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HEARTSTOPPER (2023) Out - 2x1 dir. Euros Lyn.

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Random Actress icons

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Heartstopper girls

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🌼𝑅ℎ𝑒𝑎 𝑁𝑜𝑟𝑤𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑖𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠🌼

[rhefilm]

Rhea Norwood icons + headers ҂ 

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Rhea Norwood icons

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☆ ! rhea norwood twitter packscreen ! ☆

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[abloodycrow]

"Maybe I shouldn't have done that in front of everyone" "Well, I thought it was one of the coolest things I've ever seen"

HEARTSTOPPER ♥ 2.04

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HEARTSTOPPER Icons, + like or reblog If you use

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music box

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I have come to a decision

I just think Imogen deserves a little love uk? (...might just end up changing it after a week we'll see)

[ecnmatic]

New Still Heartstopper Season 2.

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[mischiefmaven]

Intuitive women as romantic catalysts in Heartstopper

“There are very few of us who have heart enough to be really in love without encouragement.” - Charlotte Lucas in Pride & Prejudice 

In the earliest stages of their developing relationship, represented in the show by episodes 1 through 3, Nick and Charlie navigate the uncertainty of their feelings and attraction. They struggle for vastly different reasons, but each of them gets guidance, sometimes unconsciously given, from intuitive women in their lives. Sarah Nelson, Imogen, Tori, and Tara play important—and very different—roles in bringing Nick and Charlie together. 

The women 

With an offhand comment in episode 2, Sarah Nelson is the first woman in Nick’s life to serve as a catalyst to his eventual relationship with Charlie.

S: He’s very different to your other friends, isn’t he? You seem much more yourself around him. 

N: Do I? 

S: You do. 

N: Oh…

Her observation has an effect on Nick, and in his furrowed brow that melts into a secret smile, we see validation and maybe even relief. Charlie is different and special, and the person who knows him best of all can sense it, sense that Charlie is good for him, and will allow him to be who is really is. For Nick, who is used to relatively shallow interactions with his peers, it reinforces and legitimizes the possibility of emotional intimacy with Charlie.

The very next scene brings us our second intuitive woman for Nick: Imogen. Enjoying the memory of their snow day together, Nick starts a message to Charlie asking to hang out again. Imogen sees Nick’s infatuated smile and starts teasing him about slipping into someone’s DMs to flirt. Although in the short term Imogen stops Nick from messaging Charlie, her reference to chirpsing shows she’s picking up on his attraction, something Nick is barely ready to admit to himself. It frames his feelings in a light that his mom’s comment didn’t. It confuses him, but it ultimately prompts an important shift in Nick’s thinking: is what he’s feeling more than friendship?

It’s worth noting that Imogen is also aware of the change in Nick after the kiss at Harry’s party. (To be fair, never has there been a worse poker face from a smitten person than Nick Nelson’s.) But she knows something is up with him, even if she can’t place it. I love Imogen because I think she’s quite complex for a relatively minor character: she’s so in tune with Nick’s emotional states at times, but also very much blind to his ambivalence when it comes to his feelings toward her. She’s so human (and played so beautifully by Rhea Norwood). 

Of course Tori is on this list for her absolutely iconic “I don’t think he’s straight” moment. Tori sees and knows all, and her matter-of-fact take on their hug gives Charlie real hope when everyone else is telling him to get over Nick. It’s probably part of what makes him brave enough to ask Nick about his crush in the ballroom. 

Despite her memorable episode 2 comment, there’s a strong argument to be made that the bus scene in episode 1 is Tori’s first, and perhaps more important, catalyst moment. By prompting Charlie to talk about his dream guy, Tori makes Charlie articulate what he wants in a partner, even though he’s fairly sure his options are limited and he’ll have to settle. It’s a way to process what happened with Ben and avoid repeating it. Proximity and opportunity are not enough, and neither are empty physical interactions. Charlie craves compatibility and connection, and it’s important that these needs are in the back of his mind as he grows closer to Nick.

If Sarah and Imogen open the door for Nick specifically, Tara (with Darcy’s help) gives him a gentle nudge to walk through it (and later a safe space to process his sexuality). At Harry’s party, Tara comes out to Nick and demonstrates how to be your authentic self with the person you love. When Nick starts talking about Charlie, Tara has a hint of a knowing smile that I read as recognition that maybe there’s more going on than just sitting next to each other in form. She is probably more catalyst than intuitive influence, since she doesn’t know Nick or Charlie that well, but I’m including Tara here because she is still so crucial. 

It goes without saying that Tara and Darcy’s kiss on the dance floor is a pivotal moment for Nick. Much has been written about that scene, and I can’t do it justice here. But in giving Nick a safe space to talk about being queer and serving as a model for queer joy, Tara inspires Nick to find Charlie and not “hide as much anymore.”  

The non-catalyst intuitives: Isaac and Darcy

Despite his early claim that Nick is a ginormous heterosexual, Isaac senses that something is going on between Nick and Charlie early on, but I can’t quite pinpoint when. We first learn of it in episode 4, when Tao complains at lunchtime that Charlie is off with Nick.

I: Well, they’re in the honeymoon phase.

T: It’s not even like they’re dating!

I: Unless they are…

This hunch is confirmed later in the episode, when he walks in on a tender moment between Nick and Charlie after the match at St. John’s. Isaac is intuitive, but he prefers to be on the periphery, and opts out of the drama of his friend group—most of the time, anyway. Sometimes he will actively participate, such as when the boys ask Elle to find out if Tara likes Nick, or (in one of my favorite moments) when he kicks over the Monopoly board. More often than not, though, Isaac prefers to observe and participate with a well-placed chuckle or eye roll. We don’t see him mention his observations or suspicions to Charlie, and so he doesn’t serve as a catalyst for the development of Nick and Charlie’s relationship, even if he saw it all coming. 

Darcy falls into this camp as well. Her “gay intuition” tells her Nick and Charlie look “suspiciously couple-y,” but they are already secretly together by then. So she gets bragging rights later, but I can’t call her a catalyst. (And unlike Isaac, she is the drama of the friend group: I can’t wait for Paris!) 

It’s hard to imagine Nick and Charlie’s love story developing without the support and gentle nudges our boys get from Sarah, Imogen, Tori, and Tara. In Heartstopper, it takes a village to bring Nick and Charlie together, though my sentimental heart likes to think they would have gotten there eventually. 

[wldrms]

☕️ - - - H3ARTST0PPER L4YOUTS ?!

[rhefilm]

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