This review contains spoilers for seasons two and three of “You”
October brought us the third season of “You,” an insane series following sociopathic serial killer Joe Goldberg (played by Penn Badgley). This season is filled with twists and turns, lust and jealousy, and a litany of murders that would make Michael Myers squirm — it is fantastic.
The show has been heavily reliant on the perspective of unreliable narrator Joe in the past, but season three shows his wife Love Quinn-Goldberg’s (played by Victoria Pedretti) perspective more in-depth. Love is a killer too, and while I still maintain Love and Joe deserve one another, Joe’s infatuation with Love comes to a halt when he finds out about her murderous tendencies. At the end of the last season, we learned Love was pregnant just as Joe was about to kill her, and the pair left city life behind to raise their son in the sleepy California suburb of Madre Linda.
Joe initially seemed to be committed to ending his days of stalking and killing, but when Love kills a woman he was beginning to obsess over, chaos and frenzy come to Madre Linda. Joe’s feelings about Love flip-flop throughout the season; he wants it to work so his son doesn’t grow up in a broken home and end up in the system as he did, but ultimately, Love and Joe’s volatility get the better of them and Joe kills Love in an act of self-defense.
Before I watched this season, I didn’t like Love at all. She was annoying and petty and everything Joe was, but somehow worse. By the 10th episode of season three, I was so sad to see her go. Love proves her intelligence, cunning abilities and commitment to her son, even if it's through murdering and kidnapping. It was depressing to see her die while Joe gets to start over, completely absolved of responsibility.
“You” focuses mainly on Joe and Love, and while Badgley and Pedretti play their roles to perfection, the real stars aren’t either of them. Madre Linda is full of insufferable millennial hipsters who are gluten-free, sugar-free and redeemable-quality free. That is, except for Sherry and Cary Conrad (played by Shalita Grant and Travis Van Winkle, respectively). Episode one introduces Sherry as a condescending mommy-blogger and Cary as her loyal servant … oh, I mean fitness- and survival-obsessed husband.
Sherry and Cary evolve into polyamorous adventurers who try to help Love and Joe with their sex life, but when they overhear Love say she killed someone, a fight scene leaves the two trapped in the basement of Love’s bakery. It’s during their imprisonment when we see the true compassion that the pair share, despite the filter-perfect portrayal of their relationship they put online. To be fair, Sherry and Cary are awful, but they easily have the healthiest relationship in all of Madre Linda.
Through cleverness and communication, Sherry and Cary escape and go on to promote a self-help book inspired by their experience. The fact that they somehow got out of an impossible situation makes them even more likable. They were truly a breath of fresh air in the middle of the constant Love and Joe drama.
Joe, on the other hand, is obsessed with his boss Marienne Bellamy (played by Tati Gabrielle), and does everything in his power to get the girl and run away together. What else is new? He almost succeeds, but the circumstances of Love’s betrayal and death force him to stage a murder-suicide and start anew.
The reason so many fans still sort of root for Joe is because he is the hero in his own story — also, Badgley is objectively attractive and, as Ted Bundy has proven, pretty privilege exists even for serial killers. Even though Joe’s actions are reprehensible, his reasoning behind those actions makes sense sometimes. Part of that has to do with his narration of the show, which can paint him in a more positive light than he deserves.
I can say I hate Joe all I want, but secretly I think we’re all dying to see what kind of trouble he gets into next. What I really, truly want is for Love to somehow survive, hunt Joe down and make his life hell. “You” has been renewed for another season, and with Joe hoping to find Marienne in France, the possibilities are endless.
Emma Trevino is the culture editor at the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @itsemmatr
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