We’re back and for another round for Love Victor, and in our next exciting episode:
- Victor and Benji get cockblocked at the coffee house
- Victor and Benji get cockblocked at Benji’s house
- And Victor and Benji get cockblocked in the Janitor’s closet
The Sex Cabin
We open with… basically what I just described in the opening.
They’re cockblocked in the cleaning cupboard by Benji and Lake, who admit
they’ve been having similar issues with finding Privacy, Benji, having been
brought up in money, says his family has a lake cabin at Lake Lanier that they
could use. Whilst Benji and Lake head for a chemistry test, the subject of sex
comes up.
Victor and Benji are nearly at that point, whilst it’s
apparently going a little slower for Felix. Still, secluded Lakehouse, fun idea
that brings us into the credits. Things are going well between Mia and Tyler,
though Lake brings up that he talks a lot about his art, and that’s gonna come
into play later, Lake invites her to the cabin with the others. I feel like
privacy is gonna be lost the more people end up going, apparently Lucy and
Andrew are going as well, that makes 10 people at this place.
Of course, first Victor has to get permission and that’s
easier said than done, luckily Armando backs him up against Isabelle’s
admittedly weak objection, though it further pushes a wedge between them. Oh,
and Adrian has watched the Parent Trap and wants to try and trick them into
getting back together.
We cut to the cabin, apparently from Benji’s rich as hell
grandparents, Victor and Benji lay down their stuff in a room, and Victor sees
that Benji is prepared, with a bottle of lube amongst other things <insert
ad for Manscaped here> Victor suddenly realises he has no clue what he’s
doing and texts Simon for help. Unfortunately for him, phone service in the
cabin is non-existent. No Wi-Fi either so that option’s out.
Mia and Tyler are en-route to the cabin, but the cracks are
starting to show. Tyler’s clearly feigning interest in anything Mia is saying,
and loves to talk about himself a lot. The car gets a flat tyre, and whilst he
has a spare, he doesn’t want to do the manual work in fear of hurting his
hands.
Meanwhile, Armando stops by at the main house, Adrian
claiming he’d left his turtle. But the case is open and empty. Victor is
searching for cell service, much to the bemusement of Benji as Andrew and Lucy
arrive. Lake continues to turn down Felix’s advances towards sex. Victor claims
to Benji that he needs cell service to let his parents know he’s okay,
promising that he’d do so, their best bet is a small store a 10-minute walk
away, Benji offers to take Victor there but Felix interjects, claiming to want
to buy bug-spray for Lake.
Both explain their respective dilemmas, Victor finds enough
service to contact Simon but he isn’t answering. And he’s contacting him
excessively. Andrew also appears in the store, having I guess teleported there
since this is the first we see of him and gives Felix some advice, including
not fearing embarrassment and to tidy up your groin <insert another ad for
manscaped here> Felix does not have a full on grooming package (available at
manscaped) so has to make do with some shitty disposable razors.
Victor is still filled with anxiety but Andrew has bought
alcohol (guess he looks over-age?) to help with that. Back with Mia, she’s
begun the process of changing the tyre but Tyler has become distracted by some
shit. No, literally some shit on the road. Back at the main house, the Turtle
still hasn’t been found but Isabelle and Armando begin connecting again,
Isabelle admitting that he’s lapping her when it comes to dealing with Victor.
Back at the Lakehouse, a little bit of foreshadowing
happens, Andrew is pouring everyone Vodka, and we see Benji subtly switch to a
different cup. Probably for the best as Never have I ever has him drink twice
to the 0 of everyone else. As Victor goes to allegedly check on Felix, Mia
arrives having dumped Tyler to go into the pile of characters we never see
again and walked the last 5 miles to the cabin.
Victor’s checking his phone again, hearing that Benji has
had at least 3 sexual partners has put his anxiety into overload. He gets a
little signal, only to find he’s missed a call from Simon. His high ground
turns out to be unstable, he falls and hits his head, leaving a visible bruise
on his left eye. He’s not the only one with injuries as Felix has sustained one
of his own, trying to use conditioner as shaving cream and cutting himself in
the groin, should have used Manscaped. (I’m not vying for a sponsorship; this
is a one-time running joke)
Felix is the first we see open up. Giving the grim details
of his injuries to Lake. Lake admits a lot her reluctance to take the next step
forward comes from her own issues, body positivity issues, a lot of which stems
from her mother’s toxic parenting. Andrew sits with Mia to comfort her, though
when she mentions Lucy, he says that she’s great without any real conviction.
