‘Love, Victor’ Season 2 Recap: The Refresher You Need Before Season 3
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Spinning off of the 2018 film “Love, Simon,” adapted from Becky Albertali’s book “Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda,” Season 3 of “Love, Victor” has arrived just in time for Pride month.
Season 3 of “Love, Victor” will be available to watch on Hulu and Disney+ this round, and it premieres on June 15. It’s been a year since viewers have watched the Creekwood gang navigate young adult life, and a lot happened after Victor came out to his parents.
Get up to speed with our comprehensive “Love, Victor” Season 2 recap below.
Victor Comes Out to His Parents
At the end of Season 1, but also at the beginning of Season 2, Victor (Michael Cimino) comes out to his parents right after they’ve told him and his sister Pilar (Isabella Ferreira) that they are going to separate for a little while to see if they can salvage their marriage. Victor’s dad Armando (James Martinez) asks “What about Mia?” and “When did you decide this?” and Victor’s mom Isabel (Ana Ortiz) doesn’t really acknowledge it at all besides saying they’ll discuss it in the morning. Pilar gives her brother a hug pretty much right away.
Also Read:
‘Love, Victor’ to End With Season 3 – Here’s the Premiere Date
Summer Bubble
Victor and Benji (George Sear) are together now, and so are Felix (Anthony Turpel) and Lake (Bebe Wood), officially. The foursome has hung out all summer with Mia (Rachel Hilson) away at camp as a counselor. Andrew (Mason Gooding) has started dating Lucy (Ava Capri), who is one of Benji’s friends.
Victor invites Felix, Lake and Benji over for dinner at his family’s apartment. His mom is making chicken guisado, but when Victor tells his mom that Benji is coming over, and then she sees them kiss outside, she dumps the perfectly good food into the trash, claiming it got burnt and telling the kids to go out and get pizza instead. She then claims she isn’t feeling well when the kids order pizza to the house, and snaps at Victor when he asks her to push through it.
When Mia comes home from camp earlier than expected, she calls Lake to hang out and escape her dad Harold and his pregnant fiancée Veronica (Sophia Bush), but Lake and Felix are going to a bonfire at Lake Lainier with Victor and Benji to close out their summer. Lake tells Mia to come anyway, and Mia heads to pick up Chinese food, runs into Andrew who sent her a care package and note saying he wanted to be with her over the summer, sees he is dating Lucy and then drives the hour to the lake only to get back in her car when she sees Victor and Benji together.
Armando Buys Adrian a Turtle
Victor’s dad moves out of their current apartment to a new one, and when Adrian comes over and he asks him what would make the apartment more fun, they end up going to the pet store, where Adrian picks out a turtle. On the way home, Adrian realizes they forgot to buy a second cage for Isabelle’s apartment, and Armando says he only intended for Heather the turtle to stay at his place. Adrian doesn’t want to miss his turtle and his dad, so he says they should return her, but Armando gives in and buys another cage.
When he visits Isabel that night, she confesses that she didn’t handle Benji coming over very well, and Armando tells her it’s hard for him too, but he has to wrap his head around it because it’s who his son is and he loves Victor.
The First Day of School Round Two
Victor claims he is ready to come out and tell the world he is with Benji on the first day of the new school year. His mom warns him that kids can be cruel and he can’t take back what he says once he says it, which gets in his head. Victor sees Mia and tries to apologize to her. Then his basketball teammates ask if they are still together and he says no, and they immediately assume it’s something to do with Mia and not Victor. Victor shies away from telling the guys he’s gay and dating Benji.
Mia’s dad invites her to a Botany Department social at the nearby college where he works, and she strikes up a conversation with a college freshman Tyler, to whom she gives her number at the end of the night.
The next day, the Creekwood gossip mill has gone to work and people are spreading rumors that Mia cheated on Victor with a guy at camp. Victor takes a swing at one of his teammates who takes things too far with Mia, and of course gets in trouble, but his parents don’t punish him because he came to her aid.
Following the bumpy first few days, Victor stands up on a chair in the hallway and declares that he is gay, and that is why he and Mia broke up over the summer. He also shares that he is dating Benji now, and they walk off hand in hand down the hallway.
Also Read:
‘Love, Victor’ Returns to Disney+ After All
Felix Is the Man of the House
On the first day of school, Pilar overhears Felix talking to their landlord about needing a few more days to get him the month’s rent. When she asks Felix what he was talking to the landlord about, he isn’t honest with her and then Victor walks out and they are off to school.
