#THE TRAILER ITSELF MADE ME FEEL SO LONELY LMAO

[astudyintheburningofhearts]

THE HEARTSTOPPER SEASON TWO OFFICIAL TRAILER HAS ME IN NEAR TEARS OK.

[daantaat]

twu s2 thoughts even though nobody asked <3 just a brain dump and it’s quite long so I tried to separate my commentary by categories but it’s still a mess unfortunately. Spoilers under the cut!

General

Overall, I enjoyed season 1 more than season 2. I’ve watched season 2 three times now, and I do think it had some good parts that I definitely overlooked during my first watch (probably because I was preoccupied with Charlotte x Shona 😶😅). My initial reaction to this season was like ‘hmm so that happened and I’m not sure what to think’ but then I rewatched it and tbh I think my complaints are mostly to do with the time jump between seasons and the pacing...

Like yeah there’s only so much to touch on in six 25-minute episodes but!!! I finished the season wanting a bit more, because I thought that some of the things that were introduced were either not explained fully/well or they just dropped off completely and didn’t really have an effect other than me asking questions after the season was over, like it felt as though there were missing scenes— more on that later (though maybe they will be addressed in season 3??? If there is one? How soon do shows get renewed? Idk). Though I guess the audience does have to do some interpretation of their own but still... Idk! Idk. And the assumption that certain events/plot points mentioned in a character’s dialogue would be enough for context had me kinda “:///” y’know? Like don’t tell me, show me?? I’d like the full course please!!

Charlotte x Shona (+ Vish I guess)

I think it was really jarring to see their relationship grow from colleague/business partners to friends and then finally to something more in season 1 only to see them awkwardly handle their unresolved feelings in the workplace with nothing to show for their actual relationship besides a mention of “a week-long gay safari” + the brief flashes of a sex scene that was intermingled with Shona and Vish’s cyber sex session, which in itself is 😐😐😐 like yes it shows that Shona still thinks about/fancies Charlotte in some capacity, but if I were to choose between that sex fantasy/flashback or a flashback of Charlotte and Shona together (like Charlotte telling Shona she was falling for her!!!!)... I think I’d choose the latter? I was just disappointed that we didn’t really get to see Charlotte and Shona being all cute and romantic with each other this season :(

ALSO I wished we got to see more of jealous!Shona; I was super hyped to see that since that scene was included in the trailer. It was nice to see her want the best for Charlotte because she’s “great” but the jealousy part of knowing Charlotte is dating someone great got settled pretty quickly and instead we got Shona evaluating her commitment to Vish and considering the idea of having kids after learning she has a womb of a 39-year-old (😐) and it felt.... like a lot!! It was definitely different from season 1 Shona (”I actually don’t want kids” “I genuinely, I genuinely don’t, you know, it’s not a big deal. Just never have” in 1x04) but if this was to show her dealing with comphet or internalized homophobia or just simply running away from her feelings then... idk what to think of it! I really don’t. I think this is where things could have been written differently because using an affair with Charlotte like that (an affair that we didn’t even get to see besides the stolen kisses at the finance event) was so... ugh, I’m suffering here

Anyway, I think their office scenes were definitely highlights of the season, like Indira and Sharon really gave those scenes their all!! Even though it hurts to see Charlotte so heartbroken and Shona running away from her feelings and hurting Charlotte in the process, I live for the angst lol. I will say though, the 180 that happened after their convo outside Charlotte’s office was a bit “🤔” considering Charlotte had talked to her therapist about Shona for 4 months. Like one hungover feeling dump from Shona and they can move on? Hmm communication is connection, huh. And I guess they were just excited that the article got good results? But how cute that they got each other gifts of their picture in the article??? Wtffff I love my “unfunny and obvious” gal pals even though I’m in pain

