Netflix Original “You” Season 2: A Compelling Masterpiece

By Alli Lipsit, Staff Writer

WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for both seasons one and two of “You.”

In Sep. of 2018, Netflix released “You,” a ten-episode show that followed Joe Goldberg, certified creep, and Guinevere Beck, his eventual girlfriend, as well as stalkee. The star of the show features former Gossip Girl, Penn Badgley, and actress Elizabeth Lail in season one.

The show was awesome and had an unpredictable ending, and I think I binge-watched all ten episodes in the span of one weekend. It’s one of those thrillers where once you start watching, you can’t stop, and you just have to know how Beck and Joe’s “love” story ends.

In an attempt to not completely spoil the end of season one, but allow me to enlighten readers on season two’s insanely wild plot, I’ll say that Beck and Joe’s story ends up with them on separate paths and leave it at that.

I was hesitant to watch the second season of “You” when I found out it had been released after seeing the trend of Joe Goldberg Tik Toks. I had seen season one, and Joe’s character has a predictable pattern once you started to understand him and his intentions. Besides, how different could the second season be? It’s about Joe finding a new love interest to creep on, wouldn’t it just have the same plot as season one?

But, it was winter break, and I had just gotten a new TV in my room as a Hanukkah gift, so why not? I wrapped myself up in a fuzzy blanket, made myself some hot cocoa, and started the first episode of season two, not really sure of whether or not I’d continue to watch past it.

I didn’t get up for the rest of the day. The show was literally amazing. It started off similar to season one, but it also provided not only a sense of irony, but it made viewers believe Joe’s new love interest, Love Quinn, would have a similar ending to Joe’s previous love interest, Beck. The actress who plays Love Quinn is Victoria Pedretti. And if you thought that the plot would just be simple, it’s okay-I did too, boy were you wrong.

Right from the beginning, there is an obvious change in Joe’s character. In season one, he killed anyone that got in the way of his happy ending with Beck. In season two, he tries really hard to make Love his partner without murdering anyone, but this goes wrong right from the beginning.

To make the show even more intense, another one of Joe’s old love interests, who he thought he killed, shows up, and she wants revenge for what Joe did to her. Joe’s original love interest before Beck is named Candace Stone, played by Ambyr Childers. This keeps the audience on the edge of their seats the whole time because even though Candace is only playing mind games with Joe at the beginning, she has the power to ruin his life at any given moment.

To top it all off, Joe’s childhood is finally revealed to viewers, slowly but surely. It helps to connect the dots greatly and provides a reason for Joe’s sociopathic personality.

The weirdest part of the show, however, is how it makes you like Joe. He gives Love attention that every girl only fantasizes about getting from their boyfriend. He’s the perfect conversation starter, which is great for meeting the family. He also takes a troubled fifteen-year-old girl under his wing and protects her from harm throughout the whole season.

Throughout the show, I had to keep reminding myself that Joe was indeed a sociopath and murderer, and not a loving boyfriend devoted to protecting the ones he loves. So, overall, I’d give “You” a ten out of ten, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone with enough free time to sit down and binge-watch all ten episodes because you’re definitely not going to be able to stop watching once you start.