I’ve never watched Heartstopper the TV show. So I’m a fascinating audience for Heartstopper Forever, seeing how mad I was going to be at missing the beautiful meteor that was Alice Oseman’s show. I’m sure the series fans are gonna love this capper. But even for the uninitiated like me, there’s enough Heartstopping that you’re going to wish it could go on forever and ever too.
I could be [SPOILER]ing Heartstopper a bit, but you need a pitch, so here I go. Charlie Spring (Joe Locke) is finally the Head Boy at the Truham School for Boys: literally, he wins the popular vote going into his Junior year, winning the hearts of everyone, especially his paramour Nick Nelson (Kit Conner). Nick is entering his senior year, that pivotal time when future is closer than ever on his horizon. And with Charlie now occupied by school duties, Nick is worried that perfect love he found in his soulmate might just be another one of those statistical unlikelihoods of high school relationships. I feel ya Nick; my relationship lost big time.
Coming into Heartstopper Forever, my big worry is the movie was gonna coast on what came before and rely too heavily on show know how and alienate intrigued first timers like me. There is some of that deep fan service, obvi. But Alice Oseman’s script has a stellar storytelling approach that works for everyone. This movie takes the classic high school film but flips the Heartstopper TV show starting points of the characters. For the TV show, Charlie was the low man on the totem pole, going through the hero’s journey, while Nick was the confident jock who found a part of himself he didn’t know he possessed. Oseman reverses the roles for Forever: Charlie’s cemented as the hero at the onset, with Nick now entering his phase of emotional uncertainty with university looming. This masterstroke makes it easy for the uninitiated like me to ease into the world while TV fans can get a beautiful continuation sendoff for Charlie and Nick. From there, it’s up to Kit Conner and Joe Locke. I’m with the Narlie’s: I ship their incredible chemistry and gravitational force. And Wash Westmoreland’s direction uses the same world but makes the big montages really pop and dazzle the hearts, making us flutter like the CGI butterflies sprinkled throughout.
Heartstopper the TV show carries this wonderful message of inclusivity and love conquering all, a beacon in the darkness for the “weird” kids in high school who are still figuring out who they are and who they’re attracted to. Like Schitt’s Creek, it’s basically an LGBTQIA fairy tale. In the best way possible, Hearstopper’s romantic fantasy lets the story rise above specificity into ubiquity. Many LGBTQIA love stories build the entire identity of the characters around their sexuality. But Heartstopper Forever works so well because, well, Nick and Charlie’s tale isn’t about that part of their identity at all. In this safe space I saw them like me or anyone else: filled with personal fears and emotional complications to navigate, deciding how much is real vs. existential. Nick and Charlie start the story at happily ever after. But they slowly realize they have to keep going. And, there’s little reminders, like Tao (William Gao) and Elle (Yasmin Finney) breaking up as their future hits them, putting little cracks in the Nick Charlie magic. And when things really threaten to spiral on both of them, their wonderful support systems and the world they built together around each other help bring necessary perspective into their lives. Neither Nick nor Charlie are perfect, but maybe, just maybe, Nick AND Charlie is perfect as the TV show believes.
And by the time I got to Forever, my heart definitely stopped a couple times. Any sense of cynicism just melts away spending time at Truham with Nick and Charlie. Such is the power of Netflix, pumping out incredible stuff like Heartstopper and Sex Education. I could have used you 15 years ago, but for the strange, scared, bullied kid who has no confidence today, I hope you find a friend with Nick, Charlie, Otis, Maeve, or any of the incredible people on those shows, who see you, and love you for who you are. Forever and ever!