Molly Kehoe gives you a run-down of what happened in the hit Netflix show You until now and gets you ready for its much anticipated finale coming March 9th.
Hello, You.
The hit TV show You debuted on Netflix in September of 2018, starring infamous “Lonely Boy” Penn Badgley as the bookseller- turned-serial killer, Joe Goldberg. Every new season places the show at the top of the Netflix charts. According to Netflix, in its first four weeks You accumulated over forty million member views on the streaming service. The fourth season was released Friday, February ninth, and its second part will be released on March 9th. It is extremely hard to evade spoilers for this series considering how Penn Badgley has (regrettably) become everyone’s favorite serial killer heartthrob, but I will try my best not to ruin the new season for those who haven’t had a chance to watch it yet.
Season one follows Joe, when he’s still the manager of a quaint bookstore in Manhattan and becomes completely infatuated by Guinviere Beck (Elizabeth Lail), an MFA candidate, the moment she sets foot into the store. He uses everyone’s favorite method of finding out more about your latest crush: internet stalking. As much as we like to believe we are practically FBI agents when it comes to scowering Instagram, no one does it like Joe Goldberg. Joe will stop at nothing to protect those he “loves”, his loved ones including discarded bad apples and rotten peaches. As much as I love the series, Love Quinn was right: “Guinivere Beck was un- special and mediocre.” Her absence in future seasons was not a real loss for the show.
In Season two, a disillusioned Joe trades New York for Los Angeles to escape the ghost of an ex who unfortunately did not stay a ghost for long. Candice (Ambyr Childers) has risen from the grave and is on the hunt for revenge. The staples from season one are still here: Joe’s voice-overs are as funny as they are reprehensible, and he’s still the only murderer who believes that his baseball cap can grant him the gift of invisibility. True to himself, Joe falls head over heels for another woman he believes is his soulmate after a single conversation. The unfortunate woman he has chosen this time around is Love Quinn, the heiress to Los Angeles aristocracy and the chef of her family’s restaurant and bakery-bookshop ANAVRIN (Nirvana spelt backwards). What Joe is unaware of is that Love hides some secrets of her own, and is not as innocent as she seems. In fact, it turns out that Love is his equal in love and in work, if you catch my drift.
Fast forward to the third season, Joe and Love are “happily” married and all seems well in the cushy suburbs of Madre Linda. Joe’s bad habits follow them as he becomes enamored by their seductive neighbor Nathalie. However, Love will not let Joe’s compulsive nature destroy her family or her marriage. She proves she will stop at nothing to keep her husband in check.
In a change of pace from the show's usual psychological thriller style, this fourth and final season will take on a more murder-mystery, whodunnit vibe, and offer an insight into the crème de la crème of London society. Like many, I’m hoping they bring back Love Quinn, flawlessly interpreted by Victoria Pedretti. Her performance has been consistently phenomenal in You. She is Joe’s match made in heaven and Penn Badgley’s ideal scene partner. It would be a complete waste to get rid of her completely from the show. However, I have heard through the grapevine that Love may be in the air after all…