You 4.6-4.10: More than the Previous Seasons

Well, I entitled my review of the first half of You Season 4 on Netflix, "So Far, Less than the Previous Seasons," so, in all fairness I entitled this review of the second half of Season 4, "More than the Previous Seasons".   That is, more as in better.

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

Let's start with one part which was very well acted and executed, but a bit cliche, since Fight Club and everything that's come after.   Rhys is a manifestation of Joe's most evil side.  But Ed Speleers, whom I've now seen in Picard Season 3, is a first class actor, and he does a fine job bringing Joe's malign id (see Freud) to life.  Plus, it's refreshing to see Joe talk to himself, when that self is another person, rather than just talking to us, the audience.

And the rest was nonstop catapulting of the Joe Goldberg story into a another, higher level.  The season ends with Joe and Kate not only together, but fabulously rich, which of course will enable Joe to do all kinds of more damage in a subsequent season.  Love Quinn never lifted Joe to this level, and it will be fun to see where that goes.  I also have to say that, for some reason, Joe and Kate remind me of Harry and Meghan, and I mean that as a compliment, because I certainly don't think Harry is a killer.

The Nadia story was good, too, and, in general, I liked Joe as a professor.  If he ever applied for a job at Fordham University in the Communication and Media Studies Department, where I'm a Professor, I would definitely want to hire him -- of course, assuming that he wasn't also a psychotic killer.   The Marianne, Phoebe, and Tom Lockwood stories were ok, and served their purpose, even if none of those characters were as memorable as Kate and Ed Speleers's "Joe".

Last, the effervescent literacy that lifted all the seasons of You is back in fine form in Season 4.  My favorite line?  Actually, it's a phrase -- "analog book" -- an excellent retro alternative to printed or paper book.  Hats off to Michael Foley and Sera Gamble (the credited writers), assuming they were the ones who came up with this phrase.   And Penn Badgley for another great performance as Joe/Jonathan, and Charlotte Ritchie as Kate.

See also:  You: Review from an Unconflicted Fan ... You 2: Killer Charm ... Spoiler-Free Review for You 3 ... You 4.1-4.5: So Far, Less than the Previous Seasons

 

You 4.1.-4.5: So Far, Less than the Previous Seasons

So, I watched the first five episodes of the 4th season of You -- Netflix's new way of breaking the streaming of a series season into two parts, as they did with the final season of the superb Ozark earlier this year -- and well .... 

I thought this first part of the fourth season of You was ok at best, even lackluster in comparison to the earlier seasons, which were whip sharp and exciting.

Joe's in England, now masquerading as a literature professor, which of course he's very good at, given his past experiences in bookstores and libraries, and his easy way with speech.  He's trying to stay out of trouble, and resist getting involved with a woman he sees in the window, ala Hitchcock and lots of other stories.  Of course, he cannot resist her, and the only surprise in that is that it took so long.

[Some big spoilers ahead...]

Of much greater interest, and what could be the saving grace of this season in its second part, is Joe finding a dead body in what looks like an attempt to frame him for the murder.   Further, he finds a wall with all sorts of news clippings that relate to his escapades in previous seasons.   His wrongly guessing as to who could be this new culprit is mostly tedious.  Until ...

We get to the single best part of these first five episodes, when this nemesis is revealed as Rhys, played by Ed Speleers, who did a top-notch villainous job as Stephen Bonnet in Outlander.  So now at last we have a strong, charismatic, potentially lethal opponent for Joe:   Rhys (Ed Speleers) vs. Joe (Penn Badgley).  That's a fight I want to see.

I'm also looking for a little more development of Joe and his possible new true love Kate (Charlotte Ritchie).  As of the first five episodes, their relationship is short of what we saw of Joe and his previous incandescent relationships and their complexities in the previous seasons.

See also:  You: Review from an Unconflicted Fan ... You 2: Killer Charm ... Spoiler-Free Review for You 3