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Before s2 of heartbreak high me and one of my friends made a bunch of predictions / hopes for the new season and I’m quite proud of how many I got right.

We both agreed that Spider was gonna get more development, it seemed fairly obvious that his heart wasn’t really in the whole being a jerk shit, but we were slightly off about why - we assumed that his family was gonna be worse in a very different way, like mr Voss kinda family. I’m so glad they explored him more though! I really like his character.

I’m also really glad we got more of a look at Ant! We didn’t get a lot more but I think he’s interesting. Didn’t predict him and Harper before watching s2 but I really like them!

There was more of Missy (as there should be!) but not quite enough for my liking, but I’m so here for it! I thought they might explore her relationship with Sasha more, because in s1 she seems to follow Sasha around and go along with everything she says and I thought that might come up. It did to an extent and I’m glad we had more of her as an individual person but she deserves more. (I like her and Spider though, I think they’re cute!)

I’m kinda disappointed with Sasha’s character development, I really thought this season would have her work on herself and have her realise how she acted in s1 was not ok, but I’m holding out hope we get that in s3 (which there better be an s3!!). She seems to have become more superficial in her activism which sucks.

Any prediction I had about Dusty was wrong given he went to a different school. He gave me the ick from episode 1 and I thought we might see a worse side to him, but tbh his arc was kinda done by the end of s1. It was interesting seeing him talk to Darren, that was a friendship I didn’t see coming.

Didn’t see any of Quinni’s arc coming!! So here for her unmasking and learning who she is. I don’t really remember what I thought she would do in s2 but I am glad we got more development.

I’m sad we didn’t get to see who was updating the map. I was really hoping for some closure on who made the map on the table, because it seems strange that someone new would do that and we wouldn’t find out.

Anyways I loved season two and I probably forgot a ton of stuff, but! Character analysis my beloved.

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Happy autism month to my favorite canon autistic character played by an actual autistic actor!!

COMMISSIONS OPEN

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i think that if quinni gallagher jones did my makeup i would be fixed

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I keep going to post a small thought I have about different characters and then realising I have way too much to say and ending up with really long posts I have to edit oops

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Quinni Gallagher Jones ✨

Quick doodle of the only character in the show

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quinni already feels like such authentic autistic representation that i can't say i've ever really seen before.

i mean, the fake eyelash scene... yes, that's literally how they feel. like an irritant and it's so stressful and horrible and exacerbates your sensory overload issues and then disassociating in public and panicking because of all the lights and noises which further exacerbated your sensory overload issues.

and the masking reference. non-autistic people really don't get or realise just how often we mask to the point where it becomes almost second nature because you're essentially pretending and acting out one specific part of your life to the point where no one realises or even considers it's not the truth.

ep2 did a great job at demonstrating how quinni is with darren compared to how she is with everyone else. having someone in your life who you feel comfortable and safe enough with to be yourself and not mask is wonderful. along with someone who understands exactly what you need when you are having a meltdown and what you don't need (when darren stopped amerie from touching quinni). i love their friendship so much.

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Taking all my makeup inspiration from Quinni rn

I really like her whole style and she does the kind of makeup I tend to do anyways and I don’t think I’ve seen characters on tv that do that sort of thing!

I’ve never used the little jewel things she has on her face though, how do they work?

Also she’s so real for hating the fake eyelashes, I’ve never used them because they look sensory bad to me and I love seeing a character that shows sensory issues!! Her makeup suits her character so well and it looks so cool without being made of things that would cause sensory issues for the her!

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I haven’t finished season 2 but I do find Spider’s development interesting. Yes he is shitty and he hasn’t yet redeemed himself. But the concept of the show seems to be about people coming back from their mistakes. Spider is a shitty teenage boy, key word teenage. I think it is very interesting to show that boys that follow the mindset of incels, ‘alpha males’ and all those assholes can come back from that. It’s clear that men like Voss lead these boys down bad paths and we get given a backstory this season for Spider that explains why that would be enticing. Darren’s dad also mentioned last season that as a kid he had these harmful ideas about race and sexuality, etc. and that he learned that his anger shouldn’t have been directed at these groups, that he had issues elsewhere. We see Ca$h try to escape from a background where he’d be subjected to homophobic and sexist mindsets. We see these characters grow beyond what they were taught, we are introduced to them knowing better. So Spider is further behind, he’s learning better.

He hasn’t redeemed himself Yet. But I do think it’s important to say that the shithead you are when you are a teen doesn’t have to be the person you are when you grow up.

