Ask JKM a Question: You (Season Two)

A reader, Chuck, writes:

"I know you have been busy and, frankly, I was not sure if you still have time for “Ask JKM a Question” feature on your blog (I know it has been a while). But my wife and I just finished binge-watching both seasons of the series You on Netflix and, for the first time in a long time, I felt inspired to send you a question because I was so curious as to what your thoughts on this series might be. 

And, if I am being honest, the main reason I thought of you is because season 2 of You reminded me so much of an old episode of The X-Files, "Terms of Endearment." It seems like a weird comparison to make, but I guess everything in life can be distilled down to at least one X-Files episode if you try hard enough. 

Anyway, I enjoyed season 1 of You but felt that season 2 was far superior. This is due, in no small part, to the outstanding performances of actors Penn Badgley and Victoria Pedretti. If you ever do get a chance to watch the series (I know it can be time consuming with ten episodes each season), I would love to know your thoughts.

Thanks as Always (and Happy New Year!)"

Happy New Year to you, Chuck, and thank you for the question.  I am still happy to answer "Ask JKM" questions, and was happy to see yours.  Any readers who have questions are welcome to pose them, and I will respond as soon as I can.

I do apologize for having to step away from the blog more than I would have liked, in the last 12 months.  I am hoping to return to it on a fuller basis, when it is feasible.

Before I answer any questions about the series You, I should probably post a "SPOILER ALERT" here.  

Don't read on, fair readers, if you have not seen the entirety of the second season.

Still here?

Okay.

I have seen both seasons of You (2018 - ) and the answer is that I think that is a terrific, well-made series. The first season had a fantastic New York vibe, and I was worried, honestly, when I heard the second season would be moved to Los Angeles. I worried that everything that made the series so appealing to me would be gone in the second season, especially given the fate of Beck, a character I adored.

Boy, was I wrong. 

Instead of repeating the same formula, You absolutely re-invented itself via its Los Angeles location, and ended up as an edgy, wicked, and absolutely on-point commentary about Hollywood, Me Too, Woke Culture, Self-Help, dieting, and more. I agree with your assertion that Season Two was actually stronger than (the superb) season one, and I do credit that success to the writing and acting, but also to the location change that I had fretted about.  The switch to L.A. infused the series with new energy, and deepened the discourse in a way I wouldn't have imagined possible.  This year, Joe entered a city where everyone was as dangerous, obsessed, and, really, narcissistic as he was.  Compared to some of the people he encounters in Season Two, he seems like an amateur in terms of stalking and obsession, in fact.

Your comparison to "Terms of Endearment," a sixth season episode of The X-Files (1993 - 2002) is apt, and very insightful.  For those who don't recall it, that episode stars Bruce Campbell as a husband and father-to-be named Wayne.  His secret, of course, is that he is, literally a monster.  Specifically, he's a demon.  But as the episode reveals at its climax, he is not the only monster in his relationship.   

The second season of You could be interpreted as a non-supernatural variation on the same story.  Joe/Will is a monster of the human variety, a psychopath, I would guess, and he enters a relationship with Love Quinn,  a woman whom he puts up on a pedestal as this pure icon of beauty, a kind of feminine ideal.  If you've watched the second season, you know that Joe gets quite the surprise, come end the of the ten episode catalog.  It is an ending that very much mirrors the idea of "Terms of Endearment."  So that connection is there, even if the supernatural element has been replaced with human psychology. 

What is so fascinating to me, about this paradigm, however, is what it tells us about Joe. In both seasons of the series, he falls in love, honestly, with the idea of love. He becomes infatuated and obsessed with a woman, and with his ideas of who she is.  When she is not who he believes she is, Joe becomes dangerous, even murderous.  The second season reckons with this idea, that men in general (and Joe in particular) fall in love with illusions that they have made themselves, not the actual woman who is the object of their affection.  Joe grows -- maybe -- at the end of the season, by realizing that he has not really "seen" Quinn, and instead of murdering her when he does really see her...he settles down with her.

I don't know if this notion of Joe and Quinn in domestic bliss will work in terms of Season 3, but again, I applaud the creators and writers on the series for ambitiously moving beyond a formula that would quickly become stagnant: Joe falls in love, acts obsessively and dangerously, commits murder, and has to run to a new city.  Rinse and repeat.  The last episode of Season Two promises that Season Three will be a whole new ball game, and that's good.

I think you are correct, too, Chuck, to credit Penn Badgley, who plays Joe/Will, with much of the series' success.  He is the anchor for everything, and is compelling, and strangely sympathetic. Much of the second season involves Joe going head to head with a nemesis, Candace. By all rights, our sympathy should be completely with her. He nearly killed her. And yet, our sympathies are not with her.  We want to see Joe succeed, despite the fact that he has committed horrible acts, and that she is right about everything (as even he comes to admit, near season's end).  This is kind of fucked up, and actually serves on a commentary regarding how women are viewed in our culture. 

Yet if we did not, at some level, love Joe, You simply would not work, and would also likely face accusations in the press that it is misogynist, and that it encourages sympathy with the devil.  But Penn Badgley's performances are sympathetic, even if the character he plays is an awful human being.  And we are capable of experiencing nuance in terms of our understanding of Joe. He is a monster, but he is also a human being. Season Two brings in flashbacks to his childhood, for instance, so we get a better understanding of how he became who he is.  

Another reason we love Joe: He sees everybody for all their bullshit.  What I like about Season Two is that his eyes are finally opened, indeed, to his own bullshit.  In Season Three, I assume we will learn whether Joe grows in that regards or backslides.

So You is absolutely a new favorite in my house, and it's going to be a long wait until the next batch of episodes in 2021.

Readers: You can e-mail me questions at Muirbusiness@yahoo.com, if you like!