Netflix’s You delivers a second season that’s tiresome but has a solid twist
Netflix released the second season of its original series, You, and the new episodes deliver a storyline that’s getting tiresome — but they do present a shocking twist.
Warning: This post contains spoilers for You season 2.
Anyone wondering if Joe — or Will, as he now calls himself — would get his comeuppance during the second season of Netflix’s You might find themselves disappointed in the chain of events that unfolds throughout the show’s latest episodes. While it can be argued that Joe is suffering by the end of the season, it’s certainly not in the way many had hoped — and it leaves things open for a third season, even though the second one has already beaten many of Joe’s antics to death.
The second season begins with Joe moving to Los Angeles, an attempt to outrun the demons he left behind in New York — and his ex-girlfriend, Candace, who is out for revenge — and start over. Unfortunately, it’s not long before Joe returns to his old habits. Almost immediately, he falls for a woman named Love Quinn, and he goes out of his way to ensure they end up together.
To Joe’s credit, he handles his relationship with Love far better than his relationship with Beck. But it doesn’t take long until he’s locking people in cages again, including the guy whose identity he stole to move to LA in the first place. The season does capture Joe’s struggle to be a better person fairly well, but it also raises the question of whether or not that’s possible after all he’s done. (That’s going to be a no from us, sorry.)
Still, as Joe navigates Love’s impossible family and Candace’s sudden arrival in their lives, it becomes clear that he’s at least trying not to go off the rails again. In the meantime, he also gets caught up in the lives of his neighbors, going to great lengths to protect 16-year-old Ellie from predators. (It’s ironic because he’s a predator — just not when it comes to underage girls.)
As might be expected, Joe still has run-ins that result in him killing people, and this is where the season reaches its dullest points. Though the parallels between Joe and other criminals and predators are well done, it’s more and more of the same, and it leaves viewers questioning whether the story will ever progress. Luckily, it does.
While Joe’s storylines get a bit tiresome, the big twist of the season is truly what makes it worthwhile. Though Joe is insistent that it couldn’t have been him who killed Delilah, fans are hesitant. After all, we’ve heard this speech before. But when it’s revealed that it was Love who murdered Delilah in order to save their relationship — well, Will’s WTF reaction says it all. These two are more matchmade in heaven than anyone anticipated.
Unfortunately, Love’s big reveal comes with the end of Candace’s character as well. Given that Candace almost has proof that Will is a stalker and a murderer, Love removes her from the equation. (She couldn’t have just called 911 when she had Joe loked in the cage with a dead body, could she? Poor Candace…)
It also results in the deaths of just about everyone who suspected Joe of his crimes, meaning that he’s gotten away with everything again. In that regard, this season of You certainly tests the limits of believability. I mean, how long is this going to go on before he gets caught? And he’s not very good at cleaning up the evidence he leaves behind…
On the bright side, the very end of season 2 suggests that the next season will have a different plot. After Love admits she’s pregnant, Joe decides to dedicate himself to her — despite the fact that he’s clearly no longer infatuated with her now that she represents the darkest parts of himself — and the two begin a white-picket-fence life in LA. It’s everything Joe never wanted, and it seems like season 3 will show the two of them at odds with one another. The killer-against-killer storyline could be just what the series needs to refresh itself. Maybe it’ll even result in Joe getting caught.
And even if many of the charming new characters we meet are gone by the end of the season, there’s still Ellie to consider. Joe sent her away with money to start a new life after Love killed her sister, but it’s clear she’s angry — and rightfully so. Could she be the key to exposing both Joe and Love? We hope so, but we also would hate for her to end up like Candace and Forty.
All in all, You‘s second season is strong in all the same ways the first one was — just with a major twist that sets it apart. We may grow tired of Joe getting away with murder constantly, but it’s truly impressive how the series makes viewers want to root for him — even knowing how despicable he truly is. It’s an explanation of how predators get away with things in real life, and we can only hope he’s eventually brought to justice in the same way his real-life counterparts should be.
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