Boy Does Love, Victor Know How To End A Season!

*SPOILERS FOR SEASON TWO*

Looking back to the end of season one, there was a bombshell dropped - an expected, but very meaningful moment. Regardless of the fact that we knew it would happen at some point, the show successfully builds up to Victor coming out. The dialogue is so finely written: Benji asks Victor if he’s ever even said the words “I’m gay” and those are the exact final words of the episode, and by extension the first season, when he comes out to his family.

In the final episode of the second season, we are given another huge ending moment like the first season, but this time there is a perfect sequence leading up to it. With Sam Smith’s cover of Time After Time as the soundtrack, these characters are all pushed to a point of clarity in their lives. Victor looks at his phone and sees that the nearest Uber is 15 minutes away and so decides to dramatically run to whoever’s house he is going to. Felix shows up to tell Pilar that he also doesn’t want to be friends, to which Pilar hilariously replies “It’s kind of rude and unnecessary to say, but-”, and Felix kisses her to show what he actually meant. Lake and Lucy see each other outside the wedding venue, and Lucy asks about how it went with Felix. They share a moment, and Lucy asks Lake if she’d like to hang out, with a bottle of champagne in her hand. There is then another short, funny clip of Victor running. Mia’s dad, Harold, knocks on Mia’s door only to find that she’s not there and has left a note on her bed. Mia and Andrew are in a car on their way to find Mia’s mum. Victor’s mum, Isabel, is eating ice cream when there’s a knock on the door, behind which turns out to be Armando, Victor’s dad, with hot fudge, and they kiss. We return to Victor running, only for him to get a phone call from Simon. Victor tells Simon that he actually doesn’t need his advice for once, and that he’s figured it out already. He tells Simon that he’s grateful for the help that he’s given him, but that he thinks he’s ready for this next chapter on his own. We then see Victor ring a doorbell, and the door opens and he says “Hi”, only we don’t see who it is. All of this really gives us a really great and beautiful ending, but also sets us up wonderfully for the next season.

The characters are all so well thought about, played so well by the incredible cast, and most importantly to me, the discussions and actions that they have and take directly impact each other, creating the great web of a story there is in the show. A good show has characters that act like a pinball machine, all contributing and pushing it in so many different ways, and this show really does that.

Most teen dramas bring in a second love interest to create a love triangle, and so with Love, Victor, it is Rahim. Now I love the dynamic that Victor and Rahim have, but I agree with most people that this is just a friendship dynamic. Rahim and Victor share many great moments throughout the season, but their best time together is the day where they skip school. For both of them the reason to skip school has a lot of weight; for Rahim it is that he came out to his family, and for Victor it is that Benji decided he needed a break from their relationship. The whole day they connect, but it is when they spontaneously decide to sneak into a gay bar and karaoke sing Justin Bieber’s ‘Holy’ that they really connect. Although this is all stuff you would do with your friends, I guess for Victor he has someone new in his life that he is unsure of how he feels about. He is trying to navigate through these feelings and decide whether what he feels for Rahim is friendship love or romantic love. I would argue that this is friendship love, but I love Rahim and he deserves to find the same electric love that there is between Victor and Benji.

What Victor and Benji have is the kind of love everyone is looking for - the head over heels, completely and equally smitten and obsessed with each other kind of love. To give up on this would be a betrayal to the show, and these characters need to realise the worth of what they have and fight for it. The chemistry that Victor and Benji have is insane, and anybody who has watched the show can clearly see that. In the scene from the first season where Benji tells Victor that he broke up with Derek, the eye contact that they have and the way they just sit there in their happiness at just being together in each other’s presence is a truly special moment. Pure unabashed joy radiates from Victor, especially when he walks away and looks back. The fact that it wasn’t them getting together out of convenience, but choosing to be together, even if it is the harder choice, is really significant. Benji and Derek’s relationship could’ve continued after Victor took the blame, but instead Benji broke up with Derek and chose to be with Victor. In the second season, Victor and Benji share so many great moments, despite the bad ones. Victor comes out to the whole school with Benji by his side, the couple have sex for the first time, and Benji does a dance to cheer on Victor at basketball. Like they did in the first season, I really hope that choosing to be together is something that is continued, even though again it is the harder decision, as this time they will have to work through their trust issues.

