The Downfall of 'You'

[Music] whether you clicked on this video accidentally or intentionally there is a high chance that you've heard of a TV show produced by Netflix called you having already Four Seasons under its belt it has left quite a mark on popular culture show you which reached the Netflix top 10 in 94 countries last season and you may have landed on the latest Thriller that is creeping the country out that's right but it is quite interesting to think about the fact that actually it was rather really close to ending only after season 1 and before we dive any deeper let's discuss what the show is actually about and do a little [Music] summary so the TV show you based upon the book of the same name authored by Caroline kees follows a protagonist by the name of Joe Goldberg the whole premise relies on the fact that Joe has some stalker Tendencies to put it lightly and right from the first scene becomes obsessed with another person well hello there who are you the show then becomes an exploration of the concept of love as it is Twisted through the psyche of the titular character we begin to see the show and peeled the layers of Joe as he shows his true colors and commits reprehensible acts for the sake of love the whole premise and the way the show decides to portray it I think is quite unique just as the book is written from the second person point of view which is actually quite rare in literature the show also includes extensive monologue of our protagonist which are usually addressed towards his obsessions because this is where I had to be to meet you and provides an interesting win into the thought process of such a twisted person an interesting narrative a unique way of delivery and a charming cast it had all the makings of a certified hit but it has a bit of a complicated history to say the least can you believe this because this is a show that had a whole life on Lifetime now it's on Netflix and it's blown up the first inkings of you becoming a TV show came about back in 201 15 almost 8 years ago when on February 11th deadline published an article stating that Greg perante and Sarah gamble were developing a psychological Thriller you for the American TV network titled showtime and these news did not seem to generate any bigger media Buzz the comments underneath the article from that time itself were also not particularly enthusiastic as it was revealed in an article published by Hollywood Reporter back in 2019 the two Show run spent a year developing the show's pilot cycling through three different iterations only for the network to back out upon seeing the final script apparently the network wanted to go in a different direction and therefore they parted ways with the showrunners the two showrunners however did not lose out on Hope and continue to pitch it around to different networks and that was how as announced by deadline on January 2017 the show ended up on Lifetime the show was placed into FastTrack development and by April of the same year lifetime ordered an entire 10 episode season of the show in July of 2017 ahead of the series premiere lifetime went all out and announced a renewal with use lated to receive a season 2 but you see what was interesting about the show is that according to the showrunner brante the show sat in the can for an entire 2 and A2 years before it was eventually released and if you think that after a few years of tumultuous development the show then proceeded to live happily ever after and proceed Ed to sore to success you would be wrong after the show finished airing one of the showrunners Sarah gamble proceeded to promote the second season stating that the setting would shift from New York to LA following the events of the books and all seemed fine by that point but according to one of the showrunners the show simply didn't do well on network beran even went as far as to say that barely anyone watched it when it was airing on Lifetime the showrunner attempted to reason and make case for season 2 with the Network for them to allow the show to stay on air yet lifetime didn't budge and eventually announced that it decided to part waste with the show and after another Network shunned you all seemed ultimately lost perhaps the show simply wasn't good as the creators thought but seemingly a miracle happened the show which was previously watched by barely anyone was suddenly plucked out of obscurity and generating media buzz if you go into Google Trends and type in the keyword for you the TV show and select the period of The Last 5 Years you will notice that the show became a trending topic only around the latter part of December in 2018 which perfectly coincides with the show dropping its first season on Netflix on December 26th of 2018 yes Netflix came in and single-handedly saved the show it turned out that the binge format offered by the platform worked perfectly for the show enough so to ensure a second season and as they say the rest is now history with more eyes on you the reception to the show was considerably stronger the first season seemed to be a darling among critics and viewers alike with the approval rating being a 94% from critics which earned the show decertified fresh badge on the site and it had an 81% audience score as well the top Critics on Rotten Tomatoes dubbed it brilliant and having a sparking the cruel sense of of humor season 2 saw a similar reception having 87% approval rating from the critics and an 83% from the general audience season 3 was favored more by the critics than the last their approval rating standing at 83% yet this is where we begin seeing a bit of a crook reception of the audience had reached a new low for the show with a rating of 68% the newest season season 4 received an all-time high from critics with the approval rating of 95% and the lowest ever from the audience having an approval rating of 61% suddenly the critics are now calling it one of the hottest of televisual messes and begins stating that this is all still knowingly absurd and a very slickly done guilty pleasure the discourse had visibly shifted from it being brilliant to it being called a mess the audience reviews are however not as favorable or empathetic towards the season but you can take a look at these newest ratings and say that they are not as bad at its worst the show is rated as midling a 60% is not necessarily bad right 60% of the audience found it enjoyable for a show that had such an extensive Road of it being almost cancelled yet rising from the ashes into popularity it truly isn't that catastrophic yeah and surely a show that overcame so many hurdles at least had some Merit it is popular for a reason then you might ask and rightfully so why are we here to discuss the downfall of you absolutely love it but you do wonder you look back at season 1 and there's this guy in a Bookshop what the hell happened to [Music] him not unlike many other people around the world a couple of months ago I binged part two view season 4 and I walked away with an interesting feeling frustration I am aware that many other people already have had their go at the newest season with the perception being generally unfavorable in comparison with other seasons and I must admit I was also on the verge of putting out a similar review slamming the new season along with everyone else but I believe that this show out of all of them would benefit the most from a albe it delayed with a more in-depth look at what it is what it does how it does it and eventually what is its function and most importantly what does it do to you as a whole so to understand and make sense of the season in Fall we will also have to keep in mind what happened during previous seasons and see how everything operates in the grand scheme of things so this frustration I am speaking about was something that was actually always consistent throughout all of the seasons to varying degrees yet during this one it was perhaps the most palpable well you might ask why was I so irritated by the season this is where I would like to speak about repetition surprisingly here I am not exactly referring to the formula the show consistently uses we will discuss it later on of course but the major repetition comes from a bit of a different place and to understand this notion we have to keep in mind what happened during previous Seasons so for now I would like to rewind to season 2 so season 2 follows all of the steps of the formula established in season 1 we have the allegedly heartbroken Joe Goldberg encountering yet another woman and getting obsessed with her towards the end of the season it