As for the voice note... omg, so many questions. Like did Charlotte try to reach out to Shona after she abruptly ended their call to check if she sent the voice note to Vish?? Was that gonna be the first time Charlotte heard Shona say “I love you” to her? What was the reason Shona said “I love you” anyway??? Is she, you know 👀 Also do y’all think Vish will listen to the entire voice note since it was clear it was meant for Charlotte? And who knows maybe Vish’s phone died and he can’t turn it back on or check his WhatsApp or whatever. I’m in denial lmao. But also I think he's a pretty good guy, like when he sent biscuits over to the house when Shona wanted some and him saying what’s the point of having fun in New York when she's not there with him... :/ but he was also a bit weird about her putting a nail in a wall or leaving out the egg duck or whatever as a display item in their house though I suppose that’s not a huge problem so like idk man idk!!! I'm just saying season 3 better not have a time jump I need to see what happens and not just in exposition

Shona and Aine

Love them :) I wish they had more scenes together (if that's possible??) but I liked the somewhat change in dynamic seeing Aine a bit worried about Shona (asking her if she’s okay when she mentions she’s thinking of getting a fringe lmao and again asking if she’s okay when they’re unpacking in Vish’s house). And of course Shona is still very protective and worrisome but seeing Aine just miserably lounging around her apartment over the weekend and getting in her bike accident after Shona wasn’t too supportive of her and James’s business idea made me so sad :( like Shona was so shitty about her not typing up everything in the notes for the meeting! And not even reading James's CV... big yikes. Anyway I thought it was odd that we didn’t get a follow up on the voice note Aine left Shona after getting into the bike accident... like she sounded soooo shaky and out of it :((( what luck Shona was sick and didn’t see Aine with a missing tooth before she got it fixed

Anyhow, Aine was right when she said Shona needs to talk to her and talk about her feelings more!! AND this is part of where my complaint about the pacing and the missing scenes comes into play! I think we should have seen Aine and Shona fighting about Shona’s affair and leaving Vish the voice note. The audience knows Aine cares about Vish and I’m not entirely sure where her relationship with Charlotte stands since Charlotte told Freddie about her being in rehab (on the assumption that he knew, as Aine’s ex-boyfriend) but!!! Just cutting to them on the floor waiting for Vish’s flight to land was not as hard hitting as it could have been

Aine x Bradley (+ Richard)

OKAYYY. Cute!!! I definitely overlooked the signs during my first watch here but yeah they were definitely there during my rewatch(es)!! I quite liked seeing Bradley try to get Aine to stop talking negatively about herself and just try to treat herself better in general like exercising and actually eating off of a plate :’) and the comparisons between Bradley and Richard have me like 👀📝 Bradley saying he likes how much Aine talks vs. Richard’s friend Mark saying she talks a lot and how he wasn’t expecting a whole show to which Richard replies he thought that at first too but she “calms down” like brooo... alright. Anyway Bradley going with her to Tom’s funeral/service made sense since he actually met Tom (though Aine did vaguely talk about him and his drinking problem to Richard in 1x05) and the fact that she told Bradley about PACT and her time there but she didn’t tell Richard (to be fair she was thinking about telling him) hmm 👀 Also Bradley saying “Sometimes it would just be nice to be with someone you could just relax with as yourself” yeah I’m on board with them

Loneliness, COVID, Communication is Connection

Initially I thought these themes could have come across a little stronger but after rewatching... hmm. Yes, Shona was lonely in the house by herself; she even asked Anil to stay for dinner, had her own “pile of shit” boyfriend on her bed (which she did clear off), and told Vish that nobody had time for her. Also after the business meeting she asked Aine what she was doing during the weekend (which Aine also spent alone anyway), but I dunno... oh yeah her hen/bachelorette party was a bit lonely since places were starting to go into lockdown and not everybody could attend, but I think the COVID element entered a bit too late into this season? I’m not sure it really added much in terms of the loneliness. Maybe it did add to the uncertainty of things though

“Communication is Connection” was there but I thought it kind of fell flat as well, but maybe that was the intention— to highlight the mess that a lack of communication can cause? Shona apparently writing off Charlotte’s feelings and them not necessarily talking about their relationship/feelings until their convo outside Charlotte’s office... Shona talking to Seema saying she’s never really asked what Vish wanted (regarding kids) and Seema saying that’s a convo for her and Vish to have... Aine not telling Richard she overheard him and Mark talking about her... Richard not consulting Aine about telling Etienne about them and just getting a new tutor for him... hmm. What does it mean. What does it all mean

Other stuff I’m still thinking about/have questions about

Shona mentioning it’s “annoying” how Aine talks like she’s the only person to ever get sad in episode 1 but still telling Aine she’s fine and then in episode 6 Shona saying she only has two emotions or whatever so she doesn’t need to talk to Aine about her feelings as much -____- istg we need to get Shona to talk to a therapist in season 3!!!

