Heartstopper: Season Three

October 23, 2024 10:02 AM - Season 3 (Full Season)

Further adventures of love in the lives of the most LGBTQIA friendly group of high school friends ever.
posted by Nelson (1 comment total)

Finished the new season last night, really enjoyed it. What I like best is the characters have grown up and are more mature. Our season two discussion had a lot of people sort of making fun of all the chaste kissing. Glad to see them handling relationships and situations in a more adult way. Also glad to see some of them having sex and nicely depicted in a charming and non-creepy way. I liked the different approaches the different couples took to choosing to go all the way.

Also really liked the development of the secondary characters. The show realized it can't just be all Nick & Charlie all the time. I find Elle's character really compelling and appreciated how they tackled her dysphoria head on. Tao has also become interesting, the actor is quite talented and is doing well with more writing. Even found myself warming to Isaac, his smile and love for his friends is so genuine. And asexual representation matters too!

I was dreading the eating disorder plot. I want my happy mostly problem free LGBT teen romance, not this heavy stuff! But they handled the one hospital episode really well. And I liked how Charlie's story kept coming back to it, how his family and friends reacted. The therapist actor (Eddie Marsan) was also quite good. It's a shame they couldn't get Olivia Colman back as Nick's mom, although the substitution with the cool aunt worked out OK.

One question: has anything been written about how the production style has changed? This season feels more like it's a dream, it's something about the lighting and framing. Particularly in the earlier episodes. I like it and am curious what specifically they did. It's a little like the first season of The Good Place.

Heartstopper has become really important in my household, particularly for my 78 year old gay partner. He's read all the books and watched the first two seasons many many times. I think this may be the best season yet, the show has really come into itself.
posted by Nelson at 10:21 AM on October 23 [2 favorites]