Introducing a kid into a sitcom or series has often been a sign of naked desperation – a gimmick to revive a show that’s gotten too static and needs a boost. In the third season of the deliciously good (or bad, but in a good way) YOU, the producers bring in a bambino, seemingly have relocated to Wisteria Lane, and have appropriated the sunny exteriors and dark humor of the dysfunctional families who lived there in Desperate Housewives. But they have pulled it off! If you stay with it, you’ll be rewarded with the usual body count and Penn Badgley’s hypnotic narration.
There are NO spoilers ahead. I recommend a quick refresher on the first two seasons, though.
Badgley is back as Joe Goldberg, the once upon a time New York Bookstore clerk with a strong intellect and a strong will to kill, if he feels it necessary. He’s also a hopeless romantic. Following the events at the end of season 2, he and his “soul mate” Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti) have re-located to Northern California to the worst kind of hell a true blue New Yorker could ever have to endure: a suburban town full of gossiping, nosey neighbors. The neighbors seem so perfect that one almost forgives their collective and insufferable superiority complex – ah, but there will be layers peeled away, of course.
Meantime, Joe is absolutely bored and miserable, and can’t help his usual stalker ways keeping him away from the hot lady next door. She’s right there for him to spy on from his window. His interaction with her will lead to falling dominos that continue to fall until the last episode.
Love has decided that she doesn’t want to be a desperate housewife. After all, she is a trained Chef and opening up her own little bakery near the town square seems like a good way to keep herself busy and maybe earn some money while Joe does the Mr. Mom thing. If anyone has underestimated her killer instincts beneath her domestic exterior, they will live to regret it…or not.
I really was worried at first because nothing is more boring than someone who is bored – and these characters are so bored. Once the series gets its rhythm, though, fans will find more of what they came for. Some will say the show is formulaic, and to that I say: “DUH!” Every show is formulaic – it’s the formula that we either love and become hooked on, or a formula that doesn’t grab us, and so we move along.
I’ll leave you with this bit of good news: YOU has already been renewed for a 4th season – so no matter what you think of season 3’s final episode, it’s not the last you’ll see of this series.
YOU seasons 1, 2 and 3 are currently streaming on Netflix.
