“You” was a compelling and terrifying story, but it wasn’t necessary or original. It’s the same old formula: pretty but vulnerable woman attracts a predator and gets increasingly hurt in psychologically scarring ways.
It’s interesting and the actors are great, but this isn’t a story that needed to be retold. It’s one that is continually being drummed into our heads: strange men are bad, and any female who isn’t on guard is asking to be hurt.
I don’t want to go on a rant here, but it just felt like there were so many moments in the show where the writers could’ve changed up the victimized woman trope and just didn’t. There were barely any real plot twists, just a woman slowly walking into a trap. I really tried to like the show, but the whole thing was kind of disappointing.
In the extremely creepy first season, Joe, the working class protagonist, fixates on and starts stalking a graduate student named Beck. He narrates the entire show, so the viewer never gets to hear Beck’s thoughts and motivations, just Joe’s descriptions and running commentary on her. He gets to control everything.
There’s nothing extraordinary about Beck: she wants to write poetry, but her poetry is bad, her on-and-off boyfriend is a flaky cheater and her friends are unreliable rich snobs. She’s broke and the professor who’s supposed to be mentoring her sexually harasses her.
When Joe swoops in, pretending to be this chivalrous prince, she’s really vulnerable. It’s terrifying how quickly and easily he’s able to invade and subtly manipulate her life. While some of her friends, like Peach, are suspicious, he mostly flies under the radar masquerading as this sensitive, book-loving guy.
I did like that he was given a complex character and interesting backstory, but he was the only fleshed out character — the only one that wasn’t just a stereotype. Joe works as a bookstore manager, a smart guy who never went to college and someone who’s really nice to his neighbor’s kid.
Joe is well-read and talented, but instead of trying to make his own life better, he spends all of his time obsessing over Beck’s life. In his mind, he’s this hero, and he needs to make her understand this, to force her into this epic love story he’s created in his head.
The plot advances quickly, with Beck falling in love with Joe, their relationship mirroring an idyllic rom-com. He’s a compelling character, almost convincing the viewer to be on his side, to view Beck as the unreasonable one.
One of the things the show does really well is to examine the line between romance and horror, because other than his violent stalker side, he’s this great guy and you almost want to root for them staying together. After all, his first girlfriend Candace broke his heart, and he’s just looking for love. Joe justifies everything through this; he was hurt first, so he gets to hurt everyone.
“You” was really well-written and interesting, with funny side characters, but it fell into the same tired old tropes. All of the female characters were either helpless, like Claudia, trapped in an abusive relationship, or spoiled and narcissistic, like Annika and Lynn.
The show would’ve been so much better if the writers had actually made the female characters complex people, instead of just throwing in the same old stereotypes of most women being catty or unreliable or cheaters. I would’ve really loved to see the woman triumph for a change, to see Beck win the situation.