Hola hun-buns. Welcome to another Love, Victor recap. This time around, Victor (Michael Cimino) learns some stuff that his boyfriend, Benji (George Sear), has been keeping on the DL.
For those not in the know, Love, Victor is a Hulu show set in Becky Albertalli‘s “Simonverse.” It follows Victor Salazar as he navigates family woes, coming out and first love. This series takes place in the same Atlanta suburb and high school, Creekwood High, as Albertalli’s book Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and Love, Simon, the movie based on said book. Those worlds collide when Victor reaches out to Simon Spier (Nick Robinson) for gay guidance.
Last time, Victor tried to get his gay guru on when he met Rahim (Anthony Keyvan), the new gay kid on the block.
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So, what’s Benji been keeping from Victor? Are Victor’s parents dunzo for realz? Let us see as we overanalyze in this Love, Victor recap for Season Two, episode seven, “Table for Four.”
“My matcha’s just kicked in and I’m feeling a little buzzy”
We open on yet another Benji apology. This time he’s sorry he’s late because some naughty Hemsworth dreams kept him up. Victor says Benji gets a get-out-of-jail-free card cuz it’s his birthday. Not only that, but Vic’s got some plans: a little bit of champagne and birthday sex (it’s the best day of the year, girl).
Benji doesn’t look so pleased but assures Victor that it’ll be great. He just has to get through dinner with his parents first. Speaking of parents, Mama Benji (Embeth Davidtz) walks into the cafe to perv on Victor (seriously, show, stop with the sexualization of minors by adults).
I don’t know why Benji seems to hate his mother. It’d be nice to get the backstory here because sure, many teens might be annoyed by the general existence of their parents, but Benji is certainly acting like she straight up did something to him.
I do like seeing that his family is straight-up WASP, complete with the faked French accents and money. It helps clarify him a bit. Anyway, Mama Benji shoos her child away to make her an oat milk latte. When he’s out of earshot, she invites Victor to Benji’s cozy-chic birthday dinner at Chez French Restaurant.
Oh also, Benji pinches Victor’s butt. I just feel that’s relevant.
“Guys. Smash on your own time. A relationship hangs in the balance.”
Over at Mia’s, Andrew (Mason Gooding) and Mia (Rachel Hilson) are chilling on the couch, but they can’t get to the Netflix part because a very sad Lake (Bebe Wood) is hanging out with them too. Andrew’s a little miffed, but Mia says this ish is serious since Lake’s not even wearing heels! Lake’s motto is usually, “Give me three inches or give me death.” To which Andrew responds, “So Felix just barely made the cut?” Zing.
Apparently, Lake is researching dates to win Felix (Anthony Turpel) back. It’s time to hunker down with Chinese takeout and make a plan.
Felix is moping too, but ever the monarch of drama, he’s rhyming his (super legit) feelings. Unfortunately for his stalwart friends, Felix isn’t the monarch of hygiene. Rahim even regrets having a nose (normally his second favorite body part).
Victor asks Pilar (Isabella Ferreira) and Rahim to babysit Felix while Victor’s off at Benji’s fancy birthday bash. They’re happy to do so but cannot believe Victor is wearing that sweater to dinner. He’s so fashion-clueless they cannot believe he’s A Gay™. But, never fear, Rahim gives Vic the literal shirt off his back and saves the day.
Side note: Did we really need Rahim to be on a Keto diet. Like … maybe he has epilepsy and they just haven’t mentioned it yet? (A person can dream… )
“Mira qué handsome.”
Isa (Ana Ortiz) really is making good on her promise to try. She fusses with Victor’s collar and tells him she’s going to her first PFLAG meeting that evening. Not like she deserves a cookie for loving her child, but good for her. And and and she thanks Victor for his patience with her.
Look, all I’m saying is that for most of her entire internal battle over Victor’s gayness, Isa has known she’s in the wrong. She’s also growing incredibly fast. There was a point in my life that my dad thought my queerness was a phase; now, he loves reading all the GAY™ stuff I write. People grow, you know?
Victor shows up at the Chez French Restaurant. The parents Campbell are thrilled to see him. But guess who’s not? Ding ding ding! Benji, who basically turns a cold shoulder to his bae.
