“Well hello there, who are you?” YOU is about a character who gets easily obsessed with the show’s love interest, this character’s name is Joe Goldberg. YOU, a Netflix original series began airing in September of 2018 and is still going strong with season five releasing late this year.
Joe first works in a book shop in New York where he meets his love interest, Beck (aka Guinevere Beck) andstarts observing her actions and figuring out what type of person she is. Joe has a past that Beck doesn’t know of, a dark past, that she finds out in the ending of season one. Joe is the type of character that gets attached and falls in love easily, so when Joe meets Beck he does everything possible to win her over. There’s no limit to what he will do to win Beck over and even does activities behind her back without her being aware of his actions. When Joe meets Beck he stalks her and learns her daily routine from her class schedule to when she goes to her favorite cafe. He even finds out about her past lover or what you call an ex, Benji. Joe sees how badly Benji treats her, how much he uses her and does everything to get him out of her life. By pulling these strings, he gets Beck to focus on him instead of Benji. When Joe acts on his impulse he justified it by thinking it’s for the better for his love interest.
Besides Beck Joe also cares for a side character named Paco. Paco is a kid who has a abusive stepfather and when Joe sees Paco outside his apartment, he knows there’s something going on. When Paco’s mom and step dad argue, Joe always talks to him to comfort him and gives him books that he can read and distract himself from what is going on inside his home.
Later in season one, Beck and Joe start dating and Joe is the happiest he’s ever been. Joe and Beck go to a party where Joe meets an old friend of his past lover, Candace. The friend asks him what happened to Candace and Joe says that she ghosted him and went to Italy with another man and she seems happy now. One night Joe and Beck are sleeping and he has a nightmare about Candace and calls out her name while he’s asleep, Beck acts like she’s asleep and when Joe wakes up he is relieved to think that Beck is asleep but the next day Beck asks him about Candace. She acts like she doesn’t know her name but Joe catches on to what she’s doing. Beck doesn’t forget about that night and asks her friends why he would ever dream about Candace. She even asks Joe’s best friend Ethan, his coworker at the bookstore. Ethan explains that Candace is someone who hurt Joe and when they “broke up”, Joe was in a bad dark space and says when he met Beck, she brought the light back to him. Beck isn’t satisfied with the answer and does more digging but can’t really find a conclusion for her search and leaves it alone. One day, Beck is using the bathroom in Joe’s apartment and remembers Paco mentioning a hiding spot on top of the toilet, behind the top tile of the bathroom ceiling. Beck’s paranoia gets to her and she goes through with it and checks it out where she finds Joe’s dark secret…. No spoilers here you’ll have to watch the show to find out.
Overall YOU is a fun and interesting show that adapts the idea of internal monologue and which makes the show unique because most of the scenes contain Joe talking to himself and narrating his actions in his head. YOU is available on Netflix only, since it’s an original series. You can watch with your family or even friends! It’ll have you on edge as you get to know the characters and how Joe’s actions will turn out for him in the end. Will they benefit him or set him back? You have to watch to find out!