More on this in later episodes.
Finally, we get the resolution between Victor and Benji, and
Victor’s injury appears to have healed miraculously between scenes, there was
bleeding in the last scene, and it’s reduced to a bit of a bruise below his eye
now. Lake and Felix end up taking a skinny dip in the water and the turtle hunt
has led to Isabelle and Armando having sex together, whilst leaving the kids at
his house which is very irresponsible.
Simon eventually leaves a message, trying to subtly not get
too involved. Benji and Victor say ‘I love you’ for the first time and finally
have sex that morning. Guess the Sex Cabin really did live up to its name. Err,
are either of you using protection?
I think at this point the show has embraced being too adult
for Disney Plus, though Ironically it would end up being folded back once the
platform decided to abandon the kid-friendly stance. It’s better for it in the
long run, as it doesn’t need to fall back on the jokes and be more of a
light-hearted drama than a comedy and able to address issues relevant to coming
of age young adults. It has always aspired to this but around here they’re
ditching the last shackles holding it back.
Rating 8/10
Coming up:
- Victor dies his hair
- Andrew dies his hair
- And Coach Ford dies his hair
Gay Gay
It’s school time again and Victor is watching some of his
basketball colleagues play around and is clearly missing it, Benji completely
misses that cue. Andrew comes by and thanks Benji for the cabin and uses all
sorts of fruity language, he’s watched Queer Eye recently and wants to show
that he’s an ally. But he’s still stopped short of actually doing something so
Victor ignores his request for him to rejoin the team.
Benji continues to say the wrong things regarding Victor,
Mia pops by, it’s Benji’s first night playing live with his new band. Felix and
Lake’s make-out session is interrupted by Lake’s mother. She’s hosting Good
Morning Atlanta for the week. But she needs to sleep, and she’s kicking Felix
out so they can’t get up to anything whilst she’s asleep. Felix invites Lake to
her place, thinking his mother is on the mend.
Armando comes around to the main house with a rent check,
meaning he’s paying for both his place and theirs, and here was me thinking
they were strapped for cash. They talk about what happened in the last episode,
Armando invites Isabelle to PFLAG but again she turns it down.
Andrew and Lucy meet with Mia and Victor at the coffee
house, Andre makes another attempt to get Victor back on the basketball team
but immediately sticks his foot in his mouth calling Victor ‘the least gay gay
person alive.’ Smooth, Andrew. He meets with Benji’s band who are the opposite
end of the spectrum to Andrew, calling Victor Benji’s ‘straight boy fantasy,’
Benji’s continued celebration of Victor leaving doesn’t help.
Felix and Lake arrive at Felix’s house which is in the
process of being tidied up. Dawn, Felix’s mother is excited to see Lake and
things seem to be going well.
Meanwhile Benji’s band… to be honest to me they sound
incredibly dull. But they get an ovation from the crowd so I guess in-universe
they’re ok. Victor is pretty reserved with his opinion and Benji finally
catches on and asks Victor if he’s alright, Victor’s answer is somewhat unclear
and he heads off. Andrew heads off after him, leaving Lucy and Mia together.
Armando is at PFLAG talking to a woman there whilst Isabelle
is at church, confessing her feelings to Father Lawrence. Lawrence, on the
subject of Victor being gay says that she’s right to express her disapproval.
This is unfortunately a stance of a lot of churches, not just Christian ones,
mind you. It clearly wasn’t the reaction Isabelle was expecting.
Victor is relieving his anxiety playing some basketball as
Andrew tries to talk to him again. He eventually lets has it out with Andrew
and honestly sometimes I feel these two have more chemistry in this scene than
Benji and Victor have for much of the episode, but that’s a level of fanfiction
we won’t be endorsing here.
