Psychological thriller? Romantic crime drama? Horror? You has become a Netflix original classic in the last five years, and the latest series sees our charismatic serial killer Joe Goldberg assuming a new life in London, as Professor Jonathan Moore.
Joe can’t go two weeks without fixating on a new soul and obsessing over their every move, stalking their social media, and creeping around after them all day wearing the flawless disguise of a baseball cap. So, in true Joe fashion, he looks out the window of new apartment in London to spy his neighbour Kate, played by Charlotte Ritchie, and a new infatuation begins, and a murdering spree of her elite and obnoxious social circle ensues.
You demonstrates how easy it is to make an audience connect with a character who, by our rational standards is evil.
The strongest writing lies in Joe’s internal monologue. We are put inside Joe’s head as he stalks ‘you’, the object of his obsession, which is first Beck, then Love, then Marianne throughout the seasons. The use of this pronoun has the clever effect of putting the audience in the shoes of Joe’s victim, as he is literally referring to ‘you’, the audience, as the girl he is obsessing over. But it is Joe’s perspective we get, and Penn Badgley does a remarkable job of portraying him as sharply intelligent and romantic, and, despite ourselves, likeable. Through stalking his victim, he always finds himself surrounded by society’s elite. From social media influencers in New York to yuppie hipsters in LA, and now the ultra-wealthy in London. These circles are usually made up of such contemptable characters that when contrasted against, Joe’s murderous tendencies become easier to look past. All this has the effect of making us sympathetic towards both Joe, as well as Joe’s victim- to predator and to prey. This is why in season one the role of protagonist is shared by both Joe and Beck.
So, once establishing Marianne is safe back in Paris with her daughter, Joe discovers Kate and off we go on the same rollercoaster ride as the previous three seasons; we are charmed, then alarmed, then charmed again by Joe as he attempts to reconcile himself with his nature and with the relationships in his new life. Joe, now Johnathan, is teaching a writing class at a university in London. He has an attentive student, Nadia, and a neighbour Kate, who is his way into the esteemed social circle.
This season does something a bit different, by letting us believe that Joe is not the killer, but in fact being framed by another serial killer who knows Joe’s unsavoury past and is using it to blackmail him. The ‘you’ in Joe’s mind becomes not an object of desire, but instead the anonymous killer he must identify. Season 4 was released on Netflix in two instalments, five episodes each. The first five episodes are built around a ‘whodunnit’ concept, with Joe trying to catch the eat the rich killer and keep his new identity intact. Nadia informs Joe, and the audience, of the genre’s tropes and conventions so he can build a story and deduce the killer. At the end of the fifth episode, it is revealed that the killer is Reece Montrose, a ‘champion of the people’ candidate for the mayor of London. The second five episodes had quite a shift in focus. The new twist is that Reece is a figment of Joe’s imagination, and in fact the eat the rich killer has been Joe all along. It was a twist that was foreshadowed nicely, perhaps the point of being telegraphed, and it annoyed me at first that the writers had decided to lean on an overused narrative trick. But where they went with it made perfect sense for Joe’s character.
Some of the most successful characterisation relies on the paradox within a character: the way they wish to be seen versus the person they really are. Up until this point, Joe has been wrestling with the serial killer inside him. It is the natural next step of dramatization for this struggle to manifest itself in the physical; by splitting Joe into two characters. Like the superhero, Joe now has two identities. Joe is the rational form of himself, while Reece is his darker self, his true form. Reece follows Joe around taunting him, trying to manipulate him into giving into his killer tendencies. The ‘character as a hallucination’ idea became an interesting way to explore Joe’s battle with his inner self.
The season ends with Joe attempting to kill Reece and destroy that part of himself. He does not succeed, and instead wakes up in hospital to Kate, who promises him they will ‘keep each other good’. Joe reconnects with the dark side of himself and allows it to exist. He returns to New York as a new, more ruthless man, and, with Kate’s influence, endless wealth and power at his disposal. Surely now, we can see him as the objective villain.
Joe is the indulgence of our darker side and represents the obsession we all have with the dark side of human nature.
The social commentary present in You is multi-layered. There is the commentary that Joe provides in his internal monologue, his quips and responses to the social elite around him serve to strengthen our connection to Joe, but also analyse those at the top of our society. Then there is commentary on the modern audience’s relationship with the serial killer. Joe is the indulgence of our darker side and represents the obsession we all have with the dark side of human nature. I think this is perhaps the main reason we like him. In this way, You demonstrates how easy it is to make an audience connect with a character who, by our rational standards is evil. With the rise in popularity ‘true crime’ documentaries and biopics have experienced in the last ten years, You seems to suggest we might be going too far. Penn Badgely himself has voiced concerns on the role Netflix might have had in enabling these dark fantasies within the modern audience.
There is a lot to talk about with You, and for that it is commendable. At times over the seasons, it has threatened to lose control, but it always manages to hold on enough to keep me entertained. A lot of it is down to Penn Badgely’s brilliant performance. I look forward to seeing things wrapped up in the final season.
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