Show Review: You (Season 4) Part 1

“I’ve never heard of You. What is it?”
To put it plainly, this is Formula to every season of You.
Joe is a sociopath serial killer who falls in love with “Strong Intelligent Woman”, stalks her, and gets her to fall in love with him. Eventually “Strong Intelligent Woman” finds out Joe is a sociopath serial killer, and ends up getting killed by Joe.

“Gee Matt, that’s a pretty weird premise”
I agree! It is weird, and that’s the charm of the show. The main character is a walking red flag, and yet every season he does the same thing, and you’re sitting there thinking, “I wonder what’s gonna happen this time,” and for the most part, everything you expect to happen- happens. It’s a non-exhaustive series that you can sit and enjoy. It’s like watching the Kardashians; are you sometimes ashamed to say you watch it? Yeah. Do you sometimes wonder why you enjoy it? Of course. But do you find yourself enthralled by it? Yes.

“Matt, do you watch the Kardashians?”
I’ll remind you this is a review about YOU and not about my interests in the Kardashian shows. (But seriously, when are we getting another season of Revenge Body with Khloe Kardashian?) While the first season of YOU might have been more of a haunting thriller, later seasons turn into a comedy. Point in Case: Joe has a crossbow versus crossbow fight with a Fitness guru who previously tried to get to Joe sleep with his wife.

“And Season 4…?”
Is more of the same; but in a new location this time! Joe is a teacher in London now because of ‘reasons’, and ends up getting caught in a whirlwind of killings and nonsensical games of cat and mouse. To flip the story, there’s a NEW serial killer (Season 1, 2 and 3 all featured Joe as the main killer).

“Was changing the formula a good idea?”
No. It was not. Unfortunately, this new Killer is just… the worst. And I don’t mean that as a compliment. He’s just- the most unlikable individual you could come across. The whole point of the show is that Joe is awful. We are watching an awful person seduce awful self-absorbed people and kill other awful people. It’s all sort of messed up but in a way you can get behind. This time around, they tried to make Joe a sort of anti-hero (he literally saves someone from a fire). That’s not the sort of person Joe is; it’s almost as if the show is trying to make us forget that Joe is an AWFUL human being. And none of that’s getting into the CRINGEY dialogue and situations throughout. It’s- it’s not good. And yet I sit here, having watched the entire 5 episodes, yet not I’m not so-eager for Part 2.

“What do you score it?”
You Season 4 Part 1 gets a 2/5. If you’re a fan of the show, you’ll be missing the direction of the previous seasons. If you’re new to the series, I’d say stop at season 3, and maybe if they stick the landing in part 2 you might want to watch season 4. (Tune in March 8th for that review!)

“Why do people watch this show?”
Penn Badgley. Penn is damn talented. He’s funny, he’s cute, he’s charming, and no one would be watching this show if Penn wasn’t the main character. Really- I cannot stress this enough- YOU would be nothing and nowhere without Penn.
But that’s just my review and if you’ve seen YOU Season 4 Part 1 (What a mouthful) hit me on my social media to tell me your thoughts! I’m @THESTORYTIMEGUY on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and Youtube!
Thanks for reading and have a magical day everyone!
~Matt