Family can be and almost always is complicated.

Heartstopper Season 2 Episode 2 focused almost entirely on family and how people within a family unit interact and live with each other.

Charlie was always lucky with his family. They might be the only reason Charlie is alive. Tori always looked out for him, while his parents would do just about anything to make sure he was okay.

That didn't mean sitting around and watching him change the trajectory of his life over a boyfriend.

Romantic relationships can consume someone, making them lose their individuality, fundamentally changing them.

With Nick, Charlie was not relegated to a background character in someone else's story. But there was a problem. Charlie had gotten so engulfed in his relationship that he forgot he had other responsibilities.

I mean, who wants to spend hours on end working on math problems when that time can be easily spent kissing your boyfriend?

Charlie's always been a high achiever, but in the past few months his grades have been slipping across most of his subjects. Been a bit distracted, haven't you?

Teacher

• Permalink: Charlie's always been a high achiever, but in the past few months his grades have been...

Being their first proper relationship, Charlie and Nick were experiencing something very new. It came with new feelings that had them on a constant high, and they chased that high, Charlie especially.

Charlie: Hey.
Nick: Hey.
Charlie: I told Mr. Farouk I borrowed your pen and needed to give it back.
Nick: Okay.
Charlie: I just haven't seen you all day, so I wanted to say hi.
Nick: Hi.

• Permalink: I told Mr. Farouk I borrowed your pen and needed to give it back.

The Heartstopper Season 2 Episode 1 kissing montage saw them spend every chance they got kissing. It wasn't a surprise that Charlie's grades were slipping.

Everyone else was doing decent work, and Isaac was exemplary.

Enough people don't read books, and it used to baffle me why people couldn't see the wealth found in books when I was these kids' age.

Seeing a character like Isaac, who loves reading fiction and nonfiction, is refreshing. All kids talk about these days is movies and, worst of all, superhero (Marvel) movies.

But Isaac has never spent even ten seconds looking at someone.

He would answer a question (which he avoided as much as possible) and then get lost in his book.

Reading can be fun, but too much of it can be detrimental like anything else. It looked like Isaac was avoiding. The effect would be that he might not get the satisfaction he should from reading a book if he avoids confronting deeper issues.

Life has a funny way of working out to where it doesn't reward people fairly. The worst person can have so many good things in life that it becomes hard to believe they don't engage in some voodoo.

Despite how awful he was to other people, Ben Hope was acing it in school.

Does anyone hug him? He looks for a way to destroy someone else's happiness any chance he gets. There must be something wrong with him.

The worst thing was that he knew how to use his sharp mind for less-than-savory things. He twisted words to make it look like what he did to Charlie was the same as what was happening with Nick.

Ben: I see he's still as desperate as ever.
Nick: I told you not to talk about him.
Ben: God, you hate me so much. It's not my fault he liked me before you.
Nick: I hate you because you literally assaulted him.

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Nick likes Charlie. He doesn't ignore, belittle, manhandle, shame, or mistreat him. They were not the same.

But Nick couldn't see that because there was an overlap in their behavior.

As if that wasn't enough, he had begun dating Imogen, who Nicks cared about deeply. The worst part was that he couldn't tell why he doubted Ben without outing Ben.

He felt so helpless, and it threw him off his game. Something happened in the GCSE math exam that wasn't normal. Even if he had argued with Imogen earlier, I'm not sure that caused what happened.

Does Nick Nelson have a learning disorder?

Charlie's parents banned him from seeing Nick until his grades improved, but here's the thing about teenagers, especially those in a romantic relationship: they don't listen.

And it's good Charlie didn't because where would we have gotten that sweet interaction and Nick got the best picture for his album with two beings he loves?

Charlie was lucky his parents were not young because they'd have known he was sneaking out through Nick's Instagram if they were.

But he would be caught later.

Nick's brother was home from university and was one of those siblings you wish weren't in your family, or they go and never come back home.

The guy was grown but took every chance to bully his younger brother. He was snoopy and loud. No wonder Nick didn't like him.

Everything about him was wrong, especially his choice of words.

It was annoying when he said Charlie turned Nick gay. One, you can't turn anyone gay; two, Nick was not gay.

He used a line biphobes use all the time, and it was sad Nick had to experience that from his own family.

His mom came through like a champion.

Distance makes the heart grow fonder, and Elle establishing some distance from Tao Xu gave him some clarity on things.

I like Elle. Okay? I said it. And don't laugh! I bet you've all been laughing behind my back because I've been so oblivious. Honestly, Elle can do better, and she probably doesn't even like me back, and this is probably going to destroy our friendship, it's going to destroy our friendship group, and it's going to leave me devastated for years to come. So this is a really selfish and stupid thing to do, but I'm going to tell her. Help me.

Tao

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It made him realize that he had no option but to confess his feelings because either way, he was losing Elle.

He knew there were a million and one ways that could go wrong, but sometimes you have to take a leap of faith and hope for the best.

Elle's exploration of the art world allowed her to reacquaint herself with like-minded people and get away from Tao before she fell deeper for him.

"Family" explored the idea of parent-children relationships and came out with a clear message -- parents should support their children unconditionally.

Even if that means grounding them, they should ensure they are doing it for the child's good.

It also provided some growth for Charlie. He was used to apologizing for everything, but being in a relationship with Nick, who allowed him to feel things, brought about another set of emotions Charlie had tried to ignore his entire life.

He felt angry.

Allowing himself to experience different emotions meant he could identify them and know how to deal with them.

Extra thoughts:

• Taking a break from Harry was just the best. Can he stay gone, please?

• Tara and Darcy got roped into planning the prom, but trouble was finding its way into paradise. They had conflicting ideas, and everyone defended theirs too aggressively. Was that the other shoe to drop?

• Mr. Farouk appeared to be very angry. Like, his resting mood was anger. Was that just the teacher in him, or did he have some deeper issues?

• Nick had grown to know Charlie so well. He saw Charlie, who blames himself for everything even when it's not his fault and quickly shut that down. But gently.

• Charlie Spring bit off more than he could chew. He can't protect Nick from the ugliness in the world. He made the promise to himself on Heartstopper Season 2 Episode 1, but it was not a promise he could keep.

We love reading your thoughts, so don't hesitate to comment below.

Denis Kimathi was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. He has watched more dramas and comedies than he cares to remember. Catch him on social media obsessing over [excellent] past, current, and upcoming shows or going off about the politics of representation on TV. Follow him on X.