*Spoiler alert* don’t read on unless you’ve finished the series thus far.
Recently, I completed the series ‘You’ on Netflix. Having rewatched the second season just for a refresher and then watching the last I’ll have to admit, I was stunned, horrified, disgusted and mildly thrilled. But most of all, I was left to wonder: Why do I feel like I’m rooting for the main character; the villain of the story? And why are we, as the audience, supposed to be rooting for the triumphant villain, who always seems to get away with murder, stalking, jealousy and toxic behaviour?
I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect. I thought maybe season 3 would end with there being some kind of feminist justice. Joe’s new love interest Marianne seemed smart and capable enough to identify toxic behaviour and she had her antennas up about Joe as we found out in the end. I hoped she would become the hero and when she realised Joe was too good to be true, she would talk Love off the maniacal edge she was on and bring Joe to justice. Maybe we would see him behind bars and Love in therapy?
Yet, Marienne fleed, Love turned out to be a psychotic serial killer and landed up dead. In fact, every female till now who found out who Joe really was - winded up murdered. And Joe kept on killing, stalking and being a downright creep and as an audience, we were supposed to..what? Clap for him? Watch him get away with it everytime? Watch him get rewarded for his evil deeds?
And somehow, when Joe turned the tables around and murdered his wife Love, I was happy...and then confused, why am I rooting for a serial stalker and killer? Why was I silently relieved when he emerged unscathed from various attempts to take him down?
As a feminist, I was half expecting the women to take down Joe. He is a villain after all. I expected Love to put aside her murderous tendencies and deal with Joe by letting the justice system decide his fate. But she took fate into her own hands and tried to murder her own husband - rather than becoming the heroine of the story and saving her child from an obsessive, psychotic father, she turned out to be an even worse villain than him.
I found it difficult to relate with or understand her. In season 2, we saw her as troubled but charming, talented, capable, independent and brilliant, but the series took an incredibly dark turn that made me sick. It also made me question finally, ‘What am I supposed to feel about this show?’ Is this show supposed to highlight toxic behaviour and warn young women about red flags? Is it supposed to glorify obsession and justify murder? I just don’t know anymore. I think ‘You’ will have to redeem itself in season three and decide what messages it’s really sending society, so that men and women never believe that stalking, murder, lies and toxicity are ever okay.
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