CAUTION: Contains spoilers.
Everyone was telling me to watch it, so I did. In one weekend. And I loved it. I really didn’t think I was going to like it. I kept saying, “I don’t know how I feel about a show about some creepy guy that stalks girls”. Welp, guess who was wrong.
I’ve been thinking about writing a piece on the reason why viewers love the show “YOU”. Why viewers, including myself, found ourselves rooting for the killer majority of the episodes. Why were we so focused on his explanations and reasoning behind what he did, rather than being focused on what he was actually doing?
The first few episodes my thought process was, “Okay this guy is just weird and a stalker”. But mid-season, it seemed like I was understanding his purpose for doing the things he did. I found myself saying things like, “Aw” and “He’s so caring”, then it hits me; he is literally a crazy person…or is he?
The creators did a great job of portraying Joe as this guy who just, for some reason, really cares about this girl who caught his eye. It’s like he read her (like a book) and knew all of her struggles, and insecurities, and knew immediately that he needed to step in and help her. “Fix” her. It appears that he cares for her well-being, how she’s influenced, who she hangs out with, and that he just wants, what he believes, is best for her.
Viewers are able to see the serial killer, Joe, as someone they find themselves rooting for throughout the series. Why is that? I wonder what the same viewers would see if the entire series of YOU was shown from the perspective of Beck from the very beginning. Although there are some points we can get into Beck’s mind, it immediately brings us back to Joe, his thoughts, and reasons as to why he is doing the things he does.
The way the show was created emphasizes the reasons that trigger Joe to come to the conclusion that Beck needs people like Benji and Peach out of her life. Joe realized, after snooping around Benji’s social media, and eventually his phone after he kidnaps him, that he was cheating on Beck, doing drugs, and had also accidentally killed someone. There was no way that Joe could let this kind of person intoxicate her life. Peach, on the other hand, seemed that she was onto Joe the minute that she met him. Trying to hint that she was keeping an eye on him, Joe decided to keep a closer eye on her. After snatching her laptop at a party, Joe finds folders and folders of pictures of her friends saved on her computer; almost as if it was a backup blackmail sanctuary she had just in case she needed to tear someone down. He finds pictures of Beck and this is where he knew he had to do something about Peach. And, as it just so happens, after these people are taken out of Beck’s life, she begins to thrive with her writing and seems happier in general. Joe picks up on this and truly believes that he has done something good. And so does the audience, for the most part, right?
Unfortunately, some things can’t be kept secret forever. Once Beck and Joe’s relationship started unraveling, you knew some crazy shit was about to go down. When Joe comes to the assumption (then conclusion) that Beck is sleeping with her therapist, he’s ready to go after both of them. When confronted, Beck straight-up lies and really makes him believe that she isn’t cheating. Everything is fine and dandy and Joe leaves to get breakfast. I’m not sure about you, but as soon as Paco told Beck his secret hiding place in the ceiling, I knew it was over. That’s it. He has to kill her. There is zero chance that she wouldn’t look above Joe’s toilet, there’s zero chance that she wouldn’t freak out, and ZERO chance he would let her leave that building.
Let’s face it, once you get put in that box, you do not come out alive (Besides our good pal Will). Now some of us didn’t want Joe to kill Beck. Maybe some of us did. I, personally, think she should’ve hit Joe one more time with that mallet to make sure he was definitely out cold before running up the stairs screaming. However, I was shocked that Paco really just left her there. I know he was covering Joe, just like Joe covered for him, but still, pretty cruel.
Anyway, I think it really did have to come to Joe killing Beck. I mean, she found all of the items from every person he killed, and her own things, too. How would he really explain that? She just had to go looking in the spot Paco mentioned. But why? Why would you look there? Truthfully, I want to know what she thought she was going to find. Then, it just so happens, that one second, she put her phone down, and the most important text message she was ever going to get came through. “Be home in 5”.
In the end, depending on how you looked at their relationship and how you viewed both Joe and Beck’s actions throughout the first season, you were either satisfied, heartbroken, or just emotionally messed up at the end of season one. I for one was left wanting MORE. Were you?
Stay tuned for my next post and my response to season two! You won’t want to miss it!
