There You are, again, a review of You series 3

Season 3 of You is even better than previous instalments as Joe and Love try to live a normal suburban life (just with murderous tendencies).

Alex Rimmer
28th October 2021
Image Credit: Twitter @YouNetflix
Based on the successful book series by Caroline Kepnes, series one and two of ‘You’ followed hopeless romantic and serial killer Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) on his determined quest to find ‘the one’. A quest proving to be quite challenging.

Spoilers ahead!

The first two seasons both followed Joe's interaction with a particular love interest. Firstly, with Beck (Elizabeth Lail) being murdered in series one. Secondly, Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti) nearly meeting her demise in series two before announcing she was pregnant and halting Goldberg’s attack. Apprehension surrounded the release of the third season as viewers wondered if the show would take on a prescribed and uninspired template by just following Joe’s familiar behavioural pattern of obsession and murderous tendencies,.

Image Credit: IMDb

The neighbour character of Natalie (Michaela McManus) was thrown into the series three trailer to act as a red herring. Her inclusion in the trailer and the end of the previous series created the impression that she would be the fixation and victim of the new series, and that the next ten episodes to follow would both be cookie cutter and anticlimactic.

However, the series focuses on Joe and Love’s attempts to partake in suburban life as they move to middle class California, surrounded by social media mum-fluencers and Keto diets. The couple attempt to leave the past behind but end up falling back into their murderous tendencies. Joe's voice-over provides insight into his taunting intrinsic monologue as he fights to choose between being a good husband and father and his somewhat ironic overpowering impulse to murder those he deems immoral.

The dark comedic moments, array of new characters, and fresh location work to prevent the premise of the plot from growing tired. They're not alone in energising the series as the occasional social commentary is weaved in, with topics such as anti vaxxers, polyamory, and white privilege becoming inseparable from the couple’s murder sprees.

Badgley's and Pedretti's performances are so convincing the audience starts to admire Joe and Love.

Above all, the series' success heavily relies on Badgley’s and Pedretti’s performances which are convincing to the point that feelings of admiration ensue at their attempts to fit into a bracket of normal. Furthermore, there are sparks of endearment, love, and warmth within the twisted and toxic dynamic between the pair that leave the audience rooting for the relationship until the bitter end.

After the turbulent ten episodes we see Joe, now in Paris, still on the quest for ‘the one’. Following the success of the third series, the writers of the show could once again surprise us with clever concepts to keep Joe’s behaviour pattern interesting and compelling, or could simply run out of steam, leaving viewers frustrated and tired of Joe's relentless and fruitless mission to find his soul mate.

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