City of Love
All eight episodes premiere on Netflix on August 3
When has the classic trope of high school romance drama unfolding while on a trip to a different country ever failed us? The Lizzie Maguire Movie got it right in Italy, XO Kitty went all the way to South Korea, and now, Heartstopper is heading to Paris with its second season. In the first full-length trailer for the new season, which hits Netflix on Aug. 3, Charlie (Joe Locke) and Nick (Kit Connor) get to work out the kinks in their still very new relationship outside of the watchful eyes of their usual school grounds. Sure, it’s a cliché, but what better place to figure out what the heart really wants than in the City of Love?
“I want you to come out when and how you want to,” Charlie tells Nick in the preview. Once they’ve touched down in Paris, they’re at least able to escape the constant bombardment of questions and speculations about their sexuality from everyone back home. Still, Charlie is thinking ten steps ahead to make sure Nick has an easier journey than he did. “I can make sure Nick doesn’t have to deal with what I did,” he states in a voiceover during a moment when they spot an out couple holding hands, inadvertently encouraging them to do the same. “I can protect him.”
And they’re not the only ones still trying to figure out the best way to navigate new relationships as they clash with the more internal changes of the coming-of-age experience. In the clip, Nick and Charlie’s friend group grapples with unreciprocated confessions of love and awkward crush encounters. “They are gonna be a handful today,” two of the chaperoning teachers declare to one another.
This time around, Heartstopper is hoping to keep all of its queer young adult drama on-screen and offline. Following the grand success of the show’s first season, Connor faced backlash for accepting a role in a straight romantic comedy, with people accusing the then 18-year-old actor of queerbaiting. When the pressure eventually became too much, the actor declared that he would be leaving Twitter for a while, but not before he unveiled: “I’m bi. Congrats for forcing an 18 year old to out himself. I think some of you missed the point of the show. Bye.”
In an essay about the way audiences failed Connor, Rolling Stone‘s CT Jones wrote: “Heartstopper has never made a promise it didn’t answer tenfold. The show was queer at its conception and has gone above and beyond to maintain the representation and important content that made the book series so popular. The show ‘was for us and the representation we never had,’ Connor told GQ. So it’s doubly ironic that a show that encourages teens to figure out their sexualities on their own terms and literally has quotes like ‘Don’t feel like you have to come out yet before you are ready’ would have its main cast member so publically and rudely questioned.”
Season Two’s impending arrival offers not only new beginnings in a new city, but a clean slate for the show’s messaging to be delivered loud and clear.
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