“You” Season 4, Part 1 Review

Story posted February 16, 2023 in CommRadio, Arts & Entertainment by Savannah Swartz

“Things took a turn since I last saw you,” Joe Goldberg who now identifies as Jonathan Moore says this at the end of part one of season four of the Netflix original series “You.”

There is no better way to describe the newest season of “You”.

We left Penn Badgley’s character Joe at the end of season three looking for a new beginning after killing his wife Love and faking his own death, along with giving away his baby.

His inspiration for a new beginning was to follow his new focus of obsession, Marienne, to Paris where she was going to escape him. He kinda missed the head with the hammer on that one.

Season four starts out with Joe who now goes by Jonathan. It’s the same main character except now he is doing absolute best to withhold from his stalkerous and murderous tendencies.

Throughout the first episode, we learn that he now spends his time as a college professor teaching in London, and of course he teaches english. This keeps the literature motifs that have been present throughout the series alive.

The question is, why is he in London if he wanted to be with Marienne who was moving to Paris? They tease the answer to this throughout the episode and reveal how he found her.

For the first time in the series, Joe saw the fear that his potential victim truly had for him. After she calls him a murderer, he decides to prove her wrong and let her go.

Woo hoo! Way to go Joe! He is finally starting to act like a character that fans can root for instead of an apathetic psychopath.

Besides the flashbacks that reveal Marienne’s fate the first episode surrounds Joe’s coworker and neighbor, Malcolm and his love interest, Kate.

After saving Kate from an attempted mugging, Joe is invited to an exclusive club with his new “friends.”

All you really need to know about the groups of new characters is that they are all pretentious douchebags, except for Kate who is down to earth secretly and Rhys Montrose, who is a Mayoral candidate who grew up poor and now resents the rich even though he is one of them.

So they go to this club and Joe ends up having several shots of absinthe, due to the fact that he is still heartbroken over Marienne.

He ends up blacking out, obviously, and wakes up back in his apartment with none other than Malcolm laying on his dining room table with a knife in his chest.

Unable to remember if he killed Malcolm or not he proceeds to do what he does best, dispose of the body.

This scene may have been the most gruesome in this whole section of the season. However, it was hilariously shown with “I like it” by Cardi B.

Interesting choice, but definitely lightened the mood.

Anyhow this murder leads to someone anonymously texting Joe and eventually blackmailing him with information from his past.

The shoe is really on the other foot now. The main antagonist of the show has finally met his anonymous match and is being terrorized.

The anonymous texts continue and attempt to frame Joe for several murders that follow within the friend group, but his main focus is to protect his new interest, his new “You”: Kate.

The next murders prompt people to address the killer as the “Eat The Rich Killer.” The theme of this season is the relationship between middle and upper class.

The season is best comparable to “Knives Out.” Joe acknowledges it in his inner monologue that he is in a “who done it”.

One of the most original aspects of this show is Joe’s inner monologue revealing his thoughts and ideas about who could be blackmailing him.

Badgley has such a serene and peaceful voice that it creates a false sense of trust for his character even though he is usually thinking the most foul and cruel thoughts.

Along with that the casting for this season was done very well. All of the pretentious douchebags are very convincing and  give the audience a reason to be pro eat the rich.

The only downfall of this season is that it is hard to be invested at first because of how different it is from all prior seasons, however after the first episode or two it is easy to find interest again.

It is a better watching experience when you go in without comparing it to any of the show's previous plot lines.

Rating: 4/5 stars

Savannah Swartz is a second-year communications major. To contact her, email sms9072@psu.edu.