Netflix's You season 3 finally transforms Joe into an unlikeable character, something the thriller's prior two seasons' narratives unanimously failed to do. You season 3 has drawn immediate praise for its willingness to step outside of the city's familiar trappings, pitting the strangely affable serial killer Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) against a slew of fresh social challenges. Despite a unanimously positive critical consensus, You season 3 has still drawn detractors from some quarters, with a minority of audiences unhappy with the show for casting off Joe's antiheroic veneer that was a feature of You's prior seasons.
You season 3 sees newlyweds Joe and Love Quinn (Victorio Pedretti) attempt to navigate their new, seemingly idyllic suburban existence in the Californian suburb of Madre Linda as they attempt to build a better life for their newborn son Henry. However, it does not take long before Joe and Love fall back into old patterns of obsession, deception, and ultimately murder as they both vie for a sense of twisted supremacy within their relationship. You season 3's insistence on acting as a version of warped marital therapy casts neither parent of the newly formed Quinn-Goldberg family in a favorable light, with Joe, in particular, suffering from season 3's unremitting examination of the couple's psychopathy.
Yet You season 3 finally making Joe unlikeable is the correct move given the characters' overt proclivities for murder and stalking. You's third season finally challenges Joe's morality in a way the prior two seasons have not, forcing audiences to confront his habitually dark self-destructive issues. Shattering Joe's bizarre image as a likable killer also acts as catharsis for You's narrative, which up to this point had almost glorified Joe's ability to fix his relationship issues with violence.
The first two seasons of Netflix's You garnered lots of empathy and, strangely, adoration for Joe, who escapes the end of season 2 as something of an antihero as he saves Ellie and manages to forge a future for himself and Love. Joe's continued ability to wryly snatch victory from the jaws of defeat cemented his position as a likable character despite the heinous acts he commits across the first 2 seasons of You. Yet while Joe's fundamental flaws that make him a cold serial killer were initially veiled by a protagonist-centric plot and Badgley's undeniable charm in the role, You season 3 finally demands a closer examination of Joe's moral universe.
You season 3 grants Joe everything he has supposedly been looking for in life, a partner who "understands him completely," and a chance to start afresh from the harrowing events that took place in Los Angeles. It is galling, then, when Joe immediately attempts to discard his new life at every turn, whether for Natalie Engler (Michaela McManus) or Marienne Bellamy (Tati Gabrielle), all the while gaslighting the increasingly frayed Love. Joe's You season 3 refusal to attempt to fix his new marriage and instead blindly focus on his next obsession shines a long-overdue light on Joe's callous and selfish nature that has at last been drawn into focus.
The crux of the matter here is that had Joe worked as hard on adjusting to suburban life as he does undermining Love, he may have attained true happiness, a fact which surely turns even Joe's most ardent fans into detractors. Those mourning the loss of Joe as a relatable character, then, may do well to take an introspective look at why Joe presented as such as beckoning narrator in the first place given the continued bloodshed and heartbreak that follows in his wake. He may still be a compelling character, but You season 3 dedicates itself to making Joe the piece's villain - and that's a good thing.
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