October 2018 was a simpler time. Our president hadn’t yet been impeached. Full House actress Lori Laughlin was still just Aunt Becky. Colton’s season of The Bachelor hadn’t aired yet, which means we had yet to meet Hannah B(east), the most famous Bachelorette of all time and mirror ball winner. We still hadn’t seen the last season of Game of Thrones, which means there was still a chance it wasn’t going to be complete crap. We were full of hope for so many things. Including a little show that had just started airing on Lifetime: You.
Back in October 2018, I wrote a reflection on the brand new show starring Penn Badgley, Elizabeth Lail, and Shay Mitchell. At the time, a lot was still up in the air, and I wasn’t sure if the show I was watching was good terrible or just terrible terrible. Now that it’s 2020, a lot has changed. You has moved to Netflix, and we’ve all binge-watched the most recent season (right? right). So now it’s time to look at where we are. Is this show good, or is it really, really bad? Let’s take a look and find out.
Oh… I should probably mention all the spoilers for Season 1 and Season 2 are to follow. Bam. There. I warned you.
You: Season 2 picks up where Season 1 left off. And by that I mean all the characters from Season 1 are gone. That’s right, Joe either killed or eliminated in some way all of the key players from Season 1, so just forget about them. I am not going into what else happened in Season 1 because that was a long time ago and we have a lot of Season 2 to get through, so strap in.
Like I was saying, all of the Season 1 characters are gone. In fact, Joe Goldberg himself is gone. He has taken on a new identity: Will Bettelheim, a name he stole from someone else who he has, yes, locked up in his little book dungeon. Joe/Will has moved to Los Angeles in order to hide from his ex Candace. You know, the girl he thought he killed before the beginning of Season 1? Turns out Joe hadn’t yet perfected the art of killing yet and that one stayed alive. And she’s after him for some reason.
I don’t know if we ever find out what exactly Candace wants and why she doesn’t just turn Joe in to the cops? Does someone want to explain that for me? I think Candace is supposed to be really stupid and annoying so that we don’t root for her. Even though she was the one who was assaulted and buried and left for dead. Even though she has severe PTSD now because of it. Yeah, I know. It sounds problematic because it probably is.
Yeah, but like… no one cares, Candace.
And, yes, I know what you’re thinking: HOW did Joe transport his book dungeon all the way to Los Angeles? Especially when he’s trying to be stealth. Look, I’m not here to give you answers. Maybe we’ll find out in Season 3. Probably not though.
Aside from Candace, Season 2 has so many other new characters for you to meet. Most importantly, of course, is Joe’s new object of obsession: Love Quinn. Love is played by Victoria Andretti whom you will probably recognize from The Haunting of Hill House if you’re a chronic Netflix original watcher like I am. At first glance, Love is the manic pixie dream girl of Joe/Will’s dreams. She deals with her emotions by cooking, she has a cheerful but edgy disposition, and she has a tragic backstory (her husband got sick and died… what kind of sick? Who knows?). But of course there’s more to Love than meets the eye. More on that later.
Next up is Love’s brother Forty. Yes, he’s called Forty. He’s incredibly obnoxious and entitled. I believe Forty is supposed to be a stand-in for your typical Los Angeles rich kid. He likes to throw around a lot of buzzy health food words and talk about his latest screenplay. He also has a drinking problem. And, come to find out, Forty also has a tragic backstory. He was molested by the nanny when he was a young teen.
On the next tier of importance, we have Joe’s neighbors. As with Season 1 in New York, Joe has to find neighbors in Los Angeles that he takes on as his personal responsibility. Here, we have Delilah Alves, his landlord and a tabloid reporter. Delilah (played by Carmela Zumbado) is the guardian of her fifteen year-old sister Ellie (Jenna Ortega). Joe decides it’s his responsibility to watch over Ellie, which means putting some sort of parental control app on her phone and killing a famous comedian who tries to molest her. He also bangs Delilah. NBD.
That’s the general cast of characters of the show. But how is the season as a whole? There are a few different spins on the Joe as an obsessed boyfriend/stalker storyline, but for the most part, as with a lot of sequels, this is just a retread of Season 1. Instead of MFA/New York City tropes, however, Joe is rolling his eyes at Los Angeles wellness and fame whore tropes. Same story, different city.
Why, then, did I feel so compelled to finish this season as quickly as possible? Why did I need to know how it ended when I’ve seen it all before? Really, it comes down to the Quinns. Joe is crazy, but both Forty and Love Quinn give him a run for his money. Watching them confuse the heck out of Joe was really great to watch. Especially after watching Joe manipulate and torture other people to get what he wanted, it was sort of nice seeing him get a taste of his own medicine.
And how about that twist in the end? This twist was almost enough to respond to all of the people who have criticized this show as being problematic for making us empathize with a man like Joe. Yes, it was even enough for me… almost.
Without getting into too many details (in case you want to watch and haven’t), we find out in the final episode (aptly titled “Love, Actually”) that Love is not the person we thought she was. In fact, she’s a person very much like Joe. She murdered the woman who molested her brother, and she has had a bit of a murderous streak ever since. All the time Joe thought he was stalking an innocent doe-like young woman, she was actually stalking him right back. And manipulating him. And killing for him.
I think it was an excellent choice on the part of the show writers to have Joe react the way he does. He is horrified. This is true to his character. He doesn’t actually want a woman who is a fully realized person. He certainly doesn’t want a woman who is like himself, for as self-loathing as he is. This episode is ALMOST (almost) a critique of men everywhere who idealize women and hold them up to unrealistic expectations. For a moment, I thought this show was getting somewhere. And I was excited about it.
But then… they had to set up for Season 3. Fuck.
The need to have You continue on into a third season is what really ruined what could have been the perfect ending of the season. After we think Joe has been trapped by Love in a marriage and a life in suburbia with a child, something happens. He sees a neighbor through a fence and gets obsessed with HER. Kill me now. This was such a disappointing ending to what could have been a pretty exciting second season.
What’s so bad about this set up? Season 2 seems like a retread of the first season, but there is a freshness to it through the new characters that are introduced, a promise that we are, in some small way, moving Joe’s story forward. This ending was a big step back to square one. What does it tell me about Season 3? That it’s probably going to be the exact same story all over again.
That makes my answer to the question I originally posed very difficult. Is You something I’m hate watching or do I genuinely enjoy it? Y’all. I do not know. I think I actually ENJOYED season 2, especially because it was such a bonkers season that was borderline absurd. I actually appreciated that about it. But going into Season 3—which, yes, will come, and yes, I will watch it—I feel like it’s going to be a hate watch. I would love for the show to surprise me, but so far I don’t have faith that these show runners can take this material and successfully elevate it without fucking it up in the end. Which is what happened this season.
I’m not asking for a season without flaws. This season certainly had plenty of them. What I’m asking for is a show that’s actually trying to say something. You almost says something interesting, but then trades it in, time and time again, for anything cheap and easy that will get you to keep watching.
The entire series of You (season 1 and 2) are available on Netflix, and you should watch it so you can join me on this strange journey. If you haven’t already.