is revealed that she's actually a killer too but I wouldn't say that it was hard to deduce or predict the season points out to the viewer that Joe will have to face himself Candace says so here I'm going to show you who you really are and when you see it you'll beg me to turn you in and the whole season thematically was about Joe facing himself Candice too was an extension of that as she was the manifestation of the crimes he had committed in the past Candice follows him and doesn't allow Joe to live easily having escaped his murders and while Candice is a contributing factor to this theme she wasn't the ultimate manifestation of Joe facing himself love was as love herself points out you didn't break me you opened your heart to me we're soulmates Joe and even Joe himself points out that love is him facing well himself Candace said I'd face myself maybe this is it facing you now I would like you to imagine this TV show a sort of a toolbox it has the main protagonist Joe who is the only constant throughout the seasons he is the protagonist yet all of the other characters they are disposable and interchangeable none of them are constant in this TV show but even if they do not have the same longevity as Joe has physically they are still there to serve a purpose or two in his overall character Arc they are tools to steer in the direction that the writers of this TV show want him to go whether physically or emotionally love was very clearly designed to be a mirror to Joe to make Joe see himself for who he is we of course as viewers already hear his opinion of Love at the end of season 2 as well as throughout the third season as his internal monologue States this for her I'd marry the monster her mother we hear him say that this is his punishment to live with love with someone who he perceives as having done terrible things a monster and this sets up the whole Arc of season 3 we see love and Joe commit some questionable choices and we see Joe consistently trash love for the very same things that he used to do of course he pretends to be above that stuff because as he says he is a good man what I am getting at here is that love is a tool as well a tool to reflect all of the nastiness that Joe is capable of back at him and she's there to display how he would react again the second season was very blatant with establishing them as the same Joe isn't only commenting on Love's actions but his own he isn't only trashing love but himself so what does season 3 eventually say about Joe St on himself well he considers the reflection to be so awful that he ends up running away again the end of season 3 makes a point to remind the viewers that we're perfect for each other because yes they are perfect for each other because they do match in their level of crazy and now all of this setup brings us to season 4 thematically season 4 is quite blatant in what it wants to consider and try to say throughout the episodes there are multiple Illusions to such concepts of redemption he's not exactly a guy who get into heaven so he's got to find a path to Redemption but you see to redeem oneself one has to accept who he is that is not that hard of a math to do it is certainly an interesting direction for the show to take because we as the audience have already seen the show try to reflect Joe back at himself we already received our answer to whether or not he accepts himself he doesn't he would rather run away from it all yet with the whole concept in mind for season 4 it is very clear what they are trying to do with this setup they have no other option than to repeat the story arcs of season 2 and three and the similarity starts from the very first episode season 4 Just Like season 2 starts with an identity change for Joe season 2 it was Willam bleheim and season 4 sees him assume the identity of Jonathan Moore we then have the mysterious app appear evess I know this app it's one of those high security chat apps that erases everything you say hello you who is this which essentially fills in the same function that Candace had she provided attention of Joe being threatened to be exposed here the text tell Joe that someone is after him and will expose him the person texting Joe similar to Candice is also framed as crazy up until around the midpoint of the season the parallels between the texture and Candace Prevail as the function to feed the tension of the plot and to haunt him of his past crimes episode 5 however is where the functionality of this character switches from being a Candice to being a love episode 5 is where it is revealed that the person texting him is actually Reese someone who is by that point portrayed as similar to Joe that is through a shared life backstory and also through the shared level of crazy again the show draws parallels and hammers home that Ree and Joe are basically the same fellow man with a childhood then I see the true childhood pleasure to meet you brother and arms just like they did with love so it isn't that much of a stretched to say that the character of Reese is there to serve the same functionality as love to hold a mirror to Joe and his actions and Joe's reaction to Reese's actions is very much the same as it was with love you stand with a foot in both worlds the working class and the aristocracy and none of them suspect the reality that you're a monster hiding in plain sight he is repulsed and that is actually consistent with his character Joe always has been the spokesperson of hypocrisy but a big deviation within the this repeated Arc comes in the main twist The Twist here is that ree is actually Joe he is an alter personality of Joe so whatever actions the imaginary Reese has committed Joe has as well and that is a difficult situation for Joe to run away from so he does end up somewhat recognizing what he has done finally at last still if we boil down the arcs of these past three seasons they are basically the same of course the said dressings might not be the same but to its very core season 4 is just a speedrun of seasons 2 and three and this is where the show commits one of the Cardinal mistakes that writers usually tend to avoid at all costs it repeats itself the outcomes are different and it tries to say different things about Joe yet the story lines are practically the same but with altered circumstances if you come towards this issue from the perspective of it being repetitive this season makes the whole ordeal with love merely a side quest as its effects are primarily wiped away and overwritten by what happens in season 4 and another way the show tends to repeat itself is through ending if you haven't noticed seasons 2 and four basically leave Joe at the same place first it was love who accepted him for who he is and provided him an easy way out of his problems by giving him a way to reclaim his name and become Joe Goldberg again then it was Kate who accepted him for who he is and provided him an easy way out of his problems by giving him a way to reclaim his name and become Joe Goldberg again thus reinforcing the whole idea that season's 2 and three were really just side quests obviously the two situations are not entirely identical there are are slight deviations here and there such as Joe's attitude to himself as well as skate not being the youu of the season and not serving the same function as love or re dead yet still what I am trying to enforce here is that an arc is being repeated and the show is threading the same ground it can be a bit frustrating to see this maneuver being repeated by the Riders and it can feel like the show might be spinning its wheels just a bit but for what reason would the show repeat the same storyline let's stable this question for a bit later another source of frustration that season can bring is the show's troubled relationship with well Justice what the show rarely displays is well any consequences for the actions committed by Joe the show in order to advance its plot and almost to the point of absurdity allows Joe to get away with a lot Joe simply gets handed insane plot armor that he so proudly wears during the first season it was somewhat forgivable I mean it was the first outing of Joe Goldberg and by the end of season 1 you could forgive the show for not having him in jail immediately since the show did have the time to do that in for example season 2 then season 2 comes around and we get the same story Joe getting away with insane amount of crimes you watch the season and once again you wish that Joe gets put to Justice the season toys with that idea teasing the audience that the crimes Joe committed might finally