OK, we’re a go for one last run through Love, Victor. Will Victor find himself this season? Let’s take a look.
What Happens in Willacoochee
Funny thing is, the Simon outro from that last episode is
all but forgotten in this one, as Simon’s asking how it went. Mia invites
Victor to a fundraiser her dad is hosting which he agrees to go to. Felix tells
Simon about he and Lake hooking up, and decides to take the next step but Lake
is less enthused, telling him as far as anyone else can be concerned they never
hooked up and it can’t happen again.
Isabelle is looking through the household bills and offers
to help by starting up piano lessons again. Armando shoots the idea down
immediately. The coffee shop is facing a crisis, their coffee machine has
broken. Yeah, that’s a shut down the shop crisis, what are people drinking in
there. Apparently, the only place to fix it is in Willacoochee and I feel like
there’s a sex joke there somewhere.
That’s a 2-hour drive away and Benji can’t stand the idea of
a 2-hour trip with Sarah, the general manager, so says he and Victor will do it.
If all goes well and they don’t hit traffic they’ll be back in time for Mia. It
seems Mia is still giving Veronica the cold shoulder. Oh and Pilar is annoyed
her friends are watching Billy Eilish. I tell you what, my hot take for today:
Bad Guy is overrated trash.
Felix has come over for some advice from Victor, but he's stuck with Pilar. They've both been stalking people on social media. Pilar decides they should go cold
turkey and has Adrian make their phones disappear.
OK, pretty major fuckup by the producers here. Victor is 16
years old and has only been 16 years old for a brief period of time. In
Georgia, where Creekwood is located, you can’t drive with anyone except
immediate family as passengers for the first 6 months of obtaining an
intermediate driving licence, which you can only get at 16. What he’s doing
with Benji right now is illegal. And Benji can’t drive because of backstory
we’ll get to later. For now, he claims it’s because of him failing the test.
Speaking of that, can you keep your eyes on the road,
please! Adrian is helping Isabelle film a commercial for her piano lessons.
Armando is still uncomfortable with it given that it lead to the affair with
Roger. We get a nice scene with Felix and Pilar getting used to used to not
having phones, proving that the show can actually be funny if it wants to.
The repair shop guy is named Wally, there’s a joke there
somewhere. He’s not exactly fast, hobbling along on his cane which has Victor
worried. Benji offers to take him straight to Mia’s but he can’t go in what
he’s wearing. Lucky, Benji saw a thrift shop so cue the fashion montage. Benji
getting involved in this is an excuse for Victor to see him take off his shirt.
Apparently, it’s gotten late enough that the fundraiser is
already underway. Mia calls Victor who tries to reassure her but says he is
likely to be late. But guess who isn’t late to the party, Andrew. This is not
their first time at a fundraiser together. Benji gets a call from Sarah,
telling them to stay at a Motel if the coffee machine isn’t ready by tonight.
Just as that happens, Victor gets the call that the coffee
machine is repaired. He then does the most amoral thing he could, and lies to
Benji that the machine won’t be ready to tomorrow. It’s worse because we know
why he’s doing it. To share a motel room with Benji for the night. That makes
me legitimately uncomfortable.
Of course, what happened falls down for Mia and Andrew is
there to help, finally revealing in black and white that he was the guy she
first made out with. But what happened was more complicated, she had just
gotten off the phone with her mother, they sat in silence for the entire
minute. Needing to feel something else, she called Andrew.
Felix and Pilar are enjoying coffee from the coffee shop
that doesn’t have a coffee machine. If they have a spare, why the urgency in
getting the other one repaired? 2 hours which is suddenly one day, time is
weird, without access to Instagram has gotten Lake’s attention and she comes in
to confront him. He’s appropriately romantic and his efforts are rewarded.
Armando eventually relents and gives his blessing for his
wife to do piano lessons. If there’s any silver lining to what happened to Mia
it’s that it allowed her to open up a little to Veronica.
Benji offers him a place in bed with him. Victor sees he has
a driving license and asks. It’s been suspended because of an incident he had
before he came out. He got drunk and crashed his car into a Wendy’s. Waking up
in hospital, realising he could’ve died without living as himself is what
encouraged him to come out. Benji asks that this be kept quiet which Victor
agrees to.
A convenient storm rages outside as they turn out the lights
and Victor decides to kiss Benji. I feel really uncomfortable, not just because
he’s forcing this on someone who has not asked for it, at least not directly,
but the only reason they’re even in that position is because of a lie Victor
told, a lie that, as far as I know, never gets addressed.
Benji puts a stop to it and Victor realises what he’s done
and storms out. Victor finally realises that he’s gay but hates that part of
himself. The drive home is super awkward. Simon quickly replies saying he wishes Victor was
in New York and able to see that there’s life beyond what he can see in Creekwood.
Victor begins searching for tickets to New York City.
