One of the great novelties of season 4 of ‘You’ was the decision of Netflix to release it in two batches of five episodes each. A priori, a movement to try to further increase the audience data for one of the most popular series on the platform, since not so long ago it introduced a change that pointed in that direction. Luckily, it has also worked artistically, since the first installment left its followers with honey on their lips.
In those first five chapters the attention was on the mystery surrounding that murderer who did not hesitate to torment Penn Badgley, while the five arriving on Netflix today have to deal with it to see if Joe Goldberg can get out of a situation that takes him to the limit. To do this, the writers take a leap into the void that may be rejected outright by some followers of ‘You’, but the truth is that it serves to go a little deeper into the issues that the series has been addressing since its inception.
an unexpected decision
The confrontation between Joe and Rhys was inevitable, both because they are two sides of the same coin and because of the pressure that the second has exerted on the first. However, those responsible for ‘You’ are not interested in the series going through the expected channels and end up opting for a surprising decision when it comes to how to do it, to the point that it almost feels like a fearless leap into the void. to ridiculous.
From here you will find spoilers about the final episodes of season 4 of ‘You’
I don’t much like to go into spoilers in these types of reviews, but these episodes of ‘You’ are irretrievably marked by the decision that Rhys is actually a representation of Joe’s darker side. In this way, the series takes to the extreme the idea that its protagonist is a kind of Doctor Jekyll with a Mr. Hyde internal that leads him to commit an innumerable series of atrocities.
It is always a problematic turn but as a surprise it can work very well in specific cases -there we have the one of the magnificent ‘The Fight Club’-. It is clear that in ‘You’ they fall far short of the mastery of the film by David Fincherbut that does not take away from what could have completely destroyed the series, it ends up being a quite successful resource.
Until now, that inner freak joe It had always been shown to us through his outbursts of violence, since even that constant inner voice of the character served to try to illustrate his most captivating side. ‘You’ has always played with that idea to cajole the viewer (and the new characters that were appearing in the life of its protagonist), it being inevitable that the effect it provokes has worn off over the seasons.
That leads to the fact that a change was necessary, but the question is to what extent something like this makes sense at this point. On the one hand, it is still the resource of easy surprise, causing confusion in the viewer to then try to explain it questionably -those small flashbacks in which we are shown what was really happening when Joe was talking to Rhys-, but in return it is also a logical way of going further in that inner duality of the character, also making it clear that he is starting to lose the control.
There it depends on each one how they prefer to see it. For my part, it initially generated a direct rejection, but I practically chained the seventh episode with the eighth and continued almost non-stop until I finished watching the season, and I just fell into place in its own way. In fact, it would have been a great way to give a surprise ending to the series, but perhaps it was also too dark -and that the warning that precedes the season finale suggests that they could dare to do it-, even by usual standards from a series like ‘You’.
However, I am clear that I have enjoyed the first part of this fourth season more, since this flirtation with the murder mystery added an additional hook to the series that the writers knew how to exploit very well. Unfortunately, in this second part, all the subplots around those rich characters that Joe rubs shoulders with are a bit disappointing -especially everything related to Phoebe and her problematic relationship with Adam-, and not even the unexpected appearance of greg kinnear how Kate’s father manages to make all of that have the same interest.
In return, the chemistry shared by Badgley and ed speelers, both when the idea that the second is blackmailing the first is still being played with, and when the series puts all the cards on the table and it becomes clear that this version of Rhys is nothing more than a projection of Joe’s darker side. If she even allows herself to be much more playful with the character’s way of acting, leaving small moments that use humor in a twisted way quite successfully. It’s as if those responsible for the series already wanted to make fun of what is happening but without ever falling into parody or something similar.
In short
‘You’ goes a step further in this second part of its season 4 and introduces a turn that is as surprising as it is easy to question. For me I think she manages to get out of something that could have been her downfall and it ends up squeezing that delicate decision of the writers to the maximum, but I am also clear that I enjoyed the beginning of this installment more and I am not very clear to what extent I am interested now in a fifth, because in its own way this would also fit as a closure for Joe’s story.
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