Heartbreak High has a pretty fluid definition of cool. Its students are very diverse in their appearance, backgrounds, sexualities, and socioeconomic status. There are archetypes, but virtually all of them are quickly subverted, and the dynamic established over eight episodes frequently defies all expectations of the genre. No one is really who they seem to be, which is intimately tied to the show's catalyzing incident: the discovery of an "incest map" in a locked stairwell that chronicles in explicit detail all the relationships, hookups, and rumors New Year 11 has uncovered. seen wrapped.
The Incest Map is the work of best friends Amerie (Ayesha Madon) and Harper (Asher Yasbincek), though by the time the season begins, they're no longer best friends for reasons that quickly form something of an overarching mystery. Amerie is taken aback when Harper arrives at school with a shaved head and no interest in talking to her. The last thing they saw was at a festival, but Amerie can't remember what happened there. Whatever it is, she pushed Harper to radically reinvent herself and completely distance herself from Amerie.
Creators: Hannah Carroll Chapman, Ben Gannon, Michael Jenkins
Stars: Ayesha Madon, James Majoos, Chloe Hayden
But if this is the macro plot, the micro plot is much more focused on a new sex education class created for the benefit of everyone named on the incest map. This includes Amerie and Harper, as well as the peripheral figures who, throughout the season, become their friends, lovers, and rivals: popular heartthrob Dusty (Josh Heuston), best friends Darren (James Majoos), and Quinni (Chloe Hayden), troublesome bad boy Ca$h (Will McDonald), new boy Malakai (Thomas Weatherall), and a few more. The class is taught by Jojo (Chika Ikogwe), a hip and sympathetic new teacher who continually butts heads with old-fashioned Principal Woodsy, who prefers to pretend none of this is happening.
The breakup of a friendship here is treated much like how a breakup of a relationship might be: Amerie claims to have been "abandoned" multiple times, and is given the gravity she deserves for the way she changes multiple lives. . Pushed to move in new crowds, reinvent themselves, and ultimately resolve their personal issues, Amerie and Harper are our reluctant guides through a social hierarchy even they aren't sure of. They once thought the map they drew together could keep it all together, but we soon learn that drugs, alcohol, consent, identity, sexuality, and class are intertwined in ways so complicated and unexpected that no single wall could contain the cobweb of the resultant. drama.
It helps that Heartbreak High is so diverse. Most shows are these days, of course, but usually in a symbolic way, so that they can uphold the same values without being so easily criticized for them. This show not only has a non-binary character, but one that was written for a non-binary actor. The same goes for Quinni's autism, which is accurately and sensitively portrayed. These people cannot be reduced to their "thing"; they are more than that, as they always have been, and it's a refreshing show that highlights the importance of empathy without provoking pity.
And the young cast of newcomers rises to the challenge of bringing these characters to life; I have no doubt that many races will be made thanks to this program. Madon, who only has one previous credit, is as capable a leading man as any he's seen recently, and Majoos, who according to IMDb hasn't been in anything before this, is an absolute delight. But everyone is fine here; everyone feels like they fit in, even if their entire character arc is about them not fitting in at all.
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