Recap: It’s Date Night in ‘Love, Victor’ Episode 3: “Battle of the Bands”

Julia
9 Min Read
Courtesy of Hulu

Love (or at least very strong like) is in the air in this next episode of Love, Victor, as everyone has a special night planned with friends and significant others. The musicians come out to play, Pilar learns something about one of her parents, and Victor tries to confirm his feelings for Mia. Read on to find out what happens in “Battle of the Bands.”

After feeling a flurry of emotions in episode two, Victor decides to do some more research on different sexual orientations, sharing his findings with Simon. Though he likes being with Mia, he still needs some sort of definitive confirmation.

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Victor arrives at the school and finds Mia in the art classroom welding a sculpture. He jokes around with her a little, building up the courage to ask her on a date to Battle of the Bands at the coffee shop. Meanwhile at home, the rest of his family sits together. Pilar is doing a “photoshoot” with Isabel to help build her Facebook profile. Enjoying the fun, Armando asks Isabel to go out with him that night as well.

A third date is set when Lake and Andrew run into each other in the front office – Lake for giving a dissected frog a smoky eye and Andrew for pantsing Coach Ford. As they wait, Lake’s mother appears on the office television giving a news report. Andrew asks if it’s weird for Lake, and eventually, Lake asks him if he’d like to go to Battle of the Bands with her. She mentions Mia going with Victor, leading Andrew to ask (with a hint of jealously) why Mia likes Victor so much. Hung up on it, he suggests they make the event a double date.

With the excitement of the event lingering in the air, Felix tells Victor how he plans to win over Lake, revealing that he’ll be performing at the Battle as a DJ (who “makes music into more music”), which will be his first time performing in front of other people. Victor says he’ll be there with Mia, noticeably nervous about the upcoming date.

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Another adorable coffee shop scene follows, Victor officially an employee. He and Benji are closing up, complaining about the music they’re forced to endure. Benji says he can change the music using Victor’s phone. As he’s looking through songs, he stumbles on “Baby Shark,” and Victor quickly says it’s because of his brother. Finally, Benji selects “Call Me Maybe.” Victor brings up a dance he used to do when he was younger, and the two attempt to recreate it. After they dance it out, Victor tells Benji about Mia. In turn, Benji says he’ll also be performing at the Battle with his band, as the lead singer. When Benji invites Victor to hang out backstage after the performance, Victor begins to panic a little and decides to change his plans with Mia. His next message to Simon mentions how he can’t focus on Mia tomorrow if he sees Benji in his “tight t-shirts and his dumb smile.”

Date night begins, starting with Mia and Victor at a bizarre art show about animals who ate trash. At the coffee shop, Felix prepares for his set, running into Lake and telling her he’ll be performing. Lake, however, is focused on finding Andrew, who’s focused on keeping an eye out for Mia and Victor (but mostly Mia). Noticing he’s distracted, Lake tries to not-so-successfully flirt with Andrew.

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Next are Armando and Isabel, who are at a sushi restaurant. Despite their past tension, the couple is clearly enjoying themselves, drinking and laughing with one another. Isabel is happy Armando asked to take her out, and he seems to feel the same, taking advantage of the “new city, new food, brand new start” they desperately needed.

Back with the Battle of the Bands, a terrible band ends their set (much to the relief of the audience, I’m sure). Felix is slated to play next, except his DJ persona is “DJ F Bomb,” complete with a massive helmet-esque thing made to look like a bomb. He starts off well, but with obstructed vision, he begins to slip, getting progressively worse until he can’t salvage his performance. I guess he really…bombed that one. While that debacle is happening onstage, Andrew asks Lake again about Mia. Tired of being blown off, Lake calls him out on it, upset that he wasn’t really seeing her when she deserves it because she’s awesome (tell him, Lake!).

Mia and Victor are still working their way through the art show. Victor asks if it’s the worst first date she’s had, and she admits that she’s never had a first date before. After a moment, the two share their first kiss. Victor shares the news with Simon, saying he even felt butterflies. The pair decide they’ve had enough of the art show and head to the coffee shop.

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At the Salazar home, Pilar is babysitting Adrian. She’s working on setting up Isabel’s Facebook page when she receives a friend request and a few messages from a mystery man named Roger R. Pilar sends Adrian to his room and tells him to listen to “Baby Shark” (which he’s not actually that fond of). When he’s gone, Pilar goes back to the messages, realizing the man is someone her mother had an affair with.

Back at the restaurant, Armando asks Isabel to go out again to an “Asian spaghetti spot.” Isabel, confused, tells him they’ve gone for ramen before, only she was misremembering who she really went with and tries to recover when she, and Armando, notices the mistake. She suggests they try something new anyway, and Armando hits back with “you love trying new things,” both knowing exactly what he means.

Battle of the Bands is wrapping up and Benji’s band has just finished playing. Andrew finds Lake and apologizes, acknowledging Lake is, in fact, awesome, but won’t divulge why he hasn’t asked out Mia. Felix joins them and apologizes for Lake having to listen to his disastrous set. She doesn’t realize he’s DJ F Bomb but says she loves DJs because “they make music into more music.” (Hmm, that sounds familiar.) Mia and Victor finally arrive in time to catch the encore for the band who won, which was Benji’s. They play a cover for their second song, and to Victor’s immense surprise, the group covers “Call Me Maybe.”

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Armando and Isabel arrive home. Pilar says she didn’t finish setting up the account because there were problems, not indicating in any way what they were. Any reprieve Isabel and Armando found on their date has disappeared, and their tension rears its ugly head again.

The episode ends as Benji’s band wraps up the song. In the next voiceover, Simon tells Victor that feeling Victor felt was more than just butterflies for him; it feels like “jet fighters that fly over the Superbowl or like getting hit by a huge wave,” the corresponding sounds playing while Victor watches Benji. Though he may still be questioning, one thing Victor knows for sure is that he has intense feelings for Benji. Only, Benji has a boyfriend.

Love, Victor is now streaming on Hulu.

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By Julia
Julia is a writer/editor/content assistant for Nerds who joined the team in 2019.
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