*Warning: Contains Spoilers.*
NetflixI’ve just finished season two of Netflix’s brilliantly twisty You, and I am absolutely shook.
Just as creepy and unpredictable as the first season, I am now newly anxious about how I would be able to persuade Joe – or should I say Will? – to trust me to leave his human aquarium.
But as frightening as each episode was, Joe’s internal dialogue brought moments of humour and social observation to the narrative; letting us forget for a moment or two that we were watching a monster in human form stalking and slaughtering his prey.
However, without Joe’s internal voiceover, the effect is truly chilling:
Because – lest we forget – Joe Goldberg genuinely thinks he’s a good guy, with only the occasional, fleeting moments of introspection when he’s forced into a tight corner. And even then he fails to grasp the true magnitude of his crimes.
In the mind of Joe, he is a decent sort who is driven to make regrettable mistakes on account of his tendencies to be too romantic and too head-over-heels in love with the ever-changeable object of his affections.
I know I’m not the only one to forget what sort of a story I was watching unfold as I chuckled away at Joe’s wry remarks on LA life and pitta bread intolerance. But strip away his deluded commentary, and the series takes on a very different feel indeed.
Having clocked on to the disarming effect of Joe’s reliably unreliable perspective, Netflix has released a video montage of Joe without the voiceover. And the effect is freaking me out.
NetflixSuddenly the many awkward silences and frequent stares become more evident. And you get more of an idea of how Joe might appear to the unlucky people who end up in his violent orbit.
It makes for a far quieter show, and you suddenly realise how little Joe actually says in comparison to what he thinks. His silence becomes less contemplative and more menacing.
As Netflix wisely commented during a scene between Joe and the endlessly talkative Forty:
Don’t count on Joe for an opinion.
NetflixPeople have been left even more chilled by Joe, which is no small feat seeing as we’ve recently seen him feed a human body into a meat mincing machine.
One person shuddered:
This just lets you know that these people overlooking how weird this dude is.
Another noted:
If the show didn’t have a voiceover, we would hardly know his voice.
NetflixWe haven’t yet had confirmation of a season three, although that final scene appears to suggest new territory for Joe’s obsessions to develop. However, I wouldn’t get your hopes up for Joe to get any chattier…
You is on Netflix right now.
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Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.