Summary
While a school protest has a heartwarming sentiment behind it, this penultimate episode turns very dark, very quickly.
This recap of Heartbreak High (2022) season 1, episode 7, “The Sheriff”, contains spoilers.
READ: Our spoiler-free season review.
As we reach the penultimate episode, the stakes have suddenly become much higher, since following the shocking accusation at the end of the previous episode, the entire school and the police think that Jojo has been having a sexual relationship with Amerie. Quinni has gone completely nonverbal after her argument with Sasha, everyone thinks Harper is guilty of starting the rumor, and Malakai has disappeared somewhere with Missy’s brother Jai. As of “The Sheriff”, things at Hartley High are as messed up as they’ve ever been.
Heartbreak High (2022) season 1, episode 7 recap
When Amerie confronts Harper, she confesses. She obviously didn’t do it, but as she says, Amerie isn’t going to believe that. As a consequence, she’s expelled. Jojo is investigated and obviously, nothing dodgy turns up, but she’s offended that the principal didn’t have her back, while the principal is adamant that the whole debacle is proof that she has become too close to the class and allowed too much openness.
Well, no longer. Jojo has been pulled from the sexual literacy tutorial and Woodsy is taking her place. She’s the sheriff of the title, the new one in town. And her first move is to show the class a giant picture of how a yeast infection equally attacks the female and male genitalia — “A disease that understands equity and inclusion better than some of you.” Ha!
In the meantime Jojo hands in her resignation. She’s not even sure how she feels about teaching anymore since the kids clearly have no concept of their actions having consequences. Well… until now. The kids aren’t having Jojo’s resignation, and they certainly aren’t having Woodsy as a replacement, so the SLTs organize a protest, commandeering the admin block and refusing to leave until their demands are met. They want Jojo back.
But that means sitting in all night, with each other, which is easier said than done. But it’s a good opportunity to address some lingering issues. Sasha tries to apologize to Quinni, but she’s still not ready to speak. And Darren shares a private moment with Ca$h in which the latter reveals that he just doesn’t enjoy sex — he’s capable of it, but he doesn’t find it pleasurable and has no desire to take things any further than kissing and cuddling. But he wants to remain friends with Darren rather than keep him waiting around for something that may never happen — Darren tearfully accepts that.
As everyone drifts in and out of sleep, Spider goes to speak to Amerie, and the resultant flashback makes some things clear. On the night that Amerie lost Harper, Spider offered to help her. They ended up going home together, leaving Harper behind. Spider couldn’t get it up for Amerie, which is probably where his resentment lies, and when Harper turned up at Amerie’s house, she pretended not to be there since she didn’t want anyone to know she had gone home with Spider. Something happened to Harper while Amerie wasn’t there for her.
Anyway, the next morning, the kids are barely hanging on, and Ant, in particular, needs the bathroom. So, he and Amerie try to sneak to the caretaker’s office, where they end up locked in. But a picture of Jesus on the wall and the issues with his digestive system make Ant pretty regretful, so he reveals that it was him, Spider, and Dusty who made the accusation against Jojo — with the plan being Dusty’s idea. Amerie goes to confront him about it, but just as she does, Jojo arrives. Quinni even starts speaking again just to announce that she’s there.
The protest is broken up and everyone leaves, but their point has been made. And in the meantime, Harper is at home with her dad. Who… it turns out might be nuts?
Okay, so, from what I can gather Harper’s father is a drug addict. And when he takes drugs he seems to have manic, violent episodes. This is mostly inferred by Harper’s behavior — how she monitors his phone, tries to keep him in the house, and how she arms herself and locks herself away when she realizes he has left. Eventually, he comes back. And when he does, he doesn’t seem like the same person who left. He bursts into Harper’s room, and we don’t see what happens. But, after talking to Dusty, Amerie realizes that Harper was trying to protect her from him with the whole chlamydia thing. So, she rushes to Harper’s home and finds an ambulance outside. Harper emerges, shaken and covered in blood, and says, simply, “It happened again.”
You can stream Heartbreak High (2022) season 1, episode 7, “The Sheriff”, exclusively on Netflix.
