On October 15, Netflix released the third season of You. Immediately enjoying great success, Joe Goldberg‘s dramas and obsessions earned a place in the Top 10 of the best TV series of the moment.
Preview
Penn Badgley and Victoria Pedretti in You (2018) © IMDB
With a wife and a child, wedged into Madre Linda‘s middle-class life, Joe Goldberg is trying to keep himself on the right path. Caring for a child isn’t easy, and he and Love are often under stress, forced to get used to married life.
Joe knows the traumas of childhood well and is determined to do everything right, so that his son grows up happy, safe in a family. Through flashbacks, he relives what was once a little boy’s helplessness and promises himself that he will never make little Harry Forty suffer as he did.
But in his search for the perfect family, he didn’t include Love’s instability, her obsessive jealousy of Joe, in his plans. Nor had he considered the possibility of what his predatory instinct, always hungry for love, would demand.
Review
Madre Linda’s neighborhood for the rich welcomes them with open arms. The latest family to arrive, that have to learn to juggle marriage pitfalls and the arrogant members of this new community. Sherry Conrad is the gossip queen bee; her husband Cary is the boy scout boss of the other good husbands.
Together they represent the example of a disturbed marriage, which has ups and downs, but in its many oddities, it manages to last, stronger than before. Their super popular couple contrasts well with the shady moods of two other spouses: Natalie and Matthew Engler, neighbors of Joe and Love.
It will be Natalie who rekindles Joe’s predatory nose, and it will always be Natalie who awakens Love’s jealous dragon, an animal she will not be able to keep in a cage. Impulsive and neurotic, Love Queen Goldberg has a heavy hand and an “easy hatchet”; she will endanger the already precarious stability of their family and force Joe to deal with her messes.
Penn Badgley and Victoria Pedretti in We’re All Mad Here (2021) © IMDB
But the storm clouds that cloud the bond between Love and Joe will find a new rainbow in the young librarian Marienne Bellamy. Between this obsessive new love and the need to distract Love from the breakdown their marriage has become, Joe won’t notice how insane their family is.
The dream of raising Harry, of protecting him and giving him all the love he needs, gets further and further away. And eventually, Joe will understand that sometimes keeping someone you love safe means letting him go.
Personal opinion
This third season of You has been very eventful. In each episode with attention to detail, the interpretation of the actors is impeccable. Excellent as always Penn Badgley in the role of Joe and excellent Victoria Pedretti in the figure of Love. I also enjoyed Tati Gabrielle‘s portrayal as Marienne and Scott Speedman‘s portrayal of Matthew Engler.
The unhealthy relationship between Joe and Love, united only by their inner darkness, blossoms into ruin. Both are too obsessive, almost cursed in their need for violence. Once again this show puts the spotlight on the twisted psychology of the protagonists, with particular attention to bad relationships and the difficulties of marriage.
Bonding with someone for life is only the first step on a long journey of ups and downs. But the most important thing is never to lose your way.
Conclusions
In this season of You, a new figure emerges from Joe’s past, perhaps a brother: Jacob. Will he be one of the new characters for next season? Because yes, to the delight of the fans, Netflix has already renewed the series.
We await then the new macabre adventures of Joe Goldberg. In the meantime, beware of the neighbors, they may be hiding gruesome secrets …