I also liked that Shona, Aine, and Eileen talked more. I’m still a little disappointed that the fact Eileen leaving Shona for three months when she was a baby was not mentioned at all. Yeah it was a secret but when Eileen said “well, you should never lie. You’ll always get caught out.” I— HELLO? If anything, that secret seeing daylight could have had something to do with Shona's sadness + loneliness this season. Also could you imagine that becoming a fear of Shona’s, like what if she doesn’t want kids because she’s afraid of doing the same thing to hers if she has any??

Jim asking Charlotte if she’s straight and Shona immediately going “what does that have to do with anything” or something like that and apologizing to Charlotte after Jim left— I’m not sure how I should have read that??? Did Shona mention to Jim that Charlotte is a lesbian?? When he started to ask, he was still looking at Shona (yeah I’m reading too much into this I know)

Marcia figuring out that Aine and Richard were seeing each other (after he touched her hand on his way out to get a taxi)— what was the purpose? Other than Marcia obviously feeling bad for Etienne, whom I assume she sees as a son of her own (based on the Mom Instinct™ snooping when she was doing housekeeping + her convo with Aine when he came back from France). She didn’t talk to either Aine or Richard about it, just told Aine to have a good time when they were leaving the house to go to their “separate” events. I guess it wasn't her place to say anything, but hm. Speaking of Etienne, it was obvious he had a schoolboy crush on Aine (or at least he was vying for her attention) in season 1 and it’s really too bad we didn’t get to see his reaction to suddenly getting a new tutor or dealing with Aine and Richard’s relationship other than him looking at them hugging while the new tutor was teaching him. He deserved some more screen time this season :(

Hmm so that was all very incoherent but if you made it this far thank youuu <3 here are some last silly comments:

Absolutely loved Julie!! I want to know what she knows about Charlotte and Shona 👀 girl give me the scoop on the last 4 months at the office

Super sad we didn’t get to see Charlotte’s cat (I’m always gonna be vocal about this 🗣🗣🗣) or know who her new girlfriend was but at the very least we were introduced to one of the most important side characters of all: Charlotte’s stompy boots <33333 she really wore those around the office with a blazer/blouse/leather skirt! We love that lesbian attire

[mgnifiqueyoo]

“STAR” - THEORY

PART 3 OF 3

(a/n: hey MOAs! It's confirmed that I'm a clown and this will be THE LAST "STAR" THEORY I'll be continuing with the next album "MAGIC" so um stay tuned I guess)

Basically, "Nap of a star" MV got me fked up. I'll be listing the characters they play so like I don't lose MY SANITY OVER THIS.

YEONJUN - Boy with Horns SOOBIN - Boy with elf ears (??? Idk but uwu) TAEHYUN - Boy with like heterochromia (IDK ???) BEOMGYU - Boy with thorns on his shoulder HUENING KAI - BOY WITH WINGS (UHCKDE)

So, there's this big cat with heterochromia and Yeonjun ran away from it. Yeonjun painfully removes one of the horns AND FINALLY THE BOY WITH WINGS (HYUKA) FINDS YEONJUN ALONG WITH THE THREE BOYS.

Conclusion: I have concluded nothing.

Just kidding

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So, let's get back to my summaries about the past two MVs.

CROWN:

"If we consider the fact that Beomgyu is the “main visual” (is that even a position? djkfhdhf. I mean like the visual that is actually the main character of the story most of the time.), it could mean that Beomgyu’s character is the one saying these words towards the members." - clown statement, 2020

This is UNTRUE. IT IS YEONJUN. I am big clown.

"What is the reason for the boy with wings to leave the boy with horns?" - clown question that kinda shook me tbh, 2020

Honestly, I am very confused about the boy with wings. In the NOAS MV, Huening Kai was the boy with wings but I haven't seen one MV that showed him either betraying or leaving Yeonjun.

