Featuring stories from Eric Shanower, Troy Riser, Michael Tierney, and seventeen other masters of the form, FANTASTIC VOYAGES is all about doors --
We Can't Get Enough of YOU... The Series.
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Submitted by RJ Carter on Tue, 02/04/2020 - 06:00
There's a perverse appeal to YOU, the nigh un-Google-able creation fo Sera Gamble (SUPERNATURAL) and Greg Berlanti (every CW superhero show we love). The protagonist is a very disturbed individual who does for stalking what DEXTER did for serial killing.
Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley, GOSSIP GIRL) is a reclusive book store manager who specializes in old and rare volumes. When Guinevere Beck (ONCE UPON A TIME's Elizabeth Lail) walks in, he zeroes in on her, immediately interested, and revealing his analysis to the audience through way of his inner dialogue, a narration medium used to great effect throughout the season. He pays attention to the way she moves, the way she dresses. And when she leaves, he turns to social media to fill in the gaps.
Before long, he is moving in on her as her "perfect match." But Beck (as her friends call her) isn't a perfect person. In fact, she's a bit of a sleep-around, and with the wrong types. But that's okay. Joe will do anything for Beck to make her life better, including removing any obstacles that come between them, whether it be bad-boy lovers or possessively obsessed girlfriends.
Part of the appeal of YOU is that, despite the manipulative persona Joe exudes, he is not a practiced expert at what he does. He makes miscalculations. He makes mistakes. He gets in over his head. And where Dexter Morgan was a serial killer up to the challenge and able to play chess with anyone who got wise to his game, Joe Goldberg often flies by the seat of his pants, relying on stolen cell phones to make victims appear to still be alive (and to monitor all of Beck's private conversations -- purely to protect her, of course).
The other intriguing part of the show is that, frequently, Joe is the only likeable person -- even the only somewhat moral person. He cares deeply for the boy who lives across the hall from him, Paco (Luca Padovan), whose addict mother is regularly abused by her live-in boyfriend. And the people he decides are not good for Beck really are not good for Beck. It's an ethical dilemma to like Joe so much, but you do nonetheless. Which is what makes him so effective as the villain he truly is.
YOU also stars Zach Cherry as Ethan, Joe's employee at the bookstore, and RAY DONOVAN's Ambyr Childers as Candace, Joe's girlfriend before Beck, who "moved to Italy" without telling any of her friends -- unless she didn't.
Compelling and addicting, we found we couldn't get enough of YOU.
Grade:
4.5 / 5.0
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