catch up to him and as discussed previously that was done through Candace as well as fory who puts everything together right at the end again the audience doesn't see that happen Joe gets handed an even thicker set of plot armor and his crimes are magically handwaved Again by quote unquote the Quinn machine and you think okay I'll bite sure he got away with it quite easily I mean to accidentally meet someone who would be down with his skillings and match is crazy as well as get exonerated because the woman you sleep with happens to be ultra rich is lucky but it ain't that big of a stretch I guess maybe they will finally hand him the sweet slap of justice that he needs during the next outing and you know the season 3 comes along things are going somewhat nice for our homeboy Joe he has a nice house he has a child he has a wife he's living his new life in relative peace of course that is until bottom line in the right hands this place could be a raging success so what do you think and here you would expect his little life to go to complete shambles and him finally getting busted again this season as the two seasons before toys with the idea of Joe potentially getting busted with Matthew and Theo sussing them out but that gets blamed on someone else again Joe pulls the same maneuver as he did back in season 1 he writes some fanfiction and everyone seems to conveniently buy it and this is when you come around to thinking the next season has to be the last right just how many times can he realistically get away with it but season 4 it's a bit quirky it gives you the good old F you and delivers none of the justice that the audience would expect it is not to say that the show Absolutely has to deliver justice but after all of this while some form of consequence has to happen right season 4 Once Again does the same thing as the previous seasons did it hands Joe even thicker plot armor than before and teases the audience with Joe potentially getting caught first through the stalker and then through the other stalker then through NAD then through Kate's dad but again none of that happens you wish and this is where the frustration kicks in as the show goes on and on it becomes more and more unrealistic that Joe simply gets away with it all it is no secret that the show relies on suspension of disbelief but the show simply abuses it at this point but all of this all of the frustration repetition and qualms with Justice the show has can be probably looked at differently if only we switch our perspective [Music] this show I believe is far more cognizant of what it attempts to portray than some other shows this can be seen from the discussion put forward by the creators behind the show cuz we're not a documentary and we're not making this for doctors to help them do their jobs we're telling a story of one character and so I like that it makes him a little bit harder to quantify by those very specific standards we like to use can you guys explain though why why we are all rooting for Joe we have been programmed from from very young age by almost every film and television show we've ever seen usually they star someone who looks a lot like pen where they cross lines they chase you through airports they stand outside your window holding a boom box after you've said no mean she means yes she's just being koi right so we forgive men easily especially ones that are acting from a place of emotion romance and trying to be a good guy that comes attached with the subject matter after all they have a serial killer as a protagonist they the Riders and the showrunners simply have to be aware of the responsibility that the show carries with the rise of media surrounding serial killers and the strange reaction some people have to it such as glamorizing the killers and putting them on a pedestal the show threads an interesting line they have to have a protagonist likable enough for the show to be watchable but you also need to ensure that Joe Goldberg doesn't become an idol to some therefore it is not that bold to assume that a narrative choices portrayed in the show probably receive far more consideration than it would anywhere else so with that Foundation of logic set up perhaps frustration that viewers may feel is not frustration at all maybe it is intentional maybe it can be called tension tension in fiction is quite a powerful tool it is what keeps the viewers engaged and what makes people sit at the edge of their seats and with a protagonist such as Joe gold ber there is plenty of tension to be created by the same token you can say that repetition might also not be repetition in a bad sense repetition can also have another name pattern as we have previously discussed you can view the show as constructed to facilitate Joe Goldberg as a character other characters suddenly become tools and the setting becomes a playground to play with Joe and explore his psyche if you look at the character Arc Joe has had during the seasons you can see that he as a character usually operates on the same methods take theu of each season for example we see him repeatedly fall in love or whatever that means to Joe Joe builds up a specific image of his obsession in his mind and whenever that person falls out of that ideal idea that Joe has in his mind they end up killed this is very clearly a pattern that Joe has you can also notice that with his other killings how he keeps consistently telling himself that it absolutely had to be this way how he keeps justifying himself in as many ways as he can he's also repeatedly a hypocrite you can see how he regards love even though he himself has done far worse things this goes for other characters as well Joe is easily the worst in every room he enters yet he finds ways to put others down in his mind he conducts Olympic levels of mental gymnastics constantly and consistently this is precisely why the plot structure of every season of you is so fascinating it is somewhat formulaic yes and it has elements that are consistent throughout the seasons but that could be seen as suitable for a show like this because The Narrative of the show itself also displays a pattern Perhaps it is a larger metaphor for how Joe himself operates of course going from season to season the new setting and new characters are not exactly carbing copies they do try to introduce variations to the formula to spice up the show but every season still feels stylistically as a part of a larger hole but even if the changes are in introduced the one constant Still Remains Joe and through this prism of patterns instead of repetitions perhaps The Narrative choice to have somewhat of a repeated Arc and endings in seasons 2 and 4 also had a higher purpose if you inspect these endings closely you can see that well they are kind of the same season 2 ending sees Joe accept himself for who he is he is ready for his punishment and is ready to repent in his own Twisted Way season 4 ending also sees Joe accept him for who he is he is ready for his punishment and is ready to repent the way these epiphanies come about are of course not the same yet still they are the same conclusions that Joe comes to and what these endings also share are their outcomes you see in both cases he says that he recognizes himself for who he is and in both instances he is given a blank slate by a rich white woman who happens to like him in both of these instances even when he is handed a second chance to stop doing the stuff that he usually does he still returns to his usual patterns we still end up with with the same old Joe doing the same old things again that is very clearly a pattern the only variation here is how Joe approaches it the actions are still very much the same only the thought process changes through approaching the narrative choices of you in this particular way you could interpret to show us trying to hammer in home just how unchanging Joe is no matter the circumstances and no matter the background he's placed in and perhaps the weird relationship with Justice the show has is also there to portray Injustice [Music] [Applause] here we have a Charming protagonist who manages to weasle his way out of practically everything part of it comes down to his own wits as he is quite skilled in manipulation and say what you will Joe is by no means stupid he knows what he is doing and exactly how he is doing it part of it comes down to other people's ineffectiveness or ignorance and part of it comes down to pure luck to some extent that mixture of circumstances can be seen in real life horrible people get away with horrible things all the time you