My blog

From escaping the party

And hiding in the party

To enjoying the party

I find it very endearing that despite the story moving at a quick pace with sooo many heavy things happening, it still takes a breather to teach the audience things they can do incase they relate in similar situations as the characters in the show:

Journaling

Just grabbing a pen or pencil and writing away all of your feelings, as if you were telling someone else. While it seems like an easy thing to do, it's nice that now they'll have Tara Jones's voice recommending them to journal.

Deep Breathing

THIS SCENE IN PARTICULAR felt like a tutorial for anyone having a panic attack. And now they'll have Charlie's voice taking them through the steps to calm themselves down. Particularly the part of grounding yourself. Yes, deep breathing will calm you down, but grounding yourself will let you remember where you are in reality, instead of being dragged into the world were your anxieties eat you alive.

Writing your feelings down to ask for help

Especially for those that have a hard time expressing themselves or finding words to do so and those that get the sudden feeling to ask for help but then immediately shut themselves down numbing any emotion, it's an effective way to ask for help. It gives one confidence and the reassurance that you are feeling those feelings and not just "making things up" or "exaggerating".

Both characters have conversations with people who "don't mean any harm or ill intent", but say things that are very ignorant or offensive towards Charlie and Elle. Elle has that fucking interviewer going on about the "trans debate" (And like Elle said, trans people aren't a debate, they are human beings), reducing her whole person to just being "the trans girl", completely ignoring the fact they were gonna talk about Elle's art and rise to fame: and Charlie has a conversation with his uncle at Christmas, and while Charlie has had a shit ton of things going on in his life (His new boyfriend, him playing the drums, Uni being soon, his french trip, etc.), the only thing his uncle asked him was him going to the psych ward and nothing else (And then the cousins chiming in and the unnecessary comments early that day about his weight from his grandparents.)

First of all, this does amazing commentary and presents how people who don't even have bad intentions, can still cause harm to others even if they don't mean it. Not meaning to do something doesn't mean you didn't do anything. That fucking interviewer may have just wanted to be an Ally and try to defend trans people, and Charlie's family may have just wanted to get to know Charlie and genuinely ask how he is doing, but there's a time, place and language for that.

And if you don't know some things about certain topics, there's this cool thing called Google, because the other (ex. Charlie and Elle) don't have to numb their pains so you (ex. Charlie's family, that fucking interviewer.) can understand a topic. Only if they are okay with it, they are not mandated to be your encyclopedia's in topics you don't understand just because they do.

If you really love or care about someone, you would do the effort to be respectful. Isaac literally told Charlie he didn't want to give a vocab lessons about aromanticism to all his friends and when Charlie asked what aromanticism was, Isaac told him to google it and he did. It's a very tiny scene, but Charlie researching what aromanticism is shows how much he loves and cares for his friend. Isaac showed his boundaries and Charlie respected them. Charlie's family should've asked if it was okay for him to talk about it. (Especially since they keep asking if there were straight jackets and all that? Like? They are all shits and giggles about that, but wouldn't Charlie be traumatized if he did have an experience as they describe it? Why would he talk about it like it's the gossip of the week? Fucking hell.) And well, that fucking interviewer is just evil. Why would this 16 year old be pleased to talk about her sole existence making bigots pissed, wishing she didn't exist? Huuuh? Manipulative fuck.

Charlie is not just "a boy with anoxeria and OCD.". He is a very smart boy who loves astronomy, Greek literature, plays the drums and Mario Kart, loves scary movies and dislikes Marvel movies, and more.

Elle is not just "a trans girl." She is a very creative girl who loves to paint and draw, as it lets her express feelings she can't really put into words; a girl who can make her own clothes, a girl who wants to see the world and see what's out there, a girl who deep down is a very silly and goofy but still stylish and loves to party and more.

And yes, Elle is trans and Charlie does have anorexia and OCD, but you don't just simply ignore those facts, but you also don't reduce them to that. People are so much more than the one thing they are "known" for. if we loved and care for those people, we will do our research and respect their boundaries. 🍂

We all know Tori says the phrase "Nick is my favorite" in episode 4 season 3, but it's in episode 7 when Charlie and his mum are fighting where Tori says "we all love Nick". She loves Nick. And love is a strong word that is not thrown around willy nilly. She loves Nick, enough to support Charlie's decision of being extremely intimate with him, despite the shitstorm that Charlie has been through.

If only Nick could know how much Tori loves him. 🍂

While Darcy moving with their grandma is something that happens very early in season 3, it's the impacts of them moving out that does wonders.

