I was a long-time AV Club reader (all the way back to Emily's Glee recaps) so the turn the site has taken in recent years has been disappointing. I saw that you were launching this substack but I didn't watch any of the initial shows so I held off. But the Heartstopper reviews were exactly in my wheelhouse and even though they were in front of the paywall they were worth the subscription even if it was just for those. (But I'm pretty sure I'll watch some of the new summer shows as well)
I hope you'll continue doing queer YA coverage when quality programs come out. And of course hopefully for S2 Heartstopper (though I've been burned by Netflix enough times to know there are no guarantees until it's official).
David, thanks for investing in what was already free, it's much appreciated.
And while (as I'm writing in today's newsletter) I'm optimistic about a second season for Heartstopper, I feel your pain. And yeah, I expect I'll certainly be writing something about Love Victor S3/Young Royals S2, even if I'm not sure they'd hold up to this level of scrutiny.
I'm late to the party but I just rewatched it (again, in one sitting as I just couldn't tear myself away). I'm biased in favor of queer stories, but I can only say Heartstopper is a masterpiece. Every element was firing full cylinder--the writing, pacing, casting, acting, costume and set design... On rewatch I spotted for the first time so many tiny details that just enhanced the story--blue and yellow iconography, a fleeting but telling look from a character.
And I'm beyond impressed with the two leads. I cannot believe two 17-year-olds turned in performances of such quality, vulnerability and thoughtfulness. Particularly Joe Locke in hist first professional job. He gives me Colin Morgan circa 2008 vibes--not merely because of his youth and physical resemblance, but from his raw talent. I look forward to future work from him and Kit Connor.
On a meta note, I discovered your Substack while reading everything I could get my hands on regarding Heartstopper. I too have missed AV Club's TV coverage, and now I know why! Your excellent episodic analysis was fantastic even reading it all after I'd seen the whole show. I was intrigued when I saw what other shows you plan to cover this year; then when I saw someone's reviewing Strange New Worlds, by far my most anticipated of the new Trek series, well, that sealed the deal. Thanks for your quality analyses!
Well, that was lovely. I do think it felt a little padded in the middle; as fast-paced as those first couple episodes were the overall arc was pretty standard for the queer teen love story genre, with the story ending just as the couple finally gets together for real. I would really have liked to have seen these events around episode five or six and then seen the beginnings of their experiences as an out couple.
I appreciate them importance of holding fast to Nick's bisexuality as a matter of representation, but given that he never shows any signs of attraction to anyone besides Charlie it feels a little hollow. Not that I'm hoping that future seasons introduce romantic rivals - I like my ships to be simple and bucolic.
I'm not sure how much of the budget went to a few shooting days with Olivia Coleman, but it was money well spent.
As a former teacher, the fact that there are no adults trying to account for the whereabouts of all of their students during sports day caused me stress. I was always counting students whenever we did stuff outside the classroom.
Thanks again for these. I love forward to reading your comments and any follow up articles you do.
Thanks for commenting as you went, and making it feel like these reviews were in dialogue with someone.
Your sense of the pacing is understandable: this is two volumes of the books, but they blast through the first one quickly because it's pretty much note-for-note, and then the "padding" only comes in the post-kiss portion of the story. I do think the choices made within there worked, for the most part, but it definitely stalls to ensure the biggest moment ends the season, albeit admittedly in ways Oseman uses when breaking the comic into volumes as well.
And I do think that there's an open question about Nick's past interest in girls: we know about his crush on Kiera Knightley, and his crush on Tara, but the former is fictional, and the latter was chaste as all get out. To our discussion about Love, Victor, the inherent limitation of this type of chaste approach is that it defines "attraction" in such vague terms, and resists forms of sexual attraction/arousal that are normal and something that he would naturally be addressing in this case. It doesn't need to become a sex romp teen comedy for it to be more honest about the way he's felt about women in the past, in other words.
But that really isn't Heartstopper's approach, and I'm curious if the show were to run for longer than two seasons if Oseman might feel it and the show's audience could mature into some version of that.
I'm thinking of putting together a Venn diagram of shows with teenage m/m couples where two of the categories are "Couple Likes Each Other" and "Couple Is Horny For Each Other". Love, Victor goes in the Horny but not Likes category, and Heartstopper is Likes but not horny. I've yet to see a show that manages both.
Good to know. It will be interesting to see how and if a second season of the show handles that. I suspect we're still a long way from anybody actually having the frank conversations that were elided in Love Victor.
I actually made this Venn diagram and put Young Royals there. The diagram had a third circle for "Couple Gets To Be Out" and YR didn't make it into that one.
