Good Luck, Babe: Compulsory Heterosexuality in Heartstopper

An analysis of Heartstopper’s token ally turned lesbian, Imogen Heaney, in season 3. (SPOILERS)

Last week, October 3rd, known as Mean Girls day, also became Heartstopper day, as season 3 of Netflix’s acclaimed adaptation of Alice Oseman’s webcomic was released. Compared to its source material, which focuses almost entirely on Nick and Charlie, the series covers many storylines involving the supporting characters. Imogen Heaney, Nick’s friend who had a crush on him in season 1, became more integrated with the core friend group in season 2. As an original character who is not in the comics, her storyline was a blank slate for the TV series.

Planting Seeds

Fan speculation that Imogen might be a lesbian grew at the end of season 2 when a scene at the prom showed her watching adoringly as Sahar, her old best friend who she’d started to reconnect with, performed on stage. The shots of Imogen were notably lit with orange, pink, and purple—the colors of the lesbian flag. This type of visual queer flagging in the lighting of different characters has occurred throughout the series.

Imogen and Nick with lesbian and bisexual lighting, respectively

Going into season 3, like many fans, I was hoping that Imogen would recognize her feelings for Sahar and realize she was a lesbian—and she’s well on her way there! In the end, what we got was the ongoing story of Imogen’s self-discovery and feeling lost or unable to understand her identity. Although she doesn’t quite articulate it yet, she undergoes the beginning of a great comphet lesbian storyline that is left unresolved at the end of the season.

Imogen and Sahar

One of the major vehicles for Imogen’s journey this season is her relationship with Sahar. After rekindling their friendship, the two of them grow very close and start behaving like the other couples in the group. At the beach and at the zoo, they are paired up just like Nick and Charlie or Tara and Darcy. In fact, when they’re playing with the animals, Darcy looks at them and says to Tara: “Seems a bit gay to me.” Not only do their friends view their dynamic as heading toward romantic territory, but Imogen is even implicitly aware of and defensive about this. When Isaac is complaining about all of his friends flaunting their relationships, Imogen quickly clarifies: “Me and Sahar aren’t a couple.” In the next episode, however, the two of them are kissing at the Halloween party.¹ After this is caught on film in Tao’s video for Charlie, Imogen laughs, which makes Sahar storm off, saying: “Is this just a joke to you?”

Although the audience is only privy to glimpses of their relationship dynamic, especially on account of the time jumps and the focus on more major plotlines, it becomes clear that it’s a messy and confusing situation for both characters. Over Christmas, they have a flirty text exchange, but then at the New Year’s Eve party, Sahar shakes her head as Imogen goes off to dance with some boy. Later at the same party, Imogen apologizes to Sahar for the Halloween incident. Despite Imogen’s confused feelings, Sahar is straightforward about it: “Look, I don’t wanna be just an experiment to you. Especially when you know you’re the reason I realized I was bi in the first place.” Surprised, Imogen tells her she didn’t know that, and then when the fireworks go off at midnight, they kiss again.

But it’s not that simple! After another four-month time jump, Imogen tells Nick that things are still awkward between her and Sahar—clearly, neither of them have been willing to properly address their feelings.² A few scenes later, they do talk things out, although they still seem to play it safe:

Imogen: I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and reflecting recently. I have no idea who I am. I don’t really know much about anything at the moment, actually. But what I do know is I don’t wanna keep hurting you. Do you hate me?

Sahar: No. I don’t think I could ever hate you. You helped me realize something pretty big about myself.

Imogen: I mean, I guess I could say the same about you.

Sahar: But you know we’d be awful together, right?

Imogen: Yeah. I know. I like us better as friends.

Imogen whispers her admission of feelings for Sahar here, which highlights how scared she is of her own queerness. Realizing that her confusion is hurting Sahar, Imogen opts to put their friendship first instead. Her emphasis in these lines on not knowing who she is, rather than her feelings for Sahar specifically, is key to understanding her character arc.

Comphet Crushes

Aside from her relationship with Sahar, Imogen continues to exhibit signs of comphet in the way that she views and talks about romantic relationships throughout the season. When Isaac is upset about Tao and Elle making him a third wheel, she says that obsessive honeymoon phase feelings are normal: “I was so obsessed with Nick when I liked him, and Ben. But I got over it all super quickly.” In her experience, you choose someone to focus your romantic attention on and then the excitement quickly wears off: “I just liked the idea of having a cool boyfriend, but when we were actually together, he was pretty boring.” Of course, Ben did not treat her well in season 2, but as Imogen articulates here, she wasn’t really interested in him at all.

A great set detail is that, whereas we get to see most of the side characters in their own bedrooms at various points in the show, we never see Imogen’s. When the friend group is chatting and sending each other pictures over Christmas, Imogen is taking selfies in her closet when Sahar texts that she looks cute. The fact that we literally only see her in the closet is a nod to Imogen being closeted even to herself, in the privacy of her own home.

In the season finale, Imogen finally has a longer conversation about her feelings with Nick, her closest friend besides Sahar. She brings up the fact that she doesn’t think she actually did like Nick romantically back when she asked him out, and when he prompts her to continue, she delivers a monologue that comes so close to saying what has become clear to the audience:

I think I kind of felt, um, like, a pressure to have a boyfriend. You know, because I was a cool girl, and that’s what cool girls do. And I think I, um… I liked having attention from boys. It made me feel important and like I was… doing life right. I don’t think I liked Ben either, or my Year 10 boyfriend. I don’t think I’ve ever liked a boy, actually, when I really think of it. Sorry, that probably makes no sense.

