It’s not as if she was twiddling her thumbs in Season 1, though; she absolutely had a position in the show with her stronger elements being carried intoSeason 2. In the first season, though, Missy’s foremost role was being the friend of Sasha (Gemma Chua-Tran), as the two were paired up for a good portion of it. They both took Harper’s (Asher Yasbineck) side in the friendship implosion between her and the protagonist, Amerie (Ayesha Madon), leaving the latter feeling betrayed after the discovery of Hartley High’s “incest map.” In Season 2, though, Missy gets quite the glow-up, as the series expands upon its most underrated character through her friendships and romantic relationships.
Heartbreak High
‘Heartbreak High’ Keeps Missy’s Best Relationship While Creating New Ones
The strongest relationship Missy had in Season 1 wasn’t the one with Sasha, but with a new boy (and Amerie’s love interest), Malakai Mitchell (Thomas Weatherall). The two establish solidarity as the only First Nations members of the Sexual Literacy Tutorial class, (also known as SLTs). This solidarity is strengthened when Malakai has a terrifying experience of police brutality after a night out, with Missy being the only one to show genuine and selfless concern for hismental healthas her older brother, Jai (Kobie Lee), takes him under his wing.
This protective and affirming friendship is continued in Season 2 asthe new term rolls around. The two have practically become best friends, making a pact that nothing will get in the way of their happiness. The two confide in each other and stick together as friends, especially when their love lives grow mutually turbulent.
Season 2 also gives Missy a new adversary in her cousin and leader of the school’s celibacy club, Zoey Clarke (Kartanya Maynard). Hilariously obnoxious and self-righteous, she has an attitudeandstolen scone recipe that makes it hard for Missy to extend the solidarity she has for Malakai to her. Hopefully, we’ll get to know Zoey beyond her status as a joke character in Season 3 (if we get it). Missy and Sasha’s relationship is somewhat sidelined as the latter runs for school captain, so Missy is given time to shine with a surprising subplot: her romance with Spencer “Spider” White (Bryn Chapman Parish).
How Did Missy’s Relationship With Spider Start?
Spider is established in the show asa student we’ve all knownin our high school years: the cocky, disagreeable “class clown” who’s really just a massive jerk. “Shut up, Spider” is a commonly used phrase in the show for good reason, and beyond his two friends, Ant (Brodie Townsend) and Dusty (Josh Heuston), people find him (even if relatively harmless) genuinely intolerable. He’s the most resistant to SLTs, and after—or perhaps because of—Dusty’s departure from school between seasons, Spider has found his way down a pretty toxic pipeline. Exacerbated by the insidious “anti-woke” PE teacher, Timothy Voss (Angus Sampson), he’s spouting obnoxious alpha-male incel rhetoric. That is, until Missy catches his eye.
If You Like ‘Sex Education,’ Watch Netflix’s ‘Heartbreak High’
From Mooredale High to Hartley High, things aren’t so different.
Missy and Spider naturallybegin their relationship as enemies, not only because Spider is an even larger jerk than before, but because Sasha is diametrically opposed to him when he also runs for school captain. During his campaign, he leads the Cumlords (yes, seriously), an all-male group Voss created that mimics alpha-male cults of personality seen all over the internet. The romance starts with a game of Aussie rules between the Cumlords and SLTs, when Spider finds himself completely dumbstruck when Missy is sprinting at full pelt toward him before kicking the winning goal. More than her beauty, Spider is immediately attracted to her strength and athleticism. At this point, they’re still in direct competition, with snide comments going back and forth during a fundraiser, but that doesn’t stop Missy from having a fantasy or two about Spider.
Missy and Spider May Be the Best Relationship of ‘Heartbreak High’s Season 2
As much as the two attempt to resist it, therearemutual feelings which are taken further in a turbulent school camp. Missy and Spider share a surprisingly tender moment before admitting their feelings in private. While Spider genuinely seems to be in love with her, Missy finds that there’s more to him than meets the eye, including a mother that seems to set him up to fail. However, spurred on by Sasha rebuffing her, shequestions the relationship, backing out when she believes that his change is only for her rather than for himself. As a result, he spirals with the belief that no one will see him for the man he could be.
In the show’s Season 2 finale, though, Spider shows that hehaschanged and wants to continue to be better. He rejects Voss and the Cumlords, and in return, he earns Missy’s genuine affection. She doesn’t change him with the power of love, but with the power of not putting up with his nonsense. Missy’s relationship with Spider shows off all her best qualities: her strength, her humor, and her nobility. She saw something in Spider that few others have, inspiring his best qualities rather than his worst. Unlike adults such as Voss who should absolutely know better,Heartbreak Highaccentuates the ideathat adolescence is a time for necessary change. Change is the reason why enemies to lovers is such an adored romantic trope, and Missy gives us the best example of it.
Heartbreak Highis available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.
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