Some Thoughts About the Trailer for Love Victor Season 3

So it's finally here! The trailer for the third season of Love Victor has come out and I have some thoughts about it (I know, a total shock!).

A large part of the trailer focused on who Victor is going to choose. I've made my thoughts on that clear (see past blog entries for more), but lets deal with what we can see. Based on the trailer, I suspect that Victor goes to Benji's house because there are several shots of them talking in formal wear about what is going on between Victor and Rahim. Victor clearly wants to be with Benji, but he also clearly has feelings for Rahim and he tells Benji as much. At some point, Benji says that in order for them to have a chance, he needs to work on his own issues. I was so happy to see this because I have been saying that Benji has crap he needs to work on and that he and Victor need to work on stuff before getting back together. It also appears that Victor and Rahim remain friends and that Benji avoids them, at least for a while. He also makes it clear that he is not fond of Rahim, for understandable reasons. This tension is probably going to last the entire season. My bet is that Victor is going to pull a Simon, that is, he is going to invite the person he really wants to be with to ride with him on the ferris wheel in the last episode.

And then there is Nick, the new character played by Nico Greetham. Based on what we are seeing, it appears we have another contender for Victor's affection. Nick is someone Victor meets at church, so it appears that we will be exploring a more accepting version of religion this season, which will be nice. I have to say that I really hope this is one sided because I am not sure how many complications they can sort out in 8 episodes. Unless, of course, they're going for polyamory or Victor dating all three of them at once. That could be cool.

Lucy and Lake are officially going to be dating! I am curious what this means for the two of them. I assume they're both either bi or pan given that they've both been interested in and dated guys, but I could be wrong. Seeing them have 2 girls in a relationship is going to be really cool and interesting. And Felix's response to Lake's announcement was just funny. He was clearly flummoxed and was trying to be supportive, so naturally, he starts babbling.

Felix and Pilar keeping their relationship a secret from her parents? Not entirely sure why. His parents like Felix, so it can't be that. I gonna guess that it has something to do with Felix sort of being a part of the family, but I could be wrong. And it appears that the secret keeping is her idea, not his, so this could definitely be a source of tension for the two of them.

Mia and Andrew are going strong and they both seem to want their relationship to last forever. Not sure how likely that is, but you never know. And we see them seeing her mom, so this could be a very interesting ride. Given the fact that we see Mia holding a baby (presumably her half-sibling) and we see them in school, they come back after visiting her mom.

We don't get a lot about anyone else other than glimpses, so not a whole lot more to say.

So here are a couple of guesses about what will happen:

In episode 1, Victor and Benji talk and Benji leaves. I am betting that either in the episode or at the end, there will be a time jump to have Benji gone for a while and then coming back.

As I said above, in the last episode, Victor is going to try a last gambit to be with the guy he wants and will invite them onto the ferris wheel.

Given the descriptions released earlier, it seems that this season goes into their senior year (hence part of the reason for the guess about the time jump). Victor receives an award of some sort (the speech scene) and the descriptions talk about the gang making decisions about their future, so this really makes sense. It seems that season 2 was probably the first half of junior year (based on the first season being the 2nd half of their sophomore year), so if they want to do senior year, there is going to be at least one major time jump. A time jump in the beginning makes the most sense. It's also possible that there could be a time jump near the end of the last episode. For example, Victor goes on the ferris wheel with the guy he wants and then they have a time jump to their graduation or even further ahead.

Anyone else have any thoughts?

An Open Letter to Netflix About Heartstopper

Dear Netflix,

I'm not sure where you are in your process about whether or not to renew Heartstopper, and I'm not sure if one letter will make a difference, but here it goes.

I am a queer, transfeminine, non-binary individual who is 44 years old. Given my age, I am well outside of the target demographic for Heartstopper. But this show is a show that is tremendously important (for three examples, see here, here, and here; and there are a lot more out there) to a lot of people of wildly varying ages. There are teens who have used it to come out to their parents, who can see themselves finally portrayed in a joyous way on television, or can see the challenges that a lot of queer youth face.

For adults like myself, this show produces feelings of melancholy and intense joy. The melancholy comes because we never had this growing up. Growing up, I only ever heard jokes about queer people, I never heard anything good about being queer. If there was a queer person on TV, they were either the completely unsexualized sidekick or some sort of devious villain who backstabbed people or acted in other nefarious ways. Even queer movies were, for the most part, centered around sadness, trauma, and pain. Sure, you might have a movie which ends happily, but the path to getting there was one of pain because of the amount of crap the people had to get through to be with the person they loved. But seeing two teenagers who are falling in love and seeing it portrayed like it is on Heartstopper where their sexualities are important but not the focus of the show? That was something that I never would have even dreamt of. Seeing it now does bring on the intense feeling of joy because the new generation will be able to see this lovely relationship as it is growing and developing, just like cisgender, heterosexual people have seen their relationships grow and develop onscreen for decades.

Another reason this show is so important for me as an adult is that it allows me to have some experiences that I never had growing up. I always knew that I had feelings for guys growing up, but because of society and religion, I forced those feelings down and tried to erase them from myself. I never got to experience that young feeling of falling for a guy and just being with them. Did I have crushes on people? Absolutely, but I never allowed myself to even examine them because I was scared about how my family or friends or society might react. I had a teacher in middle school who people assumed was gay. He got sick and it was bandied about that he had AIDS (this was in 1990) and he was laughed at and about. That sort of thing is a big part of the reason that I never acknowledged to myself that I was queer until after I graduated college (I came out around 2002 at the age of 24). Seeing Charlie and Nick's relationship develop (and seeing how Tara and Darcy develop theirs) allows me to experience these joys that I was denied when I was younger.

A third reason the show is important is less personal and more about the queer community. Studies have shown that the more authentic queer stories are told and as acceptance of queer people (particularly in our personal lives) grows, it helps to cut suicide rates of young queer people because they feel seen and loved. A show like Heartstopper helps teens know that they are not alone and it has helped form online communities which can be tremendously important for them. It gives them places where they can connect with other queer people, share any difficulties that they may have, and also allows them to build a community of shared interests. Also, because the show is so popular with older queer people, it allows for intergenerational communities to be formed where queer people of all ages can talk about the show and can also support each other.

I know Heartstopper is not the most popular show you have, but I truly believe it is one of the most important. Its meaning to the queer community is not something that can be measured financially. Its meaning is one of queer joy and love. It allows us to see ourselves portrayed in a way that cisgender, heterosexual people have for a long, long time. I don't know any of the financial stuff around the show, but I do know that this show needs to continue on. It is too important to just let it die.

Sincerely,

Mychel Vandover

TV Schedule for 2022-2023

 It looks like this season will be the lightest season I have ever had. CW cancelled Legends of Tomorrow, 4400, and Batwoman; NBC cancelled The Endgame; Supergirl and This Is US ended; and I stopped watching Superman & Lois and Stargirl this season. Right now, there are only 2 shows that I am intending to watch: La Brea on NBC and The Good Doctor on ABC. I am considering 2 shows on the CW, but I am not entirely sure if I want to start new shows since so many shows get cancelled. So at the present time, here is my schedule:

Sunday: Zip, Zero, and Nada

Monday: 10 pm- The Good Doctor on ABC

Tuesday: 9 pm- La Brea on NBC

Wednesday: Zip, Zero, and Nada

Thursday: Zip, Zero, and Nada

Friday: Zip, Zero, and Nada

Saturday: Zip, Zero, and Nada

As always this doesn't include several shows on the Food Network or streaming shows that I watch b because they don't follow the same schedule.