Created in 2018 by Greg Berlanti and Sera Gamble and bought the following year by Netflix, the series You was a great success as soon as it arrived on the platform, to the point where its main character became a real pop-culture object. The story of stalker Joe Goldberg, who will stop at nothing to seduce and cherish the women on whom he sets his sights, has certainly reached the heights of its popularity once upon a time but we can not help but wonder if the quality of the series is still there. While season 4 has just ended with its second part released on March 9, it is time to dissect the new adventures of our dear Joe.
New identity, new country, new beginning?
It is in London that we find Joe under the name of Jonathan Moore as a professor of literature at the university. The usual pattern changes slightly and this time, we find a Joe who fights against his demons in the hope of becoming better. He is, not surprisingly, surrounded by a group of rich and influential characters who integrate him without worry. We are presented with a whole new cast to take over from the previous ones, and this one is far from disappointing. Between the cute and endearing Lady Phoebe played by Tilly Keeper; Joe's new conquest, the cold but vulnerable Kate played by Charlotte Ritchie (who was discovered years ago in the irresistible British comedy Fresh Meat); or the student too curious for his own good Nadia played by Amy-Leigh Hickman: the cast is of a high quality, diversified in its archetypes and convincing from the start. This is clearly the strength of this season 4. The inter-character dynamics are double or double, and we sometimes have the impression that the scenario wants to take us somewhere, no matter how weak its justification. A season in saw-tooth patterns, capable of bringing very strong and striking scenes as much in their staging as in their writing, but others so far-fetched that we find ourselves sighing. The drama is intense, constant, and that's what keeps us going relentlessly, because despite its undeniable weaknesses, You knows how to keep its viewer in suspense and interest him by promising him twist after twist, no matter if the logic suffers.
SPOIL AREA
The charm has run out of steam
When we discovered Joe a few years ago in his small bookstore in New York when he fell madly in love with Guinevire Beck, he told us an effective story tinged with twists worthy of a soap opera. The recipe worked perfectly and the sequel showed just as many qualities, with some weaknesses in season 3. We have seen the series run out of steam year after year with the same pattern: Joe becomes obsessed with a woman, crosses all boundaries "for his own good", kills a bunch of people, then ends up either killing her or making a massacre and starts from scratch in a new place. That's where season 3 left us, as he killed Love Quinn, abandoned their child and pretended to be dead. Hoping to find Marienne, his obsession at the time, he travels to London and eventually settles there. There's no denying that this season 4 is trying new things. First, by trying to shake up his famous pattern with this Joe in conflict with himself. He gradually falls in love with Kate but forbids himself to follow her every move, he refuses to resort to violence… This season's killer isn't even supposed to be him for once, but a stranger who eliminates the members of the new group, the "eat the rich killer," one by one. This new killer turns out to be Rhys Montrose, a politician from scratch who strangely follows Joe wherever he goes. Except that, of course, the real Montrose has no idea who Jonathan is and that the main interested party has left in a phase of dissociation. He kidnapped Marienne, locked her in a glass cage in a dilapidated basement in the city, and killed all these people. This vision was only the worst part of him that he was trying to suppress, he didn't change in a snap of his finger and the pattern is the same. The dilemma is there: does a character's constant regression for his own development detract from the viewer's experience? Doesn't Joe's story repeat itself too much?
The circle is complete (or almost)
What Joe Goldberg becomes in this season of You, we could have seen it coming. There is a real attempt to entertain differently with this whole part in which we cast doubt on the identity of the "eat the rich killer", an attempt to play with mystery. The revelation is not so surprising but works very well for character development that has been constant for him. Redemption does not exist for Joe and never will, he can only make his situation and condition worse. The only narrative solution, one that would satisfy the faithful viewers who followed him in his regression, would be to finally make him pay for all the harm he has caused. This is not the direction that the end of this season takes, it is quite the opposite. Jonathan can become Joe Goldberg again with impunity, posing as a miraculous survivor and Love Quinn's victim; All this alongside his rich and powerful girlfriend. He is on top of the world and seems unattainable and, ironically, finds himself back in New York. It's as if the series is preparing us for its future downfall as it has reached the heights of its horror. A fall that spectators like Penn Badgley, the interpreter of the character, want brutal and have been demanding for a long time. We have been shown time and time again that there is no redemption possible and this season is the culmination that proves it, once again or once too many? Neither, but hopefully last time. The few other changes in narrative scheme may also suggest this, we can take the example of the younger secondary character he always takes under his wing, who in this season is played by Nadia whom he ends up sending to prison for his own murder. He doesn't even try to protect anyone but himself anymore and all the excuses he constantly gives himself disappear at the end of the season. He became the antagonist for good. This season 4 of You has big writing flaws and uses many shortcuts but it is no less entertaining, the twists being numerous and almost incessant. Joe's development is impeccable as always and there is a real evolution that, we hope, will lead to a season 5 where he falls as high as he has risen. You is available in full on Netflix
