okay uncle is one of the best shows ever made and its about alot of things; addiction, family, cycles of abuse, self terminating destruction, life. its not a well known show, no one knows of this random British show from 2014. I find this to be a damn shame, cuz its great.
I first came to uncle when I was grieving, not a person but myself. I just finished ofmd, its silly to say a show about pirates with the guy who made the only good thor movie well… broke me. but it did. I grew attached to the characters, Izzy specifically, and when the show ended, the way it ended. it still hurts. I find myself alot less optimistic now, isn't that dumb? that a tv show could take my optimism from me? someone suggested people who were disappointed that word still doesn't feel strong enough by the ending should watch uncle, the actor who played Izzy played a queer character in that to. I was grieving, so I watched it hoping for a distraction, to be able to move on. to have my feelings fit an acceptable reality.
I stayed cuz its was one of the best written shows ive ever watched.
so, okay so whats Val's deal? there's never a specific identity stated for him, but the he/him pronouns are consistent. from the first ep the show is clear, Val is Val, Val dresses the way he does because that's how hes comfortable, Val is someone you are supposed to like.
Val's connection to the plot is through his daughter, Gwen, who dated the main character, Andy, before the show started. Gwen is a hot mess but Andy is so much worse. Val just wants to protect his daughter, he would kill to make sure she was happy, this lead to Val almost murdering Andy in several eps.
Val's place in the story is often the voice of reason, the older person whos been there done that and knows exactly how your gonna fuck it all up. cuz he did it first.
I think Val's my favorite canonically queer character, theres something so... realistic? about him. like the queer older person who doesn't know the new terms, isn't some perfect idealized idea of trans identity. theres nothing cut and dry here, not that there isn't a place for those story's, its just sometimes it seems like theres only a place for them. that people like me, who are queer in ways that make "passing" impossible, don't exist.
I rarely relate to queer characters, but Val's got that special somethin', that thing that makes me feel like I could be myself no matter how strange that is. because at the end of the story Val is happy, hes aloud to be happy. so few queer characters are ever aloud that. Izzy wasn't.
