YMMV / Heartstopper (2022)

• Broken Base: Fans of the comic are very split about this series. Some see it as a faithful adaptation that captures the intended spirit well. Others think it’s too Narmy, changes a lot of details unnecessarily, and that it glosses over the original’s Aesop of friendship in favour of the romance parts.
• Die for Our Ship: Poor Imogen is criticized by Nick/Charlie (Narlie) shippers.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Nick's mum Sarah Nelson only appears in a handful of scenes but is beloved in the fandom thanks to her heartwarming response to Nick coming out, and being played by Olivia Colman.
• Friendly Fandoms:
  • When the Netflix adaptation was first announced, there appeared to be significant overlap with the Young Royals fan base, which makes sense given both series' exploration of queer teen romance. Helped by the fact that the lead actors of each series also appear to be fans of the other.
  • There's also some overlap with First Kill, another queer teen romance on Netflix released in 2022. Though the shows are very different (First Kill is also a supernatural thriller with moments of violence and gore), many viewers are glad that queer people can be leads in more than one genre rather than being pigeonholed.
  • With Red, White & Royal Blue, another Queer Romance Rom Com with a similar atmosphere and tone to this series, helped by season 2 and the movie being released on the same month.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Charlie's story of being (unintentionally) outed hits harder when six months later, Kit Connor (Nick) was forced to come out after months of harassment from supposed fans of the show over the below-mentioned "queerbaiting". This was not lost on both fans and crew of the show, including Alice Oseman, cast mates, and Kit himself.
• Memetic Mutation: This was my Heartstopper. ^ExplanationA common phrase to refer to gay ships and queer content that people consider formative or important to them in an ironic or unironic form.
• Misaimed Fandom: Six months after the airing of the first season, the eighteen-year-old Kit Connor (Nick's actor) came out as bisexual - but only because he had suffered months of online harassment from fans of the show about him "queerbaiting" them due to him supposedly being heterosexual (unlike his character). ^note  The very use of the word "queer-baiting" in this context is a whole other case of Misaimed Fandom, as the harassers very obviously did not understand the true meaning of the term (applying only to fictional characters and plot lines), and used it as a bullying tool when talking about Connor's real-life sexuality. Connor added that the people who pressured him to come out "missed the point" of the show entirely.
• Narm: Some viewers found the scene where Nick sheds a tear after taking a sexuality test to be unintentionally hilarious.
• Jerkass Woobie: How some audiences may possibly view Ben come his final appearance in Season 2. While his apology to Charlie is extremely misguided and self-serving to say the least, it's indicative of at least some genuine remorse on his part and a desire to make amends. After Charlie rejects his apology and leaves him standing alone, an animation of a rainbow wave appears next to his feet before receding and disappearing, possibly serving as a visual hint that Ben will never accept himself or his sexuality (unless Word of God confirms it later on). While he definitely deserves some form of consequences for the way he treats those around him, this can come off as a rather dark ending for the character when one considers that he's technically still a child who is still learning to navigate interpersonal relationships and the world around him.
• Ships That Pass in the Night: Imogen is often paired with Sahar from the webcomic, despite the fact they don't even exist in the same universe yet. Season 2 introduces Sahar, and the finale hints that Imogen is developing a crush on her.
• So Okay, It's Average: Some feel this way about the TV series when compared to the webcomic/graphic novels, due to the occasionally fake-sounding acting and important characters from the webcomic not being included.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: One of the most common criticisms of the show is how the gritty aspects from the source material were removed in favour of making a more kid-friendly show, making it seem unrealistic and shallow and resulting in a cast full of Flat Characters.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Tao. His protectiveness of Charlie from the comic is taken to a possessive extreme, driving him to dislike Nick purely for "stealing Charlie" from their group, despite Charlie practically begging him to be nice for his sake, and Nick making efforts many times to build bridges and even defend Tao and Charlie from Harry in front of Tao. He also has a falling out with Charlie in the final two episodes because he was the last to find out Charlie and Nick were dating, making their difficulties coming out about himself. He claims he wants "to be appreciated" for standing up for Charlie, despite being told several times by both Charlie and Elle along the way (and eventually conceding) that his methods were making the situation worse, until his own brawl with Harry. In the same conversation, Tao both advises Nick about Charlie's tendency to blame himself for so much as inconveniencing others, and continues to blame Charlie for problems that Tao himself caused. At best, Tao shoots past overprotective to come off as self-important and unnecessarily rude both to his purported best friend and to a total stranger. Season 2 helps smooth this over, taking steps towards explaining his possessiveness and protectiveness as a trauma response from losing his dad only a few years ago, on top of guilt from unintentionally outing Charlie at school the year before, while showing him making efforts to work past this behavior and steadily growing closer with Nick.

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