Movie Review
You: Season 4 Review
By Luis Sanchez
Luis
Last time I wrote a review I criticized part 1 of the brand new season of You on Netflix. Season 4 of the show was released in 2 parts, and on February 28 the second part of season 4 was released. With the entirety of the season now out, I will be reviewing the season as a whole.
To begin, I would like to address what You began as in 2018. It was about a simple bookkeeper who fell in love with a girl. This bookkeeper grew more interested in the girl, but he became a little too interested. The season developed into a psychological rollercoaster with themes of obsession, stalking, and lots of inner dialogue. The premise of it relied on the girl, the obsessive guy, and some trouble for the guy to get the girl. Overall, the show was creepy enough to leave its viewers interested for the next season. I struggled to understand at first as to how this would be spanned throughout multiple seasons. As it turned out, my worries were correct.
With this new season, there was an extremely low amount of obsessive stalker Joe. Any of the few moments that we got of it were just flashbacks. Besides that, the majority of the season just revolved around Joe trying to get around with his new rich friends. It felt bland, and I did feel like an extremely important part of the series was taken away in this season (except for all of the deaths). The first half of the season was slow; it was mostly just an introduction of Joe’s new life, his new friends, and the murder mystery that he was living in. The first half of the season could have probably been established in 2 episodes. On the other hand, the second half of the season felt much more fulfilling. There was still minimal stalking-Joe, but it ramped up in terms of its signature creepiness. Something that this show has always characterized as is giving viewers this feeling of helplessness and a want for the prisoner to escape. This was absent for the first half of the season (completely), but for the second half of the season we did get to experience that feeling, for a little bit. Even the psychological climax in the second half gave this new season more of a spice than the first half’s boring and predictable outcome. So, how come I still found this season enjoyable?
Penn Badgley. Acting on point, and not to mention how he directed the final episode which was honestly the best episode of the entire season. He single-handedly carried all of the emotions of the season. By this I mean that his new love interest is completely bland and expressess little emotions. There were no tears shed, no screaming at Joe, and no feelings of helplessness. Trust me, this season was not what I was expecting at all. Still, Penn Badgley as Joe is admirable to watch. Although the inner dialogue might have been a little too much, when it came time to show some character development Penn Badgley did it right. When it came time to be serious or be as scared as he heavenly could, Badgley did it right. When it came to expressing an internal conflict more than describing it, Badgley did it right. My favorite part in this entire season is definitely the last 10 minutes where we finally saw some real-creepy-Joe action. This new season I would give it a 4/10, and it’s now available to watch fully on Netflix! Feel free to have this in the background while doing some other productive thing; you do not need to give this new season your full attention.