The fourth season of the Netflix original “You” aired on February 9th, 2023. This was exciting news to fans of the show since the show’s last season came out in 2021. Throughout the show, Joe Goldberg is a man who finds himself obsessed with a new woman every season and attaches himself to her. He would do anything to be with her, including murdering an ex or her best friend! Penn Badgley, the actor who plays Joe Goldberg, says that he “[doesn’t] enjoy nearly everything about [Joe],” stating that he hates the character. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Badgley explains that Joe is not “actually a person who just needs somebody who loves him. He’s a murderer. He’s a sociopath. He’s abusive. He’s delusional. And he’s self-obsessed.”
That said, the first season was all about Guinevere Beck, a yoga instructor and Instagram famous woman who wishes to become a writer. Joe meets Beck in the bookstore that he works in, and she instantly catches his eye. After they meet, he starts to stalk her at her house, school, and job, and forces himself to talk to her. He would do anything to be with her, and he’s convinced that he’s destined to be with her. As Joe confidently states in the show, “I’m not a ‘maybe.’ I’m The One.”
In season two, Joe moves to Los Angeles after “breaking up” with Beck. Joe disguises himself with the name Will Bettelheim and is employed as a bookstore clerk… again. The bookstore is connected to a bakery and smoothie shop called “Anavrin,” which is “nirvana” backwards. The shop is owned by the extremely wealthy Dottie and Ray Quinn. The store is managed by their son, Forty Quinn, and the chef of the shop is Love Quinn, their daughter. Not surprisingly, Joe quickly finds himself infatuated with Love Quinn.
Conveniently for him, he lives in an apartment across the street from Love’s house, making her easier to stalk. As the story progresses through the romance between Joe and Love, secrets come to surface.
If you thought marriage was going to stop Joe from obsessing over random women–think again! During the third season, Love and Joe own a house in the suburbs and are struggling to keep their marriage together. Joe finds himself, once again, working for a bookstore in his small town. He finds himself now attached to his coworker, Marienne. He tries to hold himself back for his wife, but can’t help himself. The end of the third season and beginning of season four shows Joe running off to Paris to follow Marienne, but finds himself caught up in a murder mystery.
The second part of the season puts Joe’s search for Marienne on pause, because instead of being obsessed with a woman, he is invested in solving this mystery. Viewers can’t wait for the second part to come out, excited to see what hole Joe will dig himself in next.
