Heartstopper Forever review – sanitized sex scenes won’t let the Netflix lovebirds grow up

If it were up to Kit Connor, Heartstopper would have ended quite differently. “If I’d had my way, I would have had Nick and Charlie cheating on each other and doing all those stupid things,” he recently told the Guardian. “Because young people do that and don’t necessarily need to be villainized for it.” Related: ‘It would be weird not to show the sex’: Kit Connor and Joe Locke on Heartstopper’s queer teen curtain call Midway through Heartstopper Forever, the film-length finale of Netflix’s series, I started to see his point. The central star-crossed lovebirds of Alice Oceman’s megahit are now 18 and 17, and like most teenagers they have sex, get drunk and fight with their annoying siblings. Unlike most people their age, they don’t vape, don’t use sex apps and they definitely don’t cheat. If you know anything about Heartstopper, the YA sensation adapted from Alice Oseman’s blockbuster graphic novels, this won’t be a surprise. Criticising Heartstopper for being too wholesome is like complaining that your hot chocolate is too rich – cozy indulgence is exactly the point of this heartwarming show. And while a few bumps in the road are in store for its characters in Heartstopper Forever, the film is careful to reassure us that it gets better, even as its version of queer teen life begins to feel more and more like make-believe. It’s the last year they will spend together at the fictional Truham grammar school, and Nick (Connor) and Charlie (Joe Locke) are a rock solid duo, rubber-stamped as couple goals. While previous Heartstopper seasons have been loosely themed around teenage milestones – whether the pair would get together, say “I love you” or have sex – Heartstopper Forever’s premise is more nebulous, asking whether teen relationships can really survive into adulthood. No spoilers here – but if you know anything about the franchise, you’ll probably be able to predict whether or not Nick and Charlie make it in the end. But Heartstopper Forever doesn…