Some Thoughts About Love, Victor

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.

Some thoughts on 13 Reasons Why *SPOILERS*

Last night, I finished the series finale of 13 Reasons Why.  I can honestly say that I really enjoyed the show, but I do know that there are a lot of people who didn't for various reasons.  Thinking about the show, I would say that, like the characters on the show, it was well intentioned but deeply flawed, messy, and problematic.  In other words, it was very, very human.

The show is definitely not a show I would recommend to everyone.  If you suffer from depression or anxiety, suffered sexual assault, or are easily triggered, it is not the show for you.  They do have warnings on the show about watching with friends or a trusted adult, but it is really heavy and can be emotionally draining.  And there are definitely scenes that are really hard to watch.

I think the biggest problem is that they didn't always handle storylines very well.  In the final season, they had Justin get HIV which progressed to AIDS in the space of a year or so.  Based of what I have read, HIV doesn't proceed quite that quickly, even if it is untreated.  That honestly seemed like it was more for shock than anything else and I cannot say that I appreciated it at all.  Also, there really wasn't a whole lot of groundwork laid for that, which is another problem.  Granted, there were the dark blotches on his face, neck, and back, which I have seen in other movies/shows where someone has AIDS, so that might have been them trying to hint at what was coming, but it still felt so sudden that it seemed to be more exploitative and not something that they really needed to do.

Another storyline that was problematic for some people was the arc in Season 3 when Bryce was trying to redeem himself.  Personally, I didn't have a problem with it because I believe that anyone who is truly sorry and tries to make amends can be redeemed.  Here the flaw was more in the execution and the fact that it was Bryce; a rich, white, cis, heterosexual male.  I do think that he truly realized that he had committed truly monstrous acts or enabled people to commit monstrous acts in his name, but he did seem genuinely sorry for what he had done and was trying to atone for it.  Unlike some people in real life, he didn't just mouth platitudes about how he was sorry, he seemed to truly mean it.  That being said, the fact that they didn't give Monty (a Latino) the same opportunity strikes me as tone deaf and not a good thing.

I can say that I appreciated the way that they deepened all of the characters after the first season.  Just like in real life, there are people who screw up in a major way, but they are not simply bad people.  Rather, they are products of their environment and don't always realize how hurtful their actions are.  Or they try and protect the people they love and end up hurting other people, either on accident or on purpose.  Like I said, flawed and messy.  None of the characters could really claim the moral high ground.  Each of them made some rather shocking actions that caused a lot of damage.  For example, Clay took a picture of Tyler naked and spread it around school to get revenge (he said it was justice, but it was truly revenge) after hearing about how Tyler had taken pictures of Courtney and Hannah kissing.  There are so many more I could cite, but I won't.

I also appreciated that the show did have several queer characters and people of color (some of whom were also queer).  That sort of representation is a good thing and, in every case except one, the person was accepted and embraced by the people around them.  I will say that having Alex kiss Zach and get a boyfriend in the last season (he never defined his orientation) was a little odd because there had been no indication in prior seasons that he was into guys at all.  I don't know if they decided to have him be queer between seasons 3 and 4, if it was a long-term plan that was never indicated, or if it was something that Miles (who is in a relationship with Connor Jessup, but has never defined his sexuality that I know of) pushed for, but it was so sudden that it also felt a little exploitative.  He had only ever indicated that he was interested in Jessica in the past and had never looked at guys or anything, so it could have been prepared for a little better.

As I said, I did appreciate the series overall and definitely enjoyed it, but that doesn't make me blind to its flaws.  I am sure there may be flaws that I either missed or didn't see as flaws, but no one sees everything.  If you think the show is for you, I would give it a look. 

Some Thoughts about the Arrow Series Finale and the Series as a Whole

I finished the series finale of Arrow and have been reflecting on it.  To be honest, as an episode, I can't say I really liked it.  The thing that I wasn't terribly fond of is that it was like the denouement of a movie.  But, if you look at the entire final season as one long episode then the episode becomes a lot better.  I appreciated that they brought all sorts of people back and that they reunited Oliver and Felicity.  I also appreciated that they wrapped up people's stories where Oliver was involved and how he impacted their lives.

