So I was a fan of Alice Oseman’s Heartstopper before it became a Netflix show and a cultural phenomenon. Like many other LGBTQ people, this is one of those stories I wish I had when I was a kid, along with Saenz’s Aristotle and Dante books and the Young Avengers. Since the Netflix release, I have re-read the comic and watched the show a few times, and I noticed a particularly jarring moment that keeps jumping out at me. Note that if you have seen the show but not read the comic, there will be spoilers here.
The scene takes place the morning after Harry Greene’s birthday party, when Charlie and Nick are interrupted by Charlie’s mom, Jane Spring. The dialogue in the comic and the graphic novels is as follows:
Jane: Nick I didn’t know you were coming over?
Nick: Um, Er, Yes.
Charlie: He’s just picking up a jumper he left here last week.
Jane: You could have at least changed out of your PJs, Charlie. Don’t forget we’re going to Grandma’s later.
She leaves them in the foyer.
In the Netflix adaptation, Oseman has flipped Jane’s last two lines of dialogue and altered the verb tense:
Charlie: He’s just picking up a jumper he left here last week
Charlie’s Mom: Right. Um, well don’t forget we’re going to Grandma’s this morning, Charlie. You could at least change out of your pajamas.
In the comic description, the change out of the PJs suggests a set of norms for how to appear when a friend comes to call, announced or otherwise. But in the program, Jane seems to temporarily put up with Nick’s presence, reminding Charlie that there are other priorities and he should be prepared for them. She knows something is up, but chooses to gloss over it for the time being.
This change in dialogue and the tone in which the actress (Georgina Rich) delivers them suggests a higher level of antagonism toward Charlie and Nick than appears initially in the comics. Of course Charlie and Jane do come into conflict later (and I can empathize, recalling all the conflicts I had with my mom on the road to acceptance and mutual respect). But this flip keeps chewing on my sensibilities as a reader and writer. I suspect it’s Oseman laying a firmer foundation for the dramatic tension to come in seasons 2 and 3 (and which follow in the comic). She has done this in other parts of the TV script as well, where the medium requires a greater build than what she provided in the original comics.
I am eager to see if my concerns about Jane Spring being a greater antagonist toward Charlie will be played out in the show, and I am amused by how just this little flip in dialogue has changed the way I perceive her, from overprotective parent in the comics to borderline disdainful of her son on TV.
Nicanor Abbott 