When I was a teenager, Thursdays were reserved for summarizing the plot of Wednesday night’s Gossip Girl dramatics to my poor, obliging, older brother. If I didn’t promptly call to update him on Lonely Boy’s adventures in his new series, You, it was only because I knew my brother to be more Team Chuck than Team Dan. Yet, despite a clear lack of Chuck Bass, You truly is a binge-worthy “romance” that’s sure to please all the Gossip Girl fans who ever wondered what would happen if Lonely Boy Dan took his obsession with the It-Girls of the Upper East Side just one step too far.
“Well, hello there. Who are you? Based on your vibe, a student. Your blouse is loose. You’re not here to be ogled, but those bracelets, they jangle. You like a little attention. Okay, I’ll bite.”
Developed by Greg Berlanti and Sera Gamble, You isn’t really a continuation of Gossip Girl, though the male leads certainly share several parallels. You stars Penn Badgley as Joe Goldberg—a love-stuck bookstore manager—and Elizabeth Lail as Guinevere Beck—as a beautiful, broke NYU grad student with dreams of being an author. Though this chilling series based on a novel by Caroline Kepnes first aired on Lifetime (where else?) in September 2018, it was released internationally by Netflix in December and has since become another member of the Netflix Originals team. With a second season that’ll move the series from it’s dreary NYC setting to sun-kissed LA already announced, now is the perfect time to binge your way through this eerie exploration of the “love conquers all” theme—especially since nothing is better than a bit of anti-love to help wash down the chocolate and roses of February.
Ambling through the bookstore, flashing his puppy browns between the shelves, Joe seems like the quintessential “nice guy.” A clever, charming bookworm with a taste for romance, you really can’t help but root for him to get the girl. At least not until things get really dark. When Beck comes into Joe’s bookstore looking for an obscure author, Joe is immediately smitten. In the Internet Age, a quick Google search is all Joe needs to set up a meet-cute and infiltrate his way into Beck’s life. In a moment, Joe decides he loves her, but more importantly, that she needs him. A romantic at heart, Joe’s intentions seem pure, but his desire to win over the girl’s heart quickly takes a turn towards disturbing and violent. Joe will do anything for love–and when I say, “anything,” I really do mean anything, which isn’t half as romantic as it sounds.
“Sometimes, we do bad things for the people we love. It doesn’t mean it’s right, it means love is more important.”
The creepiest part about this show is the way it makes you feel empathy and compassion for the villain. Joe controls the story, and Joe thinks his behavior is justified; so, you also think that Joe’s behavior is justified. You root for him. You ignore the signs. You even romanticize him when he declares that all is fair in the game of love. Then he does something truly heinous or unsavory–something that crashes against the laws of privacy and respect for your fellow man. At that moment, you are sprung back into reality, and there’s this sick feeling welling up inside of your stomach.
Recently the show made headlines when actor Penn Badgley started responding to tweets romanticizing Joe’s violent and controlling behavior. This is Joe’s most compelling trait. He’s the kind of stalker who disarms you. He plays the role of “nice guy” so well that you truly are tempted to forgive anything on his part.
Of course, his success, though greatly aided by personal charm, is particularly connected to the age of social media. It’s not difficult for Joe to
In You, Joe uses love as a disguise in order to deceive and control a young woman whose only mistake was walking into his bookstore wearing bracelets that jingle. So, if you’re looking for a chilling anti-love series to binge, especially with Valentine’s Day coming up, you should definitely watch You. I guarantee you’ll come out second-guessing any and every to-good-to-be-true person that crosses your path—and maybe switching your profiles from
Let me know what series you’re binging right now and what you thought of Lonely Boy’s transition to the darker side.
