Who turned on the carnival ride in Heartbreak High season 3?

Warning: major spoilers ahead for Heartbreak High season 3.

Every season of Netflix’s Heartbreak High is packed with crushes, parties, breakups (it’s in the name), drama, and a fair amount of Australian slang we’re still trying to decode. But alongside all that chaos, each season also centres around a core mystery that unfolds across the episodes before finally being revealed.

In season one, Amerie (Ayesha Madon) — and viewers — were desperate to understand why Harper (Asher Yasbincek) was so furious with her, and what really happened at that music festival. At the same time, the group were navigating a new sex education programme, the Sexual Literacy Tutorial (SLT, promptly nicknamed “SLUTS” by students). The truth eventually comes out: Harper had been kidnapped by Chook’s crew and narrowly escaped, but when she went to Amerie for help, she wasn’t let in, as Amerie was hooking up with Spider (Bryn Chapman-Parish).

Season two dialled up the tension even further. Amerie finds herself targeted by an anonymous tormentor dubbed “Bird Psycho,” after a dead ibis is left on her school bag. With Quinni (Chloe Hayden) leading the investigation, the group eventually uncovers the culprit: newcomer Rowan (Sam Rechner), who is seeking revenge for a childhood incident.

Now, in season three of the hit Aussie series, the stakes are higher than ever, and the mystery even more dangerous. This time, it all centres on the carnival incident. So… who turned on the ride in Heartbreak High?

What happened with the carnival ride?

In episode one of the new season, the ever-unruly crew set out to get revenge on St. Brunos, their rival school, after their mascot’s head is stolen. It’s eventually returned by Amerie’s boyfriend, Noah, but in a truly grim twist, it’s been defaced and filled with… excrement. Yikes.

In retaliation, Amerie steals a bust of the rival school’s founder, and the group decides to display it somewhere guaranteed to horrify the posh students: the carnival. With Harper working there, they’re able to sneak in unnoticed.

LISA TOMASETTI/NETFLIX

As they begin attaching the bust to one of the rides, things take a sudden turn when the ride unexpectedly switches on. The group narrowly escape serious injury, although Malakai dislocates his shoulder in the chaos. One of the carnival owners, Clancy, isn’t so lucky and is badly hurt.

Later, they learn that Clancy has fallen into a coma as a result of the incident. And just like that, the season’s central mystery is set in motion: who turned on the ride?