It’s interesting we don’t see much of the Simon narration
bits until right at the end. Unfortunately, I have a hard time getting past the
most uncomfortable scene in the series, it has to hit my rating.
Rating 7/10
Boys’ Trip
It’s been about a week or so since the last episode and
Victor’s decided to do something totally crazy. He’s got a bus ticket to New
York. He tells his parents he’s going to a basketball camp, and creates a fake
permission slip to get them to sign to make it official. He plans to spend the
weekend on Simon’s couch. He’s at college, what makes you think he has a couch?
Or even floorspace, really?
22 hours on the bus for Simon, school for everyone else. And
you know what, it’s time for another attempt at doing Breakfast club. A load of
texting gets Mia, Lake, Felix and Andrew detention. At the Salazar house,
Isabelle has booked her first client and wants Pilar to come with her to get some
new clothes, offering to get her cartilage pierced.
Simon as it turns out is in Jersey and unable to make it, so
he sent his beau Bram to pick him up instead. Lake is still concerned about
going public about her relationship with Felix, so he should stop kissing her
neck. It’s detention day and oh for fuck’s sake, this teacher calls Felix
lone-stone too and she’s here on a Saturday because she clearly has nothing
better to do now she’s going through a messy breakup.
We’re introduced the other denizens of the apartment,
Justin, with a soft J, Ivy and Kim, who is NB. Victor isn’t ready to just come
out to all these strangers so he says he’s here to check out the basketball.
Justin with a soft J says he’s come to wrong people if he’s interested in
Sports. Book Bram was a Soccer guy, in case you felt like adhering to the
book’s version of Bram.
They invite him to a place named ‘Messy Boots’ but Victor is
shy and declines. Pilar did get her cartilage pierced but took advantage and
also got her tongue pierced. Bram takes Victor to a basketball court. Where
they play against some pretty tough players, Bram and Victor are trounced in
terms of talent. Bram reveals after that they all partake in a gay league twice
a week. One of them was the first openly gay NBA player. The message here is
there’s no one way to be gay, you just have to be brave about it.
Mia believes Lake and Andrew are hooking up, cue
misunderstanding in 3, 2, 1. Thankfully it lasts all of 10 seconds. Lake admits
to being slightly embarrassed by him. Being nicknamed Lonestone doesn’t help,
I’m gritting my teeth with that.
The Drag question comes up and I’m glossing over it. Justin
with a soft J shows Victor a photo, he was paraded around by his
super-religious parents knowing that his religion isn’t inviting to gay people.
This convinces Victor to open up, finally admitting that he’s gay.
Armando is not happy about Pilar’s tongue-piercing, Isabelle
isn’t fond of it either, but admits she was desperate for her to like her
again, it’s not been the same since Roger, and they don’t know what Armando
did.
Felix is at his wits end, having cleaned Lonestone off the
wall 21 times and he finally has it out with Andrew. Felix isn’t afraid of
Andrew, just angry and rightfully so. Mia and Lake talk and Mia finally admits
that it was Andrew who she lost her virginity to. Lake tells her about Felix.
Victor and Posse are at Messy Boots and Victor’s at the bar,
the minimum drinking age in the US is 21. Victor’s supposed to be 16, and
Michael Cimino at time of filming was 19, surely he would’ve been ID’d at the
door. And then Ivy brings up Benji, who she shouldn’t know about. That doesn’t
go well with Victor who storms out.
This reveal makes a deal of sense, Simon from the books is
awful at giving advice. I mean he’d enjoy trying but... Him having a network of
people who understand individual issues better than him to tailor his advice,
explains why it wasn’t entirely dreadful. But on that later.
How f*cking long is Saturday detention anyway? Andrew asks
Mia whether she thinks he’s a good person. His ultimate response to her answer
is to graffiti the wall to say that Felix has massive balls, plural. Dunno
whether this will make anything stick but I guess it’s a sign of growth.
Armando speaks to Pilar, saying that she has to forgive her,
quite reasonably Pilar asks if he has, and whilst he says yes… More on this in
another episode. Simon comes in at the last second for his cameo and right at
the moment where Victor is less than happy with him.
OK, Simon says here he never had a girlfriend, maybe not one
that went anywhere but you remember that time you hid at prom, that counts
dude. That is both the book and the film, so no excuses for that one. He
pronounces Justin without the soft J, oops. So his friends have all been helping
making sure the advice is solid and appropriate and not classic Simon advice.
Still, Simon reminds him that these people gave up their
weekend to help him out of the goodness of the hearts. Armando’s speech has got
through the Pilar. Victor’s picked to be a guest on the drag show, and says to
the crowd that it’s been the best night of his life.
I still hate teachers being inappropriate and this episode
is regrettably full of that, nice to see Bram again, though
Rating 7.5/10
Who the hell is B?
