Heartstopper: Episode 8

8. Boyfriend

Harry gets suspended. Charlie blames himself for all the fallout, quits the rugby team, and starts avoiding Nick. The Truman-Higgs Sports Day comes, and Elle gets to visit her old school, making peace with her past. Tao and Charlie make amends after the latter runs the 200-meter dash for the former, easily beating Ben at his pet event. He puts his ex-flame in his place and warns not to subject him to emotional blackmail again. Nick competes in the red-versus-blue rugby game but abandons the match halfway as he sees Charlie in the crowd. He runs towards him and whisks him away to one of the corridors where he declares his love for him. The two officially become a couple after Nick takes Charlie to the beach one weekend where they finally have their first date. As Nick returns home, he musters the courage to sit down and talk to his mom, effectively coming out as bisexual to her and revealing his relationship with Charlie. Sarah is happy for her son and apologizes in case she made him feel as though he couldn’t tell her that before.

The good thing about the ending is that they did it without much of a cliffhanger. Should Netflix decide not to renew the show for a second season, S1 already gives you a satisfying conclusion. Nick’s coming out scene to his mom is done with just the right amount of emotion but without much fanfare, which makes it more poignant. Had they taken the stunt casting route, they could ‘ve just made Sarah ambiguous or framed in such a way that you wouldn’t see her face, then just slow pan to reveal her as Colman all along during this scene in the final episode. But no, she committed to the role, so I guess we all got a good deal. S1 is basically the courtship stage. S2 can focus more on the honeymoon phase then slowly segue to your common relationship issues. Perhaps the problem here is how fast they can film a second season should they be renewed, considering how these actors are already in a growth spurt due to puberty. Once these kids pick up a dumbbell or start bench pressing, they just wouldn’t look like teenagers anymore.

“I've known Charlie since we were eleven and he's always had a tendency to believe that him just existing is annoying for other people.” –Tao Xu

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