Netflix recently released Heartbreak High, a reimagined look at the 1994 show of the same name. This version tells the story of Amerie (Ayesha Madon) as she attempts to repair her reputation while navigating love, sex, and heartbreak. The show also features Darren (James Majoos), Quinni (Chloe Hayden), and Harper (Asher Yasbincek) as they navigate high school life.
The story begins after summer break, when a wall covered in the history of students’ sex lives is discovered. Soon enough, Amerie is found out to be the culprit and must suffer the consequences. Her best friend, Harper, drops her with no explanation, she compulsively cuts her own bangs, and she is outcasted by her peers. Luckily, Darren and Quinni welcome her in with open arms. In response to the graffiti, the administration starts a new sex education class in an attempt to control the students’ crazy sex lives. Amerie’s peers are not happy with this new development and she deals with a lot of bullying and harassment. Darren has the great idea for Amerie to throw a party and make a comeback. It works. People start to forget about their anger with Amerie and turn it on to Harper, who made some unsavory choices.
Harper was Amerie’s best friend since they were kids. They grew up together, made fun of people together, and even made the sex lives of Heartbreak High wall together. Suddenly to Amerie, Harper cut ties with her and made big changes in her appearance. Amerie attempts to talk with her throughout the series, and Harper does the same later on, but the other girl always has a problem with her. Harper seems to have gone through this big change the night of the music festival that the pair went to. Throughout the show, Amerie tries to recall the events of that night, but she can never remember.
Darren is an outcast in more ways than one. Their parents struggle with understanding their gender and what life is like for them as a teenager. They are treated poorly by their peers and often made fun of for their sexuality. But, Darren doesn’t take any of it to heart. They have confidence and go through life with their best friend, Quinni, by their side. After moving in with their dad, Darren has to get a job and start paying rent. They work at a restaurant where Cash is a regular. Cash is a part of the locale eshay gang, which, by the way, is slang for the Australian urban youth subculture that rocks fanny packs and mullets and is often found dealing drugs to the local teens. Darren and Cash form an unlikely bond and find safety in one another.
Quinni is a bright light in the messy world of Heartbreak High. She loves a certain sci-fi book series and her pet frogs. Early in the new school year, she meets Sasha (Gemma Chua-Tran) and they begin dating. However, on their first date, Quinni deals with some serious stimulation problems. The restaurant is crowded and loud and she feels like Sasha will never want to go out with her again. Once Quinni explains that she has autism, Sasha understands and they plan their next date. The autism representation in this series is amazing. Chloe Hayden, who plays Quinni, actually has autism and she represents the character in a beautiful way. On a different note, I really loved the costume design and makeup for this show. Quinni often wore bright makeup and glitter and it added to her character in a nice way. The show’s look was very Gen-Z inspired, which is a nice contrast to the 90s look of the original show.
Warning for spoilers in the upcoming paragraphs. Skip ahead to the last paragraph if you don’t want spoilers.
Throughout the series, as Darren and Cash grow closer together, they begin navigating a more romantic relationship. There is a lot of back and forth between the pair, both unsure of where the other stands. Darren is used to things moving quickly in their relationships, so they are confused when Cash doesn’t make a move. When Darren in turn tries to make a move, they are quickly shut down by Cash. Darren is hurt and spends some time away from him. In the penultimate episode of the series, Cash reveals to Darren that he doesn’t have a need to go further when it comes to being intimate. He enjoys spending time with Darren and being romantic, but he does not want to take things a step further. Darren has trouble understanding this, finding it completely different to how they feel and leaves Cash to spend some time thinking about their relationship. Ultimately, Darren and Cash find their way back to each other, and decide to try to make their relationship work.
I found Cash’s story to be truly beautiful. His journey to find his true self was long and difficult, but he did not try to change himself for Darren or for anyone. Darren assumes that he is just a closeted gay kid who is not ready to come out to his peers yet, but that is not the case. Cash explains what he is feeling to Darren, saying “I’m not like you, Darren. I know what you want. I can see it every time you look at me. I’m just not wired that way.” It’s a truly heartbreaking scene, seeing Cash crumble in front of Darren explaining his feelings. It was really amazing to see this sort of asexual representation. Oftentimes, people assume that being asexual means you have no romantic attraction at all, but in reality, it is a spectrum and people can fall anywhere on it. Cash is welcomed as a member of the ace characters of Netflix, joining Florence from Sex Education and Todd from Bojack Horseman.
To delve deeper into Harper and Amerie’s story, I want to talk about their relationship. From the beginning, we, as viewers, only see Amerie’s side of the story. To her, their night at the festival seemed like a fun night that ended with an unfortunate encounter between her and Spider (Bryn Chapman Parish). Throughout the series, Amerie moves on from Harper after being unable to hear her side of the story. It’s sad, but realistic to a degree. Sometimes in life, friends just drop friends for seemingly no reason. Amerie deals with that loss and heartbreak and moves on. Harper, on the other hand, finally gets to tell her story in the last episode. We, as viewers, can understand why she had been so distant and upset with Amerie for how that night ended. She was nearly assaulted and then her drunk and high dad nearly attacked her too. Harper had been through a lot, and when Amerie finally knew what was going on, she forgave her for everything. Throughout this whole show, their was an underlying theme of friendship and that became most apparent when Harper and Amerie finally made up. Their experiences echo the reality of girlhood and it was amazingly performed by Madon and Yasbincek.
Overall, I really enjoyed this show. I think it dealt with a lot of serious topics while still being a humorous show. It was a good mix of genres. It somewhat felt like a cross between Euphoria and Sex Education. The writers told an interesting and exciting story with many different perspectives. I would love to see a second season as well as more shows like this. If you like the comedy of Sex Education as well as the serious issues and drug life of Euphoria, then this show is for you!