When “Love, Simon” premiered in 2018, it made headlines as the first major Hollywood studio film to focus on a gay teenage romance. The story, the misadventures of closeted-teen Simon Spier and his search for love at Creekwood High School, struck a chord with audiences looking for LGBTQ stories for teenage audiences.
The success of the film, which is an adaptation of the young adult novel, has since launched a successful spin-off that premiered in the middle of the pandemic last year. “Love, Victor”, which premiered on Hulu in June 2020, focuses on a new student at Creekwood who finds himself reaching out to Simon on social media to assist in his own journey to accepting his sexuality. The show’s first season was a thoughtful extension of the film’s concerns. Title character, Victor Salazar, offered a critical perspective on a queer Hispanic character struggling to acclimate to his new environment and a family crisis and the season ended with Victor coming out to his parents. Teen dramas that include queer storylines often include them on the periphery, “Love, Victor” was a welcome change to this.
The new season, premiering this month on Hulu in the US and Disney+ elsewhere, is even better than the first. Tougher, more serious, and deeper, it’s a marked improvement on an already impressive teen show. Contemporary teen experiences recently have wavered between the relentlessly twee and the overwrought and dark, but the second season of “Love, Victor” feels like a pleasant middle-ground, a throwback to the early aughts teen dramas when the CW was WB and the teenage drama was confined to the earnest and charming more than the dark and foreboding.
Despite a short season of ten 30-minute episodes, creators Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger have extended the world of the show, giving depth and nuance to its teen (and adult) casts in ways that feel thoughtful and significant. No cast member benefits more from this extension than Anthony Turpel’s Felix, who plays Victor’s earnest neighbour and best-friend. From the show’s pilot episode last year to the recent final episode of this season, his character has undergone significant change and development and has seen Turpel (a Primetime Emmy nominee for his work on “The Bold and the Beautiful”) exploring serious dramatic issues.
This season finds Felix navigating his relationship with the wealthy Lake Meriwether, while struggling to support his mother through her mental health troubles. It’s a rare look at mental illness that considers the way that class intersects with health and wellbeing onscreen. Much of contemporary TV offers an illusion of poverty that rarely digs beneath the surface. I sat down with Turpel ahead of the new season’s premiere this week to discuss his work on the show, and Felix’s journey. A condensed version of our conversation is below.
How are you feeling ahead of the second season premiere?
I’m feeling good. I mean, I’m always nervous when we’re about to launch. But it’s good nerves. I’m really excited for people to see what we’ve worked really hard on.
So, I’ve just finished watching the finale of season 2 and it’s really been great watching Felix grow from the pilot episode to this last episode. I feel like he’s grown more than most of the other characters. I was wondering, did you have any idea where his story was going when you signed on?
No, no, not at all I. When I first signed on, when I went in for the producer session, I just had the script that was in front of me. So, that’s like a couple pages and that’s as much as I knew about Felix and that’s where I started drafting the character. Then I find out what’s going on as we’re doing episodes so I’m kind of just discovering it as we move on, which is really fun, because it’s really interesting to see what happens and see where it goes. So, I knew inklings about what was coming – like meeting my mom, and things like that. But I didn’t really know the full scope of it until it actually happened.
And that’s some mom. You’ve working opposite Betsy Brandt, who plays Felix’s mom. What was that experience like?
She’s so cool. She’s incredible. She is an amazing person, and the fact that I got to work with her was unbelievable. Honestly, an actor like that. The fact that I get to work with her is so cool, because I’m like a foetus to her. I’ve only been in the business like ten years and that’s nothing compared to her career. It was such an honour getting to work with her, and I really think she helped me give a better performance. Like everything Betsy was so great, like – I don’t want to give too many spoilers – but that plate scene?
Yes! That was such a great moment, and so intense.
Well, I haven’t seen it yet but I’ve heard.
Well, your work this season is really impressive. You go to some really emotional places with Felix and it’s been interesting considering how you kind of started off as this comic relief figure. How was is it negotiating that comedian side of Felix with the more emotional moments this season?
