i loved that charlie 's scars were on display in this moment, they don't magically appear or disappear, they are always present, they are normalised, they are loved, he doesn't have to feel embarrassed or scared of nick's reaction to them anymore and nick loves the scars as much as any other part of charlie and i think its such a tiny, significant and precious moment.
there isn't enough positive sh representation. characters are almost always loved despite the scars, not with the scars. so thank you alice, heartstopper for that.
i Cannot express how often i think abt the last scenes of 02x08 and how much it must drive the people who haven’t read the comics/novellas just CRAZY bc… like charlie and nick have their heartfelt moment and then say goodbye, and to the viewer everything seems normal— great, between them. but nick closes the door and turns to the camera, and we see just how worried and conflicted he looks after charlie’s gone, as he has time to process what he’d learned about his boyfriend and the things he’s gone through in the past and how charlie still very clearly has to deal with the consequences of those traumas in the present. meanwhile charlie is nearly a perfect juxtaposition; walking home with a smile on his face typing out the words “i love you”, on the verge of sending it to nick. he hesitates, and the episode ends. for people that don’t have an idea of what happens next for nick and charlie, they’re left on a complete cliffhanger of wondering wether or not the conversation they had in nick’s room could negatively affect their future relationship in the next season. charlie seems to be more in love with nick than ever, but nick just seems so troubled.
i just can’t help but wonder what those people that love the show and these characters they’re seeing for the first time might be thinking. it’s easy for people like us because we know nick and charlie will make it through every single hardship thrown at us on screen (we practically eat this type of angst for breakfast)— and we can wait a year or so to see what happens next because we have a general idea of what it’ll be.
but those people who don’t? they have no clue that this won’t be an inevitable end to nick and charlie’s relationship and/or won’t result in some form of destruction. they don’t know that nick and charlie make it through this as well as charlie being hospitalized and both of them graduating school and enduring fights and a (basically) accidental “breakup” and eventually getting married and living together and adopting a dog AND I NEED THEM TO KNOW!!!! I NEED THEM TO KNOW EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY BETWEEN THEM IN THE END NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS IN THE SHOW
not me hiding in my room on thanksgiving listening to taylor swift and reading heartstopper while my whole family is watching american football and doing a puzzle ;)