Mia and Lucy talk, Lucy reveals she expecting their relationship
to be more of a fling. She asks about her relationship with Andrew which Mia
insists is platonic, despite their one hook-up years ago. Lucy feels nothing at
all in response to this news, which even she admits is a bit weird.
Lake, Felix and Dawn finish their dinner and Lake admires
their plates. Lake says she needs to leave, but this sets off a chain of events
leading to Dawn having another breakdown, she didn’t take her medication that
morning. Lake decides that Felix needs more help, despite Felix strenuously
objecting to it, making Lake promise not to tell anyone what happened.
The next morning, Victor gets a text from Andrew telling
them to come to the locker-room. As a show of support, all of the team had died
their hair pink, an idea that Victor had mentioned in their talk the night
before. Andrew finally had a word with Wyatt, the main guy who was
uncomfortable with Victor changing with them has been decidedly booted out of
the team. That’s enough to get Victor back on board with the team, as Andrew
works on dying his hair, even Coach Ford has agreed to get his hair dyed which
is great.
It's the big game and with Victor’s help they’re creaming
their opponents. Benji’s watching from the stand, Benji apologises and even
does dances with the cheerleaders, something he claimed to be relieved about
not doing yesterday. Lake is looking up bipolar disorder as her mother comes
in, and despite having every good reason not to tell her about Felix she does
anyway.
After a successful match, Lucy speaks with Andrew, they’re
officially breaking up but we don’t find that out for a few minutes. That night
Isabelle and Armando meet at a restaurant to talk about what happened a few
nights back, long story short, Isabelle’s continued dismissal towards Victor being
gay, further fuelled by her talk by father Lawrence has becoming a sticking
point, Armando doesn’t see a way back for them until she gets past this.
Andrew bumps into Mia, and reveals that Lucy broke up with
her, he also talks about how the voice of Mia has served as his conscience for
a while. I referenced this in the season 1 review. Andrew asks Mia out and the
two finally hook up.
I genuinely love this episode. It’s one of the episodes I
always come back to this season, it’s the half-way point and some pretty big
things are starting to come to a head. Mia and Andrew, Dawn’s mental health and
the cracks forming between Benji and Victor are big things moving forward
Rating 8.5/10
Coming up:
- Rahim debates if using the word ‘sincerely’ is weird
- Isabel sings at Church
- And Mia carries a tray of sandwiches
Sincerely, Rahim
We’re introduced to Rahim, he’d made an appearance earlier
on as one of Pilar’s friends and this time he’s messaging Victor to try and get
his advice, since he is also gay. His family are traditional and Muslim, which
makes him worry about being accepted. Victor sees the message smiles as the
credits roll.
Adrian is being dressed up in his Sunday ‘best’ as Isabelle
is going to sing at church. Victor is hesitant about coming, leaving Adrian
confused since Isabelle won’t let Victor tell Adrian that he’s gay, claiming
he’s too young and not ready. And to take it back to reality for a minute, you’d
be surprised at what young people can comprehend if given the opportunity to.
Sure, it may confuse them, but it’s better being confused than ignorant or
obtuse. And the argument that explaining that LGBT people exist is somehow
grooming or predatory is an argument so ridiculous, Florida can shove its don’t
say gay laws up its arse.
Victor talks to Benji about the whole thing, and decides his
best course of action is to invite Rahim over to talk as Isabelle has choir
practice anyway. Benji remarks that Rahim is like Victor’s Simon. Back with
Felix, Dawn is continuing to refuse to take her medication, spouting some bs
side effects they have on her. They’re interrupted as Lake’s mother arrives
with a fruit basket to thank Dawn for having Lucy over.
This isn’t entirely a thank you call as Felix immediately
puts together, telling her that he doesn’t need any help and that they’re fine.
Andrew comes to pick up Mia for their date, they’re about to
leave but Harold bring him in to sample appetisers for the wedding. Veronica
has called the baby a potato, refusing to give it a name. Veronica asks Mia to
show Andrew her dress for the wedding so the two can co-ordinate outfits but
Mia says it’s too soon, much to Andrew’s shock.
Pilar introduces Victor to Rahim who’s a lot more of an
effeminate gay, for a lack of a better term, he’s wearing a Blackpink shirt and
purple nail-varnish. Only a few seconds in, Isabelle comes in, choir practice
having ended early. Isabelle is surprisingly gracious around him.
