Hey, you. Yeah, you, the one reading this. I could, hypothetically, figure out your favorite band, where you like to eat, your place of employment and even where you live simply by the information you put on your social media. Slap a fake name, like Joe, on an account filled with your interests and BOOM: I’m in. Now, while this is all true, the danger found in this form of social media stalking is not the only thing that I took from the new season of “You” on Netflix. 

     The ending of season one left me confused, yet not entirely shocked. The ending was too easy; the main character got away with the crime that he committed and all was well for good ol’ Joe. It did, however, foreshadow a minuscule bump in the road for him and I highly anticipated the back story. 

     Spoilers are ahead. When Joe’s first ex-girlfriend, Candice, came back despite his belief that she was dead I was confused, but I didn’t know what other direction the show could go. The true end of Candice was, I wouldn’t say deserved, but she was an insufferable character and I wasn’t necessarily disappointed that she would not be returning to season three. I cannot imagine the suffering she went through when no one believed her trauma, but she handled her “revenge” childishly. She deserved to go to therapy, heal, and live the rest of her life in peace. Instead she let this incident control the rest of her life. It was not her obligation to save Joe’s victims. Especially when she did not turn things over to authorities, but that would not make a very interesting plot line.

      This season was a nice look into Joe’s past with Candice, but also his early childhood which gave this show a deeper meaning. Rather than just being a show about the dangers of oversharing on social media, season two explained the story of young Joe and the abuse he suffered growing up gave the audience more empathy towards the otherwise monstrous main character. Joe also expresses regret for his actions during this season and he displayed his ultimate regret by accepting the punishment for his crimes. Speaking of ‘crime and punishment’, there were interesting mentions of the Dostoevsky novel through Joe’s narration. Similar to Raskolnikov, Joe seems to accidentally hand over evidence of his crimes and tangles himself into lies in order to cover his tracks. He expresses a want to be caught in order to stop hurting people. Unlike Raskolnikov, Joe keeps a cool temperament while he commits more murders. 

     Joe, I love to hate you. Overall, I was entranced in this new season and I was very excited to see where Joe would go. I have never sat on my couch for so many episodes straight. It felt as though my hands involuntarily clicked ‘Watch next episode’ until all I was left with was the anticipation of season three. 

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