With Love: Smashing representation out of the park

Gloria Calderón Kellet is not new at this queer representation game. She is the creator of One Day At A Time, which started on Netflix and then later moved to Pop. The show centers a young adolescent Latina as she navigates her identity as a lesbian. While the queer themes are not the only thing that drive the show forward, One Day At A Time was commended for its positive depiction of young queerness. Well, Gloria Calderón Kellet is at it again with the new Amazon Prime Video series With Love. 

Another comedy, With Love follows an inter-generational Latino family as they stumble their way through love, life, and the holidays. The show includes queer talent such as transgender actress Isis King as Sol Delgado and Marc Indelicato, who plays Jorge Diaz Jr., a young out and very much in love gay man who is bringing his bisexual boyfriend home to meet his family for the first time. It’s safe to say that like One Day At A Time, With Love packs a punch when it comes to representing sexuality again. 

With Love really is delightful in every single way. Grab some popcorn, snuggle up with a blanket and get your Amazon Prime Video cue ready. Here’s everything to love about With Love.

The Diaz family

Goodness, this is a loveable family! Benito Martinez plays Jorge Diaz Sr and surpassed all expectations for this role. When episode 1 begins, it is very clear that there are underlying marital issues between him and Beatriz (Constance Marie). The couple does an excellent job of hiding their issues from the rest of the family though, especially their children Jorge and Lily (Emeraude Toubia). 

Both Beatrice and Jorge are so likable though, that it is impossible to villainize either of their characters and lay fault or blame for what seems to be a crumbling marriage. Despite this, they’ve managed to raise two incredible children who are equally as lovable as their parents. 

Lily is coming off the back of a breakup. She doesn’t want to tell her family that it was in fact her that broke the relationship off because of the tidal wave of crap likely to ensue as a result. But Lily believes in idealistic true love, and she strongly believed she didn’t have that with her ex. Her quest to find something that is real, something that makes you feel alive inside is beautiful. 

Similarly, Jorge is everything you would want in a son. Brave, true to himself, loyal to his family, and an excellent partner. Jorge definitely exhibits some nerves about introducing his lover to his family, but those hints at possible homophobia are squashed really quickly when the Diaz family welcomes Henry (Vincent Rodriguez III) with open arms. 

They love their son, and their son loves Henry, and that is that!

Bisexual representation

Although we don’t know it at first, Henry is not in fact gay but is bisexual. When he meets the Diaz family for the first time, he talks about a former partner – a woman – which earns him some very confused Diaz faces indeed. Henry explains that he is bisexual, which leads to a very lengthy discussion about exactly what bisexuality entails. 

As the scene unfolds, it’s a little clunky. Initially, we were watching through our fingers as they covered our eyes. But in the end, it works out okay. The scene deals with all the bisexual stereotypes that exist. Abuelita (Renee Victor) opens the floodgates by saying she thought bisexual men were really just gay men that didn’t want to admit it. She then implies that bisexual people tend to err on the side of promiscuity. 

Henry responds very quickly that those two stereotypes are just not true. He makes it very clear that bisexuality does not automatically mean promiscuity and he states very clearly that he is a very picky, monogamous person. Henry dates one person at a time, no exceptions. 

Henry then clumsily stumbles through several comparisons as he tries to get Jorge’s relatives to understand the complexities of bisexuality. This part of the scene is somewhat difficult to watch, but it gets the job done in the end. The peak of the scene is when Abuelito (Pepe Serna) stands up and says that he finally understands bisexuality. He declares that because he likes two different types of foods, he is a food bisexual. You’ll either laugh or you’ll cry. Maybe you’ll do both!

The holiday focus

The series has five episodes, with each episode focusing on a different holiday. Episode 1 focuses on Nochebuena and expertly introduces the audience to the family dynamic of the Diaz clan. Lily is coming single, Jorge brings Henry home for the first time, and the marital problems between Jorge Sr. and Beatrice are unveiled to the audience. All secondary characters are also introduced in this episode as well. 

Episode 2 centers on New Year’s Eve, episode 3 hones in on Valentine’s Day, episode 4 documents Independence Day, and then episode 5 celebrates Dia De Los Muertos. Centering the episodes around specific holidays like this expertly depicts the human psyche and how we respond to things like “special occasions” and holiday periods. 

On Valentine’s Day, Lily wonders if she made a mistake walking away from her previous relationship. The woman makes a cringe-worthy attempt to get him back, even though everyone and their dog can see that it’s not the right move. Scenes like this really make you think about how irrational things like organized holidays can make people. 

With Love lacks the usual tacky holiday mess that is often presented in holiday movies and television shows. It’s real, honest, and candid in a way that is seriously absent from a lot of these kinds of shows.

Emeraude Toubia

The star of the show is undoubtedly Emeraude Toubia. Most notably known for her role as Izzy Lightwood from Shadowhunters, we were unsure what to expect when we saw her name on the line-up. We are happy to report that Toubia delivers an incredible performance in this show. 

Her skills as an actress have clearly developed and she has really come into her own. Toubia was born to play a role like Lily. She has improved so much since she left the set of Shadowhunters and she really did steal the show. If for nothing else, you should watch With Love for this alone. 

In summary, With Love is definitely worth a few hours of your time. The queer representation left us feeling all warm and fuzzy inside and the story is genuinely very good. We are really hoping they get renewed for a second season.

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With Love is streaming on Amazon Prime Video now. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for all queer stuff!

Featured Image: Image Courtesy of Prime Video