You (2018) TV Review
You is one of the newest thriller-dramas to come to Netflix, based on a book of the same name by Caroline Kepnes. The showrunners are Greg Berlanti, who is known for his extensive repertoire including shows like Dawson’s Creek, Riverdale, and Everwood, and Sera Gamble, best known for her executive producer work on Supernatural.
This show came in hot, especially for die-hard teen drama fans such as myself: Penn Badgley, popularly known for his role as Dan Humphrey in Gossip Girl, plays the main character Joe Goldberg. Shay Mitchell of Pretty Little Liars plays a character in the supporting cast. Elizabeth Lail, who is perhaps less well-known, plays Joe’s love interest, Guinevere Beck (who just goes by “Beck”).
Now, the trailers for You set a pretty terrifying precedent – and this is because, well, the premise is pretty darn terrifying. Joe Goldberg, who narrates the show via his internal thoughts (which are creepily all addressed to Beck), is immediately exemplified as an obsessive stalker. Murderous impulses are also implied. Joe is a bookstore clerk who becomes fixated on Beck – a flighty, beautiful, aspiring writer slash student – after they have a flirty encounter. He soon learns everything about Beck by looking her up on social media. Joe soon begins to stalk her, watching her through the window of her home, and follows her around day-to-day. He even steals and copies her phone so he can see her incoming messages, breaks into her house, and commits various other wildly invasive acts. He soon worms his way into a relationship with Beck, who is completely unaware of Joe’s creep-status. As the relationship progresses, it is clear that there are two sides of Joe: the “nice guy”, and the obsessive, violent, unhealthy guy. It can be a little confusing for viewers, because when Joe is being nice, he genuinely seems nice. However, we are constantly reminded of what is lurking just beneath the surface.
I won’t go into too much plot detail, but needless to say, Joe is a psychopath in almost every way. He is a compulsive liar, who uses his looks and charm to manipulate the people in his life. He’s delusional, impulsively violent, and has an extremely skewed sense of empathy, frequently taking on a God complex. He’s able to fake his way through life, justifying his unhinged and amoral actions under the guise of love. Let’s be very clear before I continue – Joe’s character is not to be romanticized. He is an unreliable narrator and the show does well to highlight his hypocritical and straight up horrifying thought process.
The scariest part about this show is just how sneaky the horror of it can be. It’s a thriller in every sense, keeping viewers on the edge of their seats throughout. Since Joe narrates, it’s very easy to forget that this isn’t a romantic drama: that this is actually a cautionary tale. It sheds a very jarring light on how privacy in the era of social media and the Internet is practically obsolete. Beck’s platforms – Instagram, Facebook, and other social media – are all set to public. She doesn’t have a password on her computer or her phone. Joe equates Beck’s nonchalance to wanting to be seen, taking on the “she was asking for it” rape culture mentality. This incredibly problematic thought process should be the first warning of the level of his deranged nature. But the most jarring thing about Joe is that, since the story is told through his perspective, he does an eerily good job at almost convincing the audience that his actions, and thoughts, are justified. Which really makes you go, oh my god, why am I even remotely rooting for this guy?
But don’t worry; you’re not crazy for being fooled by Joe on various occasions. This is meant to be the aim of the thriller TV show, a structure that we’ve seen multiple times in books, films, and television. Think of the books Wuthering Heights, Lolita, or Fight Club. The films American Psycho, No Country for Old Men, or Inglourious Basterds. The shows Dexter, Hannibal, or The End of the F***ing World. Honestly, the list could go on about psychotic characters that are at the forefront of popular drama.
