*SPOILER ALERT*

The parallels between Victor and Rahim’s relationship with Victor and Simon’s relationship:

Rahim is a new character that was introduced in Season 2 of Love, Victor. Earlier in the season, Rahim actually reaches out to Victor by messaging him about his own sexuality. It’s interesting to see this new dynamic of Victor being the one receiving a message from another person, because he spent most of Season 1 messaging Simon for advice about his own sexuality and asking him questions on how to handle certain situations. Seeing this new connection between Rahim and Victor creates a parallel to the Simon-Victor friendship, and in Episode 9 the connection between Rahim and Victor goes even deeper.

After Victor and Benji have a fight and Benji says they should take a break, Victor vents to Rahim about it, and Rahim suggests they skip school for the day. Victor and Rahim seem to understand each other’s situations, since they both come from religious backgrounds. Rahim also seems to look up to Victor, since Victor is fully out to everyone, which is very similar to how Victor viewed Simon. 

Back in Season 1 when Victor was still figuring out his sexuality, he would message Simon for advice basically every day. He ended up taking a trip to New York to visit Simon. When he gets there Simon’s friends take Victor out to his first gay bar, and he gets to experience being around a whole group of people who are accepting of him and understand what he’s going through. It’s such a positive, eye-opening experience for him, that he finally feels comfortable enough to come out to his friends and family.

His adventure with Rahim when they skip school is so similar. They connect even further over their experiences with sexuality and religion, and Victor encourages Rahim to meet up with a guy Rahim has been talking to online. It doesn’t end up going well, but it doesn’t seem like Rahim would have done it if Victor hadn’t been there to help him. They then go to a gay bar together, and it’s Rahim’s first time being at one. It ends up being the same impactful experience for Rahim that it was with Victor when Victor went with Simon and his friends. Rahim hasn’t actually dated or even kissed a guy yet, so it seems like he really needed a friend like Victor to help him feel more comfortable with who he is. 

Victor and Rahim have a really wholesome friendship, and their day out together helped both of them. It took Victor’s mind off the relationship issues he’s been having with Benji and it helped Rahim break out of his comfort zone. It’s great to see Victor be there for Rahim the way Simon was there for Victor. Hopefully this new connection between Victor and Rahim stays strong and kicks off even further, the same way it was for Victor and Simon. 

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.