Felix’s mom has bipolar disorder, and her manic depression set in recently. Normally Felix waits it out because it doesn’t last too long, but this time she stopped going to work and lost her job. The first episode ends with Felix eyeing a “Past Due” rent notice on their fridge when he is also trying to get his mom to eat something.
Pilar later finds Felix doing his homework outside on the front steps, and she invites him to open up again. This time he confides in her and tells her he is $200 short on rent. Without much thought, Pilar pulls an envelope of cash out of her backpack — her tips from selling pretzels at her summer job — and gives $200 to Felix. She and her friends were saving up for Billie Eilish tickets, but she lies to Felix and says the concert has already sold out. He promises to pay her back.
The Basketball Boys
Victor’s coach calls him into his office to ask if he would feel more comfortable changing in a separate room from his teammates, and it later comes out that some of them have expressed concern about Victor watching them change. This is all in light of his recent announcement about his sexuality.
Victor confides in Andrew about everything since he is team captain, and Andrew convinces Victor to just show up at practice and play like he normally does, and then his teammates will see that he is still the same person.
Mia Gets Drunk, and Felix Starts a Side Business
Tyler tells Mia he is going to stop by a college party, and she gets pretty drunk without Tyler showing up. She invited Lake and Felix to come too, but Felix has started a side hustle of writing essays for his classmates to make money and pay rent. He tells Lake he wants to use the money to buy DJing equipment, but then when he keeps making them late for the party with Mia, he finally tells Lake the truth, and she stays behind to help him. Benji gets a text from his ex-boyfriend Derek, who sees Mia at the party, and Victor goes to pick her up and take her home. She confesses to him that she feels like she’s not allowed to be mad at him, and they say they still want to be there for each other. Tyler FaceTimes Mia and she tells him she’s actually in high school, and he still wants to hang out with her.
Armando Finds PFLAG
After Victor got into the fight over Mia at school, Armando does some googling and finds PFLAG, a group of parents with gay kids that meet every other week. He decides to go, and there he meets Simon’s dad (Josh Duhamel) who runs the local chapter. Simon’s dad offers to get a beer with Victor’s dad later that night and gives some good advice about being there for Victor. Armando buys Victor some vintage Air Jordans, but Victor tells him to return them because he has decided to quit the basketball team.
The Sex Cabin
Hormones are flying through the air for Benji and Victor and Lake and Felix, but they have a hard time finding privacy to make out, so Benji suggests they go up to his family’s cabin at Lake Lainier for the weekend. They invite Andrew and Lucy as well as Mia and Tyler. Victor and Felix get nervous about having sex with their respective significant others and bond over it. Felix has a tragic manscaping accident, but he and Lake still end up doing it, while Victor tells Benji he’s not ready after they have a good talk about it and he sends Simon (Nick Robinson) way too many DMs and texts.
Victor’s parents even hook up that night after looking for Adrian’s turtle who somehow escaped her cage. They start off searching for her, but end up in bed together, and Heather shows up on top of their discarded clothes.
Benji’s Band and Basketball
Benji’s band has a concert at Brasstown, the coffee shop where he and Victor work, and Andrew, Lucy, Mia and Victor all attend. Victor gets sad because Benji and his bandmates start to joke about Victor being in the early stages of “jock recovery” and he leaves the concert early to go shoot hoops. Andrew also leaves early, tracks Victor down and tries for another time to persuade Victor to rejoin the team, asking what he needs in order to feel part of the group again.
Later, Andrew texts Victor at school to come to the locker room because there’s an emergency, and Victor goes to see that all of his teammates (except for Wyatt who isn’t there) have dyed their hair pink, which was something he joked about the night before with Andrew, saying what if he wanted to be more gay later on. Victor puts his jersey on, dies his hair and has a great game. Benji even shows up to the game and does the Grizzly Bear dance on the sidelines for Victor.
Lucy and Mia get to talking at the concert, and Lucy realizes her feelings for Andrew aren’t super strong. She ends things with him, and he wastes no time getting to Mia’s house where he tells her. Before he can finish asking if Mia wants to go out with him, Mia kisses him, and they are finally a couple.
Lake Witnesses Felix’s Mom’s Bipolar Depression
Felix invites Lake over to his house to study after her mom kicks them out because she wants to go to bed early for a substitute gig she has the next day. Felix’s mom is ecstatic to meet Lake, and asks her if she wants to stay for dinner, so she does. Lake comments on their beautiful heirloom plates, and when Dawn asks who wants dessert and Lake says she should head home, Dawn’s mood completely shifts. She starts packing up the plates to give to Lake, but both Felix and Lake tell her she doesn’t need to do that. She drops the box of plates, they break, and Felix asks her if she’s taken her medicine that day.