It’s the unreliable narrator effect, a full-on mind trick. Joe’s “romance” is actually one stemmed from craze and noxious tendencies, taking on the “doing anything for love” a step too far. Joe’s love is not a healthy model by any means. The premise is designed to get you thinking wow, this is such a dynamic character, is he really that bad? to then making you realize that yeah, no, he’s just a straight up murderer. I think the thing that tricks viewers the most is Joe’s sub-storyline with Paco, the child of his next door neighbour. With Paco’s mother a drug addict and stepfather an abusive alcoholic, Joe often cares for Paco by lending him books and taking him under his wing. It’s strange because it becomes clear that Joe does feel sympathy, albeit selectively, and I truly believe that he would never harm Paco. However, it’s important to remember that even though this genuinely kind side comes out of Joe, that doesn’t mean he’s not a stalker and potential killer. After all, Dexter Morgan had a child in Dexter, and though he was a relatively good parent, this doesn’t mean he wasn’t a serial killer.
Though the character of Beck is actually quite irritating, and annoyingly naïve (much like Dexter Morgan’s partner Rita in Dexter, who stays oblivious as all hell ‘til the very end), it’s quite interesting to see the progression of Joe and Beck’s relationship. It also makes you question how well you really know anybody – for a pathological liar like Joe, it’s easy to successfully trick and lie your way into someone’s heart.
It’s interesting to see the ways in which Dexter and You play with their respective characters – both living by a certain code to maintain a distorted sense of morality. Dexter Morgan only kills other killers, “cleansing” the world of evildoers while still being able to access the dark, murderous part of himself (the code is something his adopted father reinforced as a way to curb Dexter’s urges). Joe Goldberg has a similar father figure mentor: a man named Mooney who is the owner of the bookstore, shown primarily in flashbacks and also shown as somewhat unhinged. Mooney reinforces the idea to Joe, as well, that “bad” people deserve to die.
Dexter and You, which are both thriller-horror dramas, do a similarly excellent job in confusing its viewers. In both, we see their character progression. For Dexter, we see his character evolve from completely lacking emotion to eventually achieving levels of empathy. Dexter becomes a sort of vigilante by being juxtaposed to killers, rapists, pedophiles and serial murderers that are much more twisted than Dexter himself. Viewers root Dexter on to get rid of the horrific monsters he comes across, and we often forget that Dexter through this process is a serial killer too.
While Joe is definitely not the same as Dexter, he offers an introspective view into the mind of someone whose views on romance are so warped and perverse that they turn to violent means. When he encounters those that he thinks are bad – particularly when it comes to their negative impacts on Beck’s life – Joe believes he is entirely justified to get rid of them. And honestly? There are times when I, as a viewer, almost believed it.
Why are we so obsessed with psychopaths/sociopaths as characters, and why are they our narrators? Well, it offers a more comprehensive view into the way some people who have these tendencies might think, albeit in more glamorized and dramatized means. To be clear, though, this doesn’t mean that they are somehow justified in their actions. Rather, we see why they think they are justified in their actions. Joe has a tendency to blame everything bad that happens on other people. He believes he is protecting and bettering Beck’s life by committing seriously horrifying acts. He sees nothing wrong in his actions, because he’s doing it in the name of (a warped sense of) love.
Beyond the psychoanalytic breakdown of You, it is, at its core, a fascinating show. This thriller is well written and enthralling, with a harlequin romance vibe to it: almost far-fetched in the fanfiction-y storyline where a beautiful writer and handsome bookstore clerk have a meet-cute. Oh, and lest we forget that Beck’s best friend Peach is a Salinger. The hastening macabre aspect makes the show addictive, as viewers race to find out further secrets and mysteries from Joe and Beck’s lives, and to find out where exactly the romance will lead. Because if the tone of the show gives anything away, it’s that things will not end well. The relevance to today’s society in regards to the dangers of social media, both mentally and literally, is phenomenal. You is incredibly dark, and surprisingly non-campy (definitely a far cry from Riverdale). The characters swear explicitly, the sex scenes are graphic, and the material is altogether uncensored. The result is a world that seems scarily realistic.
You is certainly not for the faint-hearted. However, if you’re ready for a haunting commentary on privacy in the technological era, or a dissonant introspective into the mind of a deluded stalker, then this is the show for you.
~ Z ~
