While Netflix’s Heartstopper is a show ostensibly geared toward teens and young adults, it’s also a show that’s garnered an older viewership who wished something like this existed when they were younger. But its inherent wholesomeness can also be jarring compared to other high school shows, or LGBTQ+ media.
Over the weekend, a small clip from a Netflix promotional video, in which drag queens Trixie Mattel and Katya watch and react to Heartstopper season 2, was shared on Twitter.
“for real this is what it feels like be an adult and to watch heartstopper, a show that is absolutely not for us,” @smellypastagirl wrote.
In the clip, Mattel and Katya are watching a scene from episode 6, “Truth / Dare,” in which Nick (Kit Connor) tells his boyfriend Charlie (Joe Locke) that he’s not ready for anything more than kissing when they have a rare moment to themselves during a class trip to Paris. They pause to check in with each other’s comfort level for physical intimacy and what they might want to do one day (but not yet).
It’s the kind of message that is important for young people to hear, but might feel embarrassing to voice; even at that moment, Charlie hides his face in a pillow and groans at the earnestness of their conversation.
The scene is enough to make Mattel scream.
“I can’t fucking take it anymore,” Mattel said. “What are we watching? Was this filmed for PBS?”
Later in the viral clip, Mattel makes a bigger point about her frustration with the more wholesome depiction of the show. It’s not that she is advocating for sex scenes for the sake of it, which is a point that Katya goes more in-depth upon.
“Coercing anybody into having sex is of course a terrible thing,” Katya explained. “I think we’re advocating for more of a realistic approach to what is generally considered to be the truth.”
It’s far from the only point made in the 31-minute video, which also touches on the discourse around sex scenes in movies and shows; Mattel and Katya also praise the show’s depictions of healthy LGTBQ+ relationships and Connor and Locke’s performances.
While some people pushed back at the idea that Mattel and Katya were criticizing, others were relieved that they weren’t alone in feeling frustrated at the depiction of a wholesome (but also more sanitized) romance.
There were also jokes comparing Heartstopper and Red, White & Royal Blue, another recent release that depicts another gay romance and coming-out story.
But other parts of the video were clipped and shared to demonstrate that, even if some parts of the show might exacerbate them, there’s still much to learn from it.
Fortunately for viewers, Heartstopper is hardly the only recent release to depict the facets of a queer romance play out. Looking for some of the elements Heartstopper evoked but with a more adult relationship at the forefront? Red, White & Royal Blue is streaming on Prime Video. And if you want to see horny chaos unleashed on the big screen? See if Ira Sachs’ Passages is playing near you (or wait until it arrives on MUBI).