Love, Victor (Hulu) S01: B+

This is a sequel, of sorts, to the film Love, Simon starred by Nick Robinson who serves as producer of this show. Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger who wrote the film are the creators of this show. They introduced us the world of Simon at Creekwood High and now life after him and the legacy he left in the school for other gay students.

Victor (played by Michael Cimino) just moved to Atlanta, his family had to move from Texas for work reasons. Hi sister Pilar (played by Isabella Ferreira) is having a hard time to adapt to the new school. Victor on the other hand is having some secret help by Simon. Victor heard about Simon and decided to DM him, and he becomes his confident and the first person that Victor tells how he has a crush for both men and women. Simon helps Victor figure himself out.

In essence Victor follows a story arc very similar to what we saw in the film with Simon, but now we have the opportunity to get to know more characters. Like Felix (played by Anthony Turpel) he is Victor's neighbour and his guide to Creekwood. He becomes his best friend and like Victor a very complicated love life.

At home things are not as perfect as they seem, soon Pilar discovers the real reason behind the move, there is a secret that their parents are hiding from them (played by James Martínez and Ana Ortíz). Lets pause here for a moment I was thrilled the first time I saw Ana Ortíz playing Isabel, Victor's mom. She is an amazing actress I'm a big fan of her since Ugly Betty where she also played another terrific mom. At one point she sings us a little bit of the song Dreaming of You by Selena, it gave me goosebumps of the good kind.

The first couple of episodes the series seems to be playing it safe, actually it did played it safe the whole season. I think mostly because they wanted to please the Disney+ gods. But apparently this PG teen series was too risky for the Disney+ brand and decided to drop the series a couple of months before its release and moved it to Hulu.

For me this move speaks tons about the whole Disney+ brand. I think it is discrimination and I believe that they are very afraid to touch topics like sexuality. I'm glad they have Hulu so they can be hypocrites and still release this type of content, more mature content. But trust me 90210, Gossip Girl or Riverdale have much mature content that the innocent life of Victor.

Even Hilary Duff expressed her unconformity with the company, apparently days before the cancelation of Love, Victor her revival of Lizzie Maguire halted production over creative differences between the production team and Disney+. She was wishing that Lizzie could be moved over to Hulu just as Victor. But that didn't happen. Duff mentioned that Disney wanted an unrealistic thirty something year old Lizzie living her life as an adult.

Why Disney is so afraid of showing the story of a teen having an internal battle between liking girls or liking boys. No one in this season talked about drugs, teen pregnancies, or gun control. It was the honest picture of a boy discovering himself. Still this was apparently too much. I hope, first that the series gets renewal order, and second that they forget the whole thing about the Disney+ brand and push some important matters and more mature themes. This story arc can grow along with the characters thru high school.

Another amazing character came in the form of Lake played by the extraordinary Bebe Wood. At her young age she is a veteran after The New Normal and The Real O'Neals Bebe returns to my screen as the best friend of Mia (played by Rachel Hilson) and love interest for Felix. Bebe has great one liners and is overall fabulous on her role and then we discover what she's hiding behind that sometimes charming sometimes annoying mask she wears to school.

Rachel Hilson also has an extensive career for her young age from This Is Us and Rise her more bigger parts. She and George Sear who plays Benji, an openly gay student at their high school are the romantic interest for our Victor. Who is torn between a girl he really likes spending time with, and that his parents would approve and the boy that makes his heart beat faster but that his family might not approve.

The story does expand beyond the love life of Victor and gives us some other threads to follow and would expand this story for more seasons to come if Hulu decides to renew it. A great binge for the weekend if you like high school dramas.