TV Review- Heartstopper Season 3

 

If the phrase “why are we like this?” became the mantra for season one you may well ask of season three- why are they still like this? Let’s face it, Heartstopper is never going to develop into a series anything other than the life affirming, positive drama that it is. While this third season nudges the characters a little further into self doubt and strife measured against other shows it is still featherlight and that’s fine. Enough series play the trauma or dystopia cards so surely something different is a good thing? I do feel though that with these plots the show might benefit from the approach of centring each episode around a particular character. Here the production crams everyone’s plots into most of the episodes which means some are underserved. However when they alter the format it produces the best episode of the season.  

 

Episode four scores highly by showing us events first from Nick’s point of view and then Charlie’s by way of their both journaling (apparently the new word for keeping a written diary) events. This approach allows us time with the events and their impact and works extremely well. Elsewhere there are signs of the show becoming bolder.

Yes we have swearing”! More importantly the characters start to behave a little more like you might expect even if they remain rooted in the Heartstopper universe with its pastel primary colours and optimism. This season does venture into (slightly) darker territory with storylines about mental health, teenage sex, gender, pronouns, parental boundaries and looking ahead to a world beyond school life. It is never preachy but the approach can come across as educational as much as it is dramatic. Every storyline that concludes does so in a sunny manner, an old-fashioned optimism that is absent from much drama these days.

That’s not to say things are exactly the same. Over the space of almost a fictional year matters motor more quickly than they did in seasons one and two as if the production is trying to catch up with the actors who are starting to look a little too old to be in school. More than that though this means the cast are better suited to the material. In fact very little is centred around the school this time with a lot of the narrative taking place during holidays or weekends.  While there are still those little sparks and floating leaves to depict romance, the arty presentation also encompasses darker moods too. When Charlie has body image doubts, issues with eating and so on the screen crackles and darkens around him while the speech of other characters is muffled.

Ultimately Charlie ends up in in a facility where the therapist is Eddie Marsan thankfully in a benign role this time. This being Heartstopper he is the best therapist ever though the dialogue does stress that problems like this can return, its just that now Charlie knows how to deal with it. Joe Locke rises to the occasion with more material than anyone else and his reading of the character has made Charlie the show’s first fully developed role. As his work on Agatha All Along also shows,  it is becoming clear he is one of those actors with real nuance and depth. Amusingly Charlie does not like Marvel in this show!

Nick meanwhile has wise Aunt Diane played by Hayley Attwell to give him advice on how to deal with Charlie’s situation. She is excellent actually bringing something of a less twee and practical attitude as she advises Nick what he can do to help Charlie’s situation in the best scene of the season. Kit Connor has worked wonders with Nick who is a character often left looking in from the outside. The show has now largely disconnected from his rugby side, save for a handful of scenes, but yet to find him a purpose other than being supportive of Charlie. There are hints later on that perhaps a fourth season (not yet confirmed) would explore Nick in some more depth. Elsewhere Tao and Elle’s romance blossoms though despite the actor’s strong performances -both William Gao and Yasmin Finney’s best yet – this does feel a little like a rerun over very familiar ground.

Often highlights can be found away from the main foursome whether its Isaac wrestling with how to deal with his asexuality, the careful way Charlie’s father navigates arguments between his wife and son and especially Georgina Rich’s deadpan Tori who I still suspect has super powers. How else can she appear without ever being seen walking there! Others characters have to grab screen time when they can- teachers Farouk and Ajayi only get brief moments for their wonderful adult version of the romances the younger people are having, Tara and Darcy’s stuff is lively but rushed while poor Harry, surely an interesting counterpoint to all the gooeyness, gets about three lines!

Heartstopper is not out to shock though. By season’s end each couple are still together, blissfully and monogamously. I was thinking watching the last episode where some of the characters are in a car racing to get back in time for Charlie’s band’s gig that if this were any other show, they would end up crashing with an end of season cliffhanger over whether they all survive. Of course that doesn’t happen here, they get there in time for the final song and everyone’s happy.  In some ways I don’t want Heartstopper to change, on the other there are times when you wish it would race a bit rather than canter all the time.