Love, Victor premiere recap: Welcome to Creekwood

Love, Victor series premiere recap:  Welcome to Creekwood!

After what feels like forever, the Love, Simon universe finally makes its return with Hulu’s Love, Victor! Right off the bat, we are introduced to our protagonist of the series, Victor, who recently moved to Creekwood.

After learning about Simon and his iconic Ferris wheel declaration of love, Victor reaches out to Simon via Instagram DMs, in hopes of receiving some kind of guidance through his new life at Creekwood.

It’s safe to say that in only one episode, Love, Victor has completely won over my heart. The spin-off series carries all of the same vibes that we love from the film and novel.

What happened in Love, Victor’s “Welcome to Creekwood?”

Love, Victor’s “Welcome to Creekwood” opens with Victor composing an Instagram message to Simon Spier. Victor establishes that he knows all about Simon and his declaration of love to Bram. He then ends the message by telling Simon that not everyone is as lucky as him when it comes to knowing who he truly is and having a supportive family to back him.

Rewind 24-hours, and we’re officially in the series’ premiere setting. Victor and his family are moving into their new home, from Texas to Atlanta, and not everyone is thrilled with the change. Victor’s sister, Pilar, bluntly shows her distaste about having to leave her boyfriend behind. When Victor tries to calm her down, Pilar responds with “if you had a girlfriend, you would probably understand.”

Before being able to enter their new apartment, the family is ambushed by Felix, their new neighbor. Felix, obviously excited about having someone new in his grade, pushes a walkie-talkie onto Victor. Showing up bright-and-early the next day, Felix takes Victor to school and tells him that he would kill to be the new kid. This statement throws Victor off-guard, but then Felix proceeds to explain that Victor is a blank canvas and can choose who he is, whereas everyone else at Creekwood has their destiny already planned.

Ms. Albright, our favorite Creekwood drama teacher, makes her return — only this time, she’s been promoted to vice-principal. Ms. Albright brings up the traditional Winter Carnival and introduces him to the tale of Creekwood’s legend, Simon Spier, and how he declared his love for Bram on top of a Ferris wheel. This new information piques Victor’s interest, especially as he learns that Creekwood was accepting of Simon being gay.

Creek Secrets, Creekwood’s gossip website, also makes a return in Love, Victor. Victor is introduced to Lake as she snaps photographs on her phone of him so that she can write a piece on the new kid. She’s interrupted by Mia Brooks, who’s considered the hottest girl in class; Mia apologizes for Lake’s intrusive behavior. However, Lake still continues to question Victor and urges him to share about any girls back home. Victor realizes that this is his chance to come out. Instead, he just responds with, “nope. No girl back in Texas.”

With Felix at his side, Victor continues down the halls of his new school, but the world seems to pause when Benji enters. After introducing himself and complimenting Victor’s shoes, Benji walks away; leaving Felix to pipe up with the fact that Benji is gay and that Victor doesn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea.

This isn’t the only time that being gay holds a negative connotation at Creekwood. While in the P.E. locker room, Victor hears one student say to another, “that’s so gay.” A fellow student, Andrew, also jokingly asks Victor if he likes what he sees, referring to Victor glimpsing other students changing.

During the P.E. basketball game, Victor shows that he’s good at the sport, leading the teacher to call him over and asks if he wants to join the Varsity basketball team. After saying yes, he calls Andrew over who is upset that Victor will be joining. However, Victor seems uncomfortable once he learns about the $500 price tag that comes along with joining; Andrew quickly picks up on this fact.

Later at lunch, another student comes up to Victor to tell him that he’s donated to his GoFundMe to join the basketball team. When Victor realizes that Andrew started the account, he calls his fellow student out only for Andrew to respond that he would do anything to help the needy. He then pushes Victor out of the way, knocking his lunch out of his hands. Benji comes over to help him up; this action elicits a “get it, new kid!” from the onlooking students.

Unfortunately for Victor, there are even more things to contribute to his first horrible day at school. Lake published a post on Creek’s Secrets with the headline: New Kid’s got a Short Fuse and he takes everything out on Felix, letting him know that they’re not friends. Once returning home, he walks in on his parents arguing and how his father returned home from work early because Pilar got in a fight.

Once his father walks away to talk to Pilar, Victor and his mother have a heart-to-heart, and she tells him that he’s her rock and that she never has to worry about him. This leads him to a mood-change and straight to his walkie-talkie so that he can contact Felix to apologize and asks if he still wants to go to the Winter Carnival; which Felix excitedly responds with the time in which he’ll pick him up.

While at the Winter Carnival, Victor gets a response from none other than Creekwood legend, Simon Spier who gives him some advice and tells him that he also deserves an epic love story. Coincidentally, it’s at this moment that he looks up and sees Benji. When it seems he’s going to head over and take to the obvious love interest of the series, Victor ends up walking past so that he can ask Mia if she would like to ride the Ferris wheel with him.

Love, Victor’s first season is now streaming on Hulu! 

Are you binge-watching Love, Victor? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!