Drama, Overdone: 5 Cringe-Worthy Writing Decisions in Heartstopper Season 2
These plotlines could have been impactful, if they were more carefully thought out.
Season 2 explored deeper, darker issues within the sweet, mostly queer, characters. Overall, it was a good season, but there were some storylines that had us wondering what the writers were thinking, if they were paying attention at all.
From forced, awkward moments, to pointless storylines appearing out of thin air to add dramatic effect, these plot lines had us really shaking our heads:
5. Charlie and Nick being too clingy
When we said we wanted to see more of Charlie and Nick’s relationship, this is not exactly what we meant. When their lips weren’t locked together, they were texting each other constantly about how much they missed each other, despite literally seeing each other every day. It was sweet but the desperate longing got a bit too heavy.
4. Darcy and Tara
Tara saying ‘I love you’ to Darcy for the first time leads to the discovery that Darcy hasn’t come out to her parents yet. Why did Darcy never mention to anyone that she wasn’t out to her parents? And why did Tara never question why she had never met Darcy’s parents? Surely this would have come up in season 1, which made it feel like a new plot thrown in for dramatic effect.
3. Nick’s French dad
Surely the fact that Nick speaks fluent French, or that his dad is French, would have come up at least once in season 1. Fans, and his friends, were shocked when he suddenly spoke perfect French during their school trip to Paris.
This plot involving Nick’s dad was brought in to make his coming out even more difficult. Apparently his rugby friends and homophobic brother weren’t making it hard enough, so the writers added more drama.
2. Mr. Farouk
The writers threw in another antagonist, the comically mean teacher, Mr. Farouk. Over the season he develops a romantic relationship with fellow teacher, Mr. Ajayi.
His character is secretly very likable, but we’re not really sure what his purpose is, apart from adding another gay character to the series making the spotlight feel a bit crowded.
1. Elle and Tao
We were really excited to see Elle and Tao take center stage and explore a relationship, but the writers went above and beyond to make Tao and Elle as awkward as possible.
The pair completely forgot how to be friends, their interactions felt forced and Tao decided that to win Elle over, he needed to change everything about himself, a cringey and exhausted storyline.