Heartstopper

I never read the graphic novel so I watched this blind. I only knew that this was LGBTQ themed.

If you know the word "Kilig" (a feeling of exhilaration or elation caused by an exciting or romantic experience.) aka butterflies in your stomach.. then that was my feelings all throughout the show. I love how sweet and cheesy this is and no explicitly detailed or not scenes. It's a teen version of hallmark movies but doused with a lot of sweetness and wholesomeness. This show is like a hug.

Sure it's predictable but there's nothing wrong with that. Sure we have the bully stereotypes scattered about but the emotions and awkwardness of love is accurate it overshadows it especially for teens experiencing first loves. I love the main characters they are too adorable. Great acting. I can feel the crush, the love, the awkwardness. The soundtrack is perfect.

Not rating it a 10 because Tao's haircut is a nightmare and some of the acting and line delivery from the side characters feel stiff and forced. The plot direction was fine there were some scenes that felt like it was just an insert like how it jumps if your read comics. They also have this weird tendency to focus all over the actor's faces which wasn't bad per say but sometimes it was done too long that it just felt cut off. I want to embrace the whole scene and not just their heads.

Overall it's easy to watch especially if you're looking for a light, sweet, and cheesy romance that will bring a smile to your face because it's adorable and wholesome. The portrayal of the LGBTQ community is also done well imo they added in the negatives that go along with it so it doesn't feel like they just inserted it just because but not to the point that it became the driving force of the story. Also even if you're not part of the LGBTQ community the scenes are easy to relate to especially for first love experiences. BIG PLUS as well for no unnecessary drama that is dragged out for long!!

Looking forward to the development of the other characters relationships for next season. Highly recommended.

This series is so good! I loved how the actors are actually teens and the plot is so realistic! No over drama at all, no negativity, just how it should be. The cast and characters are amazing. Just so well implementation - it's a charming feel-good series. Also I liked how Charlie and Nick are so understanding, they are just adorable! Must watch and keep your homophobia at bay.

I don't really understand the low ratings. So I'll address some of the things those harp on first.

The acting. These are young actors. In the actor who plays Charlie's case, it's literally his first acting gig. This isn't Succession. It's teenagers. And while it's not top notch, it's not nearly as horrible as people are making it sound. It's good enough to get a pass and doesn't take away from the enjoyment of the show.

Boring plot/cringey dialogue. Again, this is a show about teenagers. And it's also not built or supposed to come across like some major, large scale drama. This is a smaller, humbly made show about young people. And I believe the whole point is to sorta exist as the opposite to darker teen shows like Riverdale and Euphoria. It's going out of its way to be low key and innocent. Plot and dialogue are going to reflect that. Some people need that. Another passing grade there.

So I watched and really enjoyed this show. I consider myself a pretty tough critic, yet I didn't pick up on any of the things the negative reviews are nitpicking here. I almost feel like those people went into it with unreasonably high expectations based off what they're used to.

All that being said, why did I enjoy the show? There's plenty of valid reason this show is getting praise. The representation, etc. But the thing that a lot of viewers gloss over that I really appreciated was that these characters are being honest about their feelings and communicating them to each other.

For example, so many scared, confused closeted kids in Nick's situation would jump at the chance to use Imogen as a beard and would have danced around or denied his feelings for Charlie for entire seasons of the show. And the exact opposite happens here. Nick goes out of his way to specifically tell both those characters how he really feels. In a world full of doom and gloom dark teen shows, that is such a positive thing to depict. And it's the sorta thing that's gonna give other young viewers who are going through the same thing a lot of hope.

Aside from a specific reason like that, I feel like this show in general is just so light and positive that anyone that watches it can come away from it just feeling...good. You'll literally notice yourself smiling while you're watching it.

If you need something uplifting that isn't a lot of work to keep up with, this is more than worth your time. Enjoy!

As a fan of the, "Heartstopper" comic I can easily say this show is for those who have and haven't heard of this series and just want a feel-good show to watch.

For me, the best part of this series easily was the acting done by everybody. The whole cast, minus two actors, had the tough job of having to bring these characters to life and try to bring something new to them while staying true as well and they all nailed it. For most of the people in this cast, this was their first outing with acting and you could never tell that fact. They all just acted like normal teenagers going through this tough period in their lives and like I said still staying true to their character. The whole cast's performances were standouts for me personally but I especially enjoyed Joe Locke and Kit Connor's performances in this series. They both did such excellent jobs bringing their iconic characters to life and acting like these nervous high schoolers who don't fully understand things. It also wasn't just the main cast who did amazing jobs but, the side characters as well. Sebastian Croft, who plays Ben, did a scarily good job with bringing Ben to life that there's no way anybody could like him at all. The other two actors who play side characters who stood out to me were Fisayo Akinade, who plays Mr. Ajayi, and Jenny Walser, who plays Tori.

One aspect of this series I always liked was the story and this series continues that aspect perfectly. This show has an amazing balance of things from the Comic and original material that I was worried about but ended up loving. This series isn't just for young adults but for everybody and you can see that in the story for this show with the issues it handles. No matter how old you are there's something here you'll be able to relate to which makes this show stand out among others. I mentioned earlier that this series has some original content to it and I honestly, love that it was included. The new content gives more depth to some of the side characters that doesn't exist in the Comics and help make those characters more relatable and depth to them. Like I said earlier this series deals with serious issues and it handles them super well and it has the perfect balance between those more dramatic moments and more comedic ones. I feel like this has to do with the series actually having the writer for the Comic, Alice Oseman, writing the scripts for this series.

An odd thing I found myself enjoying for this series was the cinematography for it. The cinematography for this series was really well done throughout the series and there were certain moments where the lighting especially stood out with its creativity. The directing for this series, done by Euros Lyn, was especially really well done. Finally, the soundtrack for this series was honestly really good and used effectively. The music was used for scenes where it was appropriate and wasn't distracting at all as it helped tell the story. The only reason the songs were distracting was that for me the songs were bops.

In the end, Heartstopper is a must check out series for all ages, especially those who might not fully understand themselves.

It's not often that a gay story is told so well but this is one of those times. Growing up confused about your sexuality and dealing with coming out ... even today....is not always easy for everyone. The main characters are wonderful in this series. I think the English always handle these stories genuinely!