You (Netflix) – Inside The Mind Of A Sociopath

Could “You” have entered in my life at a different time? It certainly could. But it wouldn’t come in such a handy situation like the one I’m at, while writing and thinking of the sequel to my cherished surgeon, Dr. Hawkins. A special thank you for the one who recommended the show to me, it was both inspiring and so, so entertaining to watch!

Synopsis

Everything starts with a first look and a quick analysis. That’s how Joe Goldberg meets Guinevere Beck at a book store. Joe quickly nurtures an obsession for Beck and stalks her to know more about her life and routine, thus seeking the opportune moment to enter her life.

He learns later on, that Beck’s life is filled with connections that function in a parasitic fashion, and the poor girl is the host. Joe quickly understands that he must take action if he is to lead her to him and later, to success in her writing career.

Analysis

Where to start? This show completely grabbed my attention from the beginning until the very end. The pilot episode simply hooks you in until you devour the whole series.

First and foremost, today’s series talk about today’s stories, and in the actual day, we use our cellphone a lot. Be it to talk, text, share a photo and whatever else, we have our cellphones with us. It makes us reachable at almost any time from almost any civilized place on Earth. So, if we’re going to have a show that portrays the recent technologies, we also need to have an intelligent display of what is going on in the characters’ cellphones while watching a show. “You” carefully weaves texts and social media into our screen while the characters that we’re watching react to the content being displayed to us at the same time. It’s brilliant and it was done before countless times, but there’s a significant improvement in the way that it plays throughout the these series and it appealed more ot me in “You” than it did in past series.

Now, about the characters. They’re nothing special you know? And that’s what I like about them! They’re flawed and imperfect, with virtues and defects. The same with our protagonist. Although he has learned a lot with a previous connection, Joe still learns throughout this second iteration and as a consequence of learning, makes mistakes.

From Benji, to Peach. From The Captain to her therapist. Joe studies every link that Beck has in her life and acts accordingly to cut them out. That way, she would be set free while at the same time she would be delivered into Joe’s embrace.

Both their origins and how they afflict Beck’s life are two of the reasons for the captivating diversity of the characters presented in “You”, thus defining how Joe proceeds to act with each one, while still maintaining his job and taking care of Paco, a neglected young boy who lives next door.

The funny thing about “You” is its authenticity to the warped fantasies of male, but also female audiences. Everyone has already thought of going off their morality trails just to get the person they want, be it inside the law or otherwise. “You” gives wings to this chain of events and let them flow until eventually everything begins to blow up… Not literally speaking.

There is a clever imbued mix of both planning and surprises that take part in Joe’s life as he tries to get Beck to love him. Although he does a great part at the planning department, he doesn’t account for some foreseeable surprises and thus makes mistakes, which in fact does not take credibility from the plot, it only makes him human because he is under the influence of various psychological factors.

To end up the analysis, I must also mention about the flow of the series. It is impeccable. We’re either watching plans being made or being executed, when ta daaa, surprises happen and coincidences too. There are some minor flashbacks but nothing that keeps repeating itself or bores you too much while you watch the show. In fact… They provide a build up to one of the most incredible cliff hangers that I’ve ever witnessed.

TL;DR

“You”, is a hell of an interesting show. As creepy as this seems, every men and women already thought of something similar. The extreme and insane methods we would employ to ensure that the person we love, gets to love us back and succeed in life. “You” simply gives that train of thought a sequence with plausible consequences.

I found it quite spectacular to be inside the mind of a sociopath and how he thought about what to do and what to expect to earn the attention of the one he was obsessed about.

You should definitely watch “You”! I cannot emphasize how great this show is! And there’s a second season coming too, announced at the end of the last episode with a cliffhanger that I thought to have been out of the picture since the middle point of the series.