I think what got me is that they wrapped up Oliver's story with the Arrow episode of "Crisis on Infinite Earths", so this episode felt a little superfluous.  In many ways, the way I felt about the episode mirror the way I felt about the series.

I loved this episode from the beginning.  The first two seasons were absolutely awesome and had two of the greatest Arrowverse villains:  Malcolm Merlyn and Deathstroke.  The third season was a let down because R'as Al Ghul was not that great of a villain, Season 4 gave us Damien Dahrk who is another awesome villain and season 5 gave us Prometheus, who I also enjoyed.  Unfortunately, Season 5 also gave us New Team Arrow who I cannot say that I liked.  Seasons 6 and 7 had the worst villains in Arrow, particularly Ricardo Diaz.  Season 8 was enjoyable, but not as good at the first 2 seasons since the show had lost some of its luster after seasons 6 and 7.

I do also love that Arrow spawned a whole universe of other shows and gave us the yearly crossovers.  For that alone, I will always love this show.  But that being said, I am in no hurry to rewatch the show again.  It's not that I don't like the show, but I think I need time between the show ending and me rewatching it.

If this seems ambivalent, it is because it is reflecting how I am feeling right now.  With most series finales, I get nostalgic about the show, but I don't have that with Arrow.  I am not sure how much of that is because the characters may carry on in other Arrowverse shows and how much of it has to do with the main wrap-up being during "Crisis".  I wanted to be sadder about the show ending, I wanted to feel a sense of nostalgia, but I don't. 

I was really hoping that writing this would help me sort through things, but it hasn't, so I suspect that only time will help me with that.  I may come back in a while with new thoughts, I am not sure. 

Crisis on Infinite Earths Reaction

I finished watching the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossover and it ended very strongly and with a couple of really cool surprises.

First, the cameos. Ezra Miller as the DCU Flash was really cool.  I was so not expecting the movies to be tied into the Arrowverse, so that was a cool surprise.  Then there was Marv Wolfman, aka the guy who asked the Flash and Supergirl for their autographs in the combined Earth.  For those who don't know, he was the writer of the Crisis on Infinite Earths comics, so having him cameo was just a fun Easter egg.

I have to admit that I was surprised when the heroes seemingly defeated the Anti-Monitor in Part 4 (the Arrow episode).  I was expecting that fight to actually happen in Part 5 (the Legends episode), so having it happen sooner was a little unexpected.  I did appreciate that Oliver (as the Spectre) was the one to defeat the Anti-Monitor in the Arrow episode.  That was quite fitting, as was the fact that he died with Sara and Barry close by him, particularly since he did so much to inspire the two of them.  While it would have been nice for Diggle to be present, given everything, that was never going to happen.

If I understand everything properly, the entire multiverse has been collapsed down to one Earth, much like the comic crossover.  My one reason for questioning this has to do with Oliver's voiceover near the end, which seemed to indicate that there were other Earths out there, at least the Earths from DC's streaming service.  That did confuse me, I must admit.  Hopefully they will answer that question definitively relatively soon.  At the very least, the Paragons and their Earths have been collapsed into Earth-Prime (no longer Earth-1 since it combines at least 3 Earths).

I loved it when the Flash revealed the Justice League table at the end of the episode.  Having a central place for them to gather will make crossovers a little easier to do in terms of story now.  I don't know if they plan on doing a crossover next season, but it would be cool if it involved the Justice League.

I am wondering how they will manage the last couple of episodes of Arrow with Oliver Queen dead and gone.  I know the next episode is the backdoor pilot for the Canaries series, but there is another episode after that, so I am really wondering how this is going to work.  Is Oliver Queen some sort of celestial entity now as the Spectre or is it going to be something else entirely? 

I have to say overall that the crossover was quite good.  I had high expectations for it and; for the most part; it met them.  The last two episodes were particularly good after somewhat disappointing second and third episodes.  It didn't blow me out of the water the way I hoped, but it was really good.

