Netflix’s favorite sociopathic stalker and murderer has returned for a highly anticipated third season of “You,” a service original television show. This season features the lives of Joe and Love Quinn-Goldberg, a fatally flawed couple in the rich Bay Area suburb of Madre Linda.
Madre Linda is a rich, high-tech, social media-centered, gluten-free society full of shallow and selfish people that Joe – played by actor Penn Badgley – despises even more than the previous social groups of Los Angeles and New York City.
Joe and Love struggle with married life, blaming their issues on each other and the culture of the self-centered society they live in. Their expectations of marriage are not being met by the other, nor by their shallow roles in suburban life. This leads to the couple blaming their dissatisfaction on each other and causing them to look for fulfillment in places they should not.
The existence of their newborn son, Henry, presents a new level of protective nature within Joe while he struggles with trying to become a better person and the father that he never had. This struggle with fatherhood also features more flashbacks from Joe’s childhood trauma that help the audience understand why he has become the way he is.
Joe has delusions of righteousness and virtuousness that are conveyed to the watcher through his narrations – offering his inner thoughts and reasonings for his sociopathic and stalking tendencies. These delusions are what make the watcher have sympathy for Joe; his charismatic and cunning personality diluting the outright horror of the crimes he has committed.
Despite the issues with their marriage and the trauma from their pasts, Joe and Love work to maintain the facade of a normal loving family, keeping their dark secrets locked up in the basement.
This season still somewhat follows the cycle of obsession, obtainment and overreacting corrective measures when things inevitably turn south. The new dynamic of Love and Joe gives the audience unpredictable plot twists at every turn, following their story down darker paths than you ever imagined.
The combination of an unpredictable storyline, integrated social commentary, compelling dynamic characters and creative cinematography present a twisted yet fascinating television show that hooks its watchers from the very first episode.