Euros Lyn | Heartstopper: Secret / 2022

about last night

by Douglas Messerli

 

Alice Oseman (screenplay), Euros Lyn (director) Heartstopper “Secret” / 2022 [30 minutes] [Season 1, Episode 4]

 

Episode 4 picks up immediate with Nick’s very wet reentry in Charlie’s heart. How could you not love someone who had run to your door through a rain storm to tell you how much he truly loves you—especially when, in your bedroom he finally kisses you full on and admits that he’s sorry about last night, given that he was going through a “full gay crisis.” Nick admits he may need some time to figure everything out.

    Surely at that age, 16, I might have needed more than “a little” time to come to terms with a world in which previously I’d never imagined myself. And the inevitable question hovers over their relationship, Nick wondering whether or not at school they can….Charlie finishes his sentence, “Keep this a secret.” As hundreds of such coming out gay films have revealed, secrets are difficult in a world of quick-minded peers who want to get to know everything about their fellow students in a manner that might remind one of the newspaper paparazzi.

   And surely even that secret will be difficult when your lover, Charlie, chases you down that wet British street to kiss you goodbye.

    We can almost guess the results. Even the very next day Imogen has recognized that there is something “different” about her “boyfriend.” It must be his hair, she declares.

     In fact, as Charlie returns to his classroom seat the next morning beside his now lover, there is a remarkable change on both their faces, as Charlie’s “Hi” is reflected in Nick’s now equally infectious smile. Anyone with a careful eye can see these two individuals are joyfully happy sharing the same space.

     Meanwhile, in the neighboring girl’s school Tara openly kisses Darcy in front of Elle, who wonders if she is now officially “the third wheel.”

     Something has definitely changed since that dreadful night-time party at Harry Greene’s mansion.

     Both Charlie and Nick now escape to Mr Ajayi’s art room, to where Charlie escaped during the previous year’s bullying. Nick is truly a changed man, admitting that he’s basically happy to have abandoned all of his own friends who spent their time at lunch “chucking stuff” at people. But Nick also notes that Ajayi was giving him an “evil eye,” which Charlie explains was probably a result of the teacher confusing him with Ben, who wanted to keep everything a secret—which suddenly makes him realize that he has once more entered into the thicket of what secrecy is all about, the lies, the confusion, the possible isolation…whatever. Charlie tries to make it clear that this time there is a big difference, but even Nick perceives the problem.

     And meanwhile, Charlie’s having difficulty with his tackling on the rugby field. Fortunately, the female coach (Chetna Pandya) tries to give him some advice about gay boys who were also treat in sports.

     And meanwhile…the plot gets thicker as the gossip about Tara and Darcy’s dancing kisses spreads like wildfire through their girl’s academy. What does a “secret” in such a world mean? And, of course, once the serpent-figure Imogen demands to know the truth about Tara and Darcy’s relationship, she insists that Nick Nelson and she are a couple, which obviously disturbs Charlie’s friend Elle. Elle declares herself as a lesbian, a very problematic statement since we know she is transgender and Tao is obviously in love with her.

     Things are growing more difficult in Truham Grammar School as well when come of Nick’s friends lob a football at Tao, who refuses to return it to Nick, instead tossing it back to hit his head as Charlie’s lover walks off. In school all is love and war, war mostly.

     What might happen also, Nick must fear, when Charlie announces all his friends—Toa, Isaac, and Elle—are showing up to watch him play rugby. He assures Nick that they won’t say anything, but secrecy is obviously becoming an increasingly difficult proposition. And when Darcy and Tara also show up, Darcy hinting that Charlie and Nick look “awfully coup-ley,” Nick finally begins to perceive just how impossible secrecy is. “We’re totally platonic. Good friends,” the truly honest Charlie lies.

      In a sense, the totally “out” world which Charlie and Nick inhabit is far more difficult to negotiate than the utterly hidden world of my long-before era. Do these kids even have a change to protect themselves for a few moments from what others might soon define them as?

      The Truham competitors, St. John’s have a 14-point advantage against Truham’s 0, as rain begins to fall. St. John’s team seem to be made up of adult rugby players, as opposed to Truham’s boys.

     Things get worse as the score turns to a 35-point advantage, no one, particularly Charlie’s friend being able to describe the mysterious rules of rugby. Charlie finally attempts a tackle, but is hit hard by a St. John’s player, and is carried off the field, the game called for heavy rain.

     Nick comes to visit the injured Charlie, who apologizes for messing up their secret life. Yet Nick can’t resist him, wiping away the blood from his nose and the mud from his face, and almost expressing a more sincere apology about the secrecy he’s required—until Isaac stumbles in with some antiseptic wipes. “Isaac won’t say anything,” Charlie declares, which we well know having observed that poor Isaac is a non-sexual “Ace.” More of that that later, we can predict.

      But it temporarily alters Nick’s breakthrough realization, returning secrecy to it’s necessary, if totally ineffectual, place. Even worse, he’s met with Imogen, who in front of his teammates wonders whether or not he might want to go out on a “date.” What’s a bi-boy, confused about everything, supposed to say. But his agreement, witnessed by the literally “overlooking” Tao and Tara, seals their conviction about how dangerous Nick is for their beloved friend Charlie.

     If you haven’t yet guessed, I’m sold on this soap-opera.

 

Los Angeles, October 21, 2024

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (October 2024).