A LOOK BACK ON THE RED FLAGS IN SEASON 2 OF 'YOU'
Guinevere Beck is dead, and Joe moves on. Life is unfair like that. Yet, Karma still comes for him, slithering right under his nose like a serpent. As proven in Season 1, Joe is clearly not the super sharp judge in character he thinks himself to be, especially in a city about which he knows frighteningly little. One might argue he never stood a chance. In fact, he meets his match. In the worst possible way.
Why can't Joe see people? Really see them. This is the underlying theme of Season 2. Underneath the charm and talent (or nontalent) are shallow, selfish, and people. Of course, we're all damaged one way or another, but He should know. He has been around it his entire life. His stalker obsession started with his mother. However, his abusive father and shallow exes pale in comparison to the Quinn family: wealthy, famous, privileged and a shocking level of psychotic. Not even Joe is prepared for it.
For once, Joe is not the more dangerous person in the room. He doesn't even make the top five. The Quinns, their friends, his neighbors... Everyone has their own special brand of damaged. Then again, broken attracts broken. Love's is the most deceptive one of all. She plays "perfect" very well even though the signs are there. With one husband already dead and her brother showing signs of strong codependency, Joe finds himself in over his head. In fact, he should know better.
He even marvels in one of his internal monologues how Love could be so 'perfect' in spite of her family. The short answer is that she is not. As stated in the Season 3 review (yes, I'm out of order), she's a narcissist and a master manipulator. That is how she reels in Joe. They're both liars about who they are.
TRUTH TELLERS SILENCED
FORTY – The failed writer.
Forty wears his damage on his sleeve. It's practically a badge of honor for him. While it makes him a social pariah, he is real. The world knows exactly what he is. He is an untalented addict. His biggest problem, apart from drugging people without their consent, is his inability to accept his lack of talent. He makes a fool of himself breaking into an industry that doesn’t want him. He doesn't have it.
“It is a combination of talent and work ethic." (Agent Tina, You)
He has none of either trait. He’s a bad writer. Yet, his army of flying monkeys, Joe and Love included, dilute him into thinking otherwise in order to coddle his feelings. It sends him down the wrong path, and he wastes his life away pursuing a life he will never have.
There is a far worse secret he and his family are hiding. It consumes him to the point of self-destruction. It’s why he can’t write or shake his addictions. Why would he want to stop the drink and drugs? It’s the only thing numbing the pain. His parents don’t respect him, and his sister coddles into an unhealthy codependent relationship. Deep down, he knows he’ll never be good enough. Nothing he accomplishes will ever be good enough. So, why bother?
Yet, what Forty lacks in talent, restraint, maturity, and worth ethic he makes up for in insight. Simply put, he knows his family. He knows his sister. He knows the secret. No matter how much Joe and the Quinns tiptoe around him, he sees everything. That would make him a really good writer if he would just focus. He’s a lot like Beck in that way.
Instead, he looks for cheap and easy ways to impress his parents. Enter Candace.
CANDACE – The risk-taking truth-sayer.
Candace is the luckiest of Joe’s targets. At least, she was. She survives his so-called love and gets away clean. New name. New life. Safe from him. He believes she’s dead and buried. All she needs to do to keep it that way is stay off the radar, but Joe is like a black hole. She just can’t stay away. Not because she is a stalker ex, as he claims. Oh no. That accusation is simple projection on his part. She feels a duty to her fellow woman to protect any more violence. It’s a very understandable compulsion.
Experience is life’s greatest teacher. She knows all about Joe’s dark side, and she’s the only one to live to tell the tale. Thus, she faces a choice. Does she remain in hiding and stay safe or risk her life for the truth? Surely, she understands the risk, and her methods are questionably amoral. In the end, we must ask ourselves if the risk is worth the results.
She is no writer, however. There’s no time to write. She’s in a rush for her justice, least Joe disappears on her again. So, she dives right in to speaking, sometimes shouting the truth. Unfortunately, that doesn’t work. Her emotions make her look hysterical, and she loses all credibility. Because of her rush, her plan fails, and she dies unheard. There are so many ways she could seek justice from a distance. If only she stayed away from him.
DELILAH - The real writer. Good for Joe.
Delilah has more tact than Candace. In fact, she is the only successful writer in this crazy hodgepodge of LA nutjobs. This apartment manager doubles as a gossip columnist. She's a strong, no-nonsense woman with a serious ax to grind, and she's the only person in Joe's life who can see people as they are. And she is courageous enough to share it with the world.
However, her choice of platform leaves her lacking. She writes mere gossip, even taking bribes to stay silent on certain scandals. While it is sad that she has a price, her two jobs are the only income she has to her name. Not to mention, she does have a sister to look after and protect. That’s the thing that truth tellers have in common: the need to look out for others like them.
She even tries to help out Joe with some of her good, old brutal and direct honesty. Alone and starving, he passes out on his apartment floor. She is there for him, while Love sits across from his apartment with a new boyfriend. Love doesn’t care about him in that moment.
It’s Delilah who picks him up off the floor, feeds him, and offers him some realistic advice. She’s a refreshing rarity in Joe’s world; a world full of of liars, manipulators, and failed dreams. She works hard and writes well. Her final published piece is her personal testimonial, and the world learns her truth. Sadly, she too perishes before truly experiencing the vindication of speaking her truth.
LOVE – The Great Liar, not a Writer
Love is the only target of Joe's obsessive eye that isn't a storyteller. She's different from the musician and writer. Perhaps, that was a subconscious choice. He's tired of the grueling work that comes with women who speak out for a living.
Writing and performing are designed to inspire a side audience, but Joe doesn’t like to share. Love's job him more directly, and cleanup doesn't seem to surpass the washing of dishes. He is so focused on reaping the tasty benefits of his new victim that he fails to consider the sinister implication of her work.
Love is not a truth teller. Even her name is a lie. Her parents name her after a feeling of which she is completely incapable. I don’t believe any narcissist or psychopath is capable of love.
The famous Quinn family coverups ruin people's lives. The closer her victims to her, the more she sucks away their potential. Thus, their purpose. It's all about display and presentation with her work and life. Joe sees perfection because it's what she wants him to see. Her life is a performance just for her, but that telescope of his can't pic up her true self. They are so alike. Too alike for their own good.
The theme of the season is manipulation, and writing aspirations merely scratches the surface. Love is the worst manipulator of all. As further explored in Season 3, she proves herself to be a psychopath and narcissist, more dangerous than Joe. However, Season 2 is her love bombing stage, and Joe doesn't see her true colors until it's too late. He finds himself shackled to a psychopath for the duration of Season 3.
It now appears as if she has returned. Let's watch Part 2 of Season 4 to find out.