Over at Mia’s, she and Lake are brainstorming #SaveFlake dates. Ice skating is a no-go, because like, wearing weapons as shoes? No bueno. As soon as Lake settles on a deep-sea exhibit at the aquarium, because angler fish, Mia starts to question whether this is all that great an idea.
She thinks Felix is justified in being upset and that perhaps Lake ought to give Felix some time instead. Lake is annoyed because she did the right thing for Felix. Mia comes at it from the angle, that, sure, yes, but also they’re detaining his mom and losing your mom sucks.
I’ll say it again, this is the best storyline on the show. Everyone is completely justified in their feelings. To my mind, it’s obvious that objectively, Lake breaking Felix’s trust is what’s best in the long run. However, she acted without realizing the possibility that she might lose Felix over it.
You’d think the adult in her life might have prepared her for that. Loving someone enough to risk losing them when they truly do need to hear something they don’t want to is a big thing.
“She practiced this at home for an hour. A very long hour.”
Back at Chez French Restaurant, Benji desperately wants to talk to Mama Campbell outside. She’s all, “Sure, but let’s do the sparkling cider toast first.” He keeps trying to stop the toast — which is all about how they love him even though the last two years have been difficult — but his parents are not reading the room.
It’s frankly difficult to watch, infuriating even; and I haven’t felt this much empathy for Benji since his ex-boyfriend accused him of worshiping heteronormativity for wanting to celebrate their anniversary last season.
And then Mama C drops the AA bomb: Benji is one year sober as of last week. Victor’s all, “Wait, you’re sober?” And Benji runs off to the bathroom. Now Benji’s parents are all, “Oh crap.”
Meanwhile, at Salazar apartment #1, Felix is hanging out when he gets a text invite from Lake to meet her at the aquarium that night. Pilar and Rahim are doing their best to keep Felix company, but then he gets a call from his caseworker. She tells him his mom is gonna be in the hospital for up to another two weeks. I was curious about the legality of Felix staying with the Salazars, instead of say, another relative or going into the foster care system.
From what I could find, Georgia is one of the US states that allows family friends to care for kids removed from parental custody, provided no suitable relatives are found. Granted, the social worker would have had to do a home and safety check to approve the Salazars. So, we can just assume this happened when she dropped Felix off.
Anyway, Pilar and Rahim leave Felix alone to talk to his caseworker. On the short walk back to the living room, Rahim calls Pilar out on her massive crush on Felix.
“I’m really sorry you had to find out about AA like that.”
Next, Isa shows up to her first-ever PFLAG meeting. She looks all proud to see Mando (James Martinez) handling the snack table, but then gets super jelly when she sees him flirting with another mom. Isa nopes out of that meeting so hard, she even returns her pamphlets back to the person handing them out. LOL.
Outside Chez French Restaurant, Victor finds Benji. He apologizes again — I’d make this a drinking game, but that just feels in poor taste — and Victor’s all, “What about when we all got drunk at the sex cabin?” Benji says he switched out his wine for water when no one was looking (if you go back, you can see him do this).
Benji says it’s easier to pretend to drink than it is to explain why he doesn’t drink. Victor understands that, but he also wants to know why Benji would hide his unhealthy alcohol use from him.
Benji didn’t want Victor to think of him as his Alcoholic Boyfriend™, but Victor assures Benji he wouldn’t have judged him. Alas, this is more about Benji judging himself. Benji asks Victor to forgive him for not telling him, but Victor’s not so sure since Benji’s constantly pushing him to be more open and honest. He’s hurt that Benji hid something so huge from him, which just snaps Benji into shamed, defensive mode. And it is not pretty.
Benji can’t believe Victor isn’t being more understanding, since he’s put up with a ton of Vic’s s***. What is said s***? That Victor is a baby gay, that every step in his life must be Processed, that he’s supposed to jump for joy whenever Isa, who believes Victor’s going to HELL, takes a tiny step forward.
But, says Benji, does he make Victor feel guilty about any of that? No, he’s been patient. And understanding. The very least Victor could do is return the favor, he says. Oh good Lord. At least Victor realizes how awful the things Benji is saying are and leaves.
My God, I feel like I’m constantly Processing everything these boys say to one another. I cannot keep passing off every messed up thing that Benji says as “he’s a teenager.” That’s not fair to the gazillion teens in the world who don’t act like this.
