Hello, You. It was too long. Joe Goldberg (ur.Penn Badgley), a local serial killer with a penchant for baseball caps and bombastic literature, is back for the new season. You - but this time he has a new name, a new city and a new goal. Surprisingly (and fortunately), Jo’s new target is not just another poor, unsuspecting woman. Instead season 4 You discovers that Joe is actually protective as he desperately tries to figure out the identity of “Eat the Rich Killer”, a mysterious stranger who kills members of the Oxford circle of wealthy snobs that Joe finds himself surrounded by. Oh, and the killer also knows Joe’s true identity and the entire murderous past. Here is Joe’s relaxing holiday in the UK.
At the end of Season 3, Joe was on the run after killing his wife Love (Victoria Pedretti), faking his own death and leaving his newborn son behind. At the start of the fourth season, Joe finds himself in London with a brand new identity: Professor Jonathan Moore, a college professor of American short fiction. Surrounding him is a new cast of eccentric characters - a group of friends who met while studying at Oxford. The Oxford gang is all that Joe hates - filthy rich elite who inherited fame and fortune without even lifting a finger.
Every season You up to this point, the action took place in different cities, each with its own unique set of characters bordering on caricature. Season 4 is no different. Just as Season 2 captured the LA hipster stereotype and Season 3 showed off the toxic wasteland of momfluencers, Season 4 dives into the world of the rich and royalty. Surely there are excellent Younew supporting cast - Charlotte Ritchie lends beautiful depth to her character Kate, who may be a member of the elite but has an emotional backstory that balances out her original “ice queen” persona. Tilly the Guardian it’s an absolute delight to play Lady Phoebe, who may be royalty but lacks the cruelty and inhumanity of her wealthy peers. The Guardian’s comedic moment is perfect, but like Richie, she brings a distinctive emotional undertone as a woman who, despite all her wealth, feels truly lonely and misunderstood. Ed Speleers also gives a brilliant performance as writer Rhys Montrose, an unexpected member of the Oxford Group due to being born into poverty.
Overall, the new supporting cast works well against Joe, but often leans too much into hyperbole. Granted, You has always produced an excellent cast of characters, but perhaps there is so much that can be done with the royal family before it loses its comedic appeal. The Oxford gang just isn’t as memorable as SherryShalita Grant) and Carey (Travis Van Winkle Conrad (the real MVPs of season 3) or even Bro Benji, who produces handmade beer (Lou Taylor Pucci) in the first season. And, of course, there is no one like Love Quinn. Pedretti’s gorgeous, chilling performance as Love breathed new life into You, so when she met her untimely end last season, it was hard to imagine how the show could survive without her. And here’s the truth: You let go of your beating heart with Love, Joe’s perfect match, and you really feel her absence in season 4. Without Pedretti, there is a feeling that something is missing. However, all of this is to say that Season 4 proved that You can still be good without Love for one key reason: she finally broke her tried and tested formula.
Aside from Pedretti’s memorable performance in the last two seasons, Love’s entry into the show worked so well because she offered Joe his first real opponent - a mirror image of himself. She turned things around with Joe and ruined what we thought would be another BeckElizabeth Leil) 2.0 situation: hunt down, enchant, kill. With the season 4 trailer in which Joe is chasing Marienne (Tati Gabriel) along the streets of the new city, it was easy to assume that we were returning to our roots. Was Marienne a different Beck (albeit much cooler and less whiny)? Will season 4 be just another season where Joe obsessively stalks the same woman every episode?
Season 4 avoids this by doing Joe target. His familiar narrative that guides the show is no longer about a twisted “adoration” of a woman, but a simmering resentment towards a stranger hell-bent on making sure he gets his hands dirty by succumbing to his murderous impulses. This creates not only a fresh look at the established formula, which You persists for three seasons, but also gives us a deeper look into Joe’s twisted sense of himself. Throughout the season, he is appalled by the actions of the killer from “Eat the Rich”, clearly believing himself to be morally superior despite the killer simply doing the same thing that Joe has been doing for the last three seasons. How dare someone stalks him and finds out every detail of his life? Joe is furious at this stranger’s audacity, highlighting Joe’s complete delusion and wildly distorted self-image as a “tragic hero” who only does what he does out of “love”.
Admittedly, the second half of Season 4 is stronger than the first. Part 2 (released March 9th) gives us what You does the best. As soon as you think: “This is good, but something is needed” - You gives it to you. You a master of twists, and season 4 is no exception. While the first half of season 4 is certainly entertaining, there is a sense that something else must be here. Starting from season 2, You never rested on his laurels - he always finds a way to knock the ground out from under the feet of his audience. At the end of Season 2, we learned that Love is not who Joe thinks it is, and certainly not who she is. We thought she did too. This left us with a difficult question: is Love as bad as Joe? Is she redeeming? Then, in season 3, You once again did the unexpected. Just when we thought there was a new “You” with Jo’s new neighbor, the mystery woman over the fence (Michaela McManus), Love gave her an ax (literally) at the end of the first episode. You turned him upside down.
Season 4 Part 1 follows its narrative relentlessly, focusing mostly on an overarching mystery: who is Eat the Rich’s killer? And while it is entertaining (and often amusing, given the utterly jaded attitude of the Oxford gang towards killing their so-called friends), there is the burning question of how You will keep it interesting once the mystery is eventually revealed. Yes, it’s fun to watch Joe go out of his way to catch his mysterious stalker, but he lacks that extra spark that has kept us on our toes for the last three seasons.
But then there’s Part 2 - and it’s awesome. Again, You turns the tables on us and leaves us positively reeling. Last five episodes You Season 4 is Badgley’s most impressive performance to date. Badgley captures Joe’s thoughts, actions and emotions with such subtle nuance that you’ll be reminded why you love watching this series in the first place. In this season You took a risk by moving his time-tested story in a new direction - and it worked. season 4 You bold and unexpected with twists that are just immoral. Joe Goldberg manages to pull off an increasingly difficult feat in season four - he finds a way to shock us all over again.
Rating: B+
You Season 4 Part 1 is now streaming on Netflix. Part 2 will be released on Netflix on March 9th.
Source: Collider
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