by Nathaniel R
Is this what good fan-fiction is like? In the first awkward episode of Love, Victor... and, again in the eighth "very special" cringe-worthy episode, and, fiiine, in scattered bits inbetween in virtually all episodes, the new Hulu series perpetually draws attention to the fact that it's inspired by the motion picture Love, Simon (2018). That said it wisely positions itself as a sequel, rather than a remake.
Instead of writing to a mysterious gay schoolmate online as Simon did in the first mainstream wide release gay romcom, Victor writes to Simon himself, inspired by his story and perpetually sliding into his DMs asking for advice...
This ancient epistolary format, updated for the social media of 2020, is the weakest part of the new series. No happily coupled non-creepy college student (Simon, now living in New York) would spend this much time writing to a High Schooler he's never met and following his life like its his favourite daytime soap! Curiously, though Love Victor wears almost all of the noisiest criticisms of Love, Simon (too white / too moneyed / too easy) on its sleeve, it is undeniably besotted with its predecessor.
Victor & Mia
And yet, somehow as the series progresses, it begins to feel like it's own thing. It spins off, if you will and as it should, to become more than a mere imitation...
Love Victor isn't reinventing the wheel, mind you. To address the criticisms of the original they've basically just added a thin layer of socioeconomic awareness (Victor's family isn't wealthy and Victor is the teensiest bit self-conscious that he isn't as rich as his classmates) and racially flipped the casting from the movie; the central family is non-white while the movies former POC sidekicks are now white. The romantic interests and couplings remain interracial. It's in the "too easy" criticisms where Victor has the most opportunity and inspiration to detour from Simon's template. Simon's family was ultra perfect-liberal supportive but Victor's parents are religious and, he suspects, homophobic... though their feelings on the matter aren't broadly spelled out as they might be in a weaker "what will happen?!?" drama.
Okay, Simon has done his cameo. Can we move on now?
But however slight the revisions are -- if it aint broke don't fix it -- Love Victor is as loveable and accessible as its predeccessor with just enough humor to help the mainstream preachiness go down smoothly. The show's efforts to become its own thing are helped tremendously by the talented ensemble. Though we wished they'd cast a gay actor in the leading role, Michael Cimino does solid work and it's easy to see why his classmates fall for him. Rachel Hilson brings welcome moodiness and dimension to Victor's girlfriend Mia and their scenes together feel true as to what happens with high school romances that are half gay, Anthony Turpel and Babe Wood (Felix & Lake) bring game comic relief,. Though their characters have been written to be somewhat one dimensional (thus far), Isabella Ferrara (Pilar) and George Sear (Benji) are ijust about as perfect as moody sister and eye candy stock parts can be. Best of show, we'd argue, isn't one of the students but Ana Ortiz (Ugly Betty) as Victor's mother Isabel. Her introduction to Mia in particular is wonderfully unexpectedly chilly and she's got a meaty subplot of her own about marital troubles. James Martinez as Victor's homophobic father Armando, is unfortunately being asked to just redo his One Day at a Time role but there's room for the writers to give this character more depth and Martinez and Ortiz have strong love-gone-stale chemistry.
We hope the writers room expands and deepens storylines for Pilar, Benji, and Armando in particular but everything else feels ready and in place for an excellent second round. It might also be wise to make the socioeconomic stuff more pronounced under the umbrella of "hey, you brought it up!"
Victor's family aka the best part of the show
It takes Victor 8 episodes to come out so he's a bit slower than Simon to say the words "I'm gay" but he's got a whole series to carry on his young shoulders so he has to move with more uncertainty into fresh storylines. We pray that they ditch Simon as mentor altogether in Season 2; now that Victor is out, isn't it time to become his own man? Regardless Love, Victor is a worthy mentee, nailing all the things it learned from its mentor Love, Simon (accessible, warm, funny, friendly, broadly relatable for baby gays) while carving out enough of its own identity to justify another 10 episodes at Creekwood High.