The time has come for the internet to once again weirdly romanticize a charismatic serial killer, this time in the form of You's Joe Goldberg.
Today (February 9) Netflix released part one of the crime thriller's fourth season - following season three's dramatic ending that resulted in Joe killing his murderous wife, cutting off his own toe, and blowing up the family home to stage a murder-suicide.
Fans of the series will recall that Joe dropped off his baby at the front door of his neighbors, almost reminiscent of that one scene from Harry Potter when Dumbledore leaves a baby Harry at the Dursleys' front door. Though, the main difference is that Harry's parents were not deranged serial killers with an obsession for blood.
Mere hours after the first few episodes premiered on Netflix, however, fans have already taken issue with certain aspects of the latest season.
As the first episode starts, it's revealed that Joe is now living in London and working as a literature professor at a university. Some of the first scenes show students in his class arguing over the meaning of redemption - not-so-subtle subtext there - and questioning why a super-woke Joe prefers to teach work from a more diverse range of authors, rather than the typical white male literary figures.
The episode strangely feels like a tourism ad for London, with Joe thoughtfully describing how he feels like he's "in a Hugh Grant movie" because of the neighborhood he lives in. He also evidently loves a good stroll, with his voice-over narrating his walk from the university in Shoreditch to his home in South Kensington.
One Londoner picked up on this, writing that there was no way he could have chosen to do this. "Watching the new season of #YouNetflix and 10 minutes in and I can't ignore the fact that there's no way this Joe guy walked from Shoreditch to South Kensington," they wrote.
For reference: the distance between Shoreditch (in the East End of London) and South Kensington (West of the city) is about 5.3 miles. With transport, it'll take you (give or take) about 40 mins to get from one to the other, while you could spend close to two hours walking.
Another scene in the first episode shows Joe joining his wealthy, upper-class, "royal adjacent" friend at a private, members-only club. Full of rich aristocrats and high-flying entrepreneurs, Joe feels a little out of his depth at the alcohol and drug-fuelled party. In one of the more sloppy parts of the dialogue, he is asked by a trio of inebriated women: "Why are you here?"
What do they mean? Here in London, or here at the party? Either way, when Joe doesn't respond, one of the women half-heartedly says: "Did you kill someone?", before making a joke about how her cousin had killed a homeless person, which could get her "canceled" if she did that these days.
Twitter also seemed to think the whole conversation was off. "'Did you kill someone?' WHO ASKS THAT OMG ???" someone tweeted.
In typical Joe fashion, he's already found another woman to creep on, who just happens to live across from him. In numerous scenes, he's shown standing at his window in broad daylight peering over at the woman in her apartment. Something this Twitter user said: "HOW DO THEY NOT SEE HIM SPYING HE'S LITERALLY STANDING AGAINST THE WINDOW W THE LIGHTS ON [sic]."
While part one has had a rather interesting start, fans are certainly hoping that part two (which is to be released in March) will have a little more depth.
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