can't interpret the show as trying to display that how the world is not always just despite the crimes being at times so obvious and open this is The Balancing Act the show is trying to achieve this is how it is threading the line you see you can make these interpretations in order to justify some choices that the show commits to and if that is indeed the show's Creator's intention with the show kudos to them these Concepts can be extremely suitable to get the message across that they are presumably trying to portray yet you see there is there is only one thing that separates frustration and narrative tension repetition and pattern failed depiction of Justice or a successful depiction of Injustice whatever the intention of the rider speculated or not might be is relevant it became irrelevant as soon as this TV show left the rider's room in this case my insights and my justification only holds up if there is one singular element that is fulfilled that is the element of quality if you want to be artistic with your show great good on you but in order to portray that Vision to bring it to fruition you have to make the journey worthwhile for the past three seasons I would say the show did a decent job of bringing its viewers along within the Twisted world of Joe Goldberg sure by the end of season 3 the cracks were showing but they truly thought that the show could continue its highquality riding and still experience more highs than lows yet season 4 proved to be my breaking point this is where officially I began to doubt the whole vision of the Riders because season 4 so far is the worst one of the [Music] show if you have watched my channel for a while you will know that I love myself a good mystery and let me tell you I was stoked to see you season 4 I mean I I had been a fan of the show ever since season 1 and combining my favorite show with my favorite genre well sign me up one of the best episodes of you was the one where they had a little mystery Ando investigating the writers were capable of it that's for sure which gave me all the more confidence in the show to do this right but I regret to inform you that I was wrong you see my visceral reaction was pure disappointment at first I thought I was probably looking into things too much and overthinking since people were praising the twist all over the fandom but actually no the season 4 mystery simply does not work and I am tired of pretending otherwise let me tell you the mystery didn't work either when the first part dropped nor when the second did so to deconstruct and figure out what exactly was done wrong the first step would be to break down what happened during the season let's begin with episodes 1 through five the season kicks off with our homeboy Joe in London he calls it his great European holiday I desperately needed cool sick great he threw some nice plot conveniences manages to weasle his way into the upper Circles of London Society he meets plenty of people there all of which he practically immediately dislikes so he parties with the rich people and wakes up to a corpse in his apartment belonging to a rich dude named Malcolm and that freaks Joe out and likee a normal person that he is he uses his skill set to dispose the body and clean up the mess and to log Joe into this mystery permanently the plot makes it so that Joseph begins receiving these weird messages on some completely random Ultra secretive app the messenger then stalks Joe who obviously has a lot to hide and threatens to figure out who Joe actually is the news of Malcolm's death become public and thus the killer gains the moniker of Eat the Rich killer thus Begins the investigative journey of our very own Joe Goldberg Joe becomes our quirky detective and his quirky personality trait is that he hates who done it but is trapped in one great jodan figures out that Malcolm was hated by basically everyone he then goes around the cast of characters and hops around from one character to the next making insane conjectures and repeatedly saying this person could have killed this person because they were mean to me or someone else a couple of times but you needed to worry because our detective dismisses his Suspects on equally baseless grounds not ever let that knows he come rag near your private business what do you mean well I mean I'll be wildly British about it but he will shake you down if you killed Malcolm over blackmail why are you warning me that he might blackmail Me Maybe it's not Adam and I'm back to Nowhere Joseph have you ever heard of acting pretending or should I call you will or Jonathan more people become unived as the story progresses Simon Su goes kaput Jimmy Jemma she goes kaput too he then begins getting accused of being a killer he continues on being a shitty Sherlock and plays hot potato with his conjectures until the show reveals to us that actually the killer was a dude named reys Monro okay so let's discuss this who done it okay so a who done it as a narrative hinges on the fact that we have our little detective of the story go on and investigative journey to find out as the name suggests who done it and we do get to see that aspect of the Nar to Within These five episodes we do have Joe going around and trying to find out who offed Malcolm and others of course the way they do it is extremely questionable but The Narrative of season 4 is a bit more complicated than that you see the reason why Joe is even involved in the shitfest is because he has a suspicion that one of those people framed him for a murder he becomes invested in this whole deal because he needs to weasel his ass out of there alive and intact so here's the thing why in the ever loving frig would Joe suspect any of those people I get that he would suspect them because well they were in Malcolm's closed Circle in that sense it kind of does make sense why they would be the first ones on The Chopping Block but honestly why would he even suspect them of framing him you mean to tell me that someone out of all of them according to Joseph decided to kill Malcolm saw him at a fancy club and on that first sight decided that hey he's the perfect suspect then the person would try to grab his phone install some stupid plot convenient app then would follow both Joe and Malcolm home browse through the kitchen to find a knife and then would stab Malcolm and leave him on the table and the show wants you to assume that all of this happened during the same night same few hours in the evening the entire scene right before is literally just him introducing himself because he doesn't know any of them and spoilers they do not know him either zero knowledge except for the fact that he is a professor and allegedly poor not to mention the fact that Joe would make a really bad killer from their eyes he has zero attachment to the group especially to Malcolm who he actually actively avoids because of as a man named Moody used to say not my circus not my monkeys he has no motive whatsoever besides the whole he is poor and wants their cash Spiel the show tries to sell over and over again and the show also wants you to think that he suspects them because of some stupid app that got conveniently installed on his phone but here is another thing why did the supposed killer even even installed the app one of the first messages the supposed stalker sends is this you surprised me handling Malcolm like [Music] that here I thought when I left him on your table you'd go down from my sins so tell me now why on Earth would you even install the app in the first place if you expected him to get busted what you wanted to text him while he was in some prison and you can apply some mental gymnastics here and say that our Joey is just the enough and is a massive narcissist who could believe that a bunch of rich people would be obsessed with a practically nobody to them sure but we will get to the hand waving this season does later on but let's talk about how bad Joe is at investigating so his whole investigative process boils down to everyone is bad because they are rich I mean sure he's not exactly wrong the Show puts in a lot of effort to display that most of these people are horrible but he comes to that conclusion literally without even properly investigating them of course that speaks to his biases against people like that which would be cool but that kind of flies directly into the face of the whole Narrative of even having a detective Joseph is an extremely and I mean an extremely unreliable narrator you cannot trust him at all yet the show thrusts him into the shoes of being a detective but honestly the whole