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In a small booth during my break at Taco Bell in 2022, I watched my first episode of Heartstopper. At the time, I had been hearing people talk about it online. It was the first openly queer show I had ever watched. It took all these lonely feelings and doubts about my own sexuality and gave me a safe space. 

Almost five years later, it felt so surreal to sit down and watch the 'Heartstopper Forever' movie. It felt strange to watch the show that I had found so much of myself in come to an end. 

The story of Heartstopper is originally based on a web comic by Alice Oseman. Thanks to the web comics' popularity, it was announced that 'Heartstopper' would be made into a Netflix original. The story follows both Nick Nelson and Charlie Spring, two British high school boys who fall in love. Nelson, "seemingly straight" captain of the rugby team, and Spring, a quiet drummer in the band, who is coming out of a hard year of bullying after news got out that he was gay. 

In this queer coming-of-age story, you meet many characters within the friend group. One of the reasons this story resonates with me so much is that it reminds me of the power of queer friend groups. 

'Heartstopper' covers many queer issues and topics throughout the series, including biphobia, transphobia, homophobia, and the overarching struggles of growing up queer. 

The movie, the final installment of the 'Heartstopper' series, follows Nick's final year and Charlie's junior year, during which he runs and wins the head boy title. 

Throughout the movie, there seemed to be a lot of buildup towards starting a queer club at the school. Charlie becomes frustrated when the administration denies his proposal, but he is later encouraged by his professor to start the club anyway. Noting that "historically, us queers have never asked permission to exist."  

The buildup to this moment and all of the pushbacks made me excited to see what the club would bring. Especially to some of the younger students we see joining the club during the first meeting. Unfortunately, the club plot is abandoned after this, and there are no updates on the younger characters we meet, or the school's response to Charlie going behind the administration's back. After talking it over with a friend with a background in film, she mentioned that plot abandonment is typical when something that is formatted and made to be a series is turned into a movie. 

Overall, while I am sad to see the series I see so much of myself in come to an end. I know that it only means more queer media and representation is coming. While I would like to hear more of the Nick and Charlie story, I am excited to welcome the characters from my next queer comfort show. Ranking this film, I would give it a 7.5/10.