Everyone’s favourite psychopathic narcissist is back on our screens and that can only mean one thing: people are going to die. That’s right, the long-awaited season 4 of YOU has landed on Netflix and the storyline has taken an interesting turn.
Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley), who we have followed for the past three seasons, has had an identity switch and is now Professor Jonathan Moore. He teaches a university English Literature class and is determined to leave his past behind him.
Though, Joe’s identity change wasn’t the only difference this season. Instead of the usual plot line of becoming obsessed with a woman and eventually murdering her, Joe was more of a Sherlock Holmes this time around as we’re thrown into an elaborate murder mystery. Unhinged and unserious, I had no idea what was going to happen next and it became more and more crazy.
A serial killer who’s targeting rich people is on the loose and we follow Joe as he attempts to solve the mystery, diving into the world of the elite. I did enjoy the Whodunnit aspect of the show and found myself coming up with guesses and theories to who the killer was. Joe also receives text messages from the killer, which thickened the plot and made it even more confusing. You begin to actually root for Joe and forget that he is in fact a killer himself.
While Penn Badgley is always charismatic as Joe, I found all of the new characters to be very unlikeable. I understand they were playing into the stereotypes of awful rich people but at times it did seem a bit too unrealistic and satirical. Lady Phoebe, played by Tilly Keeper, was the character that I felt brought the most to the season with her funny one-liners and weird relationship with Joe.
Joe’s love interest, Kate (Charlotte Ritchie), was a bit underwhelming and also unnecessarily mean. But then again, anyone would be a downgrade when you look at his previous partner Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti). I still believe she was Joe’s true match and I’m secretly hoping she’s somehow alive and not six feet under. The London setting fit well but the accents and dialogue was cringy at times, making me think the writers haven’t actually visited England.
Each episode draws you in and it’s definitely a binge worthy show. However, I felt the last two episodes were very rushed and could have been more spread out. The killer was finally revealed and I wasn’t as shocked as I wanted to be so I have a feeling this is not the end.
Fan theories on twitter have suggested that it is actually Joe who is killing people and the killer is all in his mind, only Joe can see him. I would love for this to be true for part 2 as I think it would add the shock factor the show is missing, Joe would have tricked the entire audience as well as himself into believing he’s changed. Who knows, we don’t have long to find out.
Season 4 Part 2 of YOU will be streaming on Netflix from March 9.
4/5