idea of having an unreliable detective in the first place sounds so weird and even besides that the people who accuse him when they are on their little h holid in the countryside they have just a tinsy tiny bit more basis to blame him more than he does them I mean they have a fraking point Jonathan shows up and two people are dead sure it's a weak ass Theory but it certainly is better than whatever Joe comes up with Okay so let's talk about the first reveal and yes I mean the first reveal of the killer because apparently that wasn't enough so as I have said the killer was revealed to be re montos and you see usually in mystery The Narrative usually builds up to a reveal of the person we are trying to find out that reveal conventionally comes about because a detective in a TV show or a movie is gathering evidence and that evidence leads to a suspect and this is usually what makes the mystery rewarding it's the process that you undergo to find out the suspect and throughout this process you either get your suspicions confirmed or shot down all of narratives as per rule have to meet a satisfying end and the end has to make the journey worthwhile but you season 4 is not like other who done it in this sense so as the episodes went on the show tried to establish more personal motives for the killings which I think is a good direction to take it in something personal is meteor it's more substantial makes for better storytelling but the motive that re has is well that of a 14-year-old emo teenager you see he did the killings because he is a good man in a cruel world he says he killed them because they were horrible people who did horrible things which I mean is nice up to a certain extent yet this generalization of Reese's motive detaches ree from the mystery on a personal level as he is presented he doesn't seem to care about any of these people personally by his logic he could have offed anyone he wanted which is a weird turn inonet because this makes it so that there are practically no substantial leads for Joe to grasp on as these killings are not really personal but General anyone realistically could have had that motive hidden somewhere deep down if the riters desire them to do so this results in the fact that all of the investigative work that Joe did well it did not in any way help him at all that entire investigation it wasn't what brought Joe to his Revelation that Rees is the one who did it and that is because Reese took the plot into his own hands and decided to just literally come out of the Woodworks and reveal himself to the audience and do you know what that means actually that the whole investigation conducted by Joe is filler the outcome of this mystery this reveal didn't even happen because of his detective skills the journey in any way did not influence the result here it happened because the plot wanted it to happen it was the midpoint of the three act structure so of course they had to pull out a Twist but until this twist reveal came they had to keep Joe busy to facilitate entire five episodes of plot yet this mystery isn't completely over what we got at the end of episode five was the show establishing itself a clear-cut villain but the plot was far from over now we may break down what happened once part two dropped and go through the remainder of this mystery that unfolded in episodes 6 to 10 so being the upstanding citizen of society that Joe is he decides that he will personally put an end to Reese reys as it turns out is now running for mayor of London and will be pushing his agenda onto the entire city of London and Joe must put an end to that through his usual shenanigan he stalks Rees and tries to find out as much info about him as possible in episode 6 we also have a whole little side quest of the creepy stalker woman stalking Phoebe and jodan Frames her for being Eat the Rich killer that is rather obvious foreshadowing to something else that's coming any who Reese becomes more diabolical and it turns out that he has imprisoned maranne denjo has a personal stake in offing reese so from Kate's dad he finds out the whereabouts of Reese and goes to his house he threw some admittedly unsavory methods tries to coax out the information on where maranne is hidden and once re reveals he doesn't know anything Joe gets mad and then he begins choking reys and then reys passes away or so you think so let's talk about the twist so it was all Joe yep Joe did it I will admit for the first time when I saw the twist I kind of liked it my visceral reaction to the twist itself was positive but then as I thought and thought about it the more on the fence I felt it's partly why you're getting this video entire months after season 4 concluded because I tried to analyze it as deeply as I can in order to understand what was wrong with this whole situation I just didn't want to come in here and say that this is bad without giving a proper explanation so after giving this an insane amount of thought and consideration this is why the twist does not work as much as the show thinks it does for a second I want to refer to Ronald knox's Ten Commandments of detective fiction as many sources point out by today standards some of these are a bit outdated some of them I would argue are still relevant the Commandments have such notle ideas as not having a twin reveal without introducing both the twins first or not having the main detective be too Lucky in the investigation this particular commandment is already broken by Joe as he is well extremely lucky but in the case of the mystery this is not even a primary concern here there is another little ensy tiny stipulation in there that at its score the show was always and I mean always bound to go against that is the rule that says the detective must not themselves commit the crime now you see there is a part where it all makes sense that Joe is the killer it's that for a show like this they really can't have any other villain which is precisely why a who done it like the one they attempted to pull off can work only under very specific circumstances because you can somewhat predict how this mystery would unfold simply through some deductions in logic and narrative choices so imagine there was a scenario actually where there was a bigger fish someone who could have been chasing Joe down now that could have resulted in two options either Joe finds the Killer and eliminates them which actually is not likely to happen because the show simply cannot risk giving him not even em modicum of redeemability so deep down the road if he did Kill the killer he by the audience could be seen as a bit of a hero that would go against pretty much everything that the show has established thus far the writers would probably never allow for Joe to actually be a hero like that the other outcome would be if Joe was killed by the killer that might have been interesting but you can actually rule that out because well they want to let the show run for more than four seasons it's common knowledge so already these two outcomes are not exactly highly probable so there is only one option left only for Joe to be the villain Joe is our protagonist sure but truly he is the ultimate villain you cannot really have anyone more evil than him because that would potentially portray Joe's actions as lesser in comparison so of course the show cannot have that that is not to say that the show doesn't ever have more reprehensible people it does Tom Lockwood would certainly fall into that category but we haven't seen much of what he actually does to feel much emotion behind his deeds unlike Joe we know Tom is an awful dude but we still would probably see Joe as far worse since we actually were there for his crimes yes from this point of view it makes complete sense for Joe to be the ultimate Paddy all along that I would argue is absolutely how it should be but this fact alone is also one of the reasons why this whole aspect of who done it simply does not work because it all boils down to the fact that Joe was just creating the problems himself and gaslighting himself into trying to solve it he was actually running in a circle and chasing his own tail this entire time if you put it like that they reveal that the show did sounds really underwhelming this is why that commandment exists another reason to dislike this twist is the way it Rec contextualizes the entire season because this whole mystery and these reveals they make the whole season Joe's dream literally it was just a dream but there is yet another layer to this whole equation that makes the whole mystery aspect just a bit more