The Netflix Original You premiered on Netflix in December of 2018 and has since been viewed over 40 million times. The show centers around Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley), a bookstore manager that falls in love and becomes obsessed with Guinevere Beck (Elizabeth Lail), an aspiring writer. After meeting Beck, Joe goes beyond the common social media search and begins essentially stalking her. Without her knowing, Joe tries anything possible to insert himself in her life. The series centers around Joe and Beck’s relationship and the things Joe is willing to do in order to be first in her life.
1. Creepy Rom-Com
Although You is set up as a cute romantic story when Joe and Beck meet, as we follow Joe through the rest of the very first episode, it’s clear he’s pretty creepy. Joe and Beck meet in the bookstore where Joe works and connect over their love of books. With the help of social media, Joe finds Beck’s house and begins stalking her, finding her friends, school life, and other men easily on the internet.
Beck knows none of this, which makes the show more frustrating. She unknowingly falls for her stalker and you almost root for him. When Joe is with Beck, he seems perfectly normal and you can almost forget that he’s stalking her – until he’s alone again and we can see who he really is. Joe shows just how easy it is to play both the role of the romantic and stalker at the same time.
2. Reminiscent of Gossip Girl
Fans of Gossip Girl might recognize Penn Badgley (Joe) as Dan Humphrey. Now Joe and Dan are two entirely different characters from different universes, but they have some similarities, one being the man who plays them. The first noticeable similarity was both shows are set in New York City, not necessarily a rare location for a TV show, but seeing Badgley walk the streets of NYC as he did in Gossip Girl adds to the familiarity.
Both Dan and Joe feel out of place in their friend groups because of the different lifestyles they lead, but put up with it because of their relationship. Specifically, Dan and Joe have to deal with their love interests’ disapproving best friend because of their lack of wealth. The setting of both local hipster NYC and the glamorous Upper East Side, Penn Badgley, and the dynamic of the disapproving best friend and the off-brand boyfriend gives You a vibe of lightheartedness that is intertwined with scenes of a psychological thriller.
3. We’re in Joe’s POV
What might be the most interesting part of You is how the show follows Joe’s perspective. We rarely see into Beck’s head like we can into Joe’s. We follow all of his actions, hear all of his thoughts, and even begin to understand his reasoning.
The thing about Joe is he doesn’t think he’s being creepy by stalking Beck. In his mind, he’s only gathering information about Beck that he’ll need in order to charm her. Joe thinks he’s being romantic by gathering all of her personal information and eliminating anything that could keep them apart.
You might not admit it, but you just may find yourself rooting for Joe sometimes. He’s not all psychological manipulation, he has a kind heart too. I won’t give away the whole show, but there is a storyline where we see a softer side of Joe.
4. Joe Does Some Crazy Shit Too!
The most interesting part of Joe’s character isn’t that he does crazy shit – it’s that Joe does crazy shit, and then will turn around and go on a date with Beck like nothing even happened. In You, Joe is leading a double life and has almost no trouble pulling it off. For most of the show, he doesn’t appear to feel any guilt or let his own terrible actions affect him and because Joe doesn’t seem affected by his actions, especially when he’s with Beck, we can almost forget it even happened. Almost.
If you’ve watched You already, you probably found yourself, like I did, yelling at the TV for Beck to get out of there. You had me always on the edge of my seat, making me wanna binge the whole series. The season finale ended with a cliffhanger that has us begging for more.