He’s still not a favourite for me and I might never like him but that doesn’t mean I can’t see the importance in showing people that you can grow.

The importance in showing teens that they can grow

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jett roasts rowan every time they talk and initially it's not that serious, just a kid ribbing his older brother, the younger sibling reminding the older sibling that he's not that cool and he needs to pull his head in.

initially when jett being dead was revealed i was like ... "wait a minute, didn't spider acknowledge jett's presence and call him rowan's formal date", but then spider was actually talking about the pig (farmcore - pig).

jett's presence becomes much more sinister when we find out that rowan is triggered by being mocked and laughed at, as does everyone immediately calling him farmcore and making fun of him (even though he tries to be nonchalant about it during his meet cute moment with malakai). it's not just a kid teasing his brother, it's a very unwell, unstable person whose self-loathing follows him everywhere he goes.

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The bit where everyone takes Quinni to the zoo is so well done. Right from the start of that but we see how uncomfortable Quinni is, and see why she’s hurting before she says anything. Ca$h notices when her best friend doesn’t seem to.

But yeah, when they invite her to the zoo, she doesn’t seem to want to be there, at no point do they ask what she wants, they just assume she’ll appreciate it even though we know she hates plan changes. As an autistic person, I imagine she’s similar to me with things being sprung on her, so it would make sense that she’s already stressed out. Having someone else make plans for me and then do a surprise thing for my birthday would honestly freak me out no matter how well intentioned.

The whole way around it becomes obvious that they’re doing this to try and make themselves feel better, not Quinni. They say they’re going for her, but they immediately leave her behind at the entrance, running off and chatting. With every exhibit they visit, she’s always the last one to leave which represents very concisely her fear of being left behind.

She even asks at one point what she’s missed and she’s brushed off by Darren, the one person who has always been understanding. It’s not done maliciously but it’s dismissive at best.

She then later expresses her fear of being left, explaining that she hates change and feels that no one is giving her a chance to keep up, and the whole zoo trip represents that so well. It makes sense that no one sees how stressed she is because they’re all so excited about the next thing they just don’t see her.

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I’ve not seen anyone talk about this but it’s bothering me to no end - what happened to Quinni and Sasha? Like I didn’t like them as a couple in s1 and I know they stopped talking after the book signing, but I feel like they were forgotten about in s2? Like there was no explicit breakup, no follow up conversation or confrontation

They treat each other like strangers and I might be missing something but idk, I wish we’d seen more of them, even if it was a big fall out.

I wanted someone to confront Sasha on her ableism, or something, see the way she deals with being told she’s in the wrong but we never see that

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Above all else I’m so glad they brought back Cash’s Grandma

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Rowan talking to his brother about giving Amerie the flower saying that some day he’ll give one to a girl too is just so good story wise. He never got over his brothers death and everything he says shows that so clearly.

His brother then responding with ‘no I won’t’ hurts (and is a very good subtle nod to his death), because deep down Rowan knows all this.

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The funny thing about Sasha and Quinni's argument is that Sasha made it seem like it was so hard to be with Quinni when SASHA MADE IT THAT WAY

The minute Sasha finds out about the autism she treats Quinni differently, immediately infantalizing her, parenting her, and making every thought and behavior about autism. It's only hard because you babysit Quinni in every social interaction. You can just see the difference in the way Darren talks and interacts with her versus the way every other sentence out of Sasha's mouth is autism related

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Thinking about malakai x quinni friendship.

Quinni not only sent malakai Darren’s address but also sent him a script of what he should say to apologize to amerie. She was silently reciting the lines along with him and even reminding him to continue on at the end.

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Spider realising the patriarchy harms men too is what I live for

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Rewatching Heartbreak High season two and oh my god I’m never not impressed by the build up in it. The subtle hints towards the big ending that I never pick up on but on rewatching it’s so nice to see!!

S2E5 like 16 minutes, in Rowan talks about Malakai and says ���I think sometimes we cling to a few nice moments with someone and make them bigger than they were’ when talking about him

And it’s such a good self call out!! He’s doing the same thing to Amerie!! (Who he’s talking to.) He’s been obsessing over her, clinging to the few memories of her he has for so long he doesn’t realise he’s even doing it. Or maybe he’s aware but he’s hoping that it’ll be different. Idk but he’s such an interesting character! He seems so emotionally mature on the surface but he’s not following any of his own advice.