*SPOILER ALERT*
Love, Victor shows real effects of mental health struggles
Throughout Season 2, Felix is seen dealing with his mom’s mental health struggles, and how it affects their home life. Bills are piling up, but his mom is having a hard time keeping a job, so Felix is starting to bear the brunt of their financial dilemma. He keeps all this bottled up for a while, but when Lake finds out about it, she tries convincing Felix that he needs outside help. This all ends up causing some tension in their relationship.
Mental Illness
Felix’s mom has been struggling with her mental health. She isn’t able to find a doctor that’s offering her the right kind of help and the medications she is prescribed aren’t working. Her mood fluctuates a lot and sometimes she has sudden outbursts when it gets to be too much. She isn’t given an official diagnosis on the show, but Lake is seen researching Bipolar Disorder. This disorder could explain Felix’s mom’s mood swings, and how sometimes she seems very happy and energetic and other times she experiences depression and has trouble leaving the house or keeping a job. Bipolar Disorder can’t always be treated but if she finds the right doctor and medication that works for her specifically it could help.
Lake clearly cares about Felix, and she is understandably upset when she finds out that he’s been struggling to make ends meet on his own by running a side gig where he writes school papers for other students. He confides in her about his mom’s mental health with the assumption that she’ll
keep the information to herself. All Lake wants to do is help and take care of Felix, because Felix is not taking care of himself. But when Lake tells her mom about Felix’s situation the worst-case scenario happens, and Felix’s mom does get taken away.
Felix feels betrayed because he had trusted Lake to keep the information private. That being said, Lake’s intentions were justified because Felix’s mom wasn’t getting the help she needed and in turn the responsibility of the household, paying the bills, and taking care of his mom all fell on Felix. We see the emotion of everything Felix was feeling when he enters Victor’s house and holds onto Victor’s mom when he asks if he can stay while Felix’s mom gets the treatment she needs.
It’s sad to see that Felix and Lake may not be end game but at least they take care of each other no matter the consequence.
The Trevor Project: A national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention for LGBTQ+ youth
It Gets Better Project: An organization whose mission is to uplift, empower, and connect LGBTQ+ youth around the globe.
GLAAD: An organization that uses media platforms to increase positive LGBTQ+ awareness and information.
