Warning: SPOILERS for Heartstopper season 1 ahead.
Netflix's Heartstopper season 1 ended with a hectic Truham-Higgs Sports Day that left quite a few questions left unanswered. Based on the webcomic by Alice Boseman who also serves as the writer for the breakout series, Heartstopper focuses on Truham Grammar School students Charlie Spring and Nick Nelson as the pair navigate their feelings, friendship, and sexuality. The show has been a boon for LGBTQ+ youth and received much praise for its representation. The coming-of-age drama has been exceptionally popular and has already been renewed by Netflix for another two seasons.
Heartstopper chronicles Charlie and Nick's relationship as the friends begin developing feelings for each other. As Charlie spends more and more time with Nick, he begins sidelining his friend Tao Xu (William Gao). Charlie struggles to confide in the overprotective Tao who thinks Nick is taking advantage of Charlie when Nick is actually figuring out his sexuality. Charlie also has more and more trouble with his feelings about keeping his relationship with Nick a secret and decides to break it all off as Charlie believes their situation is the as that of his unhealthy, secret relationship with Ben Hope even though it is not.
Meanwhile, Tao keeps accidentally buying an apple juice for Elle and it is clear they both miss each other at school. The pair struggle to define their friendship and come to with staying friends while at different schools. Despite Tara and Darcy's meddling at the milkshake triple date, Elle refuses to compromise her friendship with Tao. Elle visits Tao's home often and even gets to know his mom who is happy whenever she comes by to visit. Instead of participating in the Truham-Higgs Sports Day like they are supposed to, Charlie takes an event for Tao as they repair their friendship and Tao helps Elle face her unwelcome time as a Truham student. Naturally, these complex dynamics and varied plot threads mean that much of Heartstopper isn't entirely straightforward. As such, aspects of the Heartstopper season 1 ending require further explanation beyond what's presented on screen. Whether it's the intricacies of Charlie and Nick's relationship, or the depth of feeling between Elle and Tao, here's everything audiences need to know.
Why Charlie Tries To Break Up With Nick
Charlie (Joe Locke) tries to break up with Nick because he believes it is his own fault that Nick is getting into fights and becoming ostracized by his friends. However, Nick has never truly been friends with the rugby lads and is only really his true self when he is spending time with Charlie. Nick is slowly coming to with his bisexuality throughout the last episodes of the season and in Heartstopper's ending he comes out to his mom Sarah (Olivia Colman) in a wholesome moment. Nick was only trying to stand up for Charlie when he got into the fight with Harry Green (Cormac Hyde-Corrin), but Charlie wrongly identifies himself as the source of the problem instead of Harry as the instigator.
Charlie's lack of self-confidence stems from the time when he was getting heavily bullied by his peers in the year before and from the way Ben (Sebastian Croft) treated him in their secret relationship. Ben did not want to be seen in public with Charlie and made Charlie feel he was better off not existing. This all leads to Charlie second-guessing his own decisions and his feelings of inadequacy. Nick is able to convince Charlie that he did not feel the same way as Ben and the two boys eventually make their relationship official by the end of the Heartstopper season finale.
Does Charlie Really Quit The Rugby Team?
In an effort to distance himself from Nick (His Dark Materials' Kit Connor), Charlie visits Coach Singh (Chetna Pandya) and tells her he is thinking of quitting the rugby team. However, even though Charlie does not play in the Sports Day rugby match, he did not officially quit the team. Nick quit the rugby match halfway through, much to the dismay of Coach Singh, but both Charlie and Nick are most likely still on the team at Heartstopper's ending. Now that Nick and Charlie are officially boyfriends, Charlie does not have much reason to quit playing rugby when it is one of the first things that brought him and Nick together.
Why Elle And Tao Don't Confess Their Feelings
During Sports Day, Tao and Elle sneak into Truham's art room instead of participating in any of the activities and share a silent moment. While the moment of truth ed them by, neither one of them said anything and Elle breaks the awkward silence by proposing they go find her old locker. Both Elle (Doctor Who newcomer Yasmin Finney) and Tao share the same reason for not confessing their feelings to the other. They are afraid of their own feelings being unreciprocated and therefore changing the dynamic of their friendship when they made a promise together to put their friendship first no matter what.
How Heartstopper Compares To The Graphic Novel
As with any page-to-screen adaptation, changes to the story are bound to be made in order to better fit the storytelling medium. Heartstopper's visuals are heavily inspired by Alice Boseman's webcomics and any of the changes made for the Netflix adaptation stay true to the source material. It helps that Alice Boseman herself wrote the screenplays for every episode of Heartstopper season 1 and that the author is very involved with the show and its cast.
The biggest change the Netflix series has made to Heartstopper is the removal of Aled and the introduction of new characters, Isaac Henderson and Imogen Heaney. While Isaac (Tobie Donovan) easily slots into Charlie's friend group with Aled missing, Boseman added Imogen (Rhea Norwood) to give Nick a friend outside of the Truham rugby boys and to provide a bit more drama between Charlie and Nick. Both characters are memorable and a great example of a positive change made by the Netflix series.
Heartstopper season 1's notable success has earned it a massive two-season renewal and with a total of four volumes of the graphic novel, there will be no shortage of Heartstopper content to come. Even as Nick has come out as bisexual, he and Charlie will still have to deal with the likes of Ben and Harry as they continue with another year at Truham. Hopefully, the season 2 will feature more of Olivia Colman's Sarah Nelson as well as continue embodying the essence of the comics like the season 1 adaptation has done so well.