The Pride of TV: Hulu’s ‘Love Victor’

A Hulu TV piece which is fearless in diverging from its counterpart movie (Love, Simon), is Love, Victor. The show has grappled with its audience during its third and final season, closing the exploration of the inner gay world of Creekwood High. Albeit Hulu might not be as explosive as Netflix’s Heartstopper or as playful as the bi-inclines of Amazon’s The Summer I Turned Pretty, Hulu’s Love Victor is more brutal in exposing the fantasy and highlighting an internal world of rejection, mental illness, and the frustration of how to feel in a heterosexual environment.

alcohol addiction thrusts him into a world of loneliness where he must break up with Victor

Love, Victor doesn’t limit itself to one, two, or even three LGBT+ characters, but multiple characters, which are shown to have an equal effect on one another when relationships aren’t washed with heteronormativity. Victor (Michael Cimino) is stuck with his traditionally Latino parents who cannot fathom Victor’s sexuality, and Benji’s (George Sear) alcohol addiction thrusts him into a world of loneliness where he must break up with Victor. Whilst these two central characters are under the limelight, Rahim’s (Anthony Keyvan) experience of rejection from Victor carries a hefty weight for Hulu’s LGBT+ audience who can sympathise that even when they have finally found another gay guy who ticks all the boxes – it’s simply too good to be true. Furthermore, Hulu executes its multiplicity of plot points with its character Lake (Bebe Wood), best friend of Mia (Rachel Naomi Hilson), who also dated Victor, which sets them on the path of discovering her bisexuality in the final season. 

Yes, I know, these plot points are all very brief and confusing. Hitherto, I could elaborate on the characters all day, though it’s the issues Love, Victor raises to not only Hulu’s LGBT+ audience, but also to parents, friends, and many others who feel Love Victor is candid in portraying true stories. At first, I was unsure that the parents of characters like Felix (Anthony Turpel) – Victor’s friend and closest advisor – would be relevant to a show focused on an LGBT+ story. When Felix’s mum was shown to be on an extreme medication for bipolar disorder, it dawned on me that Felix’s feelings of hopelessness and lack of help for his mother weren’t too dissimilar to the familiar feelings of LGBT+ characters in the show. Felix’s home life was one of the same, with Benji, Victor, and Rahim  –gay characters who all embark on a chasm of confusion, hopelessness, and emptiness. These are shown from addiction to awkward parents, and to the void of rejection and loneliness. Perhaps Love, Victor is not so much a message for the LGBT+ community alone, but for everyone, to show that treating inclusivity is not restricted to a specific community of people. It is universal. 

choose what is best for you

It would be unjust to discuss Love, Victor further without leaving a critical note on its setting. Creekwood High was centre stage for the movie Love, Simon, and the same was for Love, Victor. The motifs of a school setting have always provided ample opportunity to spin the wheel of doubt, love, and friendships when everyone is thrown into one. It is almost impossible to avoid one another, causing characters to settle disputes and make them think in an educational setting, which is portrayed by Love, Victor as socially opportunistic. When the characters have been avoiding each other all summer after the second season, Creekwood’s magic sizzles up the long-awaited confrontation between Lake and Felix’s past relationship, whilst Rahim’s anger at Victor for ditching him lingers in the air. Still, it isn’t the drama and heightened anger which closes the series for good, but a collective journey between LGBT+ characters who can settle their differences, understand one another, and appreciate what being YOU is all about. Love, Victor proposes perhaps, a what if, and a can be of a happy notebook ending that is possible, providing that everyone is willing to step up and give love a shot. 

As the series has come to a close, Michael Cimino had some words to say on its circular message depicted in the iconic final scene on the Ferris wheel – as Simon (Nick Robinson) had done with Bran (Keiynan Lonsdale) in Love, Simon. Cimino shares: “They did need some time to figure out themselves… I think that’s such an important message to share… Instead of being like, ‘you are my person out of naivete,’ it’s, ‘he is my person out of experience.” Cimino captures the beauty of not only of the ‘what if’ ending, but what it takes to get there both with each other and by speaking with yourself – to choose what is best for you.