Which leads us to CAT & DOG:

"In the mv, it also showed how they acted like they needed constant attention… much like what children need when they’re still in their youth days." - ngl, this made sense buT

Okay so in the Cat & Dog performance, there was a cat of course BUT there was no BOY WITH HORNS OR WHATEVER. The boy is either Yeonjun or a different member.

(TXT CAT & DOG PERFORMANCE)

- if we pay attention to the concept trailer of ETERNITY, even the SHIRT of the boy in the narration/background story from the Cat & Dog performance matches with SOOBIN'S SHIRT (it's a bit orange but that's because of the childish like vibe). Even the concept of Soobin feeling lonely and being actually alone MATCHES. - also in the concept trailer (at time stamp - 3:17), there is a subliminal/symbolism of a cat. It also showed that Soobin is intrigued about it and he suddenly became trapped in a glass box or whatever. - also, because I'm a dumbass who doesn't pay attention, the song being played in the trailer is the slow song version of TXT's DRAMA

NEW ADDITIONAL STUFF: - Someone from youtube (lmao) commented about the morse code thing (???) in the concept trailer. I literally thought that it was like adding the CROWN sounds but nOPE IT'S ACTUALLY A MORSE CODE WITH "SAVE ME" AS THE MEANING. (time stamp - 2:18) - I also found out that STAR era all has the words "Crown" and "dreaming" for morse code (link: https://www.quora.com/What-do-the-beeps-in-the-beginning-of-TXT-s-Crown-mean)

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Cats in dreams? Cheshire Cat of Alice in Wonderland.

"To see the Cheshire cat in your dream signifies mischief, deceit and mockery. It may represent someone in your life who you are not sure if you can trust or rely on." - LINK : https://dreguage.com/dream-dictionary/cheshire-cat/

- This is what both Yeonjun and Soobin saw. However, the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland is a neutral character. Yeonjun saw it as a "bad creature" so he ran away from it but a good thing comes around instead of misfortune (aka. Huening Kai and the boys finding him).

- However in Soobin's case, it was pictured as both good and bad. In the Cat & Dog Performance (backstory/narration), Soobin (probably the boy *not confirmed) sees the cat and pictures HIMSELF as the cat. The cat was seen as comfort. However in the ETERNITY concept trailer, the cat was the reason why he was trapped in the glass box.

"There are many reasons why we associate glass as a symbol for change and transformation. Glass itself goes through a lot of change and transformation in the process of becoming glass. Glass starts out as sand. Only when it is heated to very extreme temperatures does it become glass." - glass meaning (link : https://journeyintodreams.com/glass-dream-symbol-meaning/)

"Dreams about being trapped, feeling lost with no way out or being unable to move are quite common. Also, you may even experience a dream of being buried alive or that you have lost the ability to scream or breathe. These dreams usually indicate frustrations you may be feeling in your waking life. They could be equated to a dead-end job you are in, someone holding you back in your career advancement, or a relationship in which you may feel trapped. You may feel that you are faced with no choice in a situation in your waking life or that you are facing difficulty in making up your mind about something." - trapped in box meaning (link : https://psychiclibrary.com/trapped-dreams/)

In MY OPINION/CONCLUSION about the Cat & Dog situation: Soobin is trapped in the transformation of his friendship between the four (meaning that he doesn't understand why he's being constantly left out). That's why he asked the cat (who hurt Yeonjun) to be somewhat friends with him because he was lonely. BUT it backfired because the cat was the reason for him to become more distant, therefore leaving Soobin alone again.

---

FULL CONCLUSION:

- Yeonjun is the boy with horns and Huening Kai is the boy with wings - Soobin is the boy who was left out (in Cat & Dog backstory) - Soobin MIGHT'VE betrayed Yeonjun because he befriended the cat who hurt Yeonjun (because he was lonely) - Cheshire Cat is A NEUTRAL CHARACTER (NEW!!!)

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Question(s): - How did Soobin get so lonely? - Who is the Cheshire Cat?

//the end//

Btw, I wrote this for thirty minutes since I had some sources from the last two Star Theories I've written and MY BRAIN IS DEAD. Next week, I'll be uploading a full-on research about "MAGIC" era! It'll be on Thursday and I'm honestly dying so pls give me resources.

peace out, luvs.