Series Review: Netflix’s ‘You’
‘You’ is modern day television done right — creepily — but right nonetheless.
What is ‘You’ about?
This review contains mild spoilers. You is a new psychological thriller on Netflix that follows our anti-hero Joe Goldberg (portrayed by Penn Badgley) on his quest to make Guinevere Beck (portrayed by Elizabeth Lail) — a first time customer at the bookstore he manages — fall in love with him by any means possible. You wastes no time in letting us know that this dude is absolutely obsessed with her. By the end of the first episode he’s masturbated outside Beck’s window, broken into her apartment to keep tabs on her private messages, and casually kidnapped her on-again, off-again boyfriend. From this point on, the show follows the hurdles Joe must overcome in order to have Beck all to himself. These hurdles include, but are not limited to: removing toxic people from Beck’s life (in this show removing is code for killing them off by the way), following her everywhere she goes, and again, monitoring her private messages.
What does ‘You’ do right?
If we’re being honest? A lot of things. You has an amazing cast that does a great job in bringing some of the character’s stories to life in their own unique way. Aside from a sometimes predictable plot — the story of You is engaging because you find yourself wondering the lengths Joe will go to in order to make Beck “fall” for him.
Joe serves as both our protagonist and narrator, thus we are constantly in his head listening to his thoughts. His narration adds a lot of depth to the series, as in his world he thinks he’s some good guy doing all these terrible things for the greater good aka Beck. He even constantly has to remind himself that he’s ‘not a killer’ — usually right before he brutally murders someone. Joe is obviously not an easy character to resonate with, but you do sympathize with him at times due to the abusive environment he grew up in. What You does right with Joe is making him more than just some creepy stalker, but instead into the perfect anti-hero. You easily understand Joe’s justifications for his insane actions as he has no true moral compass due to the psychological trauma he carries with him. Regardless, the dude is a sociopath. He believes himself to be above everyone around him, thus it is his job to cast judgement on their fate. We see this in Episode 1 after he kidnaps Beck’s boyfriend, and later on in the season after he’s killed a few more people. Oddly enough, Joe Goldberg is very reminiscent of Daniel Humphrey from Gossip Girl — both of which are portrayed by Penn Badgley himself. I mean seriously, both of them are stalkers (Dan being being a more mild stalker than Joe) with a passion for literature and an obsession with blondes. I hope it’s just a coincidence, and not Penn Badgley playing roles that are closest to his own personality.
Next, we have Peach Salinger (portrayed by Shay Mitchell) who holds the crown for my favorite character of the season. Why you might ask?
- She’s gay!
- She served a look in EVERY scene she was in.
- Her and Joe’s constant banter were always episode highlights.
In all seriousness, though, Peach was an interesting character. Peach played the part of Beck’s best friend, but behind the scenes she had millions of creepy photos and videos of Beck that suggested Peach was madly in love with her. Even as her friend, Peach was still a pretty terrible person — going so far as to fake trying to kill herself because her and Beck got into an argument. One of the few gay characters we got in this show just had to be a closeted mess, huh Netflix? Regardless, Peach’s story is heartbreaking because despite having everything and everyone at the palm of her hand (and checkbook), she felt more isolated from the world than anyone else did. Her inability to express her sexuality due to fear of rejection is a story as old as the tale of time — but a very real issue nonetheless.
What does ‘You’ do wrong?
My main problem with You is with Guinevere Beck — because dear God is that woman insufferable. She seriously lives in the middle of Manhattan with no curtains and her bed right next to the window. On top of that, she’s the type of person to create problems out of thin air and have everyone around her clean up the mess she’s made. Beck is a lost puppy looking to be picked up by a stranger and given everything that the world has to offer. She does have her fair share of problems, I’ll give her that, but she uses them as crutches or excuses to treat the people in her life like objects. Beck is just an overall stale character who lacks much of a personality outside of her daddy issues. I should add that, despite her mundane personality, you can’t help but feel sorry for her during the season. Your boyfriend is actually your stalker with a knack for murder? Check. Your best friend is using her immense wealth to try controlling your every move because she’s in love with you? Check. Beck doesn’t catch a break at all during this season, but that doesn’t excuse how poorly her character was written.
My other problem with the show is how unrealistic the ending was. Joe gets away with a lot of things (and I mean a lot), but the ending to Season 1 had me wondering when they were going to send this man to prison. I won’t go into detail for the sake of spoilers, but it's clear as day that the writers just needed to set the plot up for Season 2.
Should you watch ‘You’?
Hell yeah. The characters are dope (except you Beck), the story is engaging, and it’s a very bingeable show. So bingeable, in fact that I watched it in one day. After the finale I was left itching for more and that’s all you can ask for in modern day television.
