As series two of Heartbreak High begins, all the kids run outside just before there’s an explosion inside Hartley High School. Amerie Wadia (Ayesha Madon) talks about being the hero of your own story. She says the only way to know if you’re the hero is to go face-to-face with the villain. Woodsy (Rachel House) yells to ask where Amerie and Harper McLean (Asher Yasbincek) are. Two months earlier, Amerie tells Harper that she got her back-to-school present and she’s going to be her bodyguard from now on. Amerie made them pepper-spray squirt guns. On the way to school, Harper notices Chook (Tom Wilson) watching her from a distance. Then, he disappears. They catch up with Darren (James Majoos) and Quinni (Chloe Hayden).

Quinni asks if they can walk two-by-two before telling Harper she’s totally fine. A girl curses Harper and blames her for putting Cash in jail. Amerie sees Malakai (Thomas Weatherall) drive by. She argues that boys are what messed up her relationship with Harper. Darren gives her one week. Malakai talks to Missy (Sherry-Lee Watson) about Amerie. Missy believes chaos and strife just follow her. Sasha So (Gemma Chua-Tran) gives a speech about recycling. Rowan asks Jett (Jude Hyland) if it’s too late to be homeschooled. Ant offers Spider (Bryn Chapman Parish) a weed gummy. Spider yells that pronouns are soft. Ant tells Harper he’s willing to fill any holes left by Dusty. Spider says Harper for Cash and Dusty kicked out of Hartley. Amerie shoots him with the squirt gun with no effect so she pushes him instead.

She destroys Zoe’s project. Zoe (Kartanya Maynard) scolds her. Ant takes all of his gummies since they fell on the ground. Woodsy scolds Amerie in her office with Harper present. She challenges them to find a better way to face their disputes. In private, Woodsy checks on Harper and asks about her living situation. Harper still hasn’t been able to get back into her dad’s place. She doesn’t want any special treatment. Ant is high as he flirts with the girls throughout the school. He imagines a pair of scissors telling him he knows what to do. Woodsy and Jojo (Chika Ikogwe) speak to the kids. Amerie introduces herself to Rowan Callaghan (Sam Rechner). Woodsy tells everyone to give Rowan a big welcome. The other students poke fun at him and call him a farmer.

Head of PE, Timothy Voss (Angus Sampson), shoots a gun to get everyone’s attention. He wants to get everything back on track. A girl interrupts to say Ant is cutting off his penis in the quad. Before he can do it, Voss tackles him. Then, Woodsy and Jojo talk to him about finding other ways to express his feelings. Voss says Hartley has transformed into a woke snowflake nightmare. He goes on to suggest that young men are experiencing a crisis of confidence right now and the boys at Hartley are scared to breathe. He thinks SLT classes may be exacerbating that. Spider agrees. Voss believes boys communicate by doing. He thinks he has a better idea than SLT classes. Harper notices that her bag is missing. She worries someone took it although Amerie suggests it’s not a big deal. Cash (Will McDonald) calls Darren from behind bars.

They talk about the first day and Darren finally being allowed to visit Cash. Darren hears another inmate mocking Cash. Woodsy talks to Rowan about how the kids at Hartley are brutal. She teams him up with Malakai since he is familiar with being the new kid. Malakai shows him around. Rowan tells him he’s more of a film geek. Malakai invites him to the party at bunkers tonight. Jojo welcomes the students to SLTs class. They’re told they’re going to do art. Spider calls it cringe and says he’d like to throw something. He believes Voss is right and this is why Dusty had to leave. Spider says it’s easy to blame men, but they’re doing nothing to fix it. He walks out and urges the other guys to do the same. Voss sees them in the hallway playing around. Malakai catches up with Amerie and asks if she’s avoiding him.

He thinks it’s cool that she wants to focus on Harper right now. Amerie changes her mind and has sex with him. Malakai asks if she’s going to the bunker party tonight. He insists it’s fine that she wants to put Harper first right now. Darren rushes over to say they found Harper’s bag. He also knows they already had sex. They find a dead bird on top of Harper’s bag. Quinni takes a picture of it. Harper immediately blames Chook. Amerie offers to force Spider to admit it was him. Harper says she just needs to sign the paperwork and her dad will be gone. Once she signs it, she agrees to go to the party with Amerie. At the party, Quinni admits the ibis is in her bag because she wants to bury him by the ocean. Malakai smiles at Amerie who accuses Spider of being the bird psycho.

