Ron Does Stuff

I thought the previous episode was one of the best this show has done, but will it be able to carry that momentum all the way to the end? Let’s find out!

Summer break is over, and Nick and Charlie are so ready to be reunited in school. Charlie’s even messaging Nick to hurry up and get to school so he can kiss him. Oh, the horniness of youth!

Meanwhile, Tara is being commended for performing well on her GCSEs and is being asked to apply for prefect, but I don’t think that’s something she’s interested in right now. I am guessing she doesn’t want Darcy to feel too bad about her own GCSEs performance.

Meanwhile, the heterosexuals have been separated and Tao is making sure to message Elle over at Lambert, the art school where she transferred to. In the parking lot, the homosexual teachers are joking around with each other, and isn’t it a pretty picture? Let’s see how the show crushes everyone’s hopes and dreams!

The first sign something’s amiss is when a couple of boys snicker when Charlie and Nick are hugging in the hallways. But then they sneak into a supply closet, I think? It’s where they make out, but for sure people will know that’s what they did because I saw some of the other students look at them go in.

In the classroom, the two of them are still lovey-dovey, but then we are shown that Nick has been gearing up for a talk with Charlie about his eating disorder, with some tips from Agent Carter Hayley Atwell. I don’t think I have people in my life who have eating disorders, but if I do, I am remembering her tips because this could be genuinely helpful for an intervention.

Tao, on the other hand, is already missing Elle and is pestering Charlie and Isaac with photos of her at Lambert. It’s while he’s looking at Elle’s Instagram that he notices that he doesn’t appear on it all, compared to his Instagram where Elle makes frequent appearances. Oh, to date with social media around!

Meanwhile, Charlie has made his way to the art classroom, interrupting the two adult homosexuals who were having lunch there. He sorta comes clean about his eating disorder to the art teacher, and it looks like he’s going to get some advice from an adult, but Nick walks in and as much as Nick is well-intentioned, you’re both teenagers. Sometimes, you really need an adult to step in.

And not just any adult, but an adult with no skin in the game, so to speak. Tori is trying, but just like Nick, she’s too close to Charlie to just be blunt about it. She has to depend on Nick, and again, as well-intentioned as she is, sometimes, you just really need an adult to step in.

But that intervention is going to have to wait, as the gang is celebrating Nick’s birthday at a zoo. There’s little things happening that aren’t just about Nick and Charlie, like Tara and Darcy noticing that Sahar and noted LGBTQIA+ ally Imogen might have a little thing going on.

There’s also friction between Isaac and Tao, who both end up saying slightly hurtful things to each other. I say slightly because I’ve watched a lot of shows where friends have said so much more hurtful things than the ones Isaac and Tao have said to each other.

Neither of the guys want to apologize to each other, and Elle points out to Tao that he’s getting angry at Isaac in much the same way he was angry at Charlie when he started going out with Nick. Of course, you can always expect the girl in the straight relationship to be the brains of the operation.

Isaac finally gets to talk about his state of mind after Tao apologizes, and since I know very little about asexuals and aromantics, it’s an opportunity for me to learn a little bit more about how to react and respond if I ever do have an asexual or aromantic friend in a crisis. But ideally, they don’t have to face a crisis, right?

There’s a little mini-confrontation between Nick and Tao that may or may not have repercussions in the future? Don’t really know right now. Nick and Charlie head back to Nick’s place for Charlie’s gift, and while there’s some initial joy and making out and a Jonathan Bailey cameo, Nick finally musters up the courage to share his concerns with Charlie. And the scene we get? Really good work from Joe Locke and Kit Connor.

That good work extends to when Charlie finally comes cleans about his eating disorder and his mental health to his parents. It’s really, really well done and somber and quiet and just good work from Joe Locke and Kit Connor.