After the first season of Heartstopper took the world by storm last year, the show returned for a second season. As not only the relationship between Nick and Charlie was developed forward, but every single person in their friendship group was too.
With individual battles that each and every character was trying to overcome in order to find self-acceptance, but also acceptance amongst others, it was a season that was gripping, engaging yet heartbreakingly beautiful. So I thought I’d do a Heartstopper Season 2 Ending Explained and breakdown all that was important and to take away from this season.
The best way to break this Explanation down will be by delving into each individual character arc as they all had different endings.
Here is Heartstopper Season 2 Ending Explained:
Heartstopper Season 2 Ending Explained
Let’s start with Nick and Charlie. Nick and Charlie’s story was very much split in two. We had most of the season focusing on Nick coming to the decision that he wanted to come out to the people at his school, his family, and the people that he was closest to outside of his friends.
However, understandably it was something that he was finding difficult to do because he was fearful of the response that he’d get.
The thing that was in his mind was the fact that when he came out to his mother at the end of season one, it was such a positive experience, and he knew that not everybody was going to be like that.
While he was on the school trip in Paris, the comments that would be getting made about Charlie and the fact that many people were casually throwing comments around about the hickey on Charlie’s neck seemed as though it could cause some uncomfortable awkwardness in his mind.
The mixed responses were best summed up when he came out to his father and also when his brother found out that he was Bi. They represented the main reasons why Nick didn’t feel comfortable because his brother was just rude and homophobic, and his dad didn’t know how to handle it.
But it was almost like once those two people were out of the way, Nick felt like the hardest part was done. He then almost didn’t really care what people thought, and he posted that he was BI online and that he was in a relationship with Charlie. He was happy with the life that he had, and he didn’t want to hide it. And I think to his surprise, most people out there were relatively supportive of him.
Charlie Facing His Own Issues
Charlie was there for Nick in this season when it came to that time of the story, and he wasn’t pushy and made him feel guilty for not coming out sooner. This was because of the awful experience that Charlie had when people found out about his sexuality.
Charlie was on the receiving end of some extremely harsh bullying when people found out that he was gay, and this was something that made up the other arm of this story for both of them.
The fact that Charlie was still wearing the mental battle scars from being somebody who was made to feel like they were worthless because of who they were and because they were different from everybody that was around them was something that was prominent.
That also paired with the way that Ben treated him in the past by using him and making him feel like a piece of dirt. It led Charlie to indirectly act on what happened without even truly realizing it.
For example, we heard that he said to Nick right at the end of the season that he used to hurt himself, and we saw that he was still doing it in the present day, but not to the extent that he was.
When he was in Paris, he was pinching his arm. Maybe he didn’t realize that he was doing it, and it was just instinct, but it was sad to see. And it shows that it’s most probably going to be something that carries through into the next season.
We also saw that he wasn’t really eating either. He mentioned that food was something that he felt as though he had control over when everything else was once spiraling out of control. And that was the fact that he would barely eat.
This was where we saw Nick searching for the signs of an eating disorder. Because Charlie is most definitely showing the signs of somebody that would have one barely eating his food and lying about being full and eating in the past. So it’s definitely going to be something that gets developed more in Heartstopper Season 3.
Nick And Charlie Confessing To One Another
The worried look on Nick’s face as Charlie left his home was the true face that was underneath the mask of a smile that was there. He knows that it’s most probably going to be a tough battle for Charlie to be able to process all of the trauma in a different way.
But he wants to help him navigate his way through it. We saw that Charlie helped Nick all throughout this season by being alongside him every step of the way in his journey when it came to coming out. So Nick will most definitely want to do the same.
Nick is on the cusp of telling Charlie that he loves him, but it is interrupted by his mother coming home, which is why the final thing that we see in the show is Charlie writing “I love you” as a message to send to Nick, showing that he’s finally found his sense of belonging, and that person that he cares about more than anything and makes him feel special. So it’s a positive yet extremely sad ending because of all of the underlying issues that are present.
Tao And Elle
I really enjoyed watching Tao and Elle’s story unfold in this season. We saw them battling with the progression of their relationship and if they would be able to function in a romantic sense. Tao spends a lot of the time trying to be somebody that he isn’t in order to impress Elle, and it actually has the opposite effect on Elle.
Elle liked him for who he was and their differences as well as their similarity. However, on their first date, he did everything that he didn’t like, but everything that she did, and it was the most awkward date ever.
It was only once they were in Paris and they went to the museum and did something that they both enjoyed together that their relationship started to flourish more, and the butterflies returned to their stomachs when around each other. They needed to be their true selves and be happy as one collective, which also included those differences.
We saw that Elle was on the cusp of getting into her dream art school when she was accepted into it, something that Tao was slightly fearful of because he was worried that it would mean that their relationship would start to fizzle out.
But in line with the narrative of their relationship, he was fully accepting of it by the end, when she said that she wanted to go there because he knew that it was something that she was extremely passionate about and he didn’t want to stand in her way.
Heartstopper Season 2 finished for them, with them being together and being very much happy. Their true test will be in the next season when they’re apart.
Darcy And Tara
Darcy and Tara’s arc was an arc that was really interesting to watch, and I was extremely invested in it. We saw that Tara told Darcy that she loved her, but the moment that she did, we saw that Darcy almost ignored it and tried not to address it ever again, even when Tara would bring it up.
As the season went on, we saw the main reason why that was. Darcy was a completely different person when she was at school compared to when she was at home with her mother. Darcy hadn’t come out to her mother, and it was because she knew how she would take it.
Darcy felt like she’d never be able to because her mother had a picture of how she wanted her daughter to be. And being with a woman didn’t fit into that picture that her mother had hence why we saw Darcy become more and more distant because she was essentially leading two different lives.
And Darcy didn’t want to promise something to Tara that she felt that she’d never be able to give her, the happiness of being around her family. It made sense as to why Tara had never been to Darcy’s, and it was because of Darci’s mother.
In the end, with Darcy and Tara both telling one another that they loved each other and saying that they needed to keep saying it because practice made part Perfect, I hope that this story remains positive throughout the show.
I imagine in the next season; we’re most likely going to be seeing more of Darcy’s toxic home life and how she’s going to be dealing with her mother moving forward because it’s not something that’s sustainable. Living at home like that and having to run away.
