Review: Victor and Valentino “In Your Own Skin”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Valentino attempt to buy some designer clothing but is laughed out of the store. He is then met by an odd less famous designer who could be a vampire?

OUR TAKE

Ah yes, the true enemy of children everywhere, FANDOM GATEKEEPING! At least, that’s what I’ve often taken away from episodes like these. Where a character is trying to express interest in something but is then brought into conflict with someone who is so obsessed with the thing that they’re shooed out of the place things are happening with that thing. Sometimes it’s sports or video games or comics, but fashion is definitely more prone to be the sort of area that these things occur. It’s also a great way to show that the things that are trendy are often by people who don’t really give a crap and end up making something that kinda breaks the mold on accident. And that’s what I think this episode comes to down to saying: chasing trends might keep you in the loop for now, but being comfortable in your own skin is what keeps you satisfied for the rest of your life. At least, that’s how I think it’s meant to be interpreted, but I could be wrong. I’m certainly not going to get pushy with people who see it differently, at least. Although I feel like maybe the musical number ended up feeling like a bit more than what was needed.

Also worth noting is that the designer character who helps Valentino out is named Xipe, a possible reference to Xipe Totec, an Aztec god known for “agriculture, vegetation, the east, spring, goldsmiths, silversmiths, liberation and the seasons”, at least according to a cursory google search. I don’t know exactly how that overlaps with creating fashionable clothing or why he (they?) had vampire fangs, but it’s certainly an interesting character who I THOUGHT was going to be more sinister. Again, mainly due to the vampire fangs. I often praise this series for its integration of Hispanic culture and mythology into its lore, but obviously as an outsider to all of that, some of it is going to go over my head at some point. Though I would expect that of anything that used, say, Jewish folklore to tell a story but didn’t really properly explain why bread was unlevened on Passover or why the Macabees kept the menorah going for eight days. I think it does overall benefit us to utilize other cultures in stories (obviously respectfully) though it could also help to make clear why you’re using a certain specific element from that folklore and why. Still not a bad episode, just something that came to mind.