Well... that was disappointing.

Listen, this show has its heart in the right place. Its intentions are truly good. And that's honestly the reason I made it throught till the end. But I genuinely don't understand how this has a 93% score in Rotten Tomatoes.

The storyline and the dialogue are so unrealistic and cheesy that it affects the overall experience. The actors are okay (I especially enjoyed the girl who plays Mia), but they have to deal with such bad dialogue that it makes them look worse than they are. Look, I understand that I'm a little too old (21) to be the target audience for this show, but I don't think that's an excuse.

_Love, Simon_ was an (in my opinion) unexpected success because it managed to be a fun, light and funny teen movie that still had a lot of emotional moments and great performances. It didn't try to be something else, and that was its biggest strength. _Love, Victor_ tries to replicate the atmosphere of the movie, but it fails to do so. There are great topics being discussed here, and representation is always amazing, but in this case, the fact that the show doesn't seem to take itself seriously has a negative impact on the story. Some of the situations and conversations are borderline bizarre and unbelievable, and they turn what could be a relatable and touching story into a 'just okay' show. The way people react and respond in conversations is extremely clunky and unnatural. It's cool if they wanted to go for a 'light' tone, but even when the show tries to go for comedy, it's often not very good comedy. And honestly, what's up with that terrible Hallmark-movie title sequence?

[spoiler]It also doesn't make any sense that Victor and Simon become instant best friends. It's just the most random thing about the show for me. Nick Robinson is in one of the episodes (although he couldn't make it to set, apparently, because the scenes where he's in are heavily edited to make it look like he's actually there when he's not). It would've been a nice touch to have him here, if it wasn't for the fact that his inclusion in this story doesn't serve any purpose other than fan service. I really think the story would have been the same, if not better, without Simon being in it.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]I also thought the story would explore bisexuality, but it's just never even considered as a possibility. It's okay if Victor's gay, but the show seems to solve every problem in the most basic way. Either you're gay, or you're not. That's reflected on the dialogue in multiple scenes and with many other subjects. I thought his story with Mia would lead to an original discussion about this, but nope.[/spoiler]

It's a shame, because I really enjoyed most of the characters, especially Felix, Lake, and Pilar, but also the main characters. The guy who plays Victor does a great job. I hope season 2 (which I'm pretty sure will exist) gives them something better to work with.

There are still some emotional and funny moments here. Is it great? No. It's not terrible either. But even though it deals with important things and has the potential to be a really good show, the execution leaves a lot to be desired.

Maybe next season...

This is better than the movie Love, Simon but not by much. It could take the place of any generically wholesome and wholesomely generic teenage TV series, except the gimmick of this show is that the lead character is gay. From a cultural / sociopolitical perspective, there's value in having such a mainstream depiction of homosexuality; but that is the only sense in which Love, Victor makes progress. From an artistic perspective, Love, Victor is staid, timid, and, thus, boring.