I basically sobbed my way to writing this post. I fell head over heels for this show. When I finished it, I didn’t want to write a review. Which is weird, because I have this deep, burning love for it inside of me and I usually want to share that here. I just feel like anything I could write about it wouldn’t do it and what I’m feeling justice. I don’t want to talk about just what I liked about. This show was so good and touched me so deeply for so many more reasons than that. But I do want to talk about, because I have things to say about it. This show touched me and I want to share that. So, this won’t really be a review. It’ll still be a lot of me rambling, but i’ll be a bit more personal rambling. Really, this show is just incredible special and I’m going to take the chance to talk about what it left me feeling.
When watching this show, I would message my friends in the middle of scene stating my opinion. Then, thirty seconds later I’d have to go say nevermind. Thirty more seconds and I would have to go take back my nevermind. Because this show is messy. It’s the best kind of messy, so things developed at the drop of a hat. It’s messy because Victor is figuring things out. It’s messy because life is messy. It’s messy because teens have feelings and sometimes those feelings are big and hard to explain. Just, messy queer stories are becoming some of my absolute favorites.
This show is so queer. I know that seems like it should be obvious, but it’s so passionately queer. And it’s not queer because of a romance. It’s queer because Victor is queer. It’s queer because he’s trying to figure things out. He’s queer without being in a romance. He’s queer because he is. It’s messily queer, it’s happily queer, and sometimes it’s painful. But it’s achingly real. I look at what Victor went through and I remember telling myself “no” every time I thought I might be bi because I didn’t think I could be. I look at Victor trying to figure out his attraction and I remember trying to parse out whether I actually liked girls, if I ever wanted to be in a relationship with on, if I really thought I could like a girl. Gosh, I saw my own queerness in him and what he went through and it kind of makes me choke up.
The queer community was one of the best parts of this show too. Victor reaches out to Simon for help because he’s confused about what he’s feeling. And Simon helps him out. But he also gets help from other queer people. He learns that he has so many people in his corner and who love and support him. And it’s just one of the best things to see. To see such passionately queer people helping another queer person who’s trying to figure out who he is. And Victor is such a disaster gay, it’s fantastic haha.
And this show has so much more too. The humor! It’s amazing. I loved how it was quick moments in between painful ones, but also just character’s being absolute weirdos because they’re weirdos.
THAT LEADS ME TO THE FRIENDSHIPS. Wow, the friendships are so supportive. AND HI I LOVE FELIX. Felix is such a solid, solid dude. He’s weird and he’s funny, but he’s supportive and loving and the hug between him and Victor. Oh, he’s just such a nice guy. I loved seeing two guys be friends. I loved seeing such a great female friendship between Blake and Mia too. Seeing friends support each other was just wonderful.
I loved how I fell in love with Blake, even though she seemed like she was going to be the annoying best friend. I loved how she and Felix had their own story. I loved how Blake struggled with self image and I loved how Felix had his own struggles. I loved Mia and seeing how she struggled with family. All of these characters were people I could connect with. All of these characters were people I fell completely in love with. I loved, loved how they all seemed to grow into themselves.
Really, this show touched me in a way I didn’t think it would. I went into it thinking I would enjoy it, but I didn’t think I would fall this in love with it. It’s sweet and it’s messy and it’s painful and it’s happy. It’s such a great, great show. It’s such a great queer show. It felt so special to me. Really, I could go on and on about how much I loved it. I loved it so much.