Simon’s smiling over the photos from the previous episode. I
would just like to point out that Bram and Simon and presumably their flatmates
also are at least 20 and he’s 16. But I digress… Time to deal with the fallout
of Willacoochie.
But first, he decides to tell Felix that he’s gay. He can’t
go into Felix’s house because his mother is a ‘light sleeper.’ What’s
interesting is he still won’t use the word ‘gay.’ Of course, Felix is the easy
one and Mia will be much harder, especially since he kissed Benji.
Felix is still bummed about the whole forbidden lovers thing
with Lake and Victor decides to come round to Mia’s house and break the news to
her in private. Mia’s talking with Pilar, good job the excuse didn’t completely
unravel there. He told Mia he was on a guy’s trip with his father, which Pilar
would see through instantly.
Victor does succeed in inviting himself to Mia’s so step one
complete. Felix and Lake are making out in the cleaning cupboard, Felix does
invite her to the dance but she’s not ready to have them scrutinised by the
entire school. She does invite him home though.
Benji has decided to transfer to another coffee shop given
what happened, given that the romantic chemistry between the two was evident
long before the kiss, I don’t blame him.
Lake’s mother, Georgina comes home early and Felix is forced
to hide under the bed, Georgina criticises Lake’s fashion and has gone out
shopping on her behalf. Simon tells Victor that breaking up isn’t going to be
easy but he just to rip the band-aid off. As for Benji, he says when he screwed
things up with his friends he made a big apology on creek-secrets. He’d already
apologised to Leah at that point, this apology was the same awful declaration
of romance, I’ve criticised before
Victor decides to write a letter to Benji in a move that can
only go wrong. See one thing that Simon had that Victor doesn’t is a third
party to blame for his mistakes. Not that Simon didn’t acknowledge his own
faults but at least some of the anger his friends had toward him could be
transferred to Martin following the blackmail revelations. Victor’s actions
aren’t a result of blackmail or peer pressure, it’s all his own doing.
Incidentally, there was no CreekSecrets apology in the book.
He apologised to his friends in person, though his crimes in the book were less
egregious so there’s that. But I’m going off topic. Armando sees a guy coming
downstairs and immediately assumes the worst, it turns out he was just dropping
off his son.
With Lake, we see her mother taking a step into… controlling
abuse. She forced Lake to lose weight, believing her daughter is not going to
see doors opened up for her in regular life and that she needs to perfect her
look with regard to public perception. Cut to Mia and Victor where the band-aid
is still well and truly on.
Just as Victor’s about to talk, Harold and Veronica arrive
home early. They left the concert as Veronica wasn’t feeling too well, combined
with her complaining about sushi, a food she usually loves and gently massaging
her stomach, Mia works out that she’s pregnant, 10 weeks pregnant as it turns
out. And to top it off, we find out the two are getting married. Mia runs off,
needing a minute to process all this.
Felix decides to take Lake to his apartment, we see it
chocked full of stuff. His mother always suffered from depression but part of
that has manifested in her being able to throw things away, hence the mess that
is their house. Victor has to do what he does best and play mediator, assuring
Mia that her father is not moving on from her and the two kiss.
“What would I do without you?”
Oh f*ck, we’re gonna drag this out further. Felix asks Lake
one last time to come to the dance, she refuses, caring too much about what
other people think. At the Salazar family dinner, there’s clear tension between
Isabelle and Armando. Even Adrian can sense it. Pilar takes Adrian out so they
can talk but just as we get the reveal that Armando beat up his boss, getting
him fired and that’s why they had to move, Victor comes in.
He tells them to get the sh*t together because their
fighting is making the place feel like a bad place to live. Pilar goes into
Victor’s room to ‘borrow’ $10 for ice cream and comes across the letter from
earlier. Her only question “Who the hell is B?”
Things all come to ahead ready for an emotional climax, the
show drops the pretence of trying to force jokes that don’t work and rattles
along with these serious and relateable scenarios with the occasionally witty
piece of dialogue. The show’s writing is at its best when it does this.
Rating 8.5/10
Spring Fling
It’s the day of the Spring Fling and Victor is ready to slip
his letter into Benji’s locker. Victor couldn’t bring himself to break up with
Mia after all the revelations and plans to give her an amazing night at the
Spring Fling before doing so. In a matter of seconds of Felix catching Victor
up on the whole Lake situation a random girl we’ve never seen before comes up
and asks him to the dance, Felix says yes. Lake says she has a date to the
dance.
Lake does not in fact have a date but she does resolve that
quickly, asking one of the jocks. Veronica offers Mia some of her jewellery but
she turns it down, they don’t have that kinda relationship yet. Mia has
abandonment issues, stemming from her mother which makes it hard for her to
open up to a new mother figure in her life, especially when things are
progressing as quickly as they are.
