In January, news broke out for the announced season 3 of the Netflix show, You. Critics and fans are already counting down the days for the thriller to come back.
Standing out from other shows on the streaming service, You offers a unique twist that even the most skeptical viewer can get hooked to.
Based on the book series by author Caroline Kepnes, You offers the view of love through the eyes of Joe Goldberg. Joe, played by Penn Badgley from the CW show Gossip Girl, is introduced as a bookstore manager, enamored with books of isolation, infatuation, and tragedy.
Goldberg's quest for love is met with resistance through his pursuits. As the resistance was met, the book enthusiast uses extremes to get the affection of the women of his desire; by any means necessary.
Scoring a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, You's latest season was watched by over 54 million people within the first month of it being streamed on Netflix.
What is it about the show? Is it the viewers' desire to see Joe win affection? To watch him see the errors of his ways? To come to terms with the tragedies of his childhood? Or maybe it's the characterization of the people that offer us a dynamic view of life as 20 and 30-something’s?
Perhaps it's the dream chasers; the lustful, isolated, and ultimately the broken. In the space of two seasons, the compelling nature of adult life in the 21st century is taken and magnified to near-absurd proportions. The canvas of the absurdity begins with Joe's past relationships.
The first pursuit we were introduced to was Guinevere Beck, played by Countdown's Elizabeth Lail. She was an aspiring writer while still in school. Her friends and relationships revolved around a lavish life she'd aspire to have, but can't yet attain.
Candace Stone was the second introduced pursuit. Played by Ray Donavan's Ambyr Childers, Stone was Joe's initial pursuit at love. Similar to Beck, Candace lived with aspirations of more.
The third, Victoria Pedretti's character Love Quinn was seemingly the opposite of the first two. While she too sought out the opinion of her peers, she was content with honest living, resenting the lavish life she already has. Quinn's backstory as a widow highlighted insecurity rooted in loss, rather than the first two wanting to gain.
Each character showed some semblance of imagination, of loneliness, and sadness. And as the saying goes, misery loves company. For each character that remains around the orbit of Joe Goldberg, it is no wonder as to why fate would draw them all together. And, insanity aside, we can relate.
With our routine use of social media and dialogues in social groups, we are aware of distorted perceptions by social, economic, and even relationship status. Yet at times, we allow it to consume us anyway. That is the story of Goldberg's love interests, but for Goldberg himself, ramp that up by a thousand.
His unsettling fixation with every partner was Dexter-esque as viewers hysterically watch the extreme lengths you never thought to go to.
After all, no way else would the phrase, "I would kill for" be this literal.
So if one were to describe the intrigue for such a complex show such as this? It is the soap-opera level of cringe that Joe Goldberg exuberates that we didn’t think we would want.
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