‘You’ Season Four Part One Review: A Murder Mystery With Everyone’s Favorite Stalker

For three seasons, Netflix’s ‘You‘ has had a pretty consistent formula. The main character Joe (played by Penn Badgley) finds a woman to obsess over. He stalks her, finds out everything about her, worms his way into her life, and things are fine for a hot second. Then, the woman obviously becomes suspicious of him, she essentially becomes a real person to him therefore she’s no longer perfect, and then he kills her. Even Love, who I thought would be able to avoid Joe’s normal M.O. didn’t make it out of season three alive.

A New Spin on ‘You’

Season four is interesting in that it could have gone with its tried and true formula, but instead, it decides to go in a different direction. This review, by the way; is only for part one of season four. Yea, I guess Netflix is doing this thing now where instead of putting out everything all at once, they’re unnecessarily splitting their seasons up. Instead of getting all ten episodes now, you’re only getting five. Thanks, Netflix.

PS. Part Two comes out on March 9th.

Let’s Travel to England

So, in season four, Joe is somewhere else. We’ve stepped away from New York and L.A.; in fact, we’re out of the United States. Instead, we’re in England, and if there is anything that this show is consistent with, it’s that no matter where Joe is, he someone finds himself surrounded by the most insufferable people on the planet. Seriously, you’re going to want most of the characters to be killed off by the end of part one. It’s so strange that Joe would be the most likable character in this setting, considering, well…he’s a stalker, serial killer.

Instead of Joe becoming head over heels for a woman, he’s actually in an interesting position. You see, there’s been a murder. Nothing new for ‘You’, but for once it’s not Joe. It’s someone else and they’re looking to frame Joe. Now, we’ve seen Joe putting his crazy stalker skills to work in a different way. Instead of stalking a girl’s social media to get to know more about them, he’s having to figure out who is framing him and stop them before they send him away for the murders he actually didn’t commit.

What I’ve always liked about Badgley’s performance as Joe is that he’s not glorifying Joe. Badgley is playing Joe straight – not trying to get anyone to feel sympathy for Joe. He’s not making Joe seem cool, nor is he making excuses for Joe. This way the audience does not forget nor forgive Joe’s past transgressions. It just so happens that Joe keeps getting away with what he has done, but this season again is interesting. We’re seeing the heat is on for Joe, something that is a bit satisfying to watch.

This show is incredibly well-written and as much as you dislike most of the characters, you have to admit that everyone is doing their job in being the most pompous version of a person that they can be. You have to give them credit for that. It’s always really refreshing to see the show in a different setting than previous seasons. The writing knows how to put in pop-culture references, without being obnoxious about it. The first season was a good commentary on millennials and modern culture. This season touches on Gen Z and as always, how obscenely obnoxious the super rich are. No matter what country they’re in.

I like part one a lot, though; I feel as if the story could have been wrapped up in just the five episodes we were given. Having seen part two, I do look forward to reviewing that when the time comes for me to be able to talk about it. In the mean time, enjoy seeing Joe try to solve his own murder mystery and enjoy the new setting of Merry Ol’ England.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3COY_HrMngc