In my last post I said I'd love to see Joe's character development in this season and in the first episode, I was impressed with Joe. So Joe moves to LA to start a new life right after his ex Candace comes looking for him at the bookstore. Now he's looking to be a better version of himself, turning a new leaf.
A little rewind
In the first season, Beck had tried finding out about Joe's ex, Candace because she seemed to be a mysterious part of his life. The only thing we knew about Candace was that she cheated and 'got away' but of course we assumed Joe killed her. It turns out Candace is alive and has something on Joe plus she knows about his most recent kill. He is immediately threatened by her and moves out of the city.
New Joe
The whole show is basically narrated in Joe's head voice and we see how he struggles internally to not be his old self in the first episode. He even has a new identity, got a new job at a supermarket/book cafe and meets Love who works in the kitchen at his workplace. He tries his best not to stalk her and it happens she's so drawn to him and definitely wants to be more than friends. How the tables turn, I know!
Well, Joe really had me fooled because at the end of the first episode, it is clear that Joe is still on with his stalker ways. Apparently, immediately he moved to LA he sighted Love and stalked her, none of their meetings was ever a coincidence. Joe definitely got better at this stalking thing.
He isn't known as Joe anymore, he's now Will, the stolen identity of the guy he has locked in a cage. Surprisingly, Joe lets this guy go and focuses on his love interest, Love. Theirs is a back and forth relationship and when they eventually get steady, Candace is back in the picture as Amy Adams, the girlfriend of Love's brother, Forty.
Candace is able to pin a couple more murders on Joe; Henderson the socialite who's Forty's friend and Delilah, Joe's neighbor who he had a fling with. Joe's been involved in several gory murders and when he sees Delilah dead in his cage, he has no memory of killing her because he was high that night. He was going to set her free because somewhere in his twisted mind, he still thinks he's a good guy.
Psycho meets Psycho
It turns out Joe actually didn't kill Delilah. He goes all PI mode trying to find out the killer and it happens to be Love. In cleaning up her mess, Love also kills Candace and has Joe in his cage. She explains her motive to Joe about how she found love in him even when she knew of his darkest secrets. To her, it was a case of two broken people fixing each other.
The two lovers live happily ever after (or not). Love is pregnant with their baby and they move to a beautiful home where the beautiful neighbor next door catches Joe's eye.
It Was a Whole Lot
This second season was intense, I never saw any of it coming. At first, it looked like Joe was working on himself but the twist where he was still a stalker the whole time shook me. Now more than ever, he thinks he's a good guy with only good intentions for people he cares about.
One thing I like about YOU is how it's not just about Joe and his love interests, he goes all psycho too with friends and neighbors. He thinks he's superman and has to save the world. It's a gory plot but there are also soft and sweet moments and humor too.
The big shocker is seeing Love as a killer. It isn't a convincing twist and I wish it was something else. Joe's killer instinct is already established but Love, her motive doesn't make so much sense. It will be fun seeing Joe flake on her after all of this which is not far-fetched because he already tried killing her before he found out she was pregnant.
Joe's love for her seems shaky at this point because he got really overwhelmed by Love's crazy. You'd think he'd love that but his reaction only means he enjoys the monopoly of being the only psycho in a relationship. A killer's mind definitely is crazy.
How will Joe cope as a family man? Will Love tolerate his unending fantasies or will she be the new Candace? We'd have to find out.
The third season is out now and I'm going to binge on YOU yet again. You can watch the second season here if you haven't.