Notice how as soon as Darcy has a loving and supportive environment they stop hiding their problems and begin to be their authentic self confidently without too many shits to give? Tara deserves her flowers for being an amazing girlfriend and letting Darcy live with her for a time before they settled, but as soon as Darcy settles, their personal issues go from being ignored to dealt with. If Darcy's mum was having a fit over them liking girls, I can't imagine it would've have gone well when they changed pronouns, transitioned to non-binary, changed presentation and cut their hair. It would've been fucking hell in that household.

But also let's talk about it. Grandma Darcy was fully supportive of all of those things. Hair, presentation, pronouns, gender and liking girls. I'd say that's a lot to take in, and yet she was there for their grandchild. The fact that they encouraged Darcy with the suit while their mother kicked them out speaks levels.

That confident version that Tara saw in Darcy is finally becoming a reality. They always had a support system with the Paris Squad, but now they live with an unconditional support system. Who knows how much and at what speed Darcy is gonna grow in that environment. 🍂

Tori deserves all the flowers, because her mother is constantly worrying about Charlie all while Tori is very clearly going through something, that not even us the audience fully know of.

That could've been the perfect excuse for Tori to resent Charlie. I wouldn't have even blamed her to be honest (It wouldn't have been justified though.), but she goes above and beyond, and she does the complete opposite and supports and comforts Charlie. 🍂

Add that to the list of things Heartstopper makes me wish for: a healthy relationship with my sibling without resentment caused by parents.

It's impressive how the instagram stories and especially Tao's movie for Charlie could've been moments to stop the narrative and take a breather for character development, halting the main plot, but the fact they were able to do both is so impressive, I'm shocked they were able to package so much this season.

From the instagram stories, we saw the process of Darcy moving into their grandma's house, Elle and Tao's summer of romance and Elle's journey of moving into a new school, plus her growing stardom. Yeah, all of these are things the characters do mention and we see the pinnacle moments of them, but it's these "nothing" moments that make it feel real. We see the middle part of their journeys, all while we focus on the main thing: which is the decay and recovery of both Nick and Charlie's mental health.

And then Tao's movie, which is just supposed to be a big love letter to Charlie and how much they care about him, we also progress the plot: Tara's plate getting bigger by being a prefect, Elle's growing stardom in her social media, Darcy trying out new pronouns, Imogen and Sahar's complicated relationship, Tao having time to hang out with Isaac, Nick lacking an identity without Charlie, everyone's arc moves forward in a three minute short film, all while we truly understand how much his friends love and miss Charlie.

The short film could've just been a montage of all his friends telling Charlie how much they love him with a background song playing, and while they do tell him they love him, it's them telling Charlie personal things about themselves that shows how strong their relationship is with Charlie. Darcy in particular getting emotional telling Charlie about trying out new pronouns is so touching. Especially the line "He gets it", because you can see how present Charlie is for them and everyone.

I find it really interesting how despite the supporting characters getting less amount of screen time compared to season 2, they still don't feel sidelined or neglected, and they even have more development.

Imogen and Sahar's joint and individual arc. Imogen's in particular shocks me how tightly knitted it was from season 1 and how it's all coming together. For a character that started out as an extension of Nick's character, I praise the writing of this show with how fleshed out Imogen is turning out to be.

Isaac's focus is mostly in the first half of the show, but I'm impressed how his arc is very much intertwined with Charlie, Tao and Elle's: With Charlie realizing he needs other support systems other than his boyfriend, and Tao and Elle having to spend more time with the other people that they love. Every action any of these four took, impacted the other's arc, and it's just... wow.

Charlie and Tori's mum having to learn to trust Charlie and realizing that she can't "fix" Charlie herself and requires other people to support him. (I already made a whole post about this.)

While I was very excited for Tori to be more present this season, I never knew that one character that was going to get a lot of depth this season was Charlie's mum.

Both of their arcs revolve around worrying about Charlie. While Jane Spring (Charlie's mum) has her moments, the majority of the time she approaches Charlie with good intentions (even if she doesn't have the best approach.) and tries to make sure everything is fine with Charlie, in the same overwhelming type that Charlie worries about everything. Both of them want everything to be perfect, which is why Charlie gets very frustrated with her. He is essentially getting an echo of the voice inside of him that tells him everything has to be perfect, which is why whenever he is with his mum, he reaches his limit pretty quickly. Which is why Tori and Nick's approach of worrying about Charlie works better on him and why both get along better with him. (It also helps that the spring siblings also just have a very strong relationship and Nick and Charlie are... well... Nick and Charlie ❤️.)

