Varun Patel
Hulu’s ‘Love, Victor’ is a show which portrays a rather wholesome journey involving its titular character coming out of the closet. The show proves to live up to the expectations of ‘Love, Simon‘ fans. The Hulu series is set in the same world as the 2018 movie. The film was originally meant to be released on Disney+. However, it was uploaded on Hulu thanks to some of its more mature themes that do not align with the audience of Disney+. The series proves to be an inclusive masterpiece, making every viewer feel optimistic each episode.
The titular role is essayed by Michael Cimino from ‘Annabelle Comes Home.’ Some of the other cast members include Isabella Ferreira, George Sear, Rachel Naomi Hilson, and Anthony Turpel.
Love, Victor Plot Summary:
‘Love, Victor’ begins with Victor beginning his sophomore year at Creekwood High School after his family moves to Atlanta. His younger sister, Pilar joins the freshman year of the same school. Victor initially intends on being true to his homosexual identity. However, he ends up hiding it due to heteronormative pressures. For support, he starts texting Simon from ‘Love, Simon,’ since he has heard of his coming-out tale.
The Salazars’ awkward neighbor, Felix quickly becomes friends with Victor and the two are in the same class. Victor also befriends the school’s most popular girl, Mia. He ends up dating Mia to portray himself as a “normal” kid. However, he starts to explore his sexuality and try and see whether he is attracted to girls as well.
Apart from that, Victor develops a massive crush on Benji, a confident, gay guy in school. Since he needs $500 to register for the school’s basketball team, Victor starts working at the same cafe as Benji. However, Benji is in a relationship too. On the other hand, he and Pilar find out that their family shifted to Atlanta after their mother cheated on their father with his boss. Their father had ended up punching his boss, getting fired as a result.
Felix has a crush on Mia’s best friend, Lake who is paranoid about her public image due to a perfectionist mother. Their love story progresses simultaneously as well. When Victor realizes that he is not attracted to girls at all, he takes a trip to New York to meet Simon. Having a great experience with Simon’s friends, he returns to Atlanta with the confidence to come out of the closet. He opens up to Felix first. However, before he can tell Mia about it, she (Mia) sees him kiss Benji at the spring fling (Benji has broken up with his boyfriend). Victor is unable to explain himself to an understandably upset Mia.
However, Victor is determined to come out of the closet to his family. At home, his parents announce that they have decided to separate temporarily in order to figure out whether their relationship can work. Hence, Victor momentarily decides to delay his announcement. However, he ends up changing his minding and says “I am gay.” That is where the first season ends.
Love, Victor Ending Explained:
‘Love, Victor’ ends on what seems like a cliffhanger. The big question that remains unanswered in the end is: how do Victor’s parents react to his announcement of being gay?
Despite the open-ended nature of it, the ending proves to be a powerful one with a rather wholesome massage. For starters, one of the pieces of advice that Victor gets is the fact that he cannot control how others react to the truth. However, the truth still ought to be told. Hence, the fact that the reaction of Victor’s parents is not shown signifies how it does not matter. Victor coming out is about him, not about anybody else. It shouldn’t matter what his parents (or anybody else) think.
There are two ways in which the parents could have reacted to Victor’s announcement. Owing to the generally feel-good nature of the show, it is quite likely that the parents might have reacted positively. It is true that Victor’s parents are depicted to be conservative. However, they are also shown to be understanding and loving. Hence, possibly they might begrudgingly accept it.
On the other hand, ‘Love, Victor’ has also been quite realistic in its portrayal of human nature and the slowness of change. Hence, the second season might stress on one or both the parents not fully accepting Victor’s sexuality. The writers might use the premise to show the ways in which conservative families often end up rejecting a person’s sexuality by tending to assume, for example, that it might be a “phase” or not fully comprehending that sexuality is fluid.
Either way, there is bound to be some conflict. If Victor’s parents do not accept his sexuality, he will have a longer battle to fight to be accepted. On the other hand, if they seem to accept it, their conservative worldview would not change overnight. There would still be some remnant heteronormativity and other, minor issues regarding acceptance that Victor would have to face. For example, Benji tells Victor that his relationship with his father changed considerably after he came out of the closet. Hence, Victor might feel slightly alienated from his parents and might have to resolve those issues in the upcoming seasons.
Read More: Is Love, Victor a Sequel to Love, Simon
