Stop me if this sounds familiar:
A teen drama with a protagonist who meets a sweet, popular character who is a love interest; another love interest; a jock who is an asshole; a quirky friend; a insecure person who wants to be popular; and other background characters. Over the course of several episodes, the protagonist struggles with who they really like while also trying to fit in and live their life.
If you're saying that this sounds like a perfectly ordinary teen drama, you would be correct. And Love, Victor has all of these. What sets the show apart is that the main romantic pairing is a same-sex pair. The ordinariness of the plot of Love, Victor is the very thing that makes it extraordinary. Much like Love, Simon, the 2018 coming of age/teen rom-com film whose world Love, Victor is set in, the show sets out to be run of the mill with a same-sex couple as the primary pairing. It has all the tropes and standard elements of the many, many teen dramas that proceeded it with that little twist. And that is, as I said, what makes it so extraordinary.
I remember growing up and having characters coming out of the closet be a Sweeps moment. It was a Big Deal. So having a show where the character is known to be queer and the show is about them coming to terms with that shows the progress that has been made. Don't get me wrong, we aren't at the Promised Land yet, but we have come a good distance.
The other thing that makes Love, Victor so great is that Victor is a Latino. Most queer characters who are leading characters in shows or movies made by major studios (as opposed to supporting or part of an ensemble) have been white males. There are exceptions to this (of course), but they have been just that, the exception to the rule.
I have to admit to a large amount of trepidation when I first heard about the show. Early on, it sounded like they were going to turn the movie into a tv series, which would have been a major mistake. When they announced that the show would have new characters, but set at the same high school, it eased a lot of my fears. I loved that the show had Victor DMing Simon to get advice and to tell Simon what was going on in his life. That gave the show a wonderful connection to the movie and allowed us to continue to be connected to Simon and Bram even though they weren't at the high school anymore. In a similar vein, I loved seeing Ms. Albright as the vice principal in the first episode. Again, it connected the show to the movie and gave us a very good reason for Victor to hear about and start communicating with Simon.
That being said, there were a couple of things I wish the show had done differently. First, I was not particularly happy that the only options presented in terms of sexual orientation were gay/lesbian or straight. There was no discussion that Victor might be bi or pan, which are very real orientations and are severely underrepresented on tv and in movies. The other issue is a familiar one. Michael Cimino, who plays Victor, is straight. While he did an awesome job and obviously cares very deeply about how he presented Victor's struggles, it is always better to have a queer actor play a queer character because they can bring authenticity to the role and the struggle of coming to terms with who you are.
With that, I can't say there was anything else I was unhappy about. The show had an episode that focused on the queer community and the way that the community really can be a family of people who want to cheer each other on and support each other as we work on coming out and figuring out who we are. I also loved that Simon and Bram had roommates of various orientations, gender identities, pronouns, and gender presentations. Again, representation matters. When we can see people who are like us, or when the straight world can see the variety of people who are a part of the queer community, it helps everyone. This is not to say that we don't have a way to go, but you have to start somewhere.
I think my favorite episode was the eighth episode where Victor went to New York to meet Simon. That was the episode I talked about in the last paragraph. It had great speeches from Bram who showed Victor that there are all sorts of people in the queer community, Justin (played by Tommy Dorfman) who explained how (for many, if not most, queer people) the person they showed to the world before they came out is a costume and how who they are after they come out is their authentic self, and then from Simon who explained to Victor why his roommates knew about what Victor told him. The fact that Victor was able to admit why he was afraid to come out, which was followed by a group hug, was also wonderful, as was his admission at the end that that night was the best of his life.
Another awesome scene was when Victor came out to Felix and Felix admitted that he didn't know the perfect thing to say, but that nothing had to change between them. That sort of unquestioning acceptance and affirmation is better than any long, flowery speech. It was a short, simple declaration followed by a hug that let Victor know that he had at least one person in his life who would not turn their back on him. It doesn't get much better than that.
I do have to admit to not being fond of the way Victor hurt Mia. I will grant that he was not intending to be hurtful, but he hurt her deeply nonetheless. I get why he didn't tell her when he was intending to, due to the fact that her father announced that not only was his girlfriend pregnant, but they were also getting married. Throwing in the fact that he was gay would have made an already messy situation even messier, so I get the hesitation there. Unfortunately, she discovered that he was gay on her own when she saw him kissing Benji. That is never a good situation.
I really hope the show comes back for a second season because the way they ended the first is totally begging for another season. Victor's parents announced that they are seperating, at least temporarily, and the episode ended with Victor announcing the fact that he is gay. If we don't get to see how everyone deals with that, I will be really upset.
Overall, the show was well acted, Victor's struggles were eminently relatable, and the characters were developed in a way that allowed them to break free of some of the constricting boxes that characters are often thrust into. If you like teen dramas, Love, Victor is well worth watching and enjoying.
No comments:
Post a Comment