Heartstopper season 3 spoilers follow.
We fell in love with Heartstopper the moment we first met Nick Nelson and Charlie Spring at the start of season one, but if we had to pick the precise second it won us over completely, body and soul, it would have to be the moment Nick came out to his mother as bisexual.
Nick was terrified of telling her the truth, that Charlie was more than just a friend and that he likes boys just as much as he likes girls.
But through tears and apprehension, Nick bravely put it all out there anyway as he and his mother Sarah Nelson sat side-by-side together at the kitchen table.
His mother's response? "Oh, baby. Thank you for telling me. I'm sorry if I ever made you feel like you couldn't tell me that." The pair embrace amidst more tears and the relief on Nick's face, the weight we can see physically lifted from his entire body, is palpable to see.
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It's a landmark moment, not just for Heartstopper, but for TV as a whole. Because what writer Alice Oseman has done with just these 10 seconds of screen time is immeasurable in terms of the impact it's had on queer people watching, especially those who wish more than anything that their own coming-out stories had played out this way.
The writing is magnificent and Kit Connor is incredible too, channelling a huge range of difficult emotions that feels instantly relatable to anyone who's been through something similar. But it's Olivia Colman whose portrayal of Sarah completes this scene.
Seeing her desperately want to comfort Nick but still giving him the space to finish his piece first... With just one expression, her voice cracking ever so slightly as she apologises, Colman is simply perfection, the perfect actor playing the perfect mother so many of us need, but so few of us get to have.
Despite her reduced role in season two, even the briefest of appearances by Colman were still to be treasured, which made the news that she wasn't going to be in season three very hard to stomach. This wasn't Colman's choice though. Scheduling conflicts can be blamed in this case.
But bizarrely enough, Colman's absence this time around actually works to the show's benefit – not for one, but for two important reasons.
The first happens just two episodes in when Nick has a heart-to-heart with his aunt Diane on a beach during their family trip abroad. In the original comics, it's Sarah who Nick talks to about Charlie's eating disorder. But with Colman absent, Hayley Atwell steps in to listen and provide that safe space he so sorely needs.
Nick breaks down, feeling helpless, telling her: "I really love [Charlie] and I'm scared..."
With that, Diane pulls Nick into a warm embrace as he starts to cry.
"You're a 16-year-old kid," says Diane. "That is a lot to put on the shoulders of a 16-year-old. It's okay that you're scared."
Nick is desperate to fix Charlie – but Diane, using her background as a therapist, rightly points out that his boyfriend needs help from a professional, be it a doctor or therapist.
"I know you think it's your job to save him, but that dependency isn't healthy for anyone... Love can't cure a mental illness," she explains.
That last line in particular hit hard in the graphic novel and it hits hard now in live-action too. It's a vital moment that defines the show moving forward, especially when it comes to how Nick and Charlie's relationship develops. And yes, Colman would have delivered this line with utter perfection, but so too does Atwell.
If Sarah had been in this scene instead of Diane, it would have been easier to compare Nick's breakdown here to his coming out just a couple of seasons earlier. And such a comparison wouldn't be fair.
Yes, they're both extremely emotional, pivotal moments of growth for Nick especially, but if we did pit them against each other, the coming out scene would still come out on top, just because of how impactful it was when Heartstopper was first released.
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By taking Colman out of the equation, those needless comparisons aren't so likely to arise, allowing the scene to breathe on its own terms.
That's also true when it comes to Charlie's parallel journey with his mother Jane Spring, who's struggled a lot more with her son's burgeoning sexuality than Sarah ever did with Nick's.
That's not to say Georgina Rich's character was cruel to Charlie or didn't accept him when he came out. But in comparison to Nick and Sarah, the pair have really struggled to understand each other nonetheless.
Much of this tension comes from Charlie's eating disorder and his new relationship with Nick, which is not to say that it's anyone's fault, but simply that both he and his mum are quick to flare up at each other when they disagree.
That's typical for many mother-son relationships, arguably more so than the sweet, perfect connection that Nick and Sarah share.
By putting Nick's relationship with his mother on the back burner this season, Heartstopper opens itself up to a new, more realistic dynamic that's integral to Charlie's journey this time around, rather than Nick's.
It's how Charlie manages both his eating disorder and the body dysphoria that comes from it which drives season three forward, so it's only right that Charlie's mother should be the one who takes a more prominent role this time around.
Across these eight episodes, the pair go through so much together. From Charlie's fear of revealing his eating disorder in case his mum thinks he's "faking it" to Jane's heartfelt admission in the finale where she apologises for not being more understanding, it's important to see a less idealistic version of a mother and son in strife.
"I know I can be overbearing," admits Jane. "My mum was like this too, never nice to me... I swore I would never become like her, but in some ways I have... I can be quick to anger and that's unfair on you."
This scene might not hit quite as hard as Nick's big coming out moment and how Sarah reacted, but for many fans watching back home, it's going to resonate in a very different way. Because watching Charlie and Jane work on healing their fractured relationship will give hope to many in a very different way than the wish fulfilment of Nick's coming out did.
That's not to say we don't miss Olivia Colman or that we won't move heaven and earth to see her return in season four.
But when it comes to a season as busy and jam-packed as season three has been, maybe those scheduling conflicts actually did Heartstopper a favour.
Heartstopper seasons 1-3 are streaming now on Netflix.
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After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival.
In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.
David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.
Beyond that, David has interviewed all your faves, including Henry Cavill, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Colman, Patrick Stewart, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Dornan, Regina King, and more — not to mention countless Drag Race legends.
As a freelance entertainment journalist, David has bylines across a range of publications including Empire Online, Radio Times, INTO, Highsnobiety, Den of Geek, The Digital Fix and Sight & Sound.
