Photo: Beth Dubber, Netflix
Chances are by now you’ve seen a meme that originated from the show “YOU”, or heard the name Joe Goldberg, or someone talking about “that creepy stalker show.” If you haven’t heard of it yet, I recommend you watch it on Netflix for your next binge. Season two was just released in December and I’ve already watched it twice! “YOU” follows the story of Joe Goldberg, a guy with a troubled past that is desperate to love someone, and in doing so he stalks them, steals their things, follows them, reads their phone messages, infiltrates their lives completely. On the outside he’s just seen as a caring boyfriend. Yes, he actually becomes their boyfriend, he isn’t just a stalker. Oh, he also sometimes kills them. Anyway, I really enjoyed season one so I couldn’t wait until the second season came out. The second season is a lot different from the first—Joe has changed his name, moved to L.A. (a place he despises), just to escape one of his ex girlfriends that he thought he had killed and buried alive (nope, she’s still alive and ready for revenge!)
I liked season two even better than season one. The cast was incredible, I felt like their stories were much more intricate and involved than the stories of the supporting cast in season one. Huge shoutouts to this seasons new cast: Carmela Zumbado (Delilah), Jenna Ortega (Ellie), James Scully (Forty), Ambyr Childers (Candace), Victoria Pedretti (Love). There were multiple story lines to this seasons characters, allowing things to keep going wrong for Joe, over and over. Yes, Joe is a stalker and a murderer but for some reason the audience secretly roots for him. Penn Badgely, the actor that plays Joe, in real life was disturbed by the audience reaction to actually liking Joe. I mean, you have to admit, Joe is actually a likable character! And his nonstop narrative dialogue is actually hilarious.
If you haven’t seen the second season yet, I wouldn’t recommend reading below because there are spoilers!
Let’s dive right in. We’re back to rooting for Joe again, aren’t we? Although, I feel like things shifted for me this season. I still (dare I say) “felt bad for Joe”, especially as you see his backstory on how he grew up. But—seeing what he put Candace through made me feel what we should be feeling—that Joe is a psycho stalker and murderer and no one should feel bad for him. He “accidentally” “killed” Candace hitting her head against that rock, then buried her (alive). Then, after all of this and all he’s put her through, he continues to gaslight her and make it seem like she is the psycho ex girlfriend stalker that followed him to L.A. Candace of course tries to go to the police to report what Joe did to her, but unfortunately there really isn’t enough evidence, so all the police can tell her is just to stay far away from Joe if what she says is true. I felt so bad for Candace this season, to actually see what she went through, to have no one believe her, to show how traumatized she still is, to see her as an actual victim of abuse...it was a lot, to say the least.
Let’s talk about Love. She truly annoyed the crap out of me, and this is before she killed Delilah. I did not like her from the beginning. I thought it was so weird that after barely knowing Joe and meeting him, she decided to spend a whole day taking him around to different places in L.A. Okay maybe that could be seen as a cute love story but for some reason it just bothered me. What really captured my attention of course was everything that happened in the last three episodes. We learn that Love actually is also a psycho murderer. Not only did she kill Forty’s nanny when they were younger, but we finally find out that she’s the one that killed Delilah. Oh and then we can’t forget she killed Candace too, sweet Candace who was just looking out for Love and wanted to protect her from Joe. RIP Delilah and Candace. Although I never predicted that Love would turn out to be a female version of Joe, a part of me knew right away that Joe was going to lose his attraction to Love as soon as he found out who she really was. Why? Because suddenly he was looking at a mirror, at the female version of himself. Another surprise? Love is pregnant. Can someone please adopt their baby because they should definitely not be parents.
To wrap things up, I was really happy with this season, I love all of the twists and turns at the end especially in those last few episodes. Finding out who Love really is, watching Joe on acid (the safe word is Mama Ru!!), and sadly, seeing the beloved Forty get killed all made for a pretty satisfying wrap to the season. However, in perfect show finale fashion, those last few seconds of the episode we see that Joe already has already set his sights on his next target: the married neighbor. I’ve heard theories that maybe the neighbor is his mom, but the show runner has made it clear that this woman next door is going to be an object of Joe’s affection—obsession. Can’t wait for season three!