Heartbreak High’s Bryn Chapman Parish On Whether Men Can Actually Change

When Heartbreak High first introduced Spider, few people predicted he'd end up being one of the show's most radical characters. Three seasons later, he's one of the most emotionally present people in the room. His transformation is the type TV rarely commits to, and when we caught up with Bryn Chapman Parish ahead of the show’s final season, we had to ask: does he actually think men can change?

"I think to change anyone, the only thing that can really change them is themselves," Parish said. "Whether it's a man, woman or whoever, it has to come from you."

It's not the most radical take on paper, but Parish pushed further. Real change, he argued, usually requires one of three things: an experience deep enough to shake something loose, an ultimatum that makes the cost of staying the same undeniable, or a genuine wake-up call. "It requires a level of self-awareness to realise that something you're doing isn't working," he said, before adding with a laugh: "There are a lot of men in my life I would love to change."

What makes Spider's arc feel different from the standard TV redemption story is that the show never asks you to forget who he was. The change isn't a reset, and Parish thinks the key ingredient is something men are particularly bad at: honesty. "There's so much repression in relationships, especially with men and their emotions," he said.

It sounds simple, but it rarely is. The internet has spent years being loudly convinced that men — particularly men who've done damage — are fundamentally unchangeable. Parish doesn't entirely disagree with the cynicism, but he thinks the show offers something more useful than either blind optimism or resigned defeat: a model for what the process actually looks like.

Whether that's a blueprint or just a well-written character arc probably depends on the men in your life. But as Heartbreak High closes its final chapter, it leaves behind at least one answer to a question the internet keeps asking: yes, it's possible, it just has to come from them.