Family

**Family** is the second episode of the second season of Netflix's *Heartstopper*, and the tenth episode of the series overall.

## Synopsis

*With Charlie's grades slipping, his parents tighten the rules. Tao's jealous when Elle makes new friends. Nick's older brother invades his privacy.*

## Plot

During parent-teacher meetings at the school. Nick is doing fairly well but Charlie is running behind on his work. His teachers want him to be more focused. In particular, his History teacher wants him to complete his coursework essay.

Following the disappointing meeting with the teachers, Charlie’s parents ban him from meeting with Nick after school until his History coursework essay is done. Charlie is angry and feels it is unfair but his parents stand their ground. He texts Nick about the situation and they joke the universe is keeping them apart.

Elsewhere, Nick’s brother is back in town and Nick asks his mom not to tell him about Charlie and she vows not to.

The next day at school, Tara, Darcy and Elle get excited about prom and start planning their outfits. A girl ropes them in to help organize the prom and they meet after class. Elle seems distracted as Tao texts her asking to meet. Darcy advises her to use the chance to make her move. Tara reminds her that she promised to get over Tao and advises her to avoid him in the meantime. In the end, Elle texts him back informing him she has plans for the evening.

At Truham, Charlie and Nick are having a hard time seeing each other with their different schedules. Charlie lies to Mr. Farouk that he is returning Nick’s pen and they get a chance to chat for a few minutes. Nick still hates being paired with Ben and they get into a brawl, forcing Mr Farouk to punish them by locking them together in a different room.

Nick makes it clear about why he doesn’t like Ben is because he assaulted Charlie. Ben claims he was going through some personal things and calls it a misunderstanding instead. To make matters worse, he is Imogen’s new beau, which worries Nick that Ben will hurt her just like he hurt Charlie. On the other hand, Ben questions the rugby lad if Nick really wants to come out or is doing the same thing as he did when he was with Charlie.

Later at home, David comes across Nick’s phone and reads a few of their chats. Nick is furious and demands his phone back. He replies to Charlie’s text and agrees to meet at the park; even though Charlie’s parents banned them from meeting after school till he finishes his coursework.

They have a great time at the park and later Nick posts a sweet picture of Charlie and his dog, Nellie, on Instagram. Charlie is touched when he sees the post and feels like he is on cloud nine.

Meanwhile, Elle goes to an event at The Lambert School of Arts and makes new friends. They share their fears about getting into art school. One of the girls, Naomi, connects with Elle over their struggles as trans high school students. Tao sees the updates on Elle’s social media page and admits to his mom that he is worried she might be moving away soon. His mom understands how Tao feels and encourages him to spend more time with Elle before she leaves.

The following morning at school, Nick tries to warn Imogen about Ben but she fails to listen. Nick’s exams don’t go well so Charlies sneaks out after school and visits Nick to cheer him up. It was all going well until David rudely introduces himself and accuses Charlie of turning his brother gay. Nick tries his best to handle the situation and his mom also comes to his aid. Nick then sends off Charlie after apologising for his brother’s behaviour. Meanwhile, David wonders what their dad would say.

Charlie returns home and his parents ground him for the rest of the term. They threaten to pull him out of the Paris trip as well if he doesn’t get it together. Charlie texts Nick to inform him about his punishment and they discuss David. Charlie feels it’s his fault for showing up uninvited. Nick assures Charlie that David’s reaction to him was not his fault. He then promises that he can handle it.

On the other side of town, Tao visits Elle and asks to spend time with her but she claims to be busy. She is trying to avoid him since things between them have been weird as of late. Tao is hurt to hear she is going out with Naomi and Felix, the new friends she met at the art event. Later, Tao watches her posts at the party and feels heartbroken. His mom tells him her love story with his dad and encourages him to fight for Elle.

In the end, Tao confesses to Charlie and Isaac that he likes Elle, and asks for their help to win her over.

## Cast

### Starring

* Kit Connor as Nick Nelson
* Joe Locke as Charlie Spring
* William Gao as Tao Xu
* Yasmin Finney as Elle Argent
* Tobie Donovan as Isaac Henderson
* Jenny Walser as Tori Spring
* Sebastian Croft as Ben Hope
* Cormac Hyde-Corrin as Harry Greene
* Fisayo Akinade as Mr. Ajayi
* Nima Taleghani as Youssef Farouk
* Olivia Colman as Sarah Nelson

### Guest-Starring

* Ashwin Vishwanath as Sai Verma
* Evan Ovenell as Christian McBride
* Chetna Pandya as Coach Singh
* Alan Turkington as Mr. Lange
* Georgina Rich as Jane Spring
* Joseph Balderrama as Julio Spring
* Momo Yeung as Yan Xu
* Jack Barton as David Nelson
* Leila Khan as Sahar Zahid
* Bel Priestly as Naomi Russell
* Ash Self as Felix Britten

### Co-Starring

* David Thackeray as French Teacher
* Irina Leoncio as Spanish Teacher
* Zoe Molyneux as Keira the tour guide
* Phoenix Stone as Older Student
* Richard Stemp as Mr. Budd
* Laura Hanna as Mariam Argent

## Music

* Coming of Age - by Mxmtoon
* Paradise - by Carmody
* You Wouldn't Like Me - by Tegan and Sara

## References

1. ↑ Watch the opening scene of ‘Heartstopper’ season two - NME