unbearable allow us to discuss pretentiousness there is always a fine line between being deliciously clever and being horribly pretentious season 4 believes that they are being clever while that is actually not the case you see the Mystery Begins and the show tries to be meta by referencing various tropes found in murder mystery stories but I just I need to understand how these work well at the tropes I can tell you and they are generally attempting to be self-aware in the genre they're playing which would be fine if they actually deliver the proper well-written mystery listen it is great that you are aware of the genre you read up about it you did your homework good on you but when you make such choices as making the detective of the mystery be an unreliable narrator who is actually the killer well there is subversion of tropes and bending of genre and then there is just brain dead decision- making posing a subversion this is not the first time the show dips its toes into the territory of a mystery for this I would like to revisit episode 9 of season 2 fittingly called Pi Joe in hindsight this episode is actually an interesting foreshadowing to how the show would go on and deal with the mystery in season 4 the plot relies on the fact that Joseph had taken some substances and woke up not remembering what happened the night before and he ends up finding theila dead a small self-contained murder mystery you see what I liked about it in particular is that first and foremost Joe suspected himself as the culprit and was always working through the episode to either prove that he did murder Delila or he didn't that was the thesis and then he worked methodically to find out if he actually did The Killing he of course comes to the wrong conclusion that he did kill her but this later is disproven When Love confesses here just like in season 4 the culprit just comes out and says it there isn't really a lot of clues for it per se but her reveal served as a bigger one for the entire season not just this mystery so you can forgive it somewhat the show didn't rely on this as its Central plot they had Joe do other things rather than run in a circle so you see what is funny is that in season 4 they have to first invent a reason for all of us to think that Joe may not be the killer then act all Snappy about the whole genre of who done it and murder mystery only to then reveal that he was actually the killer all along in every sense of the word the whole premise that this season hinges on the whole mystery it is a huge stretch they make these insane leaps to try and make it work but as we can see by the final product no one actually stopped and considered whether or not they should do this I would say that supp they tried to achieve this season is simply not even compatible with the very DNA of the show so with a deficient mystery under its belt perhaps the show has something else to redeem it well about that the TV show you from season to season seon doesn't only change its setting but also change the characters that surround Joe previous Seasons all included quite interesting characters that had at least something to bring to the table both regarding Joe himself as well as on their own and the previous Seasons always introduced an interesting Dynamic the first season was relatively down to earth with its characters season two saw Joe getting slowly embroiled into the higher Circles of Los Angeles and season 3 saw him live in a Suburbia filled with rich people I see season 4 as somewhat of a blend between season one and three Joe returns to being down to earth while the people around him are rich this on paper is an interesting direction to take the character in and a good Dynamic to explore and the aristocracy of England really feels like the final boss of rich people but I feel as though this season did not deliver on that front quite uncharacteristically so to generalize the quals I have with the character riding this time around well I can say that I like the concepts of the characters the aristocracy is such a good Evolution for the show but I like the execution and delivery so what we will do now is take a look at these characters and go through them in order of importance and our first stop [Music] is in season 4 most of the side characters have two purposes either they become Jee father or they become said dressing and you cannot really blame the show for having many characters since well the main character is a serial killer and he certainly needs his targets and this time around most of the characters that died at the hands of Joe had the character that of is Sho string the list of such targets include Malcolm Simon Gemma the real Reese and also that security guard I wish I could somehow analyze their characters but there really was nothing to them and all of them were fleshed out to the extent to only tell the viewer that they are rich and they are bad the characters that constitute s dressing are Sophie blessing and Connie Connie does have a bit of character development but he doesn't serve that much of a purpose he is just kind of there to further the idea that rich people are unhinged and practically all of these characters are all rich and they are mean and they exploit other people that's about it now we can move on to characters that actually feel a bit more like characters let's talk about I dedicated an entire section in the script just for him only to say that R is literally Peach from season 1 you have the Casual stalking and taking sexual pictures you have both of of them trying to pull Beck and Kate away from Joe and convince them to come and live with them listen I am all for recycling I love recycling but not when it comes to writing and while he has all of this additional development if it can be called that his personality is basically like everyone else's he is Rich and he is an ass he throws Jabs at Joe from time to time I guess he shows he cares about Kate and that is his core personality trait and next we can move on to So Adam Pratt is a fellow American expat that exists within this cast of characters he is the boyfriend of Lady Phoebe now here is a bit of a hot take I think Adam might be written one of the best now here is why you see for a few moments he had me somewhat convinced that he actually loves Phoebe I mean that might have been the case but what I like about his character is that the show kept dangling the idea that Adam wasn't doing well financially and that he wanted to marry Phoebe because he wanted to solve problems of course as the show progresses and we find out later on Adam is not a great dude but at least for the first few episodes the vibe of him actually loving her was kind of there what I would have preferred to happen was for him to actually be in love with her yet trapped in this situation of him having to marry her also out of necessity I believe it could have made for an interesting conflict of him perhaps thinking then it would have been wrong to marry her and eventually choosing not to marry her because he knows that perhaps deep down he is simply marrying her for personal gain of course this is only my fan fiction because the latter part of the Season then throws away any new on and the faults to Adam just straight up being awful which I mean is not entirely inconsistent but I thought it was at T to cliche with that being said I still think he might be one of the better written characters this time around because he makes sense and he is consistent the same cannot be said about the rest let's talk about Adam's fiance the whole concept of her character I love it so basically Phoebe has been brought up in the public eye as it is explained by Joe himself lady Phoebe skat's most famous friend toxically aristocratic quintessentially blonde every blunder in bikini wax documented by the Tabloid since she was 15 years old she is a public darling as it is consistently pointed out throughout the show and it is easy to see why that is despite being brought up in that environment Phoebe still grew up to be a sensitive person who does not exactly hide her emotions and that is an interesting J supposition considering that she is probably the most well-known out of the entire cast of characters yet she seems the nicest and most down to earth that obviously makes her endearing but with that comes a more naive side to her character she wears her heart on her sleeve therefore she's more open to being manipulated by others and this is where Adam comes in up until episode 5 we see Adam scheming behind her back and seeing her as his out of jail card in