Love, Victor, created by Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger, is a spinoff series based on the popular 2018 film Love, Simon about a teenage boy who falls for a fellow classmate and comes out as gay. Being that I was personally not a fan of Love, Simon, I was hesitant to watch this series at first, but eventually decided to give it a try and was pleasantly surprised.
My issue with Love, Simon was how one dimensional the character of Simon (Nick Robinson) felt to me, he seemed like another Hollywood oversimpimplified gay character with a cliche coming out story. The movie told us virtually nothing about Simon himself or what his life was like outside of keeping his sexuality a secret.
Thankfully what Love, Simon lacked, Love, Victor gained. I think that the medium of a television series seemed to work better because the creators were able to lay the groundwork for Victor’s story and allow us to get to know him better — as opposed to cramming it all into under 90 minutes. Another unique element of the show was getting to experience the stories of Victor’s friends and family aside from his own.
Victor (Michael Cimino) starts out the series by dating the most popular girl in school named Mia (Rachel Hilson) and wonders if he might be into both sexes. Things then change as the bond between Victor and Mia seems to take the backseat to Victor’s attraction to his co-worker Benji (George Spear), who is already out.
Aside from his romantic life, Victor makes a really great friend in Felix (Anthony Turpel), who happens to be straight and crushing hard on Mia’s best friend Lake (Bebe Wood). Felix ends up being the first friend Victor comes out to and their friendship continues to be nearly the same afterwards.
We also have a number of side stories circling Victor as well; the most prominent seems to be his parent’s rocky relationship and his mother Isabel’s (Ana Ortiz) affair with her piano student. Plus, we have Victor’s sister Pilar (Isabella Ferreira), who seems to be taking the move and her parents’ disagreements the hardest.
Through all of this chaos and confusion, Victor sends emails back and forth with Simon (who is now in college at NYU) asking for advice. While Simon does offer Victor some guidance, he also acknowledges that everybody has a different story and therefore Victor’s and his aren’t entirely the same — which is important to remember.
Love, Victor is not just a show for out and proud young people but a show for literally EVERYONE. I promise you will fall in love with these characters and find a deeper understanding of the challenges each and every person faces and the differences we all have. Give Love, Victor a chance and you might be surprised. I certainly was and can’t wait for season 2.
Love,Victor season 1 is available to stream on Hulu and season 2 is set to premiere in 2021.
By Blair Krassen @blairlyawake