Why queer women can identify with Imogen’s story

It’s a canonical event for Sapphics: a queer girl falls in love with her best friend, only to be broken by longing, rejection, and the disorienting closeness of female friendship. “An inch away from more than just friends.” Chappell Roan’s lyrics in “Naked in Manhattan” sum it up with surprising accuracy.

(Note: spoilers re Heart catcher season three).

Reading between the lines v Heart catcherThe second season of the series – this is how bisexual Sahar Zahid (Leila Khan) felt when her best friend Imogen Heaney (Rhea Norwood) stopped texting her as soon as she found her first boyfriend – the once close couple broke up because of it.

However, after one particular scene from the second season finale of the hit Netflix series based on Alice Osman’s graphic novels, fans were convinced that hyperfeminine, self-proclaimed LGBTQ+ ally Imogen was in fact not fully heterosexual and was perhaps undergoing a sapphic awakening after a life of heterosexuality.

They went berserk when Imogen cast a loving, longing glance at Sahar at the school prom, pointing out that the non-heterosexual moment was colored by lesbian flag-colored lighting and could be a clue to a potential season three plot focus on Imogen’s sexuality.

“I believed Imogen was a lesbian (from) the first season,” one fan wrote on social media at the time. “Then there is the Sahar. We learn that they used to be friends, but then Imogen got a boyfriend and suddenly stopped writing to her. If you ask me, gay history is as old as time.

Others have pointed out that the way Imogen handles her relationships with the boys she is attracted to may signal a repressed queerness, as she never said she was explicitly attracted to them, instead giving reasons such as that spend time together before school or that they have known each other since childhood as the basis of a relationship. Once, when Elle (Yasmin Finney) asked Imogen why she even liked closeted tyrant Ben (Sebastian Croft), she remained silent before changing the subject.

Heart catcher fans who were eagerly waiting to see if Imogen would get a queer storyline no longer had to twiddle their thumbs when the third season dropped on Thursday (October 3).

Imogen’s journey, while we wish it had been explored more deeply, is one we can all identify with.

For much of the first half of season three, Imogen and Sahar seem peripheral to the main group, especially as Charlie struggles with mental health issues and Nick does everything he can to support his boyfriend.

But in episode three, the two girls are huddled close together feeding a goat during a trip to the zoo to celebrate Nick’s birthday, prompting Darcy to turn to Tara and cheekily say that their behavior “seems a little gay to me.”

Perhaps it was a little nod to the viewers’ detective work at the end of the second season and made us believe that Imogen’s Great Gay Awakening was in the works. Heart catcher it certainly doesn’t attract audiences in a queer way.

We didn’t have to wait long for it. In the next episode, Imogen and Sahar are caught kissing while drunk at a Halloween party, only for the former to laugh it off as alcohol-induced slurring.

– Is this a joke to you? Sahar snarls, clearly hurt and no doubt feeling invalidated in her own identity, and runs away. It’s a scene that makes twice as much sense a few episodes later when she admits that her attraction to Imogen helped her realize she was bisexual.

“Everyone kisses everyone when they’re drunk,” Imogen slurs emotionally to Nick later that evening, vomiting with her head over the toilet bowl. “I can experiment. It’s like when I had a boyfriend and she would get mad at me for no reason.

Side note: Imogen dresses up as Barbie for the party, which is an interesting choice considering the strong belief in Sapphic circles that Margot Robbie’s character in last year’s hit was a lesbian, and the fact that Norwood said “What Was I Made For” to Billie Eilish ? ”, from the soundtrack, guided her character’s journey in season three.

“Girl, just talk about how you feel!” – you want to scream at the screen, knowing full well that Imogen is hiding the real reason why she kissed Sahar.

Our need to shake Imogen and get her sapphic sense only intensifies in the Christmas episode when Sahar texts Imogen saying she looks “cute” in her Christmas outfit. If there was an award for best portrayal of gay panic on screen, it would go to Norwood for her nervous but excited expression as Imogen ponders what to write.

We’ve all been there, had that moment where a very pretty girl we’re friends with complimented us and we just had no idea how to react. Do we want to be best friends with her in the whole world… or something more?

(Suppress, suppress, suppress).

Much of what viewers have previously noticed about Imogen’s character in her relationships with boys comes to light at the end of the season, when she and Nick share a hotel room while the others study at universities.

Sitting across from each other on separate beds, Imogen asks Nick if he could share with her because “the girls and boys share a room…” she trails off.

While it may be a throwaway piece of dialogue, it actually echoes the words of lesbian journalist Kayca Ainsworth, who spoke to PinkNews about Imogen after the season two premiere.

“When I was growing up, we always talked about (if) men and women could even just be friends, and things like that always made me feel like your goal with men was always to go on dates with them.” Ainsworth said. “When you do that, you just get trapped and you never really ask yourself if you’re happy doing it. Just go along with it.”

Nick says this: boys and girls Power just be friends, which prompts Imogen to reveal that she never liked him.

“I think I felt pressured to have a boyfriend,” she says nervously. “You know, because I was a cool girl and that’s what cool girls do. And I think… I liked it when boys paid attention to me. It made me feel important and make me feel like I was doing the right thing in life.

“I don’t think I liked Ben or my 10th grade boyfriend. Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever liked any boy, she says in a whisper, “when I really think about it.”

Imogen’s experiences are a direct reflection of the concept of comphet coined by lesbian feminist Adrienne Rich in the 1980s, whereby a woman is automatically assumed to be heterosexual and therefore heterosexuality is imposed on her by a patriarchal, heteronormative society.

Being straight is no more “natural” than being gay, bisexual, or anything else, but it is forced upon women, resulting in queer women – perhaps unknowingly – remaining straight to the detriment of their own happiness.

This may include feeling compelled to date men, pretending to have crushes on male celebrities, pushing away any queer-related feelings, positioning yourself as a “direct ally,” and dressing and behaving a certain way – or NO in a certain way.

Growing up as a closeted lesbian, Imogen’s journey through forced heterosexuality and lesbian existence mirrors many of my own experiences and probably those of many other queer women.

I tried to like boys, I Really tried. I had a boyfriend, I talked to my friends about boys, I kissed guys in clubs, I lied about liking Niall Horan and Logan Lerman. The first time I kissed a girl, I hid it like a dirty secret.

But of course, all this lying and suppression didn’t change a single thing about me.

And it doesn’t seem to change anything for Imogen.

Heart catcher season three is now available on Netflix.

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