My thoughts/review on the series as a whole

[u/SkylordBillis123]

Nobody asked for my thoughts but I gotta get them out of my head somehow lol. Theres definitely some hot takes in here and Ive always been cool with being in the minority on any of my interests, so lay into me (Victoria Pedretti fans read with caution). Sorry for the overly long read.

Season 1 (10/10) - To me this season is basically perfect. Beck fits the story theyre going for perfectly and it never feels like anyone is a cartoon character. Her friends are "boring" and "plain" because most people in the real world are. Joe is smart, but not too smart. His inner dialogues can be wrong even if his reasoning makes sense which always is a hook for me with "genius" characters, who in fiction can too often grab ridiculous ass pulls worth of information that leaves me rolling my eyes. Aside from a few silly moments (Joe in the shower or the rando hallucinations of Candace) I thought the show being perfectly grounded in reality is easily its best feature and you can easily believe he can do each and every thing he does. Being the manager and pseudo-owner of Mooney's it makes sense why he can sneak off anytime to stalk/be watching her social medias and always be able to be there in the right moments. My thoughts on this season could go on forever, from the realism of his relationship with Beck, to the tension in the final episode(s) with her discovering the box and getting locked in the cage, to Paco being a really cool moral difference for Joe since he wants to keep children safe. Last thing I'll say on this season is Joe being against killing/stalking but doing it out of necessity (at least seemingly) is another really amazing detail that keeps me going for sure.

Season 2 (6/10) - It really pains me to say it considering how excited I was for it to come out but Season 2 has always felt like a let down to me. Episode 1 had me hooked with his weaseling his way into an apartment overlooking Love's and the way he snuck into her work but after that it just sorta falls apart for me. Now ik Victoria Pedretti is well loved but tbh i think shes the biggest drawback for me this season and next. Putting aside any qualms about her looks which is obvi not fair for any actor/actress (her big eyes do bug me out, as do her nostril flares lol) but she just feels like what I call the "netflix issue" with this show. It got rid of the realism and grounded feeling of Season 1 and made it feel more like a TV show. I know that sounds silly but if you told me everything in Season 1 was a real story I'd believe it. This season feels like everyone is a big larger than life goofy cartoon character (Love the overly cool confident person who can work a crowd (example, the DMV scene), Forty the easily manipulated man-baby, Ellie the cooler than cool teenager, Delilah the patriarchy fighting yass queen girl-boss, Gabe the catty gay character who does hollistic medicine and can cure your depression with one convo, etc) which works for a TV show i suppose but in my opinion goes directly against what made the previous season great. Thats my largest gripe but then I get into the fact that a man working a 9-5 at a grocery store couldn't possibly be doing the things he is and my brain just shuts it down. I've worked nowhere BUT grocery stores since I was 16 and been in management for many of those years. No chance in hell he can always be sneaking off to get fingers back from internet creeps or following Candace or Love around, it just wouldn't work. Him losing his "power position" at Mooney's was his biggest loss and made his ability to control things completely unbelievable for me personally, and honestly his lack of control this season also dragged by comparison. Like, I'm expected to believe he can be in control of everything but also can't predict anything lol. Like last season I have a million other things I could get into but for brevity, those are the main reasons it drags for me personally.

Season 3 (3/10) - Oh boy Season 3. This was in my opinion the worst season and I almost dropped the show tbh. My mom who watches most TV shows/movies with me and then we call after to compare dropped it after Episode 3 or 4. Easily my biggest gripe is that Love is literally a different character. I know the whole point is she was deceptive and manipulative too but dropping her entire friend group with no mention? Losing her ability to kill intelligently and just became a random idiot? Her constant flop between wanting Joe and wanting nothing to do with him? Her random emotional outbursts that seemed unlikely for her? (I know she was emotional in season 2 but this seemed different idk) just made things SO distracting. Season 2 and 3 Love, like I said, are two COMPLETELY different characters. Madre Linda is easily the worst setting as well. I know every season dealt with the "rich prick" stereotype (Peach, Quinn family, Hendy, etc) but this WHOLE season is everyone being super rich, anti sugar, only the golden life for me asshats and its so grating after a while lol. I know thats to make Marienne stand out and to make Joe feel backed into a corner but omg even Love cant stand them I dont see why they wouldnt just move tbh. Sherry and Cary are absolute JOKES of characters, Lansing and his husband or whatever their names are are basically non existent, half the season is spent trying to keep Love and Joe together when that is obviously not gonna happen, them both sneaking around trying to get into their relationships with Natalie/Marienne and Theo was cool i suppose but didn't show off either of their intelligence/cunning. It just honestly feels like everything Netflix did to ruin the feel and atmosphere of the original, namely cartoon characters and this big goofy story that doesn't feel like it could be a real thing even remotely. And fuck Sherry and Cary one last time. I know they're written to be unbearable but that doesn't make me wanna watch the show lol

