Ron Does Stuff

I’ve enjoyed the past two episodes of the show so I really will be continuing on with the rest of the season. Let’s go!

Nick’s a little confused about his sexual orientation, and at the end of the last episode he actually Googled to see how to find out if someone’s gay. He lands on some Buzzfeed articles to start with before finding himself on the gay news sites and then onto conversion therapy sites and I feel fear for a second. I’ve read the books and while someone does get sent to a ~camp~ it’s not for conversion therapy!

Nick’s still got confusion in his brain the next day and decides to take Imogen with him to Harry’s birthday party. Charlie hears about it in the locker room and Nick doesn’t help out when he says that he “maybe” has a chance with Tara at the party. And poor, himbo Nick definitely confuses Charlie when he invites him to Harry’s party telling him he wants him to be there.

Charlie shares the good news with the groupchat and Tao is a little pissy because the party coincides with their group’s movie night. That the other two friends in the chat also back up Charlie frustrates Tao even further. Let’s see how this factors in later on in the show.

We get to the party and poor, poor Imogen is primping and posing for Nick while Nick is on the lookout for Charlie. Of course, the two of them gravitate toward each other when they finally find each other.

Elsewhere in town, Elle is visiting Tao and I am so glad that they’re fleshing out this storyline. Admittedly, I haven’t seen a lot of media centered around trans people — Pose is one and Almost Perfect is another — but I do know that there definitely isn’t enough out there and that what’s out there might be some heavy viewing. And there’s nothing wrong with that! But just like Elle says here, sometimes you just want something fun and I’m happy that young trans people at least have this one piece of media that is happy. Or I think it’s going to be a happy ending for Elle, I’m still on the first season.

Back at the party, we finally get to meet Harry and as we know from the books, Harry isn’t fun to hang out with. Harry pushes Nick towards Tara and while I know Tara’s a lesbian I can’t fault Charlie for feeling insecure because Tara looks gorgeous.

While Tao and Ellie are holding hands over at his home, Nick is looking for Charlie at the party and even runs into Imogen who he really isn’t interested in hanging out with. Poor, poor Imogen. Nick finally does find Charlie and tells him he’d rather be with him than with his “friends”, while Charlie shares that he ran into Ben and that he dealt with it by shoving Ben against a wall. Nick then says that maybe they should move somewhere quieter and oh boy. Don’t get Charlie’s hopes up!

They race up the stairs to a quieter room and it’s all very “the magic of youth” and what not while my knees hurt just imagining running up all those stairs. They finally find an empty room and then they have that conversation that was at the end of Heartstopper Vol. 1. And humongous props to Kit Connor and Joe Locke because they really brought this scene to life and Joe Locke’s eyes looking at Kit asking “Are they not a girl?” is going to kill me.

And then the absolute heartbreak when Nick leaves Charlies because of Harry and Charlie decides to leave and he cries in his dad’s car? Crushing. And then when Nick shows up at his doorstep the next morning all wet from the rain? Exhilarating.