Lake manages to find Felix after a day of not answering her
texts, she says that whilst her mother can be the literal worst sometimes, when
it comes to mental health she has some resources, and is able to extend them to
Dawn. Isabelle and Rahim’s shared love of music and theatre sparks plenty of
conversation.
Rahim then mentions coming out, I think Isabelle had worked
out that was gay pretty quickly and responds with an interesting is flawed way
of rationalising her own reaction. Even Pilar is slightly taken aback by how
nice she’s being.
Mia and Andrew come back from the film and Mia is going off on
how unrealistic it is that the Avengers know each other. They depart for the
night with their relationship still a bit shaky.
Victor tells Benji what has a different take on it than
Victor. Victor seems to think it’s proof that she’s trying, Benji thinks it’s
galling how she will accept Rahim but not Victor and Benji. Isabelle asks
Victor to Lunch to finally talk properly, after she sings at church, which
Victor agrees to attend now.
Mia confronts Veronica the next morning, partly because of a
slightly creepy joke she made and instantly regretted and partly for reasons
that are more down to Mia. This is interrupted as Veronica is experiencing
cramps and Mia has to take her to hospital.
Dawn is talking about restoring old cars, convincing Felix
to act on Lake’s advice and offer her the therapy, unfortunately Dawn does not
take this well, telling Felix to drop it, which he agrees to do.
At the hospital, Mia has got some snacks for Veronica, she’s
got an irritable uterus, I’ll skim away from what that means but ultimately,
it’s not too serious and the baby is just fine. Veronica explains that she had
a miscarriage in grad school and was told she probably couldn’t have a viable
pregnancy again, hence this being a surprise.
Not wanting to experience the feeling of attachment and loss
again is why she calls the baby the potato, but it didn’t work, she was already
plenty attached. It’s the same feelings that’s causing Mia to put barriers
between herself and Andrew.
At the church, Father Lawrence finds Victor and tells him
that Isabelle has been praying he’ll ‘find his way back to the lord.’ Victor is
furious to hear of this and in total discomfort walks out during his mother’s
church song, it was impossible for Isabelle not to see it.
Georgina is talking to an assistant about their next news
segment as Dawn has burst in, rambling about how Georgina is trying to take
Felix away from her, and other such things and finally cementing that
self-fulfilling prophecy. Victor is pacing outside as Isabelle comes looking for
him. Victor explains in no uncertain terms that his mother’s actions are
damaging his own feelings of self-worth, and it hurts all the more feeling like
another crushing blow after making progress.
Time for even more excuses, Isabelle edition. Let me get my
world’s smallest violin. We are all a product of our past, and to an extent, I
can offer some sympathy. But ultimately, we decide how we react to things. If
you are a terrible person because you had a terrible childhood, I’m sorry but
you’re still a terrible person. In-keeping with the shows and movies I tend to
cover, a supervillain with a tragic backstory is still, fundamentally, a
supervillain.
To her credit, Isabelle some level of change, promising to
make Benji feel welcome and promising that they will talk to Adrian about
Victor being gay. It’s a start. Andrew comes to the hospital to check on Mia
and she apologises for how she acted the night before, finally lowering some of
those guards.
Felix’s mother is admitted to the psychiatric ward, on a 3-day
holding charge, once that’s up she can stay voluntarily, the social worker lets
Felix stay with Lake although he hasn’t agreed to it yet. Lake tries to keep
things positive but Felix is not happy, the social worker can petition a judge
to keep Dawn here as long as necessary or worse, remove him from her custody.
Felix is angry enough at Lake for betraying his trust that he breaks up with
her.
Benji apologises to Victor over his less than enthused
reaction, but that hasn’t really changed his stance on the matter. Felix and
his social worker arrive at the Salazar house with Felix bursting into tears,
having to find solace in Isabelle’s arms as Victor looks on, completely unaware
of anything that had been going on.
This is a good episode, advancing all the main plotlines to
a decent degree. My problems with it are going to be more about the next
episode. Though for a story titled Sincerely Rahim, Rahim plays a surprisingly
small role in proceedings.
Rating 7.5/10
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