Ant tells them it wasn’t Spider because he’s scared of birds. Malakai catches up with Rowan who jokes about the nicknames he’s been given. Rowan decides to get rid of his vest to avoid ridicule. He says he’s not from a farm and people don’t realize that Dubbo is actually a city. They talk about their old nicknames. Harper checks on Ant who questions why girls don’t like him. He doesn’t think he’s a bad dude. Harper says it’s exhausting being a girl and having to have your guard up all the time. She recommends trying to be friends with a girl. Sasha accuses Darren of standing by an accused rapist. Darren argues that Cash didn’t do anything. Harper interrupts to tell Sasha to mind her business. Then, she tries to comfort Darren. Amerie and Quinni try to find out who planted the dead bird.

They scare Spider with the bird and confirm he has a scar on his neck. Harper admits she doesn’t blame Cash. She believes Cash is the reason it wasn’t worse and she’ll say that during the trial. Darren gets to see Cash tomorrow. Amerie yells that they should probably get out of there. Amerie and Harper find another dead ibis. Harper is convinced it’s Chook. She doesn’t want to call the police because she’d have to tell them about setting fire to his vehicle. Amerie convinces Quinni and Darren to come with her to spy on Chook. When he leaves home, they sneak into his house. They end up getting caught when Chook returns for his phone. Chook insists he isn’t dumb enough to mess with Harper while they’re still awaiting trial. He tells them they’re lucky he’s trying to keep his nose clean at the moment. Chook lets them go but keeps Darren around.

He tells Darren that this is Cash’s world and Darren really doesn’t know him. Chook claims Cash was in on it, but he just got cold feet. He suggests that’s why Chook decided not to testify against Jayden and Tilla. Chook makes Darren says they doesn’t know crap before Darren is allowed to leave. Voss makes the boys exercise. Woodsy tells Jojo that she has to appear to be taking these concerns seriously. That’s why she’s letting Voss do this with the boys. She’s also going to make the SLTs elective. Jojo worries that means no one is going to come. Voss tells the boys that men were kings and the world made them weak. Spider decides that they’re the cumlords. Voss seems to like that idea. Cash gets a visit from nan (Maggie Dence), but Darren isn’t with her. Amerie tells Harper that they visited Chook and he didn’t seem to have anything to do with it.

Harper tells her to stop trying to protect her. Amerie says everyone at the school thinks she’s a crappy person and she worries they’re right. Harper tries to convince her otherwise. Amerie urges her to put her energy somewhere else. Voss tells Spider he didn’t give him detention because he knows how it is. He believes society is already trying to cut him down. His dad got fired from the job he created because of a joke. Voss says the boys out there will walk through fire for him. It’s called leadership. Voss says he and Spider have it so they can do great things together. They agree to set a few things right around there. Woodsy speaks to the students about being a school captain. Susan is the only candidate this year so Woodsy encourages others to come forward.

Spider decides that he’ll run. He talks about how he feels. Spider says it’s time for the canceled to take back the power. He gets some cheers from the audience. Amerie decides to run too because her friends are worried about Spider winning. Amerie tells everyone that she wants to be better and prove that she can be. Quinni, Darren, and Harper cheer for her. Later, Amerie tells Malakai that she has free time so she can spend time with him. Amerie thinks Quinni should be her vice. She finds a picture of herself telling her she doesn’t get to be the hero. She realizes that the bird psycho was always after her. Amerie wonders who at Hartley hates her this much.

 

Heartbreak High Review

The opening episode of Heartbreak High’s second series was decent enough to satisfy fans of the first series. The episode set up a lot of storylines that may be able to keep viewers interested for the remainder of the season. Darren is having doubts about Cash and their relationship after a conversation with Chook. The trial is edging closer. Amerie is running for school captain alongside Sasha and Spider.

Voss’s return to the school has shaken things up with the boys with Spider leading the way. Despite being silly at times, the series may still be able to tackle some important topics along the way. Some viewers are going to hate Heartbreak High for what it is and what it represents, but the characters are unique in their own ways. They’re not shallow and each has their own unique issues to deal with.

There is something for everyone with so many stories being juggled and they tackle an array of subjects. Overall, the opening episode was a good starting point that will easily satisfy fans of the series. After all, not much has changed in terms of the characters, the writing, or the presentation. This episode scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of Heartbreak High are available on Reel Mockery here.

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