Reactions to the first three episodes of "Crisis on Infinite Earths"

Well, the first 3 parts of the 5 part crossover event "Crisis on Infinite Earths" have been seen and we are waiting for the final 2 hours on January 14th.  I just wanted to get some of my thoughts written down now, and I will probably do another one come January 14th.

As I believe I have mentioned before, I do not read comic books.  That is a little weird given how many tv shows and movies based on comics that I have watched, but I have never gotten into comics.  That being said, as soon as I saw that headline about the Flash disappearing during a crisis on the pilot episode of The Flash, I started reading about "Crisis on Infinite Earths" in anticipation of the story being made for tv.  Last year, when they announced that this year's crossover would be "Crisis", I was super excited, mainly because "Crisis" is one of the biggest comic book stories of all times.  Even I had heard about it, even if I didn't know any details.

Reading all the spoilers coming out about who would be making cameos got me even more excited.  They had previously made the 1990 version of The Flash a part of the Arrowverse, but now they have expanded that to include the Batman movies from the 1990s (Alexander Knox appeared in the first episode), the 1966 Batman tv show (Burt Ward [aka Robin] appeared in the first episode), Smallville (Tom Welling and Erica Durance appeared in the second episode), Birds of Prey from the early 2000s (the Huntress [Ashley Scott] appeared in the third episode), Lucifer (from Fox and Netflix), and Titans (from DC's streaming service).  They also had Brandon Routh play Superman (albeit not the same one from Superman Returns) and they finally brought Black Lightning into a crossover.  So hearing about all of these cameos (the Titans and Alexander Knox were the only ones I did not know about ahead of time) made me all the more eager to see the crossover.

I'm not going to say that the crossover has been without its flaws, but for the most part, it has been really good.  I was a little disappointed in the pacing of the second (Batwoman) hour because the first hour had so much going on that when they slowed down for the second hour, it felt like everything was much less urgent.  I will also say that killing Oliver Queen in the first hour was a massive surprise.  I so did not expect that to happen, but it appears that his death will be a catalyst for the rest of the heroes to face the Anti-Monitor now.

I do also have to register immense annoyance and disappointment with Supergirl and how they have handled Lena Luthor.  While I do get her being hurt at not being told that Kara is Supergirl, her reaction has been so out of proportion to the "offense".  It feels like they wanted an excuse to turn Lena evil and seized on Kara's (totally understandable) keeping her identity a secret as a justification to have Lena turn.  Let's be honest, Kara doesn't owe Lena jackshit when it comes to her identity.  *NO ONE* owes complete honesty like that to anyone who is not their spouse/life partner.  I just wish they could have found a better reason to cause Lena to turn if they were so determined to have her turn this way.  Dunno, maybe that is just me.

Anyway, back to "Crisis".  Aside from the pacing of the second hour and Lena Luthor, I have really been enjoying the crossover.  From what I have read about the comics, they have hit a lot of the major plot points from the comics while still remaining true to the world that the series have created.  Having the newest version of Wells be Pariah and having Lyla's call name of "Harbinger" mean what it meant in the comics has been pretty cool to watch.

I will say that there haven't been any totally standout moments from this year like there were last year.  I'm not sure if that's because everything has been good or not, but there it is.

I know this hasn't been the most linear or coherent of reactions , but given the fact that we are just over halfway through the crossover and we are a month away from its end, I don't know how to react yet.  Hopefully, I can get a better reaction after the crossover is completed.

On January 14th, the last two hours will play.  See y'all then!

Some Thoughts About the New Shows of the Season

I have added a few new shows this season and discarded one of them within 20 minutes of the show starting.  Here are some thoughts:

Stumptown: Overall it is enjoyable, but not awesome.  I appreciate the sarcasm and snarkiness, but it is not what I would call "must watch" TV.

UPDATE 11/5/19: Still watching and enjoying, but it is becoming more and more of a marginal watch.  It may be dumped if I can't get into it more.

UPDATE 12/12/19: Officially dumped as of 12/5/19. 

