Love, Victor (Series)

Love, Simon was one of the most talked about queer movies of 2018. No wonder makers came up with a wonderful idea of doing a spin off of the film. This is a 10 part series telecast on Hulu.

Victor is a Latin teenager, whose family has just moved to the new city and will now be going to the same school that became popular thanks to Simon's perfect love story. His parents are from a modest family and he has a sister and a younger brother. The parents moved out of their home because the mother had an affair, which the kids eventually find out. Simon is struggling with his sexuality and is not sure if he is gay, straight or something else. He introduces himself to Simon and they both start chatting on instagram, with Simon giving Victor advice. Victor soon makes best friends with Felix and before you know him and Mia, a popular girl in school, start going out. We are also introduced to Benji, the openly gay kid in school who part time works at a barista. Victor feels attracted to Benji, gets a job at same cafe, but is still very much dating Mia and is still confused. On a work trip Victor ends up kissing Benji confusing him even further and that freaks Benji out because he has been in a stable relationship with his boyfriend. Embarrassed, Victor decides to take a trip to New York having heard so much about it from Simon. There he meets Simon's boyfriends and their room mates and is literally introduced to the gay scene. He is initially awkward with the openness of it all but eventually warms up to it and realizes and accepts that he is in fact gay. Felix is the first person he comes out to, who as expected is quite cool about it. He wants to tell Mia asap but there is never the right time. On the dance night, kiss between Benji and Victor comes out and Benji breaks up with his bf and kisses Victor which Mia sees and is heartbroken. Victor decides to go home and come out to his parents. He does that and season ends. I am guessing there is scope for season 2.

Interestingly, Victor is the only character who is shown with a full graph and character. He is cute an everything he does is mature, nuanced and humane. So him doing this with Mia seems a little out of place but its ok in the larger context since the other teens are actual teenagers. I mean clearly Victor is harboring a crush on Benji but he goes ahead with Mia as his girlfriend to avoid any school perceptions. I have fixed feeling about it, because at one point I feel its 2020 and people in US at least can be open but then, who I am to judge. Every person's story is different and we all have the right to explore, accept and come out with our story in our own way. The other characters, like most teen shows, are there to use up almost 5 hours time to fill in the context with being a web series, but a lot of them is really not needed. It really depends on how the makers want to extend the show further beyond season 1. This series could engage with the material and the other characters much more deeply than it does, but it keeps good track of Victor’s emotional journey. This is a story that doesn't need to be stretched and thats why Love, Simon worked very well as a film. Here, you get invested in characters storylines but you never connect with them at the deepest level and feel for them. The soul is somehow missing.

I would say, this series is strictly average. Don't have very high expectations, especially is you were a lover of the film like I was. Worth watching though just for Victor's charm and if teen stories really are your thing. (6/10)