‘You’ season 3 review: Joe finds twisted new wrinkles with Love and marriage in the suburbs
A lot of that has to do with Penn Badgley’s completely pitched portrayal of Joe Goldberg, the tech-savvy stalker whose infatuations burn brightly however seldom finish properly. After two seasons during which he has all the time gave the impression to be one step forward of the guillotine, Joe has married Love (Victoria Pedretti), directs a lot of his narration at his toddler son and speaks (not less than in his personal head) about turning into a greater man for each of them, however severely, who’d wish to watch that?
Season three begins with Joe and Love experiencing a few of the joys and lots of the complications related to parenthood, earlier than a flirtatious neighbor complicates his try to show over a brand new leaf.
Something past that lands squarely within the “spoiler” zone, however suffice it to say that the ‘burbs are full of completely happy, smiling those who Joe often finds annoying or simply plain odd, and a few of them are unlikely to outlive all over this yr’s 10 episodes. After all, the very fact there’s some severely twisted stuff happening behind the picket fences and ideal lawns does not assist issues.
One of many challenges of “You” entails dancing as much as that line in telling its story from a sociopath’s perspective with out utterly toppling over it, creating conditions which are edgy with out turning into downright distasteful. In that regard, there is a truthful quantity of dishonest in portraying the seemingly unusual souls in Joe’s orbit as being screwed up sufficient that it is attainable for him — and by extension, the viewers — to see justification ought to one thing dangerous occur.
Joe’s nuclear household actually provides to the diploma of problem, and credit score the producers with largely navigating these guardrails because the collection stays each tense and darkly humorous. Joe might be very intelligent, however his plans have a behavior of going wildly awry, leaving us aware of his panicked inside monologues.
Maybe that is why each season past the second, frankly, seems like gravy. And whereas this go-round units the stage for extra, as Dexter found, even a good-looking sociopath ought to acknowledge the perils of staying in a single place too lengthy.
“You” Season 3 begins Oct. 15 on Netflix.