Heartstopper is a poetic and delicate, deep, and complex story about two boys who love each other and the queer community that revolves around them.
The third season of Heartstopper, a series created and written by Alice Oseman, a Netflix adaptation of the graphic novel of the same name, also composed for this season of 8 episodes, arrives on Netflix on October 3, 2024. The show is a compassionate and gentle exploration of identity, mental health, and first sexual experiences, it seems more mature in this third season while maintaining its characteristic sweetness.
If the second season focused on the complexities of coming out, in particular on Nick's (Kit Connor) journey through understanding his bisexuality, this season, directed by Andy Newbery, focuses on Charlie (Joe Locke) and the difficult period he is experiencing but will also investigate the situation of his friends. They are each in a delicate moment of their lives: they are growing up, and there are many choices to make, and many paths to take.
Heartstopper 3: Charlie and the monster that lives inside him
Heartstopper sensitively tells the story of Charlie's struggle with his eating disorder - narrated since the first season - which here becomes even more ruthless. For Charlie, everything becomes more complicated, a picnic with friends, someone who offers him chips for lunch, and a day at the beach in a bathing suit; for the boy, his body becomes a cage and a protective screen.
Locke is sober and nuanced in his portrait of Charlie's hidden pain and his interpretation is accompanied by Oseman's animated illustrations that help convey the panic, the pain that takes him, that inner voice that pushes him to self-destruct. Always following him with love, and respect, silently and even with warm and tender tears, at every moment, there is Nick, support and support for him: he is his anchor, his safe harbor. When Charlie feels lost he runs to Nick, when his house seems like a prison, full of rules and impositions, he escapes to his boyfriend's house.
It tells the complexities of taking care of a loved one who is suffering from an eating disorder. Connor is perfect and can convey Nick's deep feelings for Charlie but also his deep fear of making a mistake so much so that he asks for help from his aunt, Diane, who takes care of this to behave at his best and be by his side.
The story of fragility, of fear
The series shows how difficult it is to grow up, and how complex it is to ask for help and consequently makes it clear that we are not alone, it is normal to feel fragile, it is not a drama to be "fallible", "imperfect". Wars, small or large, are personal but you can and must also rely on others. Charlie, for example, understands that his family is there, they are there for him, first of all his sister Tori (Jenny Walser). Each of the characters in the series is ready to externalize what makes them suffer the most or at least, they will try to do so, first silently, then in an increasingly obvious way.
Anxiety, panic attacks, and dysphoria are issues that are treated and analyzed to better understand each other and the other. We continue to give ample space to secondary characters, which allows us to see the growth of the relationship between Elle (Yasmine Finney) and Tao (William Gao). Taking their relationship to the next level, Elle brings buried issues to the surface, which gives voice to themes rarely discussed on television. Along the same lines, we learn more about Tori (Jenny Walser) and her vulnerabilities, while Darcy (Kizzy Edgell) and Imogen's (Rhea Norwood) journeys of self-discovery are handled magnificently. What stands out is the attention to detail and the care with which the bonds of friendship are told.
Hearstopper 3: Desire and Sexuality of a Small Queer Community
Hearstopper has often been criticized for being too tied to feelings and not enough to the sexual sphere, experiencing this as a limit for the series itself, in this third season things change. The young protagonists talk, tell their stories, and bring to the center what they feel and experience. These episodes make it clear that they too have desires, and feel passion, this is also possible because the show is now a safe space, non-judgmental and without pressure. They are insecure, they don't feel up to it, they touch each other to understand how far they can go, and everything is narrated with delicacy and without voyeurism.
The characters hesitantly try to understand their sexual desires and limits. Charlie and Nick, Tao and Elle let themselves go headlong into their feelings and desires in this season trying to understand if they are ready for their first sexual experiences. Everyone is extremely respectful when they approach others, they are gentle and understood, Nick is with Charlie, and Tao is with Elle, this is because this is a generation that also knows another type of language, and knows sweetness and consideration towards others.
Heartstopper – season 3: evaluation and conclusion
The third season of Heartstopper has become a more mature series that has grown like its characters, ready to analyze issues that it was not yet able to deal with before. The series, with delicacy, gets closer and closer to Nick, Charlie, and all the others, entering their rooms to hear what they say, what they feel, thus listening to the thoughts, the reflections of a group of young queer people. Heartstopper is a poetic and delicate, deep and complex story about two boys who love each other and the queer community that revolves around them, about human frailties, about the fear of not being good enough, and about the need to be accepted and loved.
The eight episodes represent a safe haven, a place where you feel protected, when the series talks about eating disorders, dysphoria, and transphobia, it does so with a very delicate and respectful but not superficial touch.