I've spoken about it already in here but it is easily the best adult LGBT show I've seen in quite a long time and it's not close. It's beautifully shot and written, in addition to the excellent work from the leads and of course the remarkably explicit content.
A recent interview from Jacob Tierney that various streamers or bigger outlets tried to push them to move all the physical consummation and sex to Season 2 (or add another 'female entry point') speaks to not only the political climate but I think just generally a squeamishness about this kind of material when it's not couched in the Heartstopper, etc. mold. There's a drive to neuter gay sexuality and try to make it much more about emotional intimacy between men vs. the physical, and a tendency from female-driven fandoms of these shows to infantilize the characters or stars as desexualized pets. All of the above also being a line of attack the Guardian happens to level at HR too, but which I think is very clearly inaccurate and untrue - you can't get through virtually any episode of this show without explicit, often dom/sub-flavored fúcking. There's no way for young or sheltered audiences to engage with this and strip out the sex. Tierney himself has said 'these books are porn', but fortunately there's more to the story than that.
I like Heartstopper a lot but it's a sweet coming of age story about two young boys as written by an asexual woman in the late 2010s. They amped up the sensuality a bit as they matured, but it's still something very rarefied. HR is also written by a woman, something that made me skeptical going in as does any huge hype cycle around a new show these days, but Reid is a generation older which may speak to why the material is more frank and explicit. And Tierney, the showrunner, is an old pro in Canadian circles and openly gay, so that helps considerably.
A THR piece re: the female audience.
By
Vee ·