Yes, partly, Benji’s acting out because he’s embarrassed and ashamed. But so much of Benji’s lack of empathy towards Victor comes from his race and class privilege. Obviously, as we’ve learned, Benji has not had a rosy, easy life, and he’s got his own demons. But that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t need to be called out stuff.
Likewise, Victor has been going through it the last year, and I appreciate that Felix and Benji have had reasons both selfless and selfish for not telling him what’s going on in their lives. However, I can’t help thinking your boyfriend and your best friend not sharing hugely important Life Stuff with you might cause you to reevaluate some things.
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“I think being around you is invigorating.”
Later, Felix and Victor are venting and throwing popcorn into each other’s mouths. And oh, show, you were this close.
Felix agrees that yah, Benji was a total d***, but that watching Isa be so awful to Victor musta been hard on him; it was hard on Felix too. Ugh. Insert unnecessary “Who’s the top” joke. Thankfully, Victor doesn’t answer it and tells Felix that maybe Lake just couldn’t deal with seeing him in pain either. Felix decides to go to the aquarium to hear Lake out.
The #Flake and #Venji situations are not the same. They’re just … not. But, I do think that even if Lake did do the right thing, Felix is under no requirement to stay with her.
Adrian (Mateo Fernandez), Pilar and Rahim are still watching J-Lo films in the living room. Pilar is not happy to find out Felix is going to meet Lake. We get more dieting advice (ugh) from Rahim as he sends Adrian away so he can chat with Pilar. The biggest takeaway from this scene? Gonzo is the sexiest muppet. Who knew?
“You know her well enough to know how she takes her coffee.”
Outside the PFLAG meeting, Isa’s waiting for Mando at his truck. She calls him on flirting with that other lady, Shelby. Mando insists he and Shelby are just friends. But, the parents Salazar do decide they want to start seeing other people. Or, at least, Mando does.
Next, we’re at the aquarium. Felix looks heartbroken as he comes up to Lake. She pulls him into a big ole hug. They’ve missed each other. Lake’s even bought him the stuffed angler fish to prove it. She makes a big speech about hoping they can have a new start and apologizes again. Felix tells her he understands why she broke his trust, but the thing is, he did trust her … and now his mom’s gone indefinitely.
So, the whole angler fish thing, last season, the night of their first kiss, Felix told Lake about those weird, creepy fish. And a big important thing is that he had told her all male angler fish want is for their mates to be happy. Now, Felix reclaims himself and says he doesn’t want that for himself anymore, he wants to be happy in his own right. And seeing Lake makes him really sad. They ofishally break up.
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“You’re a dead man”
Later, at Salazar apartment #1, Pilar hears noises upstairs and correctly guesses that it’s not rats in Felix’s apartment. Felix is watching Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (I had no idea that show was still on). He and his mom never missed an episode, so he wants to keep the tradition alive. Pilar offers to keep him company.
Back downstairs, Benji knocks on Victor’s door. Victor starts to apologize for how difficult he is to date, but thankfully, Benji cuts him off. He tells Vic that no, he was just embarrassed. He didn’t tell Victor about AA because it’s a part of his life he hates, and he wanted to keep it separate from Victor, the part of his life that he loves. And that’s all it takes to get them going at it.
Also going at it are Mia and Andrew. But, Mia’s distracted because she’s worried about Lake. Andrew asks her to put that worry aside for the moment, but that’s gonna be a little difficult cuz guess who just rang the doorbell. Lake bursts into tears and falls into her BFF’s arms, even though they’d been fighting earlier because love is hard. Andrew leaves them to have one-on-one time.
Oh no oh no oh no. Isa is home and heads straight to Victor’s room. And walks in on him and Benji having the sex. End credits.
That’s it for our Love, Victor recap of “Table for Four.” What a cliffhanger. How do you all think Isa’s gonna react? Do you ship #Venji or are you as ready for them to break up as I am? And why is Felix your favorite non-Victor character?
There are definitely queer writers on this show of the ep: “Zoe kept me up watching another Kristen Stewart movie. I swear, my kid is obsessed with that fidgety woman.”
RELATED: Check out all our Love, Victor recaps here
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