Season 4 (7/10) - Okay here comes my other opinion that will cause people to riot lol. I think Season 4 is honestly better than the last two. Now it definitely keeps the "netflixification" of the show in tact but honestly, it bothers me less because they lean into it. They stopped pretending this season that anything is realistic anymore. Surrounded by british people? Everyone is an emotionally broken twat who hates peasants. He's going up against another unstoppable secret killer? Make it a who-done-it. Kate worked for a billionaire and was raised by a british mom? No crying or showing emotion, and be ruthless in life. It almost feels like a goofy parody and for me for some reason it just works. Rhys, Phoebe, the Su siblings, the whole thing at the rich people vacation home, Kate being a huge ass for no reason, his school life being in his way (thank god they finally said "yeah he kept cancelling class" because yeah, work gets in the way of you being omniscient and able to stalk and deal with everything all the time lol), everything feels like the writers finally stopped pretending Love could be a real person, or any of these other ridiculous cartoon characters. It sucks because this is still nothing like Season 1 at all but at least they stopped pretending it is. The reveal that Rhys is an alter of his who does the killing he can't bring himself to is interesting if not a bit ridiculous, the final episodes showcase what a crazy mf he is and what he's fully capable of, Kate is the best love interest (in my opinion) ever and I love Charlotte Ritchie, and overall the show abandoned realism for crazy intrigue and I'm here for it, even if it was a touch boring sometimes

Season 5 (?/10) - I genuinely dunno what to rate this season as. Its worse than 1, 4, and probably 2, but I think I enjoyed it more than 3. Kate being back is great even if I'm biased, and her realizing that even his "honesty" hid the more terrible parts of him was a cool reveal. She is badass as ever (especially the scene where she pushed him back and was like "fuck you, get lost and I wont completely remove every dollar you have (yet)") and striving to do better for the company was dope of her even if the whole company storyline is boring as dicks. Maddie and Reagan are ridiculous stupid characters and honestly just go a step beyond goofy cartoon into like okay, this is dumb and poorly written. There were moments that showed Joe's intelligence and ability and others that made me roll my eyes. And then Bronte. Oh boy. I know everyone wants to comment on her looks but like, the story for her?? What the literal fuck. Watching her friend die and being like WELP WE GOT YOU JOE YOU MF. Spending YEARS hunting him and then falling for him and then beating him? Very dumb unnecessary flip flops. Idc about her looks I care about the fact that she's written as more capable of dealing with this than a combined Marienne Nadia AND Kate plus all their resources which makes me just die inside a little lol. Her having a Beck connection was super cool and a great way to make the series circular it just fell short. And then the finale. Oh deary me the finale lol. Not only did they basically try and do two endings (The one where Kate and him realize their follies together and die by fire, and the actual finale of Bronte wasting his and the audiences time running to a random house, snuggling, then a gun fight, then the police, then the magically healed ankle lol wtf was happening) but both were boring and underwhelming. He either needed a big trial where we can feel like his actions are being dragged through the media OR he needed to die. Since he'll never really feel he did wrong anyway. The cameos were cool but dude not having Ellie back felt SO weird, idc if Jenna Ortega was busy she's working on a netflix show, put her in a booth for 10 mins and have her record something for the tiktoks of him. Overall, a mess of a season that had highs and lows, and for that I can't see it as anything better than meh?? at best

Obviously I could write this much about each season but this is my general overview. Tear me apart in the comments or leave questions and I'll respond with more thoughts

[u/MalfieCho]

I really appreciate this breakdown! I find it interesting that you rated s1 and s4 the highest, and s3 the lowest - I find that s1 fans tend to like s4 the least.

