(no subject)

[between_time_and_42]

I started watching the new Heartstopper series and oh my goodness. So cute!! I've only seen the first two episodes but I love how they're adapting the story. Every time an episode ends I'm like... I need more!! Everyone is cast SO perfectly, especially Elle, Darcy, and Nick- if I'd had to imagine what they would look like as real people and not drawings, I would have imagined those characters looking exactly like that. But of course everyone else is great too. Charlie is perfect... I keep looking at him and going, someone protect this small soft boy, which is exactly the way his character makes me feel in the comic. :D Also I absolutely LOVE how they shot Tori's appearances so it really does look like she materializes out of nowhere every time. And so far she's always been seen with a diet lemonade, just like in Solitaire!

I get why they replaced Aled with an unrelated character, but I'm just waiting for the new character to reveal more of himself to me to help me appreciate his presence more. Hard to judge a character when I'm only 2 episodes in, of course. (although now this makes me even more sad for a hypothetical situation where, instead of Aled presumably losing his friend group between Heartstopper and Radio Silence, an eventual adaptation of Radio Silence will mean that Aled never had a friend group to begin with. No!!!)

I like how the show is expanding on Elle's storyline and how she's the one who first befriends Tara & Darcy. (Tara and Darcy are so cute in this too, omg I love my girls.) I also like how text conversations are a large part of all the friends' interactions- it's very realistic, especially the use of Instagram messaging (although I myself never understood why people prefer to use instagram nowadays but whatever...).

Oh, also: I LOVE NELLIE!!! <3 (who shares a name with my own dog <3)

The one thing I don't like so far, though? The music is sooooooooo obtrusive. It might be better if it was all instrumental. I get that during scenes where the characters are texting, for example, you can't have silence, but I don't like hearing songs with lyrics during those scenes because then I'm listening to the lyrics while reading the texts and my brain goes all ~????~ trying to focus on both at the same time. Actually I feel that way about music with lyrics on any TV show, especially when they play a song at the same time when dialogue is occurring... I think this is a musician thing so it's probably not going to bother everyone. I do like the vibe I get from the music- I feel like it was all chosen with care and attention. Just wish it was all instrumental and didn't occur so much!

Edit: okay, I just watched episode 3 and I like Isaac now, from the one scene where the group chat is going off with some mild Drama and he looks at the notifications and just sighs and puts his phone away. That resonated with me in my soul.

Also, about episode 3, omg I love the shot on the dance floor when Tara and Darcy were kissing and a rainbow appears around them, soooooo pretty! I thought the visuals in the show might annoy me (particularly the animated parts), but I really love it so far.

Comments

[plutodetective]

I completely agree when it comes to Charlie! <3 Joe Locke does a wonderful job at looking soft and protectable. I'm watching a lot of youtube reactions to the show, and someone adopted Charlie as their son before he even said a word, hahaha.

I really like Isaac. Being the quiet kid who's always off with a book (Waterstones crowned him "king of literature" in a thread showing off every book he's shown reading during the season, and I thought that was adorable) and has no patience for Group Drama made him very relatable to me, but I do wonder how I'll feel about him once I get to know Aled better. I heard that Aled was removed "out of respect for his arc in Radio Silence", but I have no idea what that means yet and I didn't check for more details out of fear of spoilers, but perhaps it makes some sense to you.

I love that the girls are getting more screen time. They're all such interesting characters, it's great to see more of them. :)

NELLIE IS PERFECT!!!!

The music didn't bother me, but I can definitely see why it would bother you. I think this depends a lot on personal taste.

The rainbow shot was perfect, and the bisexual lighting when the camera shifted from Tara and Darcy to Nick was also wonderful. Episode 3 is one of my favorites in the show.

[between_time_and_42]

Hahaha Charlie is definitely son material!

I do find Isaac relatable! Episode 4 was the last one I saw yesterday and I loved the moment where he walks in on Charlie and Nick and doesn't mention anything but you can tell from his smile what's he's thinking :D and it was nice of him to suggest that maybe Nick isn't straight, when Tao kept going on about it. He seems to be a boy of few words, but the ones he does say get right to the point.

I think I understand what they mean about Aled... Radio Silence has a clear arc for him, and even though there are a couple Easter egg appearances by different characters, there's nothing specifically connecting Aled in Heartstopper to Aled in Radio Silence. So I feel that they were thinking of a future adaptation of Radio Silence, and it might be confusing on multiple levels to have Aled be in both stories... (I already think it's a little confusing having him in the comic, since there are a couple small things that don't completely add up continuity-wise. But yeah I feel like that was referring to whether Radio Silence receives an adaptation or not and that it might be easier if it does to treat him as a separate, unrelated character.)

Haha I think the music issue is totally a musician thing! I'm not as bad as some musicians who don't like hearing music in public places at all, but it definitely is my brain going "must listen to the SONG!!" and getting distracted from what's onscreen.

Omg the bisexual lighting!! I have to watch that again, I can't believe I missed that (I definitely saw the colors but I guess it didn't click in my brain what it meant). That's so cute and clever. Going to watch more now!

[plutodetective]

Yes, I like that about Isaac a lot!

Oh, I see. I really hope Radio Silence does get an adaptation, then. It seems to be a very good story, and Aled deserves his moment to shine.

I didn't know there were musicians who don't like hearing music in public places! That's so interesting! And definitely a new point of view for me, because I personally love songs with lyrics in tv, as long as the lyrics complement what's happening on the show. For example, on episode 1, when the song went "I'm in love with you" right as Elle and Tao were looking for each other at the school gate. I thought that was very cute and it helped to give the audience the first hint that there's something romantic happening between the two. I get annoyed when the lyrics don't have anything to do with what's happening, haha, but I don't think that happened in Heartstopper. But part of that is also probably me being a words person. It's interesting how our artistic interests inform even this sort of thing.

[between_time_and_42]

I didn't even really notice it before until Chris Thile said something about it! Complaining about hearing music in an airport haha. I thought, do some musicians really find music in a public area that distracting? And it turns out they do- either in a "this is what I do all the time so I don't want to be reminded of it when I'm not working" way, or in a "this is what I do all the time so my brain is automatically attuned to focus on it more than anything else and I'd rather not be distracted" way.

Ohhh that's a great observation about Elle and Tao! Aww. And no, I haven't noticed the lyrics not matching the situation so far in that series, which is fortunate- that always bothers me too.

[plutodetective]

Ohhh, that does make sense! Thanks for the explanation, I can see how it can be distracting or annoying.