Prodigal Son:  My favorite new show.  I enjoy procedurals and the cast here is just incredible.  I am really glad that I added this one just a week or two before it premiered.

UPDATE 11/5/19: Nothing has changed.  Still awesome and still watching.  Definitely glad I decided to see this.

Evil: I stopped watching within 20 minutes.  It was supposed to be scary and freaky, but just bored me out of my skull.  Nothing about this was interesting at all.

Batwoman: I definitely enjoyed this show.  After "Prodigal Son", this is my favorite new show.  I am a little confused as to where this sits timeline wise (since it seems to be before the Elseworlds crossover chronologically), but I loved the pilot.

UPDATE 11/5/19: Still loving this show.  It just keeps getting better and better.  Well worth the watch.

Nancy Drew: The pilot was pretty boring.  I wanted to like it, but had trouble staying awake through it.  I will give it one more week to really get my attention, which is more than I give most shows that bore me.

UPDATE 11/5/19: Dropped this 15 minutes into the second episode.  It got even worse in the second ep.  I was very disappointed because this is one of the shows I was really looking forward to when it was announced earlier this year.

My thoughts about Game of Thrones

Having watched this show from the beginning, I know I had a lot of expectations for the final season.  I knew there would be a big battle in the North against the White Walkers.  I knew we would have a battle for King's Landing and the Iron Throne.  All of that happened.

Up until the second to last episode, I was totally with the show.  I may not have liked everything that happened, but it followed an internal logic that I could go with.  As I believe I have said before, I am a big proponent of watching a show on the writer's terms.  After all, it is their sandbox and they are allowing us in to play, so the fans shouldn't dictate how a show unfolds.

My issue with the second to last episode stemmed from the fact that Daenerys' torching of Kings Landing and killing thousands of innocents civilians was not in character for her.  In the past she has been ruthless, granted.  But there is a difference between being ruthless and being a sociopath and murderer.  While I may not have liked that she burned the Tarly's alive after they surrendered, it made sense in terms of how she developed.  If you were her enemy, she destroyed you.  But how were the innocents of Kings Landing her enemies?  Also, she had taken great pains in the past to help those who were on the lower end of the socioeconomic rung, so killing them all made no sense.  And her explanation that she killed them because of Cersei's actions?  Freaking ridiculous.  I could see that excuse if she had only launched an assault on the Red Keep and some civilians died, but the deliberate targeting of them made no sense based on what we had seen of her.

Honestly, once we reached the point where she died, I really didn't care anymore.  And I hate that because she has always been on of my favorite characters.  She and Arya have always been awesome and I also loved Sansa once she outgrew her annoying "I must defend my beloved Joffrey!" phase (pretty much the end of the first season).

As for the ending, I liked it for the most part, but there were several "WTF!" moments (and not in a good way).

[1] Arya leaving her family and going west made no sense.
[2] Is Jon the new King Beyond the Wall?
[3] Why did everyone just acquiesce to Sansa splitting the North off from the rest of the 6 Kingdoms?
[4] Bran as king?  Really?  Ok......
[5] Bronn as Master of Coin? Why?  What possible qualifications could he have?

I think my major problem with the last season is that the disposed of the battle with the dead in one episode and then had one episode followed by the Battle for King's Landing complete with character assassination.  I know they had limited time, but they really should have used it better somehow.

Overall, I thought the series was a good one, but the last two episodes are really making me question if I can (or even want to!) rewatch the show ever again.  Knowing how badly the end will be, do I really want to ruin the rest of a show that started so marvelously?  And then there is the question of any prequel shows.  If they are from completely different creators, I will possibly consider watching them, but I do not think I can watch anything from Benioff and Weiss ever again.  Maybe my views will change with time, but I honestly don't know.  There has been so much stuff written about the last season, and I suggest you read it because it is a lot more eloquent than I am.  I know that I feel like I devoted a very long period of time to the show only to have it pull shock for the sake of shock (in other words for no plot reason) in the last stretch.  And that feels incredibly disrespectful to the fans.