‘Simonverse’ fans, rejoice! “Love, Victor” has officially been released on Hulu. For those who aren’t caught up, “Love, Victor” tells the story of Victor, whose family has moved to Georgia from Texas. Taking place one year after the events of 2018’s “Love, Simon”, “Love, Victor” is a tale of a kid trying to figure out who he truly is, all while dealing with the upheaval of moving and changing schools. If this is your first time hearing of the Simonverse, we’ll catch you up to speed so you can enjoy a “Love, Victor” binge session. Be warned, spoilers ahead for “Love, Simon”.
“Love, Simon”, a film adaptation of Becky Albertalli’s 2015 novel Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, tells the story of closeted gay teen Simon Spier (Nick Robinson) and his struggle with his sexuality. The movie is a loving combination of rom-com and whodunit which leaves the audience wondering who “Blue”, the anonymous student that Simon started to have feelings for when they began communicating over email, is. When Martin Addison (Logan Miller) discovers Simon and Blue’s correspondences, he begins to blackmail Simon. Simon, who isn’t ready to officially come out, is forced to play along and help Martin start a relationship with Abby Suso (Alexandra Shipp), one of Simon’s friends. However, that doesn’t last long when a failed homecoming scheme of Martin’s causes him to expose Simon’s emails with Blue to the entire school. By the end of the movie, however, it is revealed that “Blue” was actually Bram (Keiynan Lonsdale), one of Simon’s friends who was also scared to reveal his sexuality.
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“Love, Victor” follows a similar vein to its movie predecessor. Victor (Michael Cimino) has just moved to Atlanta with his family in the middle of the school year. He now attends Creekwood High, the same school that Simon attends. Victor sees this as a new start, a way for him to start a journey of self-discovery. In order to help himself through this turbulent time, Victor starts talking with Simon online. It’s a classic teen media plot, but with a twist. Victor struggles with his sexuality, not unlike Simon did.
Why then, you might be asking, does “Love, Victor” exist if it sounds so similar to “Love, Simon”? Well, the overall plot of teenage boys trying to find a way to handle everything going on in their lives while also trying to figure out who they’re attracted to is where the similarities end. As we see in the main trailer for “Love, Victor”, Victor doesn’t know exactly who he is attracted to, while Simon was 100% gay. It’s an internal debate plenty of people face every day, and to see the main character obviously struggle with it in media is a big step towards more normalization of different love stories.
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Simon, in both the book and the movie, also had a support group behind him once he was unwillingly outed. His parents eventually understand, and though there was tension between his friends because he kept his identity secret, said tension is resolved by the end of the movie when all of Simon’s close friends cheer him on as he and Bram share a kiss on the Ferris wheel. From the trailer, it seems that Victor’s family is not so open to the idea of Victor not being straight. Just like seeing him truly figure out his sexuality, dealing with more traditional family members is an important aspect of the life of an LGBTQ+ teen to show in mainstream media. It’ll help those LGBTQ+ kids who are watching “Love, Victor” see that they aren’t alone, and it’ll show heterosexual people just one of the myriad of struggles that LGBTQ people face behind closed doors.
“Love, Victor” is now available to stream on Hulu.