If you’ve been on the internet in the last few weeks, you know that no one can stop talking about Netflix’s You. Season one of the tv show aired on Lifetime with barely any viewers. However, after Netflix picked up the show in December 2018, season one was streamed by 40 million households. The show stars Gossip Girl’s Penn Badgley, who plays a mysterious bookstore owner named Joe that develops an obsession with one of his customers, Beck. He begins to stalk Beck and interfere with her life, and even eventually becomes her boyfriend. And for the sake of not spoiling anything, let’s just say it gets messy.
I absolutely loved season one of You. From the very first scene of the first episode, I was captivated by hearing Joe’s inner dialogue as he interacted with Beck. Although it’s clear that Joe is seriously lacking a moral compass, the way the show focuses on him as a protagonist almost makes you want to root for him. I’m not going to lie – Joe and Beck made a cute couple. And I could understand how Beck would view him as a good guy, being oblivious to the dark obsession and violence Joe was capable of.
GIF by Lifetime via GIPHY
So, when season two of You came out over winter break, I started watching immediately. The last season ended on a cliff note – Joe’s ex-girlfriend had finally caught up to him and was ready to expose all of his secrets. Season two picks up with Joe moving across the country to escape Candace and his dark past. Joe develops a new fixation on a woman named Love, which led me to believe that this season would have a similar storyline as the last. But we come to find out that Love is very much different than Beck.
Again, I was sucked into this season as soon as I started it. I thought season one could be kind of strange at times, but the strangeness was kicked up a notch as Joe found himself falling deeper and deeper into the same trouble that he had left New York to escape. And if the names in season one sounded bizarre – like Guinevere Beck and Peach Salinger – the characters in season two were on a whole other level, with names like Love and Forty.
GIF by Lifetime via GIPHY
There were times throughout season two that the plot got a little soap-opera-y, because it seemed like the writers wanted to go even bigger than last season with the drama and violence. However, I loved the familiar inner dialogue of Joe, justifying all of his insane decisions along the way. And even though the show took a while to build up to the insane climax, the last couple of episodes were well worth the wait.
So, if you’re looking for a new binge-worthy drama with a similar style to Pretty Little Liars or Scream Queens, I highly recommend You.