Lake tells her mom, who goes over to Felix’s apartment to give them fruit and subtly check in on Felix to make sure everything is okay. Felix confronts Lake about it, and she says her mom actually knows a really good psychiatrist who would agree to see Dawn free of charge any time she wants. Felix appreciates how much Lake cares about him.
Rahim Comes into the Picture
Just like Victor did with Simon, Rahim (Anthony Keyvan) reaches out to Victor after watching him come out at school. Rahim describes himself as a colleague and friend of Pilar’s. They worked together selling pretzels over the summer. In his DM, Rahim shares his concerns of coming out to his parents, who emigrated to the United States from Iran and left everything behind for him. He is worried that his devout Muslim family won’t accept him for who he is.
Later, Rahim comes over to meet Victor (Isabel is at church choir practice) and they talk, but Isa gets home early and invites Rahim to stay for dinner. They bond over theater and showtunes, and after Rahim says he wishes his parents would be this cool with him being gay, Isa tells him that no matter what they love him, and they might have thought they knew everything about him, but didn’t.
Also Read:
‘Love, Victor': All of Season 2’s Original Soundtrack Moments Ranked
Mia Takes Veronica to the Hospital
Mia goes on a date with Andrew, before which he came to pick her up and was swept up in wedding food tasting. Veronica remarked that he is hot, and then suggested Mia show him her dress for the wedding so that they could coordinate. Mia cut her off saying it’s way too soon to know if Andrew would be going with her, which made everyone else uncomfortable, and they left to go see a movie.
When she gets home from the movie, she starts to confront Veronica about what happened, asking to set some boundaries. Veronica stands up for herself, but then she starts to get pains in her stomach. She says they feel like contractions, but it is way too early for that to be happening. Mia takes her to the hospital where she stays with her and starts crying because of how scary it was.
Veronica apparently has an irritable uterus. She tells Mia that this isn’t the first pregnancy she’s gone through. She had a miscarriage in graduate school, which makes this pregnancy all the more special.
Confrontations at Church and Beyond
Victor attends church to watch his mom sing, but Father Lawrence, the head priest, comes up to him and tells him he needs to find his way back to Jesus, which is code for he needs to not be gay. Isabelle has had several conversations with Fr. Lawrence about Victor, and he is of the stance that being gay is a sin. Victor walks out during his mother’s song and afterward they have a good talk about everything. Isa tells Victor about a lesbian aunt she had, and how she was taught from a very young age that being gay was shameful, which she is fighting hard to undo.
Dawn shows up to Georgina Merriweather’s work and accuses her of trying to take Felix from her. Felix tried to ask Dawn if she would be up for seeing a psychiatrist that is friends with Lake’s mom and she snaps at him that she isn’t a charity case. Georgina tries to talk to Dawn before calling security, and Dawn gets taken to the hospital for a psychiatric hold. Lake tells the social worker that Felix can stay with her (since he is a minor), but Felix is so upset at Lake that he breaks things off and goes to ask Mrs. Salazar if he can stay with them for the next couple of days.
Benji’s Birthday
Benji’s mom shows up to Brasstown, distracts Benji into making her an oat latte, and invites Victor to surprise Benji at his very fancy birthday dinner that night. Victor borrows a shirt from Rahim to wear to Chez Luisant, but it turns out it’s not just a birthday dinner but a sobriety anniversary celebration dinner. Benji’s mom makes a toast to his one year chip and his hard work at AA meetings, and all of this is news to Victor. All Victor knew was that Benji had crashed his dad’s car into a Wendy’s because he used to drink to cope with his anxiety about being in the closet.
Victor goes to find Benji after he leaves their table and his parents realize that Victor didn’t know all of this. They get into a particularly nasty argument and Benji says he is tired of having to be so patient about every new part of Victor’s gay experience. Victor leaves, very hurt, after telling Benji he’s a bit shocked because he always feels like he is so open with Benji.
Lake and Felix Are Officially Over
Felix goes to the aquarium to meet up with Lake and hear her out after his mom got committed to the psych ward. She gives him a really cute speech about Anglerfish because he did the same thing the night they first kissed, but he says he needs to be happy too, and he doesn’t see that happening if he’s with her.
Also Read:
Why ‘Love, Simon’ Spinoff Series Is Moving to Hulu: Too Mature for Disney+
Adrian Finds Out Victor Is Gay
Victor asks Benji to come over after their fight. Isabel is out of the house because she was going to her first PFLAG meeting, but then she sees Armando flirting with Shelby at the meeting and she leaves without attending. She waits for Armando outside and tells him she needs to hear him say he wants to see other people.
