Creators: Sera Gamble, Greg Berlanti
Cast: Penn Badgley, Victoria Pedretti, Saffron Burrows, Tati Gabrielle, Shalita Grant, Travis Van Winkle, Dylan Arnold Genre: Psychological thriller
Release date: October 15, 2021
10 episodes, approx. 45 minutes each
***MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD***
Joe (Penn Badgley) and Love Quinn-Goldberg (Victoria Pedretti) have settled in the California suburb of Madre Linda with their newborn baby. It’s a pretty town with pretty people and in any other universe, it would be an idyllic home for the couple. But not in this. The voiceover of Joe tells us that all is not well between him and Love who revealed herself to be a cold blooded killer in the previous season.
A murderous sociopath (Joe) and a killer (Love) living as a married couple in the suburbs. What could go wrong?
The protagonist (and narrator) Joe soon becomes obsessed with the neighbour next door, Natalie Engler (Michaela McManus). Joe must deal with this situation as well as be accepted into the suburban community.
One thing leads to another and a murder takes place which throws the tight-knit community into chaos.
The script of this season of You is smoothly written and some jokes are hands-down laugh-out-loud hilarious. However, as the show progresses, people are killed and bodies begin piling up. It becomes unrealistic as these bodies get disposed too conveniently. In the end, all the plot threads are tied up a little too neatly and some resolutions prove to be predictable. It is clear that this show does not count realism as one of its goals.
While the writing tries not to be too direct, third season of You betrays that laziness in some scenes. Take, for instance, the scene where a character is seen shaking hands with the judge right in front of the lead character. One character declares something along the lines of, “so
they are in it together, after all!” It is situations like these where the exposition gets too obvious, ignoring the previously proven intelligence of this show.
There is also the issue of chemistry (or the lack thereof) between Joe and Merienne (Tati Gabrielle). Joe has a type. Usually the women he obsesses over are white, elegant, tall and built like a model. They are sophisticated, strong-willed, ambitious and confident. While Merienne is definitely strong, confident and mysterious, she is still a mile away from a Barbie. Her rapport with Joe seems unconvincing as often times, she comes off as a daughter figure to be protected by Joe (the way teenage Ellie was for him in Season 2) rather than as his crush or a possible partner. Things escalate between the two quickly and never truly seem to have a real spark.
Still, the plot remains entertaining enough with new situations and colourful characters so that the series is never monotonous. The supporting cast does an outstanding job, not least of all Shalita Grant (‘Search Party’), who’s a real scene stealer.
The season, based on Caroline Kepnes’ novel ‘Hidden Bodies’, is an entertaining potboiler that is fast paced and easy to binge watch on one sitting. It has a messy plot with far-from-realistic outcomes, but the cast makes it hugely enjoyable to watch.
The third season of ‘You’ is now streaming on Netflix.
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