I was a long-time AV Club reader (all the way back to Emily's Glee recaps) so the turn the site has taken in recent years has been disappointing. I saw that you were launching this substack but I didn't watch any of the initial shows so I held off. But the Heartstopper reviews were exactly in my wheelhouse and even though they were in front of the paywall they were worth the subscription even if it was just for those. (But I'm pretty sure I'll watch some of the new summer shows as well)
I hope you'll continue doing queer YA coverage when quality programs come out. And of course hopefully for S2 Heartstopper (though I've been burned by Netflix enough times to know there are no guarantees until it's official).
David, thanks for investing in what was already free, it's much appreciated.
And while (as I'm writing in today's newsletter) I'm optimistic about a second season for Heartstopper, I feel your pain. And yeah, I expect I'll certainly be writing something about Love Victor S3/Young Royals S2, even if I'm not sure they'd hold up to this level of scrutiny.
I'm late to the party but I just rewatched it (again, in one sitting as I just couldn't tear myself away). I'm biased in favor of queer stories, but I can only say Heartstopper is a masterpiece. Every element was firing full cylinder--the writing, pacing, casting, acting, costume and set design... On rewatch I spotted for the first time so many tiny details that just enhanced the story--blue and yellow iconography, a fleeting but telling look from a character.
And I'm beyond impressed with the two leads. I cannot believe two 17-year-olds turned in performances of such quality, vulnerability and thoughtfulness. Particularly Joe Locke in hist first professional job. He gives me Colin Morgan circa 2008 vibes--not merely because of his youth and physical resemblance, but from his raw talent. I look forward to future work from him and Kit Connor.
On a meta note, I discovered your Substack while reading everything I could get my hands on regarding Heartstopper. I too have missed AV Club's TV coverage, and now I know why! Your excellent episodic analysis was fantastic even reading it all after I'd seen the whole show. I was intrigued when I saw what other shows you plan to cover this year; then when I saw someone's reviewing Strange New Worlds, by far my most anticipated of the new Trek series, well, that sealed the deal. Thanks for your quality analyses!
Alex, thank you for being the absolute target audience of these reviews that no one explicitly asked for—so glad to have you onboard.
And yeah, I don't know if my mind would have naturally gone to Merlin without TikTok guiding the way, but it definitely fits.
Well, that was lovely. I do think it felt a little padded in the middle; as fast-paced as those first couple episodes were the overall arc was pretty standard for the queer teen love story genre, with the story ending just as the couple finally gets together for real. I would really have liked to have seen these events around episode five or six and then seen the beginnings of their experiences as an out couple.
I appreciate them importance of holding fast to Nick's bisexuality as a matter of representation, but given that he never shows any signs of attraction to anyone besides Charlie it feels a little hollow. Not that I'm hoping that future seasons introduce romantic rivals - I like my ships to be simple and bucolic.
I'm not sure how much of the budget went to a few shooting days with Olivia Coleman, but it was money well spent.
As a former teacher, the fact that there are no adults trying to account for the whereabouts of all of their students during sports day caused me stress. I was always counting students whenever we did stuff outside the classroom.
Thanks again for these. I love forward to reading your comments and any follow up articles you do.
Thanks for commenting as you went, and making it feel like these reviews were in dialogue with someone.
Your sense of the pacing is understandable: this is two volumes of the books, but they blast through the first one quickly because it's pretty much note-for-note, and then the "padding" only comes in the post-kiss portion of the story. I do think the choices made within there worked, for the most part, but it definitely stalls to ensure the biggest moment ends the season, albeit admittedly in ways Oseman uses when breaking the comic into volumes as well.
And I do think that there's an open question about Nick's past interest in girls: we know about his crush on Kiera Knightley, and his crush on Tara, but the former is fictional, and the latter was chaste as all get out. To our discussion about Love, Victor, the inherent limitation of this type of chaste approach is that it defines "attraction" in such vague terms, and resists forms of sexual attraction/arousal that are normal and something that he would naturally be addressing in this case. It doesn't need to become a sex romp teen comedy for it to be more honest about the way he's felt about women in the past, in other words.
But that really isn't Heartstopper's approach, and I'm curious if the show were to run for longer than two seasons if Oseman might feel it and the show's audience could mature into some version of that.
I'm thinking of putting together a Venn diagram of shows with teenage m/m couples where two of the categories are "Couple Likes Each Other" and "Couple Is Horny For Each Other". Love, Victor goes in the Horny but not Likes category, and Heartstopper is Likes but not horny. I've yet to see a show that manages both.
For the record, the webcomic is—spoiler alert—currently reaching the horny phase.
Good to know. It will be interesting to see how and if a second season of the show handles that. I suspect we're still a long way from anybody actually having the frank conversations that were elided in Love Victor.
May I suggest Young Royals for "both"?
I actually made this Venn diagram and put Young Royals there. The diagram had a third circle for "Couple Gets To Be Out" and YR didn't make it into that one.
Didn't make it into that one YET