Show: You Season 3
Cast: Penn Badgley, Victoria Pedretti, Shalita Grant, Micahela Manus, Travis Van Winkle, Dylan Arnold, Tati Gabrielle, Saffron Burrows
Creators: Greg Berlanti & Sera Gamble
OTT: Netflix
Rating: 3.5 Moons
Netflix’s intensely addictive thriller series You is back with its third season bringing more twists-and-turns and bloodbath in its wake. Penn Badgley returns as Joe Goldberg, Netflix’s most loved yet hated sociopath. However, this time around he is in for a messier and stickier entanglement because he is now a married man as well as a father and reeling under the fact that Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti), the object of his affection and manipulation is not his savior but as murderous as he is. Penn and Victoria deliver malice, mayhem and murder with equal ease in a well-crafted series.
The third season of You begins where the last season left off- Love and Joe, are a married couple and move to Madre Linda, a swanky Californian suburb to seemingly lead a new life with their infant son, Henry. However, their sleepy and quiet neighbourhod with sneaky neighbours drive them nuts and they are back to their machete-wielding antics. Joe and Love share in their life-upheaval misery of finding each other’s bloodthirsty urges while dealing with raising a crying infant and overcoming sleepless nights in the process. Both of them are chasing a warped and idealized notion of partnership trying to get over their own selves and now despise how their lives have not lived up to their expectations. Their contrasting personalities lead them to seek help from a third party- a couple’s therapist played superbly by Ayelet Zurer.
As with every other season, Joe lands his new target (Michaela Manus) a few minutes in the show. However, this time the season goes beyond his obsession and delves deeper into the couple’s neighbours such as the mom-fluencer Sherry Conrad (Shalita Grant), troubled teenager Theo (Dylan Arnold) and Marienne (Tati Gabrielle), a Parisian librarian with a checkered past of her own. Without the introduction of these characters the layers of toxicity and raw emotions of Love and Joe’s relationship would have become a bit dreary as their love language is tinged with violence.
In many ways Joe hasn’t changed at all. He still goes on his stalker prowl but this time around accompanied by his infant son in the car seat behind him. There are more flashbacks in this season which helps not only Joe but the audience as well in what exactly is driving him on his predatory behaviour. Penn, as usual totally owns his character and it’s difficult to take eyes off him in the series.
On the other hand, Love is a woman adrift herself. As her own idea of domestic bliss starts to crumble she realizes her own grasp slipping from the family she has already lost to the new one she has made with her perceived soulmate. She deftly slips from a doting wife, to nurturer to a jealous woman to a schemer and murderer we know her to be. Victoria’s gentle demeanor and impulsive fits of rage make her Love the most compelling character of the show. Despite, Penn’s impeccable screen presence Victoria’s performance is top-notch.
Creators Greg Berlanti and Sera Gamble expertly manage to weave magic for third time with You Season 3 and pull us deep into the world of Joe and Love fraught with hurt, revenge, power, social media and politics coupled with taking a dig at the society and the toxicity of seemingly harmless people. Although, the season does have a slow start, the makers definitely accelerate later to provide a deliciously unsettling ride. With You Season 4 already been greenlighted by Netflix, season 3 is definitely a must watch.
PeepingMoon.com gives You Season 3, 3.5 Moons.
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