episode 6 her stalker of all people tells her about the real nature of Adam's interest in her Adam is not the man you think he is meaning what he's broke he's using you as a meal ticket no Dawn that's not true no he's behind on all his leases it's all the stuff are talking about but people are walking out cuz they don't think he's going to pay them and you know what they like from the situation is that Phoebe comes to this realization I have been incredibly kind in the past to so many dear little lambs who were in actuality cruel wolves that's not me I want someone who loves me really truly loves me I really really loved that she actually stood up for herself but what I didn't like was that the very next episode all of that is flushed away and Phoebe returns to her emotional vulner able self now to me it is not entirely consistent they cite her being paranoid as being the culprit behind her beginning to use medication and becoming more exposed which between the Eat the Rich killer and the stalker that kidnapped her makes sense but then conveniently for the plot Adam shows up back in her life and Kate allows for Adam to get to Phoebe again and she relapses into the toxic relationship then Adam proceeds to drug her and manipulate her into a rushed wedding but then Phoebe begins having the same revelation of the love not being there all over again which results in her getting herself away from Adam once more so basically we have two repeats of the same Arc for Phoebe during the same season and you might argue that this is realistic and it kind of is actually and you may also argue that the second time around the circumstances were different but you see the way it all occurs is quite interesting because this breakup it actually occurs after the stalker and the murders happening all around Phoebe and the way she breaks up and the way it is portrayed is her finding the power within herself and breaking off the relationship with real conviction this portrayal is what ultimately ruins the whole character Arc of Phoebe because what would have made sense is either have her not being trusting of the people who are telling her that Adam is bad have her come to Adam on the engagement picnic prepared to actually break it off but have Adam weasle his way out and convince her to stay together and only then show her doubting him once things progress into rushed wedding or present some clues of her being doubtful towards Adam leading up to episode 6 and then allow that engagement scene be the last time we hear of this Adam dude sure maybe have him try and pop up but allow Phoebe to turn him down and there is another caveat with the whole engagement scene you see Phoebe learns this information about Adam from her stalker a woman she did not know and met for the first time during that party a woman who literally had her trapped it is not exactly believable that she would become convinced then and there to ditch Adam just because a random crazy lady said so you could say that it could make sense because Phoebe is portrayed as naive but then it wouldn't exactly make sense that Adam wasn't able to just manipulate her back into his favor during that picnic if her heart and her mind were actually that malleable like many people who saw this season I too love this character but the execution sometimes is really really weird Okay so next up we have so this is the young character of the Season before we had pacco then we had Ellie then we had Theo and now we have her she's a student of Professor Jonathan Moore and has a bit of a rapport with Joe like other young characters through the seasons that are designated to Joe she comes with a small plotline that puts Joe in the position of a mentor slh Helper but also as a character she's portrayed to be smart and she's also Al apparently the greatest detective to ever exist on Planet Earth so around episode 6 when she Witnesses the scene of Phoebe and the stalker she gets dragged into the mystery that is due to the fact that somehow after she witnessed it all she comes to this particular conclusion do not think it's weird that a few weeks ago he knew bug all about detective stories now suddenly he's hure pyro lady phebe said something about him being a hero again it it just seems weird when was the last time you read something where the outsider kept being the hero but actually had no deeper connection whatsoever to the story it just seems like he's the kind of man who knows more than he lets on while it is again cute that they are trying to be meta about the show and the genre they are trying to portray it is rather strange that this is the point where she realizes that something is wrong and not after this exchange so where would you take Phoebe if you were stalker I would know the first thing they do is check the per camera thinking i' left with her so she's still in the building she's in one of the hotel rooms probably one with few or no adjoining walls in case she screams isolated near a fire escape would be smart but if your tolerance level is high enough you can ignore it for the sake of the show trying to be quirky yet later on the show continues to make Nadia a supposedly smart character come to correct conclusions through the weirdest ways imaginable you see she begins to sniff around Joseph and become sort of a detective and eventually discovers Maran being being locked up in the glass cage but the way she comes about finding it is well quite frankly ridiculous I want to refer back to the Ten Commandments of detective fiction commandment number six states that no accident must ever help the detective nor must he ever have an unaccountable intuition which proves to be right which is the exact opposite of what happens with Nadia you see first Nadia has this strange intuition that apparently Joe has more to add to the story just because he was called the hero twice she has this intuition because that's how it happens in the books then she breaks into Joe's apartment and finds a key she has no idea what it is for then she somehow has the bright idea to refer back to the stalker photographs that were found there she sees that Joe was fond of a particular restaurant so she somehow instead of just thinking that perhaps the dude just loved the place so much thought that she would find something there and then she goes to the place wanders around aimlessly and somehow just happens to see the right door and that somehow was the correct door and that's how she found maranne not to mention the fact that she decided to break in the psycho's house again only to very obviously get caught again she is supposed to be smart and now let's talk about honestly I was the most hyped for her character the pros promised a love interest character who was cold something that wasn't really seen before on the show you see Beck love and MaryAnn well they were really kind of soft and warm and the character of Kate was a nice response to that an antithesis to what we had seen before and I must say knowing full well that plenty of people hate her she's my favorite character this season everything about her character just feels intriguing from the fact that she has a shady past to the fact that she is the daughter of her controlling father all of that really makes you guess who she actually is because on one hand she is cold but actually caring behind that hard shell there is actually surprising vulnerability but on the other hand we have some interesting tidbits to suggest that she might not be who she appears to be her father even says I didn't want Adam dead then why mention him in my presence honey in previous two seasons they repeatedly established that love was perfect for Joe and that the two of them were soulmates they were perfect for each other because they s have completed one another's crazy but with Kate it feels like she and Joe are true equals the scene in season 4 where Joe hallucinates love explains how she was emotional Unfaithful impulse control issues and Kate is very much not like love Kate unlike love is calculated colder not as impulsive which in certain regards is a much better match for Joe I also think she's The Logical Next Step as far as love interests go because Joe is aging and Kate feels like she matches that sort of progression she feels more mature compared to other love interests at least towards the end and for all the people that dislike her I understand why she is written weirdly when I first saw her on screen I kind of liked her her first encounter with Joe where he tries to save her and she tells him to F off does not particularly scream that she's