I still remember how fascinated I was after reading You by Caroline Kepnes before it became a hit Netflix series. I had never read a story that focused primarily on the protagonist and was entirely from their point of view in narration. How did the author make me feel something close to empathy for emerging serial killer Joe Goldberg?
Fast-forward years, and I have now completed not only reading the entire series but also watching how they play out the narrative within the hit Netflix series. If you have not completed the entirety of season 5, stop reading! There will be spoilers in here!
Once the show became a hit on television, there was quite a bit of buzz from the public and the actors alike that, for some odd reason, the average viewer found themselves almost rooting for the bad guy! Why? What is collectively wrong with us as a society that we related more to arrogant, gaslighting yet charming and handsome Joe than we did his victims? For myself, it wasn't true for ALL of his victims. I related to Beck and Mariann for sure. But there was something distinctly unlikable about some of the other characters who found themselves at the mercy of the clever killer.
After having completed the series and seeing how they brilliantly showed the audience that maybe we have been the problem all along, one line stood out to me. It was yelled out to Joe in the final showdown between Bronte (aka Louise) and Joe as the police were closing in and sealing the fate for the ever resourceful murderer: "The fantasy of a man like you is how we cope with the reality of a man like you."
You have to sit with it for a minute, but that really sums it up! The fantasy of a man who would go to horrifying and extreme lengths to keep his "partner of the moment" safe is tempting in a world where the reality is that just being a female can make you a target for the exact same kind of man.
Season 5 in particular does an amazing job of showing Joe's true nature. His obsessions are not about needing love but about control, hierarchy, and eventually erasing whoever has captured his interest. By season 5, Joe is no longer emerging as a ruthless killer; he is embracing it and admitting, even partially, to himself that he isn't doing it for chivalry but for enjoyment. The emasculation of Joe getting his dick blown off at the end, while some critics thought went too far, made sense to me in the artistic sense. At his very core, Joe felt superior to women, so a shot directly to the most prized possession of many a man seemed fitting to me. Let me know your thoughts!
#You #Imkindasaditsover #whatawaytogothough #booksthatturnintogreatshows
