Ever encountered a stalker? This psychological thriller about a serial stalker will have you wondering if everyone around you is as they seem.
YOU is a thriller series on Netflix that first aired in 2018. It has two seasons with 10 episodes each and a third season set to air tomorrow on Netflix. It's one of the highest-grossing series on the streaming platform and is very much talked about. The first season stars Penn Badgley, Elizabeth Lail, Luca Padovan, Zach Cherry, and Shay Mitchell.
The Plot
Joe is a very regular guy working at a bookstore, Mooney's, in the city. One day, a pretty girl walks into the store scanning the shelves for a new book and encounters Joe. They have quite the conversation and look like they could be good friends and Joe makes sure of that. It turns out Joe is a serial stalker and he basically takes us through his stalking spree as he follows Beck around.
Not long after, he finds that Beck is a literature student and a writer struggling with writing and keeping her TA job at school. He also figures her daily routine, her friends and boyfriend. In the course of stalking her, he saves her from an accident that would have taken her life and he takes advantage of that to get closer to her.
He gets so obsessed with Beck that he feels the need to erase anyone that doesn't appreciate her which brings us to the first killing. He tricks Beck's boyfriend Benji to his bookstore where he keeps him hostage for days in the basement and ends up killing him.
After Benji's disappearance, Joe starts dating Beck and it all seems perfect until Joe sees the need to get rid of one of Beck's friends. It turns out Joe is not the only stalker here as Peach, the closest of Beck's friends has a secret obsession with Beck. After several altercations with Peach, Joe eventually kills her and he doesn't stop there.
He carries out other killings and as usual, has a justifiable reason for doing what he does. He also kills his neighbor's abusive boyfriend while protecting the neighbor's child, Paco.
During a conversation with Paco, Beck finds out that there's a secret compartment in the bathroom ceiling at Joe's place. She goes to check and finds a box there of which its components make her realize she had been dating her stalker. It doesn't end very well for her when Joe sees that she found the box.
My Thoughts
YOU has the thrill, suspense and element of surprise you'd want in a film. It was some pretty good acting too from the main character. The portrayal of Joe as a seemingly calm and unsuspecting person, at the same time a psycho stalker and then killer is applaudable.
The things he was capable of were shocking, not because he was a mastermind that had everything well planned out, he wasn't. It's how they're not very well planned out and he seemed to act on impulse.
I liked that there's a backstory of what led to him being what he is and I'm eager to find out what happened with Mr Mooney. I also liked how each character had a personality and were not just extras on the show.
Peach being another stalker was a big surprise and it kind of made Joe look like a good guy exposing a bad guy. That's the thing with Joe, the fact that he's both a good guy and a bad guy.
This show reiterates the fact that anyone can mess up your life if they gain the tiniest access to you. Well, a crazy psycho like Joe just needs to follow you around to know your life's history and if you have open windows in your apartment, he can know who you're sleeping with. Having huge open windows in the middle of the city doesn't sit well with me by the way.
Social media as a tool for all the wrongs things was also shown in this series. The need to put yourself out there portraying a life of glamour to people who don't really care and wouldn't notice even if you died. A stalker only needs to add up the pieces from a person's social media account to get personal info as seen on the show.
I'm curious about Joe's character development and would like to see what's next for him. I might have to pull an all-nighter to start and finish season 2 just in time for season 3 tomorrow, that's how much I like this show.
Have you seen YOU? What are your thoughts?
Watch on Netflix.