I liked the route it went because I thought it gave Felix more depth and it gave him more backstory. And, I love doing comedy and love being the comic relief. But for the character, I think it was a really interesting step to take, and I think for a lot of viewers it’s going to be kind of a surprise in a way. But I think these are some really important issues that kids should hear about and for kids that are facing it, hopefully they can relate.
Where are you hoping to see Felix’s journey go in the next season?
Oh man, I don’t know. You know, I’m really interested to see where Victor’s journey goes, and how that plays out. [Season 2 ends on a nail-biter of a cliff-hanger with Victor about to make a momentous romantic choice.]
Right? What a rough way to leave us!
I know. And I’m as much in the dark as you. I’m excited to see what happens.
You’re obviously busy with press in the lead up to the premiere. What are you hoping fans take from the new season?
I think, it’s similar to the first season, and it’s the importance really [of] being yourself in the world. And not changing for the world, but letting yourself show who you are for the people that like who you are be attracted to you. I think it’s a big thing a lot off middle-school and high-school students struggle with. We’ve all struggled with that.
There’s a moment in the last episode of the season where you and Victor (Michael Cimino) have this great heart-to-heart and support each other through a crisis. I thought that was such a great moment. Tell me a bit about that relationship.
You know what the great thing about Victor and Felix is that – wait, are you talking about me and Michael? Or Victor and Felix?
Both
Well, Victor and Felix – I think they are such a great pair because they can really lean on each other when things get rough and we see that this season. And it’s something I think that everyone, especially teenagers, really need you know? That support system. And Michael and me. We have been friends since day one. It’s been such a blast working with him, and the entire cast. These are people that I adore and love. And I’ve been actually able to lean on them in my real life as well, for support. And I think that chemistry carries over to the show.
It must be strange, though. It’s the second season premiere after premiering last year in a pandemic, and we’re still in the pandemic. Is it weird doing all of this in such an unusual way?
Yeah, it’s really, you know? Definitely, the world has been incredibly different. I like to try to look on the bright side, and it’s very sad. Like so many bad things have happened over the course of the year. But something that I look on the positive side of is that I’m experiencing something that I never dreamed I would ever have experienced. I’m so lucky that I was able to keep working. I’m really thankful that we were even able to do a season two, and everyone was safe. And, we had an amazing health and safety team. So, I’m lucky but it has been really strange, too.
Outside of the show, though, what’s kept you going over the pandemic? What have you been doing to keep yourself sane?
The cast has been a big help. We talk a lot. Like, I talk to everyone almost daily. And, they’ve become really good friends of mine and I’m really appreciative of them. And, also, video games. I love video games.
Which ones have you been playing?
I used to be so good – okay, that’s an exaggeration. But I used to be okay at Rocket League for a bit. And I got back on like a day or two ago, and I am terrible now. Like, it’s embarrassing. I could barely aerial. And so, I got it I got to work on that. But I’ve also been playing some Skyrim. I’ve been playing that since like 2011, but I love that game. Fallout: New Vegas is another game I’ve been playing. I’ve been wanting to restart “Portal: 2” because the stories are really good in that. I have a lot of games that I enjoy but those ones have been on my mind recently.
There’s this moment early in the new season that’s stuck with me. It’s so minor, but Felix makes a joke that he’s been told he has the cheekbones of a young Hilary Swank and I don’t know why it made me laugh so much.
[Laughing] Yeah.
I mean, it’s funny. But I can also see it. You have good bone structure.
Thank you! Thank you! I appreciate that.
I mean, who knows. This could be predictive. Hilary Swank started on TV. Who knows if you might inherit her career?
[Laughing] Look, as long as I’m able to continue doing what I love, I will be happy. But, thank you. I really appreciate that.
Looking ahead at your career – is there something you’re really hoping to do?
I just want to act. Once it’s a project that I like and that I feel attached to, I’m happy just to keep acting. And, with the show, I’m just so excited to see where everyone’s story goes. And, that includes my own. I’m curious to see where Felix’s new relationship takes him. But I feel good about it. I feel like we really set a good story up to continue, and I really hope we get to do that.
Love, Victor premiered on Hulu last Friday in the US and will premiere on Disney+ later this month in other countries.