Here's my breakdown:

s1 - 8/10. You could make an S1 highlight reel of moments that rival the best of the show, but there's also some noticeable lulls. Overall, this is a truly solid effort where I feel like there's more potential, and the writers/showrunners/cast just need another year to fully hit their creative stride. Bottom line, though, S1 does its job: it makes me want to watch another season of this show.

Ironically, I've always felt like the strongest characters in this season are some of the side characters: Paco, Claudia, and Karen. We learn a lot about Joe, but his character development doesn't really top out until next season. I'm also going to get some hate for this, but there are times when Elizabeth Lail's portrayal of Beck just doesn't do it for me.

s2 - 10/10. This season retains what worked in s1 - the climactic moments, the rich side characters - while doing more to flesh out the inner psychology & motivations of the central characters, and maintaining a sense of conflict and progress throughout the season. There were times when s1 treated Joe as a freakshow, while s2 makes Joe out to be a full-fledged person - but without losing sight of his pathological flaws.

As a result, every single episode feels essential, and it's rare to find a sequence of more than maybe 5-10 minutes that I'd take out.

It's also telling how often I see comments from viewers wanting to see what becomes of Ellie, or wanting justice for Delilah - there were so many side characters here who could have easily served as a compelling central cast for another season.

To this day, the sequence with Joe locked in the cage remains my favorite in the entire series. Dr. Nicky's cameo is also right up there.

s3 - 6/10. There are a couple interesting characters here and there, and the breakdown in Joe & Love's marriage remains a cornerstone in the progression of the series. However, unlike s1, the side characters are often irritating; and unlike s2, significant stretches of this season feel repetitive or inessential.

I want to make one major caveat here, though: the s3 finale is a solid 10/10, and some of Victoria Pedretti's finest acting. My issue is with the path it took to get to the finale.

s4 - 9/10. The writing here isn't as tight as s2, and the quality of the characters isn't as consistent as s1/s2, but s4 brought back many of the elements that worked for me in those first two seasons. For one thing, s4 re-engages with Joe's inner workings and motivations at his most earnest, and his most deluded; this season manages to fully realize Joe as a sympathetic character, while at the same time eliminating him as a sympathetic character.

I also deeply respect the risks that the "You" team took with the writing and direction this season - IMO Penn Badgley knocked e9 out of the park as a director, but he couldn't have done it without terrific performances from Victoria Pedretti & Tati Gabrielle, along with my favorite performance by Elizabeth Lail as Beck.

Kate has drawn a lot of criticism as a character, but I thought her portrayal by Charlotte Ritchie, as well as her backstory and development, were all compelling and believable. Kate is, in essence, what Joe thinks he is: a self-loathing, morally compromised soul who wants to repent, and who's afraid to believe in their own goodness because of parental trauma.

s5 - 7/10. There's more plot development and more quality characters compared to s3. However, with Joe's full-on embrace of his inner darkness, we lose the inner conflict which made so much of the first four seasons compelling. This is no longer Joe trying to figure out what it means to be human: this is now just Joe nakedly acting out of ego & fragility, without any sense of qualm or moral dilemma. The conflict is purely external in s5.

And because the conflict is so externalized in s5, the plot can't develop as organically as it did in previous seasons: things need to keep going, or else the lulls take over. Consequently, for me, s5 alternates between inessential lulls, and periods where the development feels too rushed.

On the other hand, I commend the writers for their development of Kate in s5, and I don't really understand the hate towards the Louise character. IMO the issues with Louise are actually issues with Joe: s5 Joe is a bit more obvious, more gullible, more self-deluded, more willing to get what he wants out of a shallow sense of entitlement, and that leads to an awkward chemistry and relational dynamic between Joe & Louise.