I just finished Heartbreak High, and while I loved it, I have so many issues that I don't see enough people talking about.
Like, first off, Harper and Dusty raped Malaki. Plain and simple. Malaki was completely out of it, was in complete shock from the police brutality - he didn't even speak to them after they arrived to comfort him. He was not in the place to consent to one person, let alone two.
Then the way the show handled this with Malaki clearly having been uncomfortable the day after, but just forgiving Harper while acting like Dusty was the sole bad guy?
And then, Dusty being framed like a terrible person because he didn't like seeing another guy fuck his girlfriend? Like, I get he was in the threesome too, he sexually assaulted him too, but he wasn't in the wrong for being uncomfortable with the situation after the come down. He wasn't wrong for disliking seeing another guy fuck his girlfriend. But the show frames it like he's some unreasonable controlling guy. Both and and Harper fucking suck for that scene, but only Dusty was treated like he was in the wrong, Harper played the victim card and acted like SHE got hurt. The only victim in that entire threesome was Malaki.
Like the way Harper just got a free pass for her part in that infuriates me.
Then let's talk about Darren and their fucking awful tirade at Cash about not wanting sex. Infuriating.
The double standards that people hold towards straight couples and gay ones will never cease to piss me off, and this relationship is no exception.
I shipped Cash and Darren pretty much from the get go. They were incredibly cute, and Cash genuinely looked at Darren like they were the only person in the world.
But the second Darren went on that awful rant about how fucked up and awful Cash is because he doesn't want to sleep with him? Yeah that was the moment I hated their relationship.
The way gay characters are just allowed to get away with being assholes around sex because they're uwu gay is fucking annoying (see: Eric in S3 of Sex Education and how people still want him and Adam together after Eric literally attempted to coerce and force him into sex when Adam wasn't ready).
Like, picture the exact same situation with Malaki and Amerie for instance. If that scene in Malaki's bedroom hadn't ended with them having sex but instead Amerie choosing not to go through with it and then Malaki going in on her for being "fucked up". People wouldn't want them together. People would hate Malaki. So why does Darren get a pass just because they're in a relationship with a man?
As an asexual person, Cash's representation was absolutely everything to me. It was the first time ever seeing myself on screen. The fact they didn't have him give in and sleep with Darren, the fact they kept the story going that he didn't want to, and he wasn't a bad person for doing so. Beautiful. The scene in the admin building where he's talking about it, gorgeous, I was sobbing.
But fuck Darren. Fuck Darren for insulting and making someone who clearly is already struggling and confused about things (I know when I was a teenager and seeing all these sex obsessed peers and feeling alienated and confused because I didn't relate and couldn't understand why).
If someone treated me and my asexuality the way Darren treated Cash, I'd never want them near me again.
And finally, this is less about the show and more about people blaming Cash for what happened to Harper.
Cash was very clearly a victim of this gang. He very clearly didn't want to be there, and while not stated explicitly, it's implied his mother probably either had something to do with the gang - or was the reason Cash was involved in the first place.
I see people acting like Cash should have stopped the three guys - but how? Cash was tiny! He was skinny and very clearly not muscled, the three other guys were significantly bigger than him.
Cash says himself, if he had tried to stop them, he would have had the shit kicked out of him and left for dead. And then what? Harper wouldn't have gotten out of that car. She wouldn't have gotten away. He couldn't stop them taking her, but he saved her life still.
Cash was very clearly shown to be scared of the gang, he very clearly didn't enjoy it. He wanted a normal life. I doubt he chose to be there.
I feel the people saying he should have stopped them or that he chose to hang out with them don't understand how gangs work. It's not as easy as just leaving. You don't just walk away from a gang. 9/10 times leaving a gang means getting killed, families getting targeted, friends getting targeted. You don't think Cash would have been terrified they'd go after Darren? His gran.
I'll say it again, Cash was a victim. Not in the same sense as Harper, but a victim nonetheless.
There's a reason Harper wanted him out of jail at the end.
