'Love, Victor' Episode 8: Simon, Bram of 'Love, Simon' show Victor how free life is as open and out gay men
'Love, Victor' is a tale of a young man finding himself while handling all of the surprises that life threw at him one after another. The suspicion that he was gay was something that Victor lived with for a huge part of his high school experience and he was hoping to start afresh, without any doubts at Creekwood High. However, from the moment he stepped into Creekwood, Victor has been riddled with confusion about things that he had, in the past, assumed were true. He even begins to wonder if he is really gay after meeting Mia Brooks (Rachel Naomi Hilson).
The popular girl at Creekwood high falls hard and fast for the new kid in town and Victor also begins to see his friendship with Mia begin to progress quickly into something beautiful. He likes Mia, and the more time he spends with Mia, Victor realizes that she understands him like no one else. The fact that his family has come to love her only pushes him to further consider the possibility of trying to stay "normal". The more he tries, the more Victor realizes that he has tried to internalize all of his family's struggles and that has resulted in him trying to do as little as possible to disturb the fine balance that his mother and father have struck after the former cheated on the latter.
In all of this, the one voice of logic and support that helps Victor is that of his brand new school's alum Simon Spier (Nick Robinson). He first wrote to Simon after learning of his perfect love story that began at Creekwood High. He envies Simon's supportive friends and parent, his love story, and stresses on the fact that he is nothing like Simon. This is probably why Simon also responded to Victor and stayed in touch with him over the weeks to ensure that Victor has someone to lean on when he needs someone.
This online friendship is also what gives Victor the courage once and for all to find a way to deal with all the confusion that Victor has been feeling. Once he kisses his fellow part-time employee Benjamin during a work trip, Victor is sure that there can no longer be any confusion about his sexual identity. It is at this time that Victor gets a message from Simon about how he wishes that he could show the life that Simon and his boyfriend Bram (Keiynan Lonsdale) had built for themselves in Newyork.
Victor then has the brilliant idea to take Simon up on the offer and ends up booking tickets to New York on an impulse. He lies to his parents about a basketball trip and ends up visiting New York and it is this episode that is the best of all ten of the first season of 'Love, Victor'. In this episode, Victor faces his fears and meets a group of individuals that he doesn't know of and it is this group of people who are a mix of gay, transgender, gender-fluid individuals who introduce Victor to what life could be like if he were to open up to them and also own his identity.
Initially, when Victor first arrives at Bram's house, he is uncomfortable at the thought of opening up to a strange group of people. However, Bram understands that Victor is uncomfortable with the idea of gay men having to fit into the stereotype of what gay men are supposed to look and act like. So Bram takes Victor out for a basketball game where Victor meets men who are way more talented than he is and later also learns that every one of them is gay and Victor finds this surprising.
It is very recently that Victor began researching and studying about sexual orientation and identity, so he still finds the idea of a 6-foot man possibly being gay incomprehensible. In more ways than one, this episode helps Victor break out of all the heteronormative ideas of being gay that he was fed all this while and in one fell swoop, Victor finally finds himself. It is exhilarating and even empowering to know that a part of you that you haven't been able to own for a very long time is now something that you hold close and cherish. This episode captures this emotion really well and then it gives us more.
At one point during his New York trip, Victor realizes that Simon had shared his story with all of his flatmates and that makes him feel betrayed and for a moment, he even feels as if everyone is laughing at things that he shared with Simon. However, it is at this moment that Simon appears in time to relieve Victor of all the doubts. He explains how Victor and Simon are not the same people and to help him, it was important to share inputs from people who have had similar experiences before.
That is when Victor wonders why a strange bunch of people would readily help him, despite not knowing him. To this Simon answers that these people might not know him personally but they understand the struggle that Victor is going through better than anyone as his friends had gone through it all themselves. This group of people is more than just friends. They are family who supported each other while their entire family stood against them in some cases, that kind of unconditional support is powerful and it is this experience that gives Victor the courage to come out to his best friend Felix. By portraying this experience of Victor's, this episode turned out to be the best of the show.
All episodes of 'Love, Victor' released on June 17 and can be streamed on Hulu.