Heartbreak High character Malakai is a fan favourite – and his storyline is pure bisexual chaos
Malakai is a bisexual character who realises his sexuality after joining Hartley High in season one, and his storyline is a wild ride (Netflix)
Yes, Malakai Mitchell has a relationship with a boy in Heartbreak High, but he’s not gay: he’s bisexual.
The Netflix reboot of Australian 90s soap opera Heartbreak High is filled with queer characters, as they navigate teen romance, high school drama and sexual tensions.
Created by Hannah Carroll Chapman, the new show follows a group of teens at Hartley High, an inner-city school in Sydney, dealing with sex, schoolwork, race and romance – not dissimilar to Sex Education.
The drama series premiered in September 2022, and fans were keen for Netflix to give the green light to a second season as soon as possible so there was less risk of a queer-inclusive show being cancelled almost as soon as it had begun.
The second series dropped recently and among a cohort of LGBTQ+ characters, it’s Malakai Mitchell who has firmly captured the attention of fans. Played by Thomas Weatherall, Malakai is bisexual and described by the showrunners as “athletic and full of bravado”. Whereas fans seem to mainly be describing him as “so hot”.
Warning: spoilers for Heartbreak High season two ahead!
Malakai joined Hartley High as a new student at the start of season one, and is shown to have a sociable personality as well as a short temper. He initially gets together with main character Amerie, then starts to question his sexuality after having a threesome with characters Harper and Dusty.
In season two, Amerie hooks up with Malakai on the first day of term, but it turns out he doesn’t want to get back together. Instead Malakai and “mysterious and meek country boy” Rowan explore their attraction. But then Amerie hooks up with Rowan once he and Malakai break up. It’s a wild ride.
As an aside, there’s also a deeply popular Heartbreak High scene where Amerie imagines that Spencer “Spider” White and Malakai kissed – and we can see the appeal. Feel free to watch it on repeat:
Essentially, in season two Malakai ends up in a bisexual love triangle of his own making, which complicates his school life immensely… and makes for incredibly engaging viewing.
Did we mention that Amerie gets pregnant with Malakai’s baby? No? Well, that happens too. It’s a rollercoaster.
By the end of the season, Malakai decides he would be better off leaving Hartley High, and decides to move to Switzerland. There’s a fire at the high school (caused by a group of boys igniting a giant penis they drew in fuel, because why not?) and a note Amerie wrote confessing her feelings for Malakai burns up in his locker without anyone reading it. The drama!
Assuming Heartbreak High is renewed again, which won’t happen for a while given that season two has only just begun, it’s unclear whether chaotic bisexual archetype Malakai will be returning to pick up the pieces: however, we certainly hope so.
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