This one was dramatic, but like, in an awkward way.
Jake Turner (Justin Hartley) is a famous author just off a book tour who gets a call about his recently deceased mother's estate. Jake had been estranged from his mother for several years and from his father for even more. But Jake takes his sole companion, a dog named Ava, to his childhood home to clean out his mother's hoarder house to sell it. His neighbor, Ellie (Bonnie Bedelia), tries to convince him to talk to his father. Jake refuses because his dad left after his older brother Benji (Baylen D. Bielitz) died at 7 years old (Jake was 4) trying to hang an ornament on a tree outside during a snowstorm and never tried to contact Jake or check on him. It is unclear if Jake's dad ever knew about Jake's mom's mental health issues and hoarding problem, but Jake for sure blames him anyway.
Rachel Campbell (Barrett Doss) shows up with Jake's childhood home address looking for her birth mom. She was adopted, and her records were sealed, so she doesn't have a name, just a last known address. I fully expected this to be long lost half siblings or something, but don't worry, it's not. Ellie remembers a very young, live-in nanny from before Jake's family fell apart, but she doesn't know her name. She tries again to get Jake to talk to his father by giving Rachel his father’s location and getting Rachel in on convincing Jake. It works.
Thus ensues a road trip between Rachel and Jake who learn a lot about each other, especially about Rachel's relationship with her fiance Alan (Mike Donovan) and how great it is, but Rachel is very much trying to convince herself that she's happy, that she's doing the right thing because it looks good on paper, that she's not falling for Jake, etc. They do get to Scott Turner's (James Remar) house and Rachel convinces Jake to hear him out, so Jake finds out that his dad did try to contact him but his mom kept it from him, and also the married name and address of Rachel's birth mom.
The drama in this movie is a lot. It makes sense when you think about two people finding their long lost parent and then also falling in love with each other but they can't be together (or can they?) for reasons. Ava is everyone's emotional rock in this movie, including the viewer. The music wasn't anything that stood out. The acting was just bad enough to be a little awkward at times, but mostly it was tolerable. This is also a movie that is only tangentially about Christmas because it happens during the holiday season. Overall, 2 stars.
Did they really think we'd prefer seeing gay representation falling for the tired old love-triangle trope rather than Victor and Benji, you know, communicating and dealing with things like Benji's struggle with alcohol or Victor's struggle with his parents not being accepting?
Or the idea that every gay guy that meets another one is gonna want something romantic?
All I'm saying is that he better be at Benji's door. We got a full season of build-up for their relationship, as opposed to the two measly episodes with Rahim. Let him be a gay bestie, stop trying to force tired "teenage tv show" tropes on this and be inventive about it, for God's sake.
If Victor doesn't choose Benji in the end I don't know what I'll do with my life. Also, I'd find it really weird that after spending this little time with Rahim he'd choose him over Benji to go to prom with, to do long-distance in college etc🤷🏻♀️
Has it occurred to us that the writers haven’t fleshed out Benji yet because we’re seeing the show through Victor’s eyes? Maybe I’m giving them too much credit. Entirely possible. But I feel like at this point Victor still puts Benji on a pedestal, and frankly that’s a big issue in their relationship that they’ll have to get past. Benji has a LOT of his own trauma, but he is conflict avoidant and he - very similar to Victor - will neglect his own wants, needs, and feelings, or play them down into a joke or funny story, in order to let other people’s wants needs & feelings be cared for and take precedence. Benji fails to advocate for himself - and it is undoubtedly a mark of his own self esteem issues (internalized homophobia-induced alcoholism, anyone?).
Victor is the fixer in his family. Has been forever. It’s no surprise that he seems to long for someone who is all ~~perfect and magical~~ to come along, sweep him up, and be his fixer. Someone to take care of him. Completely. That Victor doesn’t have to take care of at all. And Benji did give that impression at first! Out, experienced, confident, glowing perfect boyfriend material.
But it doesn’t work that way. Relationships aren’t like that - they’re a two way street. Season 2 honestly did a phenomenal job showing that journey for Victor and Benji, as they begin to realize that the other is human, and issues naturally begin to arise.
Returning to Benji’s development, specifically. If you think about it, we’ve seen a lot about Benji & about his past at this point. But it’s all jokes and funny stories and it’s all played down, compared to Victor’s story and his feelings, which are all in the foreground. It’s not until towards the end of the season, outside the restaurant, when all the feelings Benji has been repressing jump out in a moment of hurt, shame, and anger. Not okay for him to do that, but I think many of us have been there. I definitely have. So I understand it.
So I’m now a little torn over what to believe - are the writers actually doing a poor job of fleshing out Benji? Or have they given us quite a bit of info on him if we look? Is it possible they’re fleshing him out less so that we see him how Victor does - as this perfect shining example of a boyfriend, up on a pedestal, untouchable (until he isn’t anymore)? If the last part is true - will we start to see more development of Benji - more with his family, his own friends, scenes with minor characters - in s3 as Victor starts to see Benji more as the flawed, three dimensional person that he is? Will we be allowed to see 3D Benji if Victor starts to be able to understand him as a fully fleshed out, complex, nuanced person?
Edit to add: I feel like the promo poster supports my idea that Victor doesn’t fully see Benji yet. Below:
it's obviously Benji. Rahim doesn't have a doorbell as people have said.
Good. It better fucking be.
I mean, I like Rahim as a character, he seems cool, but I just absolutely loathe love triangles, and in this case it literally didn't even add anything to the story except unnecessary drama.