up a level when the teens are facing more real-time issues and are growing their wings to explore the world little more. The season too begins to address more pertinent topics, of course while beautifully squaring them within the protagonists who are happily queer.

At a point in this season of Heartstopper, Isaac, who is asserts his asexuality and being aromantic, refuses to give vocabulary lessons about is identity to all those around him. In another moment, he grins when somebody acknowledges the meaning of aromantic. Heartstopper, at its essence, does not want to serve as a glossary for queer terminologies, but invites you the lives of the youngsters who are exploring as much as we are. And what more is beautiful when the tribe of Heartstopper come for one another as each of them grow wings.

This season of Heartstopper also brings issues like mental illness (eating disorder), and debate if feminism also bats for transwomen with Elle in focus, as each of the characters get enough and more scope to learn about themselves. In between these, are also the lighter moments sandwiched, even as they seem cheesy, concurs with those elements Heartstopper made us fall in love with it. Charlie returns all of Nick’s sweatshirts because they don’t smell like him anymore, and when Tao does everything to make Elle feel special in the relationship, are little nuggets of happiness you get to see simply teens in love.

Heartstopper’s third season also takes a mature step to show teens experiencing intimate moments with their partners. More than the sex, it is the conversations of safe spaces, the ability to draw boundaries even with your loved ones and most importantly, acknowledging those boundaries and respectfully aligning with them. Heartstopper’s way of handling these characters more like adults, rather than delegating them to be childish teens, is where the show takes a win, and the continued collaboration and involvement of Alice Oseman (of the comic strip series) only further cements it. However, it still feels gutted to have the absence of Nick’s mother and the wonderful Olivia Coleman’s absence go unaddressed.

One of the main aspects of Heartstopper is that it puts reality to the forefront than having cheesy romance as the answer to everything. The lead characters, especially Nick and Charlie, Tao and Elle, Darcy and Tara, Isaac, and others, learn to accept themselves first, while their partners too, accept to give and take the treatment of being independent individuals free to make their decisions. When Nick, whose aunt is a psychologist says to her nephew that love isn’t the cure to mental illness, when the former opens up about Charlie’s eating disorder, it hit the right chord of empathy, a feeling that is right to both the partners in a relationship. Heartstopper does not want you to think love is all that is needed in a relationship and that makes the season soar high in bright moments. They are the companionship, support, respect and most importantly, safe space of self-expression, that creates romance in a relationship and this season wonderfully captures these values.

Heartstopper S3 verdict

Heartstopper’s third season keeps soaring, but this time it’s different. The showrunners bring many more nuances to the character detailing and add a dash of matured romance, and go beyond the cheesy actions of love. Keeping the childishness in each of the teen still, we see a bunch of characters who are ready to grow wings and flutter their way through our hearts.

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