Every show is benefitted by a ‘Stiles’ (character from Teen Wolf), and this show very much finds its Stiles in Felix. You cannot tell me that Felix isn’t the Stiles of Love, Victor because I simply will not accept. He is a lovable, funny and caring character that isn’t popular, but is cool in his own way - something which Lake doesn’t see at first, but she comes to find out. It is almost as if all these characters can line up with traits of Teen Wolf characters, but none match up in quite the same way as Felix does to Stiles. In Victor, we can see both Scott and Allison - he is on a sports team and is the heart of the show like Scott, but he is also the new kid like Allison. Mia has traits of Allison, but also Lydia, as she is the tough hot girl with family issues like Allison, but she has also been through a lot of heartache and pain like Lydia. Lake also has a few characteristics that line up with Lydia, most obviously in the way that she dresses, her hair colour, and her being the popular girl. Andrew is like the Jackson in the beginning, but actually ends up giving us so much more as a character than Jackson, and becomes the partner that Mia deserves. Benji reminds me of Isaac, not only in the way that the actors are both British putting on American accents, but in the way that he is always there for Victor in the same way that Isaac is always there for Scott. There are so many more parallels, and an important one is how much the cast love each other and connect so well. This comparison isn’t to take anything away from the show, but instead to say how much I love how it’s taking so many things that we know and showing them in different ways, and adding so much more in some cases.

I love Felix and Lake, but something about them together just didn’t work - Lake in particular felt like a character that wasn’t living up to her potential. When the season finale of season two happened with the scene between her and Lucy it was as if it unlocked the potential of this character to me. Lake’s character should make sense - she has witty lines and a cold exterior but warm heart, but something about her character just didn’t make sense to me, and it was really bugging me that I didn’t know what. When Lucy said the words “I never really saw you with him anyway”, it suddenly made sense to me. For that reason, I personally am very much here for Lake x Lucy and don’t think it will be rushed or forced. It isn’t as if the show is introducing a random new character, and I think the show will do it right because of how it has dealt with the other relationships and character interactions.

Felix and Pilar have a connection where they understand and can truly be themselves around each other. With Felix and Lake, they clearly like and care about each other, but there is a bit of a disconnect in how they choose to love each other. This is how Felix’s situation is different to Victor’s, even though they are paralleled in the last episode. The way in which Victor and Benji choose to love each other is their greatest strength, and their weakness is their trust issues.

Victor’s parents are also paralleled to Victor’s situation in the final episode. The troubles with his parents are due to many factors, but this season the main issue is that Isabel refuses to change and accept her son’s sexuality, whereas Armando is ready to work towards accepting and supporting his son. Once Isabel has begun to change and unlearn the homophobia she was taught from a young age, she then sees the worth of her own love and family. Armando seeing how Isabel has changed, but also how much they have with their family and love, is ready to accept her and go back to their marriage.

I’m here to give Mia and Andrew their flowers because they deserve the world. Mia has been through so much heartache, and even more so this season. When she finally realises that she might like Andrew, he is now in a relationship with Lucy. She then accidentally falls for an artsy college boy, who turns out to be a total jerk; another devastating blow. Things do work out in the end, as Lucy steps away from her relationship, and Mia and Andrew finally get together. Her family troubles continue from last season, and break her down more than her love life. This season, Mia finds out that her dad wants to move her away from Creekwood to Stanford for his career. She asks him to just choose their family over his career for once, and he agrees, but behind her back accepts the job. When she finds out that he lied, it is the biggest heartbreak of all for her. Mia really cannot catch a break, but she stays tough throughout. She is smart, talented, both obviously and canonically the prettiest girl at Creekwood, and a character that always listens to and cares about what her friends are going through, even when she is going through things herself. I’m glad that she has Andrew now, and is setting off on a new journey to find her mum.

Andrew is always there for Mia, and respects her and her wishes. This season he is really supportive of Victor, and helps him with the basketball team. Some members of the team complain about having to change with Victor, and to this Andrew tells Victor to show them how good he is so they realise how dumb they’re being. When this doesn’t work, Andrew tries to work things out himself, and convinces the team to embrace Victor showing this through a lovely gesture of dying their hair pink. He also helps Felix and Mia at various points throughout the season. Andrew is always there to help people talk through their issues, and is always respectful. He is a great character who really takes the popular jock stereotype and shatters it.

Simon’s absence throughout this season says a lot. It is difficult for Victor to navigate through his life, but this season he realises that he has to work out these issues by making decisions himself and discussing them with the people in his life. He is growing without Simon’s help, even if he is failing at times. Simon calling at a crucial point for Victor is important, as Victor has finally made his decision on his own and realised that he doesn’t need Simon’s help. I don’t think this will be the last we see of Simon, as there seems to be something going on in his life (apart from him growing out his hair and a beard), which maybe he could use Victor’s help with.

Either way, what we know for sure is that they would be crazy not to make a season three. I’m sure they would receive a lot of backlash for cancelling it, and rightly so. This show is really doing something special with a cast that connects so well - it is really rare for a show like this to come along. The reason I brought up Teen Wolf is because it’s a show and characters that I also felt this connected to, and was the show that I watched when I was the same age as the protagonists. Love, Victor knows how to write characters and the interactions they have so well that I would really be heartbroken to see it go. I’m really excited about the paths of all of the characters, and appreciated the fact that they were all included in the final sequence side by side, as although Victor is the heart of the show, all of them are important. I have every faith that even though it may not be Benji behind that specific door, Benji will be the one Victor chooses.