Heartstopper Season 3

Another year another season as this small and perfectly formed but big-hearted love story continued on the journey based on Alice Oseman's webcomics.  One of the great strengths of the webcomic and the TV series is that there is so much here apart from the central love story, all woven in and never feeling gratuiously squeezed in for the sake of plot.  Having said that, Oseman who writes the series too, does talk about the need for a different beat and higher stakes being required in the show, leading to the introduction of new characters and storylines.   The core stays the same though, the story of Nick and Charlie falling in love and navigating their final years in school, and true to the source material to the extent that many of the scenes in the webcomic are lifted straight onto the screen as if by magic.  

I have written here and here about the earlier series and for season three there are again multiple story lines, the primary ones being Charlie's mental health and eating disorder, alongside Nick and Charlie's growing intimacy as they and their friendship group grow up.   The opening episode includes the iconic 'I love you' scene, a fan favourite from the books, and with a direct lift from the page.  From then on though, the angst grows with Charlies eating disorder until it reaches its peak in episode 4.  One of the great things about this is that it is threaded in from series 1, no shoehorned story lines here, as we hardly ever see Charlie eat, growing in hints and more explicit food avoidance through both of the earlier series, culminating with Charlie's confession to Nick about his self harm at the end of season 2.  

For season three though the illness is out in the open from early on.  Episode 4 was a masterpiece in how to tell a story about mental health and eating disorder without being triggering or gratuitous but also being detailed and meaningful and optimistic.  Told both from Nick and then Charlie's point of view, in snippets over a number of months, it tries to stay honest as well as positive, calling out that therapy or inpatient treatment doesn't work for everyone, but giving a sense of how it does work that isn't scary.  Joe Locke, really got his moment to shine here with his performances and I think he did a great job in showing the pull towards denial and continuing with the unhealthy practices versus taking the leap and doing the work for healing.  It's interesting to compare this with Everything Now, another teen series about someone with an eating disorder - that one didn't really deal with the crisis stage and inpatient treatment though, focusing on the healing - that is a good thing in many ways, but showing a version of the course of the illness reaching crisis point has certainly got value too, particularly for the teens who are the target audience for this series, and I think it has to help in terms of removing the stigma from such illnesses.  

Episode 5 is where the series starts to come up again from the depths as Charlie recovers although I like that this showed the uneven path with relapses too as part of the expected course.  By episode 6 all of the ensemble of friends are starting to think about sex, but again this is beautifully woven into the other storylines, including Charlie's body image and I thought it was excellent in talking about sex for younger teens, as always a bit of educational content hiding in there.  And episode 8 and the end of the season really brings the main part of Charlie's illness and recovery storyline to an end, as well as finally sending a number of ripostes to those criticising the series for lack of sex, instead getting there at the right time with scenes that were beautifully and delicately written and performed.  

I also wanted to talk about how the series tackled transphobia head on, showing Elle ambushed in an interview about her art and the effect that ambush has on her.  And then the storyline about how her body dysmorphia as a young trans person affects intimacy and her sexual experiences is not something I have seen discussed before in a mainstream show whether for teens or adults.  It was educational for me and I thought beautifully done.   

There are some starry cameos this season.  Although we didn't have Olivia Coleman in this series due to scheduling clashes, her role as supportive parent to Nick was taken by Hayley Atwell as his aunt Diane, providing support for an overwhelmed 16 year old who wants to be there for his struggling boyfriend.  Apart from a couple of scenes where Nick's mum is supposed to be in the house but always elsewhere I don't think we actually missed Olivia at all.  Jonathan Bailey as a hot superstar classicist was as scene stealing as always, and then we had Eddie Marsan in much more than a cameo as Charlie's therapist Geoff. I've seen him recently in some tough baddie roles, so it was great to see him as a positive figure; I definitely believed in Geoff and his therapy scenes were quietly revelatory.   The core cast ensemble continue to overdeliver as always, and then Kit Connor and Joe Locke continue to convince in every respect even though they are now departing their teens and also being picked up for much bigger roles elsewhere.   

Eros Lynn moved away from direction in this series as Andy Newbery picked up that role, but from my perspective it seemed to keep the same aesthetic and tone as previously.  The same cinematographer continued for season 2 and 3 and, although I preferred the colour choices in season 1, otherwise the look and feel stays much the same as ever, with music particularly from indie artists alongside Adiescar Chase that really do enhance what is happening on screen.

We are now all awaiting to see if a fourth series will be commisioned.  Oseman is currently writing the final instalment of the webcomic which is expected to take another year, with scripts for a season 4 alongside in hopes of a recommission.  This though will be the last book and series (if we get it!).  I hope we do, this Tardis of a tiny delicate series with a massive heart has been a joy to watch unfold so it would be great to see it reach a full conclusion.