Nick gives her his trademark half smile while he listens and then reassures her that he understands, saying, “I get it.”³ When she asks, “Who even am I?”, he responds: “You’re my friend.” Her voicing of the internalized societal pressure for girls to have boyfriends and value male attention as a source of self-worth is very telling. When she said that that made her feel like she was “doing life right,” it really struck a chord with me; when I was younger, I would also choose boys to have crushes on because it just seemed like the thing that girls did. By opening up to Nick and saying that she’s never had romantic feelings for a boy, Imogen makes major strides toward accepting that she’s not attracted to men, which is a huge step in discovering her lesbianism.

The Expanse Between Not Straight and Lesbian

For Imogen, being a “cool girl” and a lesbian are mutually exclusive: she struggles to reconcile her sense of self and personality with the idea of being a lesbian. Even in a mostly queer group of friends, she is taken aback by the thought of situating herself within a queer identity. She’s not shown to be particularly close with Tara or Darcy, the two out lesbian characters in the group. In fact, Imogen’s well-meaning but misguided declaration of allyship with them in season 1 became a meme on account of how oblivious she was—she doesn’t really relate to either of them. The only close friends she has are Sahar and Nick, and both become difficult to confide in this season. Not being able to discern whether your feelings for a friend are platonic or romantic is a universal experience, especially for queer girls who are then afraid to bring this up with the person in question. Imogen was introduced to the show as Nick’s friend and continues to rely on him for support, but throughout this season he was understandably too preoccupied with Charlie’s and his own mental health to really be there for anyone else (until that final episode).

All this to say, given her reluctance to openly confront her feelings with her friends, Imogen still having a ways to go in her self-discovery makes sense at this point in the show. While it’s frustrating, as a viewer, that she doesn’t seem to quite get it yet, this cognitive dissonance is realistic for her character. Even if I was yelling it at my TV while watching, I’m glad that none of Imogen’s friends are trying to tell her that she’s a lesbian—despite seeming objectively simple, it can be very difficult to come to and accept that conclusion. Unraveling comphet can take time (season 3 spans an entire year); for Imogen, it involves coming to terms with something about herself that she’s been completely wrong about her entire life. She phrases her confusion as a question of personal identity, saying “I have no idea who I am,” which cements her belief that this is not merely an issue of sexuality.⁴ In their conversation, Imogen insinuates that Sahar helped her realize she’s attracted to girls, which is significant for someone who has, at least subconsciously, defined her self-worth by her attraction to and attention from boys. Figuring out and understanding your lack of attraction to men when you’ve been socialized that way in a patriarchal world is often challenging.

What’s Next?

Going forward, I hope that we see Imogen and Nick grow even closer, since he expressed similar sentiments about understanding himself when he realized he was bi. Both characters previously based their behavior on social expectations and tried to fit in with the dominant culture rather than being true to themselves. He and Isaac are also the only other characters who have had the discovery of their sexuality play out on screen. Like Isaac’s aroace arc that spanned the back half of season 2 and the first few episodes of season 3, I’m hoping that Imogen will get her moment soon. Realistically, there simply wasn’t enough time in this season to have her storyline be concluded or fully realized without even more of it happening off screen, so I think that this slow burn was the right call.

Regardless of how the Imogen and Sahar story proceeds, I hope that Imogen will find support in Nick and her other friends, and in herself, as she continues on her personal journey. That said, the final episode suggests that their relationship could still become romantic, as Sahar wrote the song that she performs with the band about Imogen. When Isaac and Tao ask her about it, she tells them: “You don’t need to keep talking about us like we’re star-crossed lovers.” Over the course of the entire school year, their relationship has gone through ups and downs, and by the end there is still confusion and pining under the surface. This makes me hopeful that they might eventually get together once Imogen fully accepts herself.

In conclusion, somebody needs to send that girl the lesbian masterdoc.⁵ But so far, I love how Imogen’s story has been handled and presented with all its messiness, confusion, and self-doubt. Her internal conflict will certainly resonate with lesbian viewers who might not necessarily see themselves in Tara or Darcy, and the unique challenges of comphet have rarely been expressed in stories like this. Alice Oseman always seems to find new ways to increase representation for queer experiences across the LGBTQ spectrum, and Imogen is a great addition to this (and a personal favorite of mine). Let me know your thoughts on the series and this storyline—or any others you feel strongly about—in the comments!

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1. The fact that Imogen dressed up as Barbie for Halloween is so lesbian of her, I can't explain it.

2. When Imogen is worried about the state of her friendship with Sahar, Nick is so over the drama, and it made me laugh: "Sounds like you should probably talk to her about that."

3. This is an amazing callback to the scene in season 1 when Nick tells Imogen he doesn't like her romantically. After he explains how he's feeling, he says, "Sorry, that probably makes no sense," and she replies, "No, I think I get it." This inverted repetition of dialogue reflects how their experiences parallel each other.

4. This also really hit close to home. People like to say that sexuality doesn't define you, but when the default is that heterosexuality does define women, these realizations truly feel like a crisis of who you are as a person.

5. If the "am I gay?" quiz in season 1 is anything to go off of, I think there's a good chance this could actually happen.