Heartbreak High: First impressions of the new Australian drama
If you were a teenager in the 1990s in Australia, chances are you were obsessed with Heartbreak High. Set in a high school in Sydney, it was the best teen drama on screens at that time. It aired for six years over two different networks and folks were devastated when it was canceled. We have good news! Hartley High is back on screens with an eight episode remake of the show.
It carries the same title, but Heartbreak High 2022 has received quite the Gen Z makeover. While all the characters are clearly different, the premise is the same: a group of teens that are going through all the regular teen stuff, set in Sydney, Australia.
Because we were such hardcore fans of the original show, we approached episode 1 with equal parts trepidation and equal parts enthusiasm. Thinking of watching Heartbreak High? Here are our initial thoughts and impressions.
The new students at Hartley High
In the first episode Amerie (Ayesha Madon) and her bestie Harper (Asher Yasbincek) make some whacky map in an old abandoned stairwell at school that documents the sex lives of their classmates. On the first day of the semester at Hartley High, someone finds the map and all hell breaks loose.
Amerie takes the fall for it all, but her and Harper have a falling out anyway. Amerie’s classmates completely reject her and cast her aside, angered by the fact that their sex lives were made a public scandal.
Darren (James Majoos) takes pity on her eventually and befriends her, even though Amerie had never given Darren the time of day before, as Amerie tries to make sense of why her bestie dumped her cold. Darren has problems of their own at home, and their dad seems to be struggling with their non-binary identity.
There are cliques, like one would expect of any teen drama. Hartley High has the cool kids, the queer kids, and the weird kids. By the end of episode one, we were definitely invested in the teen drama and were ready to press play on episode 2.
The diversity
Where its predecessor wasn’t especially diverse, it’s clear that with this version of Heartbreak High, diversity was their main prerogative. The show has Asian characters, Black characters, White characters, Indian characters, autistic characters, and out queer characters of all genders.
This was sorely lacking in the original version. Clearly Heartbreak High now is going for a much more realistic depiction of what life in Sydney – a very diverse city – is actually like. Folks who identify as someone from a marginalized community can probably find themselves on screen here at Hartley High.
The soundtrack is rocking, the characters are interesting enough for us to invest in, and it feels like a fresh take on teenage drama. The weirdest thing about the show is that the kids don’t wear a school uniform, which is a thing in Australia. All schools everywhere have uniforms.
Are we going to keep watching? Definitely. Check back soon for our full season review and commentary of all the queer things as they play out in Heartbreak High.
All 8 episodes of the first season of Heartbreak High are available to stream on Netflix. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for all queer stuff! You can read more reviews here!
