A dark-haired man stands in a New York City bookstore and chats with a woman, realizing that he’s met the love of his life. He then proceeds to watch her from the street, look up her social media profiles, and find out everything he possibly can about her. Okay, so this isn’t the start of an epic romance or a beautiful lifelong love story that includes kids, grandkids, fun vacations, hard times, and everything in between. It’s a portrait of a creepy stalker, and it’s the beginning of what is arguably the best Netflix thriller.
Apologies to Mindhunter. Apologies to His & Hers, The Beast in Me, and one-season gems like Red Rose and The Society. You is the only Netflix thriller that truly haunts you and makes it impossible to think about anything other than Joe Goldberg’s dark story. And it ended at the right time, according to its talented star.
Thriller Fans Can’t Help But Obsess Over Joe On ‘You’
You premiered on Lifetime in 2018, moved to Netflix for Season 2, and quickly became an addictive and dramatic series that fans couldn’t miss. Just as Joe obsesses over Beck (Elizabeth Lail), Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti), Marienne Bellamy (Tati Gabrielle), Kate Lockwood (Charlotte Ritchie), and Bronte (Madeline Brewer), we can’t stop thinking about his odd motives, creepy beliefs, and terrible actions.
Watching You is an all-encompassing experience that you don’t get when watching other thrillers. In Season 1, you’re stunned by Joe’s decisions that go beyond the vague text messages and frustrating game playing of modern dating. In Seasons 2 and 3, you want to know everything you possibly can about Love and her startling true nature. Season 4’s hallucinations, commentary on the British social scene, and Kate’s introduction make the show even more disturbing. Then, in You Season 5, Joe is clearly going to be caught, and that presents its own riveting 10-episode journey. At five seasons, it’s longer than most thrillers you can binge in a single weekend, but it’s just as addictive.
Anyone who has been haunted by a real-life love interest and who has been unable to stop wondering if they said something silly on a first date can relate to the anxiety, panic, and fears of dating. But if that was all that this show was about, it would be a pretty thin, surface-level thriller. While Joe, who narrates the entire series, thinks he’s sharing a story of trying to find real love, we know he has no idea what love really means. You takes the emotions of regular dating experiences even further, and the writers crafted a story that dives into murder, childhood tragedy, and emotional abuse.
Penn Badgley Thinks the ‘You’ Season 5 Ending Was Exactly Right
Actors respond to their most famous and beloved characters in compelling ways. Some stars love every moment of playing this fictional person and would jump at the chance to revisit them. That’s why Lauren Graham’s enthusiastic and passionate performance is the only positive part of the 2016 Netflix revival Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life. Other actors are emotional, yet seem at peace with moving on, like some of the stars of Stranger Things. After all, if someone appeared on the same show for almost a decade, it makes sense that they would want to explore other projects.
So, did Penn Badgley cheer when it was time to stop playing Joe Goldberg, or was he sad? In an interview with The Los Angeles Times, the actor made it clear that he thought the You Season 5 finale was the right conclusion. He said:
“I don’t even know if it’s satisfying ideologically. In the most practical sense, it’s satisfying.”
He continued, “He’s not murdered and saved from misery. Somebody doesn’t have to do something to him that makes him think that he has a moral high ground above them.”
Badgley mentioned that there’s no way that You could have continued from this point and said:
“He’s just put in prison and that part of him is taken away so he literally can never do it again. There can never be a sixth or seventh or however many seasons.”
Unlike other TV shows that become too messy at the end and make fans wonder if the writers had a real ending in mind, we can see the threads of You‘s conclusion as early as Season 4. Once Kate knows Joe’s real story, is there any way to go back from that? And once Bronte manipulates Joe, turning the tables in a captivating way, can he really get away? Is it possible for him to keep falling for more and more characters who don’t realize who he really is until it’s too late? You is worth obsessing over because it’s a fun story that is also deep, and it’s hard to say that any other thriller can replicate that experience.
- Release Date
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2018 – 2025-00-00
- Network
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Lifetime, Netflix
- Directors
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Marcos Siega, Lee Toland Krieger, Cherie Nowlan, DeMane Davis, Kellie Cyrus, Marta Cunningham, Martha Mitchell, Victoria Mahoney, Erin Feeley
- Writers
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Justin W. Lo
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Elizabeth Lail
Guinevere Beck
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