Victor’s mom comes home and makes to go into his room, unsuspecting, and sees him and Benji having sex. She gets really upset and asks Victor what he was thinking with Adrian asleep in the next room. Benji questions if she means gay sex or just sex, because he feels like she wouldn’t be reacting this way if Victor had been with a girl. Adrian wakes up and asks why everyone is yelling. Benji corrects Victor’s mom saying he’s Victor’s boyfriend not friend, and that is how Adrian finds out Victor’s gay.
The next morning, Armando comes over for the follow-up conversation with Adrian, and compares sexuality to trying things and not knowing you like it til you try it, like blueberry pancakes vs. his mom’s French toast. Adrian tells Victor he’s glad he found his French toast (Benji.)
Breakfast Burrito News
Mia’s dad makes her a breakfast burrito one morning, and she knows he is about to deliver some news, because he does that every time to soften the blow of a big life change he is about to announce. He tells her the president of Stanford is retiring, and they’ve offered him the job. Mia goes along with it and says she is okay with it, much to Harold’s surprise.
At lunch, Miia tells her friends she might be moving, and when they ask how Harold posed the question, she said she didn’t even object because she knew he wouldn’t actually take her point of view into account.
Also Read:
Isabella Ferreira Explains Why Playing the Popular Girl in Hulu’s ‘Crush’ Was Such a Big Deal
More Trouble in Paradise
Victor and Benji get in a big fight after Mrs. Salazar walked in on them the other night. Benji expects an apology from Victor’s mom, but Victor expects an apology from Benji about snapping at his mom and then outing him to his little brother Adrian. This all goes down at Brasstown, and Benji storms off and then doesn’t show up to school the next day.
Victor walks into the dark room to call and leave a voicemail for Benji, and Rahim happens to be in their developing photos for yearbook, so he overhears. Rahim provides a listening ear for Victor, who tells him about Benji’s drinking and AA.
Time for a New Church
When Mrs. Salazar picks up Adrian from CCD class, Adrian is pretty down. Isabel asks him what’s wrong and he says that Father Lawrence told him that people like Victor go to Hell. Isa tells Adrian that Father Lawrence is wrong because Victor is such a good person. She confronts Father Lawrence about what he said, and he says he phrased it a little differently but still stands by what he said. He urges Isa to not give up on God, and she quips that she’s not giving up on God, just Father Lawrence.
Plot Twists
Victor goes to Benji’s house to see if he is okay and watches Benji walk out with his AA sponsor. Victor has a good talk with Benji about everything that has happened, and he even shows him a print that Rahim developed of the two of them together. Benji sees a text from Rahim come through while looking at the black and white photograph, saying he hopes Benji is okay. Benji gets mad at Victor for telling Rahim that he is in AA and has struggled with drinking, and he says they need a break because he can’t trust Victor.
Pilar waits for Felix after school with a coffee on a bench. They had previously spent a night in his apartment watching and playing Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, since that’s what he and his mom usually do. This was after Felix got a phone call that his mom would be under an extended hold, potentially for 14 days. Felix tells Pilar about his mom’s time in the hospital, including details like they won’t let her have Swedish fish. Pilar kisses Felix and he shies away and she interprets it to mean he isn’t interested that way.
Mia’s mom emails her asking if she wants to meet up. Mia tells her dad, and after sharing that news, she begs him not to take the Stanford job, and he says he will tell the dean that his family is happy in Creekwood. But later when he gets a call from Stanford, he accepts the job, saying he can’t wait to get to work.
Also Read:
Why ‘Crush’ Filmmakers Made a Queer Rom-Com That’s Not About Coming Out
Victor and Rahim Cut Class
After Victor tells Rahim what’s going on with Benji, Rahim offers to skip class with Victor, and he even calls the front office to impersonate Mrs. Salazar and call Victor in sick with food poisoning. First they go eat Iranian food, and Victor loves it, but his dad is out on a coffee date with Shelby and happens to walk past Victor, spotting him. Victor reacts very strongly to his dad being with Shelby, asking if his mom knows, which she does. Armando tells Victor he might forget to mention it to his mom if Victor goes back to school immediately.
Rahim asks Victor if he thinks his parents should get back together, and then says screw school, taking Victor to get a mani-pedi. Victor encourages Rahim to meet up with a guy he’s been messaging on a dating app, and so they go to Brasstown, but when the guy walks in, he tells Rahim kind of right away that he’s more into masculine guys. Next, they head to a gay bar where Rahim signs them up for karaoke, and they duet “Holy” by Justin Bieber feat. Chance the Rapper togehter. Isa tracks Victor down to the gay bar with the help of Adrian who showed her how to use Find My iPhone, and Victor finally tells her what’s going on with Benji. Isa says she knows Victor will find another young man just right for him if things are really over for Benji, and they finally reunite in a big hug.
