Season 4 of ‘You’ has reinvented the series of Netflix. The continuity that it will really have remains to be seen, especially taking into account the turn that occurs in the fifth and last episode of this Part 1, but it has been a successful change and consistent with everything that had been developed in the first three deliveries.
‘You’ has always been the series of Penn Badgley. He started out as a psychopath with a seductive edge, continued to find an equal with the character of Victoria Pedretti and the end of the third season marked the end of an era. A new beginning was inevitable, but there was a risk of ending up resorting to the usual formula. A comfortable solution for those who simply wanted more of the same, but at the same time a double-edged sword, as it could also be the perfect opportunity for many to get off the boat.
Differentiating without breaking with the previous
The problem was how to maintain enough familiarity while continuing to expand the format. The promotional campaign made it clear that the bet was that Joe (although he now calls himself Jonathan Moore) go from bully to bullied and see how that affected his control freak. Out there, season 4 of ‘You’ has achieved a rather stimulating focus of tension, both in those intimate moments that focus on the protagonist’s reactions to the messages he receives and because of the position of uncertainty in which he finds himself when he He himself knows that one of those despicable rich people he interacts with is surely that murderer who is playing with him.
This last point leads the series to innovate and at the same time not completely set aside its hallmarks. On the one hand, that gallery of millionaires disconnected from reality It has enough hook to make us interested in the dynamic between them and the secrets they hide individually, but we also dislike them personally so much that the fact that the corpses are piling up is something that we receive with a certain joy.
In addition, this tendency to the extreme when it comes to defining the personality of these new characters allows Kate to be closer by pure contrast. And that’s where ‘You’ goes back to betting on the familiar, since the character played by charlotte ritchie (‘Ghosts’) is the protagonist’s new obsession. Yes, Joe is reluctant to fall into old habits and even his habitual reflections in offline directly underline it, but the goat throws the bush and thus the series introduces one of the features that make it more identifiable.
However, ‘You’ is not as concerned with Kate being a character with whom the public can feel great empathy as it was with previous obsessions of hers. It is true that she herself stresses on more than one occasion that she simply wants to be a decent person and that she has very clear limitations to achieve it, but there is something about her that gives the sensation of being designed to continue generating a slight antipathy and that we never have. completely clear what to think of her. Mind you, I suspect that will either lose a lot of weight or go away completely in Part 2 of this season 4 that will arrive on Netflix on March 9.
In fact, it is something that is already losing weight as the first five episodes go by, with Kate first showing herself much more aggressive towards Joe and then the bond between them tightens. I also doubt that it is a coincidence that the character is much more accessible as she adopts a role closer to the one Guinevere, Love and Marienne had at the time.
Other details
At least this greater clarity is also accompanied by the series focusing more on a group of characters, temporarily leaving the rest of society aside and making the most of that touch of murder mystery that has served to differentiate so much what we have in the fourth season from the previous three. By moving to a more closed microcosm, the rules change and the fact that there are people who are human garbage becomes an asset instead of a possible ballast. This makes it easier for everyone to be suspected and for the game proposed by the writers to take effect.
The only doubt that remains is that now the path to follow seems much clearer and the great incentive becomes to give a twist to the idea of a rivalry between psychopaths that we already saw in a third season. Of course, the approach will be different and it can still give us a lot of joy, but in my case it has become certain doubts about the future of the series rather than an incentive to be eager to see the next episodes.
And it is that you can only stretch Joe’s story so far without it starting to be very difficult to get carried away. I don’t think season 4 has reached that point yet, but I can think of few things they can do with the character of Penn Badgley that justify moving forward with more stories beyond the purely commercial. However, it is one of Netflix’s biggest hits, so I have no doubt that there will be at least one season 5. Of course, perhaps I’m getting too far ahead of myself, these five episodes have left me quite satisfied.
In short
Season 4 of ‘You’ has surprised us by betting on a reinvention that increases the interest of a series that was already close to exhausting its usual formula. Now it will have to be if it has not been more than a mirage or if we can really count on it continuing to be one of the most enjoyable series on the platform for a longer time.
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