‘Love, Victor’ Season Two Review

By Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

‘Love, Victor’ season one was all about the brighter/sweeter things in life, cliched but likable, with minor hiccups. But it’s in season two where protagonist Victor Salazar faces harsh experiences, like his mother’s struggle to accept his sexuality, the unfounded prejudice of his basketball teammates and the cold-shoulder he gets from ex-girlfriend Mia, and a disconnect with his white boyfriend who doesn’t empathize with the racial/cultural differences between their upbringing. To top it all off, Mr & Mrs Salazar are getting a divorce.

Also Read: ‘Love, Victor’ Season One Review

Plot-wise, season two definitely works better than one, the protagonists and supporting characters are already familiar to viewers, so they get more space to grow. A lot of themes that were touched upon fleetingly and superficially are explored further, like the mental-health struggles of Mrs Weston – mother of Victor’s best-friend/neighbor Felix Weston; or Mia’s (Rachel Hilson) fraught relationship with her father and stepmom.

Michael Cimino continues to be charming as Victor, and is more likable since he is no longer deceiving anybody, and getting more confident, comfortable in his own skin. This is more evident in the fact that relies less and less on Simon for advice. Cimino and George Sears (who plays the hot boyfriend Benji) make a great onscreen pair and while the first few episodes captures the excitement of being a teen couple, their relationship sees a lot of growth and its fair share of troubles. Anthony Keyvan is the only new face in the main cast, he plays Rahim, a gay Muslim teen, who is friends with Victor’s sister Pilar and turns to Victor for some advice. So we have a potential new love interest, that shakes things up a little bit.

However, ‘Love, Victor’ is no longer just about him, each of his close friends and family members get substantial sub-plots, helping viewers understand their perspectives and personal struggles. Ana Ortiz who plays mom Isabel Salazar has the greyest role in the series. She does a fantastic job of portraying a woman who fails to be supportive to her son, but eventually tries to do fix things between the two. James Martinez as Mr Salazar gets to be the more empathic parent. It was actually quite nice to see the father be the ‘softer’ and more understanding during his son’s coming-out journey; because it’s usually the moms who the ‘best parent’ award in most lgbt shows and movies.

Felix (Anthony Turpel) and Lake (Bebe Wood) continue with their relationship in season two, the two are quite adorable, but things get complicated for them when Felix realizes his mother’s mental health is deteriorating rapidly. Anthony Turpel’s Felix is easily one of the likable characters on the show, despite some serious trouble at home, the boy keeps up his good spirits and tries his best to be there for his friends and girl. Maybe the friendships on this show are unrealistically nice, but Victor has some solid/reliable bunch of buddies around him.

The pace of the show is almost pitch perfect, there’s always some little twist around the corner, a few of which are fun, like an unexpected weekend getaway, and then there are others that aren’t exactly smile inducing. If you liked Season 1, you’ll definitely love Season 2, which also has 10 episodes, but they all get over before you realize. It continues to be comfort show, with slightly better representation and more fleshed out characters than the first installment.

It’s an 8/10 from me. You can stream the series on Hulu.