It must suck for Jane to not be able to help Charlie, and you can see her frustration whenever Charlie snaps. It comes from a place of wanting to fix things, so reaching a dead end, she gets incredibly annoyed and bolts. Sure, she fights a lot with him, but you can clearly see she wants Charlie to get better and does love him. Hell, if she didn't love him, even with Nick there, she would have said Charlie's mental health problems are all made up (It sure didn't stop Darcy's mum from being an ass to Tara.). Charlie and her mum's relationship is a somewhat dysfunctional, but she worries about her child and loves him very much. Because funny enough, Nick also tried taking matters into his own hands, except Nick was less physically panicked and didn't blow up in Charlie's face anytime any of his methods didn't work.

Tori's is the complete opposite of her mum. Jane is the one that's very solution oriented, while Tori is a mostly an empath and a listener. When people are sad and are going through bad episodes, depending their personality is what type of response they want from people. Either they want someone that can just listen to them to chill down and they themselves then take action, while others require someone to guide them on what they should do. Charlie mostly needs someone who listens, which why Tori's methods of comforting him work better. (And Nick is the perfect balance of listening and taking action when needed.)

I''ve seen people question why Charlie invited "his" friend group to Nick's birthday party and not the rugby lads, despite them being Nick's friends and Charlie being cool with them.

Firstly, the Paris Squad is both of their friend group.

In season 1, it's Nick the one that gets closer to Tara and Darcy. Charlie befriends them when they go cheer him at his first rugby match, but Nick is the one that opens up to them and gets to know both as the three get vulnerable and talk about their past. (That's not to say Charlie isn't close with Tara and Darcy, because Charlie has had his moments with both later down the road.)

Imogen started out as Nick's friend. She joined the group because of the sleepover in season 2 and the friend group saw the real Imogen, compared to the facade she puts on to fit in with the "cool" kids. (Hence why Tara, Darcy and Elle weren't really cool with her in season 1.)

Tara in particular is Nick's safe space second to Charlie. He confides in her, is the one that talks stuff about Charlie before taking action with him, and is the one that helps pick back up Nick when he feels down. (Something he doesn't do with Charlie, since he wants to be the one that picks Charlie back up and he can't afford to be down in front of him to be ready for Charlie whenever he needs it.)

And while Tao, Isaac and Elle come directly from Charlie's friend group, he grew a bond with each one of them and isn't just friends with them because "they are his boyfriend's friends.". Tao and Nick particularly, have a beautiful friendship, very similar to Nick and Tori's.

(All of this applies to Charlie as well. He befriended Imogen and developed their own bond and is not just friends with her just because it's his boyfriend's friend, but that's not the main thing here.)

And secondly, the reason the rugby lads aren't there is because Nick still cannot be his authentic self with them. Not because they wouldn't accept the real version of Nick, but it's because of Nick's anxietys. Similar to Imogen, he still feels the need to put on the mask of this tough guy. They don't know half of Nick's personal issues, whether it be his sexuality, identity or even the non-queer issues like his complicated relationship with his dad. He may appear confident on the outside, (And while he still is.), he is still full of insecurities but cannot let his guard down due to the fear of what could happen.

In the end, Charlie wanted Nick to feel safe and at ease on his birthday. He wanted "the perfect day for him" so he invited the Paris Squad, the only people where he can let his guard down and feel supported whenever his anxiety gets the best of him, which unfortunately is something the rugby lads, despite knowing Nick for longer, don't let him do.

The reason why Elle crying at Tao's movie about her is so powerful, is because throughout the seasons, we've seen Elle go through a lot, but we never really see her be vulnerable and open herself. She said it herself in episode 5, season 3: She never felt safe and comfortable enough to reach to that level of intimacy.

This is the first moment we ever get to see her try to hold back emotions and fail.

She was pretty chill when she was admitted into Lambert. She was pretty chill when they invited her to do the interview. Even when Tao asked her out (which is something she had been pinning for a long time), she was still pretty chill.

And even though after the interview she was pretty upset, she was pretty much numbing the pain after that, to the point to not even showing even subtle emotions.

She was very moved by the movie, and right then was when she finally realized the fact she had found the safest place she could be in, where she could be vulnerable and herself, and even if she makes mistakes, someone will be there for her. And even if Tao doesn't understand a lot of what she says, he will be there for her.

That tear that rolls down her face is her letting herself emote.