You is one of those series that should not work, and get, absolutely does. Following a charmingly murderous Penn Badgley as he integrates into his target’s lives, the show is compellingly fun to watch with good splashes of dry wit and humor. Originally a Lifetime series, You is now a Netflix Original, and it makes confident strides in season two that establishes the show as bingeable entertainment of the most addictive kind.
Having pursued (and killed) Beck (Elizabeth Lail) in season one, Joe Goldberg escapes to Los Angeles and becomes Will Bettelheim to escape his not-so-dead ex Candace (Ambyr Childers). There he finds a new object of affection in Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti from The Haunting of Hill House), who like Beck is also wealthy, but works as a chef at hip grocery store Anavrin, which is nirvana spelled backwards. She’s the one thing that makes the challenge of adapting to LA seem worthwhile, as Joe hates the place with passion.
Like Beck, Love also has unique characters in her orbit, with her twin brother, Forty (James Scully) standing out the most. There are shades of Peach in Forty’s character, but he isn’t as willfully vicious. He’s good-natured to a fault, and prone to drug binges that go poorly for him afterwards.
This time around, Joe tries to become a better person for Love, and desperately tries to convince himself that he’s not the old Joe anymore, even as he ends up murdering two more people throughout the second series. Penn Badgley’s narration often make you sympathetic for the character, especially when we get glimpses of Joe’s troubled childhood.
Badgley is solid as usual in his portrayal of Joe, especially with the way he handles voice over that often ventures into corny territory. Pedretti also does well as the multi-layered Love: there’s always an unbalance to her character that makes her a compelling match for Joe. She’s forward, often bold, and at first, that makes Joe keep her at an arm’s length. She’s got a tragic backstory of her own, and her own drama with her parents, but beneath all that is a woman who’s smarter than it initially seems. Of the side characters, Delilah, Joe’s new landlord, makes an impression with her MeToo inspired narrative; it’s her sister, Ellie, however, who makes more of an impact with her precocious tongue that endears her to Joe.
As good as season two is, there are some contrivances, such as almost nobody trusting Candace and labeling her the crazy ex instead. Still, the exploration of toxic love goes in new directions, as a twist late in the season opens new possibilities for Joe.
The romance goes by faster in this season, leaving the door open for psychological perspectives on whether Joe can actually change and if so, how long that would last.
Like with Dexter or Breaking Bad, you expect Joe Goldberg to eventually meet his comeuppance. But for now, it’s a thrill to watch him skewer his way through life, hiding one body after the next. His past follows him around and hounds him, sometimes ironically such as when Forty tries to adapt Beck’s posthumous best selling book and figures out that Dr. Nicky didn’t kill her.
Of course, You repeats itself while setting up the backbone of season two’s narrative, but it ends up in a stranger place than one would initially think. The series would have to go to new places if it has to continue to a third season and beyond, and we can place our faith in showrunners Sera Gamble and Greg Berlanti in evolving the show as it continues.