SummaryBookstore manager Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) becomes obsessed with an aspiring writer (Elizabeth Lail) in this psychological thriller based on the Caroline Kepnes novel of the same name.
SummaryBookstore manager Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) becomes obsessed with an aspiring writer (Elizabeth Lail) in this psychological thriller based on the Caroline Kepnes novel of the same name.
While the first half of season four vacillated between bad, good and so-bad-it’s-good with aplomb, the second broadens the spectrum from astonishingly terrible to utterly brilliant. ... You succeeds because its flaws are so enjoyable.
Scary and soapy and funny and tense, YOU is a lot like social media itself: perhaps not the most edifying way to spend your time, but very, very hard to quit.
Throw in more revelations about Joe’s childhood, a side storyline (that we won’t reveal here) that could have been copied from recent newspaper headlines, and this season of You quickly becomes a binge-watching treat.
Like its lead character, You is pure trash — but just like Joe, the show is also smart enough to adopt new disguises, letting it continue to thrive. It's fun, throwaway entertainment designed for binging.
The narrative bulk of the series is relayed through Joe’s internal monologues (another stalker trope) but I will says this: the series, while at turns cheesy and predictable, is also watchable.