Pilar makes a couple of jabs at Victor, as he puts on the
bow tie for the dance. Lake has to try hard to make her relationship with… you
know what, I’m not going to bother looking up his name, look attractive.
Victor’s tough words with his parents seem to have an affect and they’re
getting on better. Mia is stolen away by Lake as her date is not exactly the
bright spark.
Victor heads into the bathroom and is followed by Benji, who
despite saying that he forgives Victor says that doesn’t change anything and he
needs to stay away. Something he’s doing so well, following him into a
bathroom. And making it more awkward is the fact that Andrew was in one of the
stalls and overheard.
He says nothing but Victor quickly chases after him, Victor
is pulled away by Mia to go dancing. Felix’s dance is going ok, but he can’t
take his eyes off Lake. As his date goes to get him a drink, Pilar confronts
him wanting to know who B is. I swear you all can save yourself and everyone
else pain by just asking directly. And naturally Felix is the absolute worst at
keeping secrets.
Pilar thinks that Victor is cheating on Mia, Felix says it
was a one-time thing on a work trip, clueing Pilar in that it’s someone he
works with. Armando and Isabelle talk some more over wine, reminiscing mostly,
they got married quite young.
Benji is with Derek who is somewhat uncomfortable being at a
high school dance. I get the feeling he either dropped out or graduated. Pilar,
having grown impatient directly asks Benji, with Derek present, about the road
trip. Whilst she hides specifics, she knows something happened on the work
trip, which makes Derek suspicious. To be honest, I wish Pilar could’ve just
put 2 and 2 together once she found out that the only woman they work with is
named Sarah, but then Derek wouldn’t know.
Felix goes to warn Victor about what’s happening. And
decides his next move is to try and smooth things over with Andrew. Andrew says
he would never outright tell everyone, he cares about Mia too much to do that,
but there’s a more important problem, Benji has gotten into a fight with Derek
about this scenario, wondering why Benji wasn’t just upfront about it since he
wasn’t exactly the instigator here.
Derek storms off right into Victor but he has more
self-control than Armando did and doesn’t outright punch him. Victor tries to
defend Benji’s corner and seems to calm things over like the mediator he
usually is. Lake and Felix talk at the drink’s table and it’s suitably awkward.
Mia hasn’t been able to find Victor.
Benji finds Victor on a bench outside and reveals he broke
up with Derek. This particular incident has made him realise something’s been
off about their relationship for a while. Derek is not exactly a romantic and
has been making him feel anxious. And we’ve definitely seen examples of this
across the season. Victor’s party, the first date and at the spring fling prior
to the revelations.
Benji realises he does like Victor that way and the two
kiss, just as Mia comes out and sees them. High School is full of drama, even
now. But there’s still the obvious issue, Benji is out gay and Victor is still
mostly closeted gay. Mia and Victor are crowned prom queen and king but Mia is
running off upset, and Victor is chasing after her. Time for Lake to get up on
stage and declare her love for Felix. The two kiss on stage.
Mia storms off with Andrew and Victor’s offer little
comfort, but Pilar is the one with the final dagger, she compares what Victor
did to what their parents did and honestly, she’s not wrong. He takes Pilar
home promising to reveal everything. Mia thanks Andrew for supporting her
tonight, though he stops short of going in the house with her, not wanting to
be her rebound. If there’s any silver lining for her, she gets consolation from
Veronica and the two get a little closer.
Simon’s text comes really too late for anything, as is often
the way. Victor and Pilar come home and Isabelle and Armando reveal they’ve
decided to separate, they’re not divorcing just yet but need some time apart.
Victor is immediately dissuaded from revealing his news upon this revelation
but eventually plucks up the courage to admit it to his family, finally saying
gay out loud.
Now this semi-cliff-hanger has divided audiences. Some
saying that the reaction of Victor’s parents is a necessary part of the story
that’s been left out. The justification given is that this story is about
Victor being honest with himself. The culmination of his character arc is him
coming out to his family, the people he feared coming out to the most. And as
season 2 would demonstrate, there’s a whole season’s worth of drama that can be
mined out of the parents’ reactions, and there wouldn’t be time to wrap that up
this late in the game. I find myself agreeing, though I understand why this
doesn’t sit well with some.
Love, Victor season 1 was a strong opening season that kept
to the core and themes of the Love, Simon story but for a very different type
of character. I would like to see this handled from a woman’s perspective at
some point.
It is good at being witty but rarely succeeds with me when
it tries to be funny. The Love, Simon cameos were a nice touch but the messages
were oftentimes unnecessary and could develop into a writer’s crutch.
The show clearly has enough thought and effort into it that
it should resonate with people. But love is messy and the show’s sophomore
season would go onto covering even more complex issues. But that’s a story for
another retrospective. This is a great finale to season 1.
Rating 9/10
No comments:
Post a Comment