Why Heartbreak High Is The BEST Show You’re Not Watching
If you love Degrassi, Euphoria, Heartstopper, or even Sex Education, you’re going to love Heartbreak High.
The new Netflix series is actually a reboot/continuation of the 1994 Australian series of the same name, which in turn is a spin-off of the 1993 Australian feature film The Heartbreak Kid. Led by Ayesha Madon, James Majoos, Chloe Hayden, Asher Yasbincek, Thomas Weatherall, Will McDonald, and Joshua Heuston, Heartbreak High delivers a fresh look at Hartley High and its community 20 years after the original series. The story is centered around Amerie (Madon) and her best friend Harper (Yasbincek) who created a hook up map on the wall of their school. It was their own inside joke that no one knew about… that is until it gets out. Amerie ends up going down for the whole situation and gets everyone in trouble. At the same time, something has fractured her friendship with Harper. While the show navigates love, sex, and heartbreak, you also have this overarching mystery of what made Harper cut Amerie off.
Teen dramas are my bread and butter, but even I will admit I was a bit skeptical about Heartbreak High. I didn’t know much about the original franchise and the title didn’t quite catch my attention… but, boy, was I wrong. The show it funny, edgy, and has all of the elements you love about teen shows, with an added mystery. The cast of the show is impeccable, as well as what each person represents. You have non-binary actors playing non-binary characters, an autistic actress playing an autistic character, and an Indigenous actor representing the Indigenous experience. You even have asexual representation that’s done really well. Queer characters and characters of color are really at the center of this story in a way we don’t often see. They tackle various identities and hot topics, but in a way that felt very natural and didn’t feel like they were just trying to force every story line in. Every character felt authentic and full realized and you enjoyed their journeys despite their mistakes or flaws.
The writing and the pacing are just hand in hand together so well done. By the end of the first episode it feels like you’ve watched three because they really managed to get everything in there and move the story along. The way they speak also feels so authentic to the way young people speak nowadays. They were able to make pop culture references without it being too heavy handed and they weren’t afraid to call things out and take a stand, like addressing Sia’s controversial statements on autism from the perspective of an autistic character. The series also subverts expectations and stereotypes when it comes to tackling teen shows. We see Quinni’s experience of autism through her own eyes, in the most groundbreaking portrayals of neurodiversity on television. There’s also story line about a threesome between two guys and a girl where the girl doesn’t find it to be a big deal and the guys are struggling with how their feel and questioning their sexuality afterwards. It was refreshing to see them switch the narrative in that way. Like Degrassi, Heartbreak High is not afraid to go there.
Additionally, the big mystery around Harper takes a unique turn into the unexpected. It seems that it’s so easy for teen stories to go to the place of a young woman being assaulted and it feels like a cop out to just use the worst thing that can happen to a young woman as a catalyst in these situations. I mean, Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin used that plot line three times in their first season alone. So it was a relief to see that the mystery doesn’t go there and they do something a bit outside of the box.
From the representation to the writing to the fashion and the way they center queer characters and characters of color, Heartbreak High is a can’t miss show. In just eight episodes, Netflix delivers a high stakes and high energy series with well-rounded characters that you won’t be able to help but fall in love with. Authentic, edgy, and genuinely diverse, Heartbreak High is the show young people deserve in 2022.
Heartbreak High season 1 is now streaming on Netflix.
