Joe Goldberg Not Only Triggers all of Your Feels, but Also Your Fight or Flight Response

You, originally a Lifetime TV series, has captured the hearts and minds of 40 million Netflix subscribers and it doesn’t stop there…

Photo+via+The+New+York+Times

Photo via The New York Times

Joe Goldberg, played by Gossip Girl’s Penn Badgley, has confused millions of viewers on whether or not they should fall in love with him or call the cops on him.

  Based on Caroline Kepnes’ novel, “You”, this show follows Joe’s obsession with book customer, Guinevere Beck, portrayed by newcomer Elizabeth Lail. You allows viewers to follow Joe’s journey as he tries to win over Beck’s heart while stopping anyone who gets in his way, even if it means murder.

  Badgley took to Twitter to remind his fans not romanticize his character in any way. When one fan wrote, “Said this already but @PennBadgley is breaking my heart once again as Joe. What is it about him?” Badgley responded, “A: He is a murderer,”.

  The reason why so many fans are able to fall in love with this murderer is because the writers of this show portray him as a loveable rom-com character.

  Everything Joe does, including murder, is done in order to save Beck. He feels the need to prove to her how good of a boyfriend he could be if she would only give him the chance.  

  Joe starts to stalk Beck, taking clothes from her apartment and stealing her phone in order to keep tabs on her at all times. But to him, it’s not stalking, it’s true love.

  This cast not only features everyone’s favorite Gossip Girl, but also Shay Mitchell and John Stamos. Such an all-star cast was sure to promise a high viewer rate but the show was unable to meet its full potential while premiering on Lifetime.

  Lifetime promised You a second season in 2018 but fell short on its promise after it premiered on Sep. 9, 2018. Fortunately for us all, Netflix picked You up and insured us a second season.

  However, for those who have watched this show to completion, you might have conflicted feelings surrounding the ending.

***SPOILERS***

  Throughout the entirety of You, Joe Goldberg has tested the boundaries in reference to whether or not he’s boyfriend goals or the ideal criminal.

  At the end of Season 1, Beck finds Joe’s hidden stash of stolen items, including her ex-boyfriend’s finger.

  Instead of being smart and running away the first chance she got, Beck confronts Joe and ends up locked in his glass cage, the same glass cage which held Joe when he made mistakes as a young adult.

  Beck gets multiple chances to escape but falls short each time because the last thing on her mind is self-defense.

  After Beck stabs Joe with a typewriter key, she refuses to finish the job even though he had already kidnapped her and killed both her ex-boyfriend and her best friend. She locks him in the cage but leaves the keys in the door and then hits him in the head with a cleaver. Anyone else in that situation would have done anything to get out alive, even if it meant potentially killing someone.

  The creators of You rely too heavily on the image of a ditzy damsel in distress, they should realize fight or flight is a real reaction.

  The love story ends with Joe grabbing Beck as she tries to escape and pulling her back down to the basement. It’s important to note we never actually see him kill Beck.

 Joe is next seen hiding a body, however, no one knows whether or not it’s Ron’s or Beck’s. She might be alive next season or she might be 6 feet under.

  It was really strange to see Joe “kill” the love of his life after he had spent the entire season trying to convince her to fall in love with him.

  In no ways were they the perfect couple. The majority of the time they spent together on screen consisted of either one of them constantly apologizing to the other.

  Beck was not the right girl for Joe because when she wasn’t cheating on him, she was blaming him for everything wrong her life. In the same way, Joe couldn’t allow her to live her life. He claimed he had swooped in and cleaned up her life but Beck made a valid point, “It was my mess!”

  People need to be allowed to make their own mistakes in life no matter what the consequences are, no one needs a knight in shining armor to clean up their life… it’s their life to clean up.

  If you’re looking for a show that will confuse your moral compass while you slowly start to root for the villain… You is for you!