I watched season one of Lifetime’s You almost immediately after it was released on Netflix and fell in love with the show’s ability to creep me out. I felt uncomfortable, scared, and confused while watching, which is exactly what I expect from Lifetime. Better than any Lifetime movie that I’ve watched though, You was able to keep me on my toes. Some things are predictable, while others seemingly come out of nowhere. Season two was even more unpredictable and crazy than I could have imagined. Of course, major spoilers lie ahead. Beware.
The Characters
This season begins with Joe Goldberg, our protagonist, moving to L.A. to escape his ex girlfriend Candace. There seems to be some basic development in Joe since killing Beck and framing Dr. Nicky. He is adamant about avoiding his past tendencies to stalk women and become obsessed. I almost would have believed his determination if I didn’t have nine more episodes to watch. His name for this season is Will Bettelheim.
The love interest for this season is Love Quinn, a seemingly quiet but quirky girl who bakes. She proves herself to be headstrong early on and I genuinely enjoyed her character. Love is also extremely overprotective of her twin brother, Forty.
Forty, a recovering (if you can call him that) addict of all things alcohol and drug related, and Love’s twin, is quintessential L.A. according to Joe. He’s eccentric in comparison to the characters of the previous season, but fits in perfectly to the L.A scene depicted. Throughout the season, he displayed a fair amount of character development, especially when trying to help Joe win Love back.
Candace, Joe’s ex girlfriend, appears in memories before relocating to L.A. under the name “Amy Adam.” While dating Forty to get to Joe, she shows her anger and determination and the audience finally gets a peek into what really happened between her and Joe.
Ellie, a fifteen year old girl, and Joe’s neighbor, is a social media savvy typical teenager. Her older sister Delilah manages the complex and is the mother figure to Ellie. Joe becomes very protective of Ellie, seeing himself as the parental figure that she needs, seeing as Delilah is irresponsible in his eyes.
Henderson or “Hendy” is a grown man and stand-up comic who takes pictures of underage girls after drugging them. Delilah was one of the girls, years ago, and Ellie becomes his intern. He becomes yet another of Joe’s victims.
The Storylines
If I’m being completely honest, I wasn’t expecting too much from this new season. As much as I enjoyed season one, I assumed this would be very similar in plot and climax. While it was in a way, season two also deviated far from what we saw in season one. We see Joe truly trying to stick to his morals and protect the people around him from threats. When he kills Henderson, it only comes after giving the pictures of the girls to Delilah, warning Ellie repeatedly, and having him accidentally escape during what was supposed to be a confession. Joe also seemed shocked at what he had done, which shows that he still doesn’t see himself as a monster the way the audience does. He sees himself as a hero who has to protect everyone around him.
I enjoy trying to predict how tv shows will end, much to my sister’s dismay, and I thought this season would end with Candace’s and Forty’s death, and either Love’s imprisonment or death. I’m usually correct with my guesses so I was happily surprised when I was wrong about my predictions for Love. Candace’s death was obvious for me, she had to die in order for Joe to get away with everything. Forty had revealed his past trauma with his nanny raping him and him believing he murdered her. Something about his past trauma and his rapidly changing opinions made me believe he was going to die. He didn’t die by Joe’s hands like I thought he would, but he died nevertheless. Love’s ending on the other hand, was so far off from what I had pictured that I audibly gasped when she was the one to kill Candace. After she did that, I started to piece together that she had been Delilah’s murderer. However, she surprised me again when she revealed that she had been the one to kill Forty’s rapist nanny. Suffice it to say, I was thrilled with the amount of shock factor this season.
Just like last season, I was left wanting more after watching the last episode. After all of Joe’s supposed growth, he seems to have already latched on to his new neighbor, despite Love being pregnant with his child. This leaves a world of possibilities for season three, now that we know that Love is capable of murder as well.
The Style
I was glad to see that the style of narration had remained the same from the previous season. Hearing Joe’s reasoning for his actions and his thought processes show how much he really wants to improve himself, even if he isn’t capable of making the change. Just hearing how he perceives everyone around him allows this thriller series to have so much more depth than others because the audience is able to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the protagonist.
A lot of the camera angles are also positioned so that the audience sees what Joe sees and nothing more. In this style, it gives the audience the same information that Joe has, leaving us to process any new information as he processes it. Not many important moments are shown without Joe present as either a participant or a bystander. This eliminates the possibility of dramatic irony and increases the suspense, making the episodes more frightening because we literally know only what Joe knows.
Final Thoughts
I would highly recommend You season two to anyone who watched the first season, and the show as a whole to anyone who likes a good thriller show. I ended up watching seven episodes in one day in between readings for my classes (I find watching an episode of a good show to be a great reward for reading a chapter or writing a paper). This is one of those shows that you can’t stop thinking about until you finish it, so if you start it, make sure you have time to watch them all.
Get watching!