#very pleasently surprised
I want to talk about how the first time I watched Heartstopper I kept expecting terrible things to happen. (Please note, I had not read the comic yet.)
Charlie has a crush on the star rugby player? Oh no. He’s gonna get fucked over so hard. Plz be careful Charlie. (Channeling my inner Tao here I guess.)
Ben is a dick? Oh no, Charlie’s going to keep going back to him anyway, isn’t he? Are we going to have to deal with this through the whole show?
Nick likes Charlie? Oh no, they aren’t going to talk about it because ~reasons~.
Harry shoves Nick at Tara and Charlie disappears? Oh no, they aren’t going to talk about it…wait, they are? Where’s the catch?
Ben appears in the hallway…Oh god, is Charlie going to end up going back to him??
Charlie and Nick kiss, then Nick runs off? I’m just gonna brace myself for an unnecessarily angst-ridden misunderstandings plot arch.
Nick asks Charlie to keep things a secret? Insert accidental outings and gossip cycles here, I guess.
Tara is having a hard time being out? Braced myself for an entire arch where she blames Darcy and their relationship is on the rocks for the rest of the show.
Bullies after Charlie? Fully expected Nick to stand by and wring his hands and then make excuses.
Imogen asks Nick out and he says yes? Guess it’s time to deal with an excruciatingly dramatic love triangle.
And it isn’t just the bad stuff. I also fully expected Nick to take off across that rugby field and drop Charlie into a full on movie star kiss in front of the entire school at the end. While I admit that would have been very satisfying, it really didn’t suit their characters at all….and yet. When I think back, I really expected it for a second.
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Anyway, I think the fact that I expectedthese things to happen is actually more important than the fact that they didn’t, because my expectations didn’t come out of nowhere. They developed because that’s how TV is usually written these days and that’s…honestly that’s really fucking weird. (If you think about it, even the sparks of romances in Stranger Things have really unnecessary levels of would you please just fucking talk worked into them.)
It’s especially weird now, because this show proves that you don’t NEED contrived drama to tell a really good story.
I hope we see more stuff like this, queer focused or not.