Harold and Veronica’s Wedding
Of course a lot goes down at the big wedding. It comes as a climax to when Mia guessed that Veronica was pregnant and then her dad told her they were getting married, back in season one, of course right before Victor was going to tell Mia the truth about his sexuality. The wedding takes place in their backyard.
Benji tells Victor that he doesn’t want to go to the wedding with him, so Victor asks Pilar to be his plus one, but Rahim is over, and she volunteers him instead. Rahim accepts. Mia gives Veronica a necklace from her grandmother to wear as the “something old” part of the wedding tradition. Veronica loves it, but goes to Harold and suggests he needs to share something. Harold then tells Mia in front of Lake that he took the job at Stanford. Mia questions why she even bothered asking her dad to reconsider when she knew he would do this. This sets a cloud of tension on the wedding, especially when Mia’s dad makes his vows of loyalty to Veronica and not putting his ambitions before her.
Also Read:
‘Love, Simon’ TV Series ‘Love, Victor’ Sets Premiere Date at Hulu – Watch a Sneak Peek Here (Video)
Some Reunions
Felix’s mom finally comes home, and their hug is emotional. Isabelle approaches Armando, not knowing that Shelby would be over, needing to talk to him about Victor being sad and then also seeing Armando with Shelby when he skipped school. She says it’s time for Armando to decide what he wants — whether that be saving their marriage like she thinks they can do, or separate.
Then she goes to the Brasstown to talk to Benji and tell him not to let her be the cause of problems between him and Victor. She even brings him a tupperware of pollo guisado, which she admits she was supposed to make for dinner that night so long ago when Benji was coming over for dinner. She also tells Benji she’s never seen Victor put himself into something more fully than their relationship.
Lake shows up to the wedding in a powerful red jumpsuit, and sees Lucy, who is cater waitering the wedding. Lucy gives Lake extra champagne since she sees Felix, and Lucy knows they aren’t together. Lake approaches Felix and asks him to dance, and so they do, but in the middle of the dance, he excuses himself and leaves.
Andrew is dancing with Mia when Harold cuts in to try and talk to her, but she walks away and Andrew gives Harold an earful about how he used to respect his ambition, but now he has lost some respect. Andrew also says it’s a miracle that Mia rebounded from her mom leaving, and that she might not recover from being uprooted and moved across the country.
Benji heads to the wedding to talk to Victor, but when he sees Victor dancing with Rahim, he turns around immediately. Victor follows him saying Rahim is just a friend, but Benji still leaves. Rahim follows Victor and when Victor confides in Rahim, saying “I’m not allowed to have a friend?” Rahim says “I don’t think that’s what this is, and I think you agree with me.” Rahim then says he likes Victor, and kisses him. He leaves the wedding, telling Victor that he’ll be at home when Victor makes up his mind of who he wants to be with.
Also Read:
‘Love, Simon’ TV Series Moves From Disney+ to Hulu
Victor heads into Mia’s house to go sit in her room, and has another Felix jump scare because Felix is sitting in a chair in the corner, just like Victor was about to. They catch each other up on their situations — Felix informing Victor that he might have feelings for Pilar and Victor feeling torn between Benji and Rahim since he can’t pretend he didn’t feel something after Rahim kissed him. Felix does a mental exercise that his mom learned while away, telling Victor to close his eyes and picture doing Prom, long distance in college and all the hard stuff but then beating the odds and ending up together as a couple, then asking Victor if someone comes to mind that he wants all of that with. Victor says yes, and Felix does too after picturing the exercise. They head off to their separate destinations.
Lake leaves the wedding to hang out with Lucy after Felix disappears on her. Felix kisses Pilar. Mia asks Andrew to take her to see her mom, and she leaves a note on her bed for her dad. Andrew drives her.
After Isabel calls Armando to tell him she talked with Benji, she tells him she’s going to celebrate her night with ice cream. Armando is headed into Shelby’s for dinner, but later he knocks on Isa’s door and brings hot fudge to accompany the ice cream. They start kissing.
Victor gets a call from Simon, who apologizes for being MIA because of finals in college. Victor thanks Simon for all his help and says he thinks he is ready to figure out the next part of his life without Simon. Then he knocks on someone’s door and it opens to his face. We are left not knowing who Victor chooses.
Also Read:
Victor Chooses Benji in ‘Love, Victor’ Season 3 Trailer (Video)
