On April 22, the Netflix adaptation of Alice Oseman’s graphic novel series “Heartstopper” premiered. The quirky British teen romance of Charlie Spring and Nick Nelson along with their friends is stuffed into a memorable eight episodes.  

The series follows the perspectives of both boys as they navigate various changes. Charlie Spring (played by John Locke) is a “year 10” (freshman) placed into the same homeroom class as “year 11” (sophomore) Nick Nelson (played by Kit Connor). The boys become fast friends and soon enough feelings beyond friendship transpire. 

Oseman brings reality to the young queer experince of self-discovery. Nick runs to the internet with his identity concerns,atching Youtube videos and taking the notorious “m I gay” quizzes. After much deliberationNick comes to the conclusion of his bisexuality. 

At the same time, Oseman provides two other queer- teen romnaces. Sparks fly between side characters Elle Argent (played by Yasmin Finney) and Tao Xu (played by William Gao). The recently transitioned Elle has moved schools and Tao is missing his best friend. 

At Elle’s all-girls school, she befriends lesbian couple Tara Jones (played by Corinna Brown) and Darcy Olsson (played by Kizzy Edgell). 

The teens deal with finding themselves, coming out, experiencing romance, standing up to bullies and embracing identity.