It’s Heartstopper Season Two time! I have so many thoughts and feelings (obviously).
While it picks up immediately after the end of the first season, for me, season two really takes off when the gang gets to Paris on their end of year school “language” trip in episode 4. This is when this season comes alive, and not only pulls me into the story and relationships, but also, incredibly, delivers one of the most relatable, realistic visions of a school trip abroad I have ever seen on television! So for this post I’m shining a light on this stellar episode!
The Recap!
The episode begins as the bus takes off for Paris, and Charlie challenges Nick to go two days without kissing, in an effort to keep their relationship low-key, until Nick is ready to come out. Relationship tension abounds, as Elle and Tao deal with the fallout of a disastrous first date, and Imogen is still with Ben, who is making eyes at Charlie at every opportunity.
Nevertheless, the tone is hopeful as the journey begins. The ride on the coach is playful and fun, giving us a few little nuggets of character to return to later. Nick takes a call from his dad, surprising seat mate Tao by being fluent in French. Isaac might have questions about romance brewing, and Darcy is typically goofy, but maybe it’s a front?
They arrive at the hotel, a crowded lobby filled with students and luggage, while everyone finds their shared rooms. These moments of chaos, the chaperone teachers speaking over the babbling crowd, their teacherly presence, known but not really affecting much, is so utterly relatable. So is the moment of arriving in a room with two beds, and deciding who will share with whom.
Now my first (but possibly only) quibble with this episode is that Tao assumes Nick and Charlie don’t want to share a bed. Honestly, it makes no sense, since both Isaac and Tao are part of the small circle of people who know that Nick and Charlie are a couple. This is a hold-over from the comics, in which Nick has not yet come out even to Charlie’s friends by the Paris trip, so the protective instinct to keep Nick away from Charlie’s bed makes sense. But whatever, tension mounting…
Now to the girls’ room, as they jump on the beds, and rush to the window to “see Paris” and listen to an ambulance wail by. Even the sirens sound charmingly foreign! Talk about relatable. That moment of being so exhausted and in a totally new place, but can’t wait to look out at the view. I’m pretty sure I have photos of my friends doing this in Sorento, or maybe Rome.
Finally having arrived in Paris, Nick and Charlie get to relax! Despite sharing a room with two other people and being constantly interrupted in their attempts to be alone, there’s comfort in being away from home, and the stress that the previous episodes’ exams and family dramas wrought. It’s a new chapter, and a new freedom, that allows them to reconnect and relax.
As the first full day in Paris begins, the teens are let loose on the streets of Montmartre, to explore the culture on their own terms. They take off to discover what they will, Tao and Elle at the Musée de Montmartre, the rest of the gang (including newcomers Sahar and James), exploring the streets, shopping for souvenirs, and getting ice cream.
Nick orders ice cream in French in front of Sahar, Darcy, Isaac, and James and I absolutely love this now recurring bit that everyone is surprised that Nick can speak French.
“How did I not know this?”
Isaac
After a heart-to-heart between Charlie and Tara about being out and in a queer relationship, they eat ice cream on the steps of the Sacré-Coeur, the Paris skyline in front of them. Sure, Charlie doesn’t seem to want to eat his delicious-looking chocolate cone at first, but nothing will come between the sweetness of this shared moment. Ignore that awkward pause, we’ll deal with that another day.
After so much relationship tension, seeing Elle and Tao get back to normal while exploring art together is fun and freeing, and maybe a little romantic. Elle is right, their dynamic only works when they are fully themselves, weird and close and funny. In fact, I missed a lot of this in season one, when Tao was obsessing over losing Charlie’s friendship. He wasn’t as goofy and funny and fun as Elle always knew he could be. Tao is the friend who takes pictures of everything, and is loud in public places. Elle is the one who is cultured and appreciates the art they’re looking at.
As the gang meets up again, Imogen joins in, ditching Ben for being “so boring,” and rejecting all her ideas to actually explore Paris. Despite her bristling at Nick’s warning previously that Ben is not a good person, Imogen happily rants to him and Elle about Ben’s poor performance as a boyfriend, and opens up, letting herself be absorbed into their friend group.
The day ends with a group meal at a restaurant, Mr. Farouk stressing about the hectic order, the students sat at several long tables taking over the entire room. Plates are passed around. The meal is communal, providing the optimal setting for a dramatic public break up. Imogen lays into Ben, who garners no sympathy from anyone else at the table. The high school drama playing out in front of Mr. Ajayi and Mr. Farouk reminding us that this is still a school trip.
The breakup folds Imogen even more securely into the warm embrace (literally) of Nick and Charlie’s friendship group.
Finally, as everyone gets ready for bed in the hotel room, Nick and Tao are also able to push past a lot of the residual tension from season one. And after a great day in Paris, Nick celebrates by posting a photo of himself and Charlie on Instagram. One step closer to making it public.
While Tao and Isaac hit up the vending machines, Nick and Charlie get a few minutes to finally be alone. After a long day, they waste little time, cuddling, talking, kissing, the lovebirds finally get to share a romantic moment, but only for a moment. The fear of getting caught in a shared room is still ever present. But the titular “challenge” has conclusively been lost.
The next morning comes with soft pink light through the curtains. A peaceful quiet moment… and an expertly shot bathroom mirror reveal – surprise Charlie has a hickey!
The Reflection:
OK, on the surface, this episode is great because it moves the core relationships forward so beautifully. Each of our main characters have a chance to at least talk about their feelings, the state of their relationships or crushes, in the midst of the gorgeous Paris setting. It’s satisfying and relaxed, cathartic even, when you think about Imogen standing up for herself, especially after the tense few episodes that precede it, with exam and family pressure keeping Nick and Charlie apart.
But the reason I think this episode is absolutely fantastic – like give Heartstopper season 2 episode 4 (Challenge) an Emmy excellent – is that it evoked my own experience travelling to Europe on a class language/history trip in the spring of grade 11. It is fresh and nostalgic all rolled into a perfect half hour.
High school shows have taken class trips many times, characters have gone on international exchanges, this isn’t anything particularly new, but the verisimilitude of this trip to one that I experienced almost twenty years ago (we’re talking 2005!) is astounding! Now, we were in Italy and Greece, not France, but the principle is the same: Take bus from place to place, stay at a hotel in groups of 4 – boys and girls are not allowed to share. There are a couple of teachers chaperoning the trip, but aside from giving you a neighbourhood, a museum, some kind of time frame to guide the day’s activities, free time to explore is your own (in groups of two or three).
We were the kids taking selfies with cones of Gelato. Crowding the windows of our hotel room to check out the street below. Running around being silly on the streets, shopping for souvenirs, and looking at art. It’s freedom with a tether, back to the bus, back to the hotel. It’s school-appropriate, innocent fun, like ice cream on the steps of a foreign city with a view.
There is so much to love about Heartstopper in Paris, and the connection I feel to their experience, like a memory updated and come to life, is just magical.
