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Heartstopper | 2x2 Reaction (Patreon)

Published:
2023-08-21 00:37:33
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Comments

Kat

I’m curious if now that you’ve seen most of the rest of the season and maybe understand Charlie a bit better now, if you maybe have a new perspective about Charlie’s schoolwork in this episode (especially as a teacher). Something that I find interesting is that his teachers say he’s “always been a high achiever, but in the past few MONTHS his grades have been slipping across most of his subjects.” The timeline of the show gets kind of hard to keep track of sometimes, but it’s only been a few weeks since he and Nick officially became boyfriends and began spending all their time together. It’s easy for his parents to assume that he’s not doing his homework just because of Nick, but as the audience we know he’s also been dealing with a lot mentally. In episode 8 of last season he told Tori he thought it would be better if he didn’t exist 😬. I also don’t think it’s just because you as a teacher are not the “targeted audience” for this show. Lots of fans were frustrated by Charlie in this episode and the next one! But I personally think that’s intentional. We’re supposed to not understand why Charlie isn’t doing his work because he looks like he’s stuck in an illogical procrastination/avoidance spiral. Even in the next episode after he’s been completely grounded and should hypothetically have plenty of time to do his coursework, he still leaves his essay off to the last day. Given everything else we know about his mental health, and the fact that he’s always been an excellent student before this… it’s a pretty big red flag for something deeper going on. And I don’t think his parents were wrong to be concerned about his grades, but I think their approach was flawed. They went straight to blaming and trying to control the situation, without checking in to connect with him and see if something else was going on.

Joe Rosenman

Rewatching your full reactions; you’re just past S3 halfway so know the depth & extent of Charlie’s trauma. If you watch from the start again the signs are there albeit subtle. Charlie not eating in episode 1. His mom being unreasonable and controlling at the start of episode 4. Raising an adolescent is fundamentally different than raising a child. An adolescent is in transition to adulthood and they both need and crave independence. Good parenting requires guidance and guide rails that are gradually removed as their teen gets older. The adolescent needs to be encouraged to make choices—and experience mistakes—and the parents should only intervene when those choices are consequential or serious. And even then, preserving their teen’s agency is of paramount importance. Jane believed she knew better and therefore should make all of Charlie’s decisions. Great way to reduce someone’s self esteem, self worth and confidence. Sound familiar? Charlie could have written that history paper any afternoon but the way Jane handled it made Charlie so angry the only way he could express his rage was not doing what she demanded. It was an immature and irrational way of dealing with the situation but he was a teenager—and Jane’s parenting was more appropriate for an 8 year old rather than a heretofore responsible 15 year old. A far, far better approach would have been to ask Charlie for a plan he could follow to complete everything required. Actually agree on terms—that Charlie came up with but Jane approved—and then expect Charlie to live up to his end of the deal. Instead, Jane upended Charlie’s life declaring by fiat who he can see, called it an agreement when Charlie never agreed—he lacked the agency to do so, as usual. And Jane made clear she dismissed Nick as little more than a passing fancy, totally unaware of the importance Nick had to her son. It was not a proud performance, and parental trauma is often the foundation of EDs. Even though Charlie’s parents clearly loved him, their parenting skills left a lot to be desired. For a gay person, navigating the heterosexism and relentless assumptions brings with it the ongoing burdens of fear of rejection, insecurity, unexpected & unforeseen verbal insult, social ostracism, unfair treatment, even exclusion. Add to that the possibility of confusion about being gay—and terror at that possibility (see the aforementioned list)—or the choice of being closeted and pretending. And finally, the possibility of parental rejection… things might be better but that doesn’t make them good. None of this is obvious to straight people. Early on you recognized how awful teens can be in high school. Teenagers writ large are prone to making terrible decisions. We adults recognize that but the point of being a teen (in school, really in life) is to learn. Learning requires trying, and making mistakes, and trying again. And that requires patience and forbearance on the part of adults interacting with them. So looked at through your eyes, if you adjust the Q(ueer) factor, and remember that T(eens) make Terrible decisions, Heartstopper becomes more realistic and enjoyable AS a YA high school romance involving a queer friend group, focusing in particular on Nick & Charlie.