a lovely person to be around but I actually like that Joe was getting his ass handed back to him and you could make case that perhaps she was also under stress and therefore wasn't on her best behavior that is all nice and dendy but then during the second meeting she pulls up to Joe and says this now tell us Jonathan why are you here but then on their third meeting Joe was just minding his own business and then bumped into Princess Kate over here and immediately she went into fight mode good perfect you are you surprised I can read or something why are you staring at them I understand she's supposed to to be called but is she just supposed to be picking on Joe for no reason all the time and then our Queen Kate becomes all high and mighty and says this trust is earned and when it comes to rando's sniffing around my friends well maybe you do want absolutely nothing but I'm not going to pretend it isn't suspect and I do wonder what she means by saying sniffing around her friends you see from her perspective Joe managed to save her from the dudes who attacked her and then he surprisingly to everyone backed off then Malcolm got up in his business business about it and invited Joe to sunry house Joe reluctantly might I add joins them Joe then tries to actively exclude himself out of their business and leave and it is actually they who keep him there then Joe continues living his life and is walking around the campus and then she pops up out of nowhere and then begins just attacking him then she tells him that he's invited to dinner which he tries to get out of but then Kate tries to convince him to come by shaming him for his work ethic then she proceeds to tell him that he is suspicious because he is according to her sniffing around my friends and right in the next episode she continues with the same rhetoric I cannot understand why you are here saving me from a mugging doesn't mean you get in my life I am not trying to get in your know a grift when I see it you are a hollow nobody with no life of his own and while that might not be his world he ended up in Kate's exhibition because once again he was invited and probably by Kate herself and if he hadn't come he probably would have received another verbal attack by Kate then Joe after coming to this art exhibition proceeds to provide Kate with some crucial information about the person who ruined the paintings and proceeds to lead Kate right to the person and then Kate is just mean to him again Joe even goes ahead and apologizes to her without even having to I'm sorry I was a dict before and then she reacts with no no he's not saying God I forgot it's Captain America here if you would like an autograph they attempted to reverse the formula of Joe's love interests of him seeing their vulnerabilities and then exploiting them they put a shell around Kate to mix it up but they really went straight to 11 upon execution and it is hard to see why Joe began falling for her in the first place things do begin to stabilize in regards to riding once they are out of that shell phase I honestly kind of liked where her character ended up I liked seeing the final image of her with Joe they were titled power couple by the journalist and they truly do feel like that because they do think that Kate is an actual equal an actual match to Joe or perhaps even worse than him she's one of the few parts that actually kept me engaged during the season but while we can speak about other character riding there is only one character upon whom rest the shows rise and now ultimately rest the shows downfall that is one and only the reason why we are all here the character of Joe Goldberg [Music] from a narrative standpoint Joe Goldberg is quite an interesting case because Joe is the reason for the show's existence yet he also has become the reason why the show might have seen its decline season 4 had the correct idea about how to deal with Joe it was the final nail in the coffin it sealed the deal that Joe Goldberg is an awful human being through and through this season should not have left any doubt in anyone's Minds about just how terrible Joe is but this is where the main issue arises you see you have this terrible person as your protagonist yet in order to make the show entertaining and draw in as wide of an audience as possible they have to make Joe as a character at least a bit enticing enticing enough for the audience to want to follow him the show is built in the awareness of that one of the bigger changes they made all the way back in season 1 from the book is making Joe as a character a bit more likable first they achiev that through adjusting him as a person book Joe was way worse in book one than what we got in the first season but that is not a cure all solution as we have already discussed they are dealing with a character that requires a ton of sensitivity in execution we can also understand that him becoming explicitly and irredeemably awful was always going to be the end game there was probably no other way around that yet this final development only came after four seasons and through these four seasons the show had an interesting case of a balancing act you see the second change that the show made all the way back in season 1 is the addition of the character by the name of Paco a young boy who is the neighbor of Joe and has quite rough living conditions just as before I want you to view the surroundings of Joe tools to contribute to his character Paco's addition is a very clear step towards making Joe more sympathetic as a character yes he is a killer but hey look he still does some good by helping out a child this is meant to Mellow his character give an audience an in to see him as human a layer to him that makes him more complex not completely black and white the show quite consciously continues this trend and sees this archetype of a character crop up again and again he saves Ellie from Henderson he saves Theo from from Love and their utility is confirmed by Nadia in season 4 as many have already argued Nadia is used to display just how awful Joe has become he frames Nadia he doesn't save her like he did with others so once more with such a line of reasoning it is not at all a stretched to say that other characters are specifically crafted to facilitate a specific portrayal of Joe for this let us rewind back that rich people are unhinged and practically all of these characters are all rich and they are mean and they exploit other people that's about it but what if these characters are as one dimensional as they come for a very specific reason and here I am not simply operating on my own conjectures the show actually alludes to this the projection of r that exists within Joe's mind brings up a particular notion really I think the longer you know somebody more cursed you are to see them as human and I believe he is completely right and I also believe this philosophy might be the reason why for example not Malcolm nor Gemma or Simon receive that much screen time or any character development without any additional information on them they are merely defined by the views they spout and if that is all we see of them them being reprehensible there is obviously not a lot of place for Humanity the reason for their lack of humanity serves two purposes on the show to make the audience less sad about them being killed off since from the way they are set up they are painted ass as terrible as that sounds deserving of punishment that may not be death per se but it provides IR rationale for Joe to follow and it also makes Joe better in comparison and this is the problem the show faces they need to keep balancing the show in a way that still makes Joe somewhat sympathetic so that at least a portion of the viewers could still root for him and follow him but this is where a pattern within the shows writing emerges it sacrifices character writing quality for the sake of making the main protagonist appear better some people while reviewing the show have also pointed out that the show attempts to provide social commentary about the rich the show alludes to that as well well it is a Formula but the formula is fun it draws you in it hides a social commentary under the puzzle but quite honestly the show operates in this weird position where they are trying to say something but can't because they exist on these sweeping generalizations and caricatures Malcolm Jemma Simon Sophie blessing all of these characters could have been vehicles to provide that commentary but it couldn't be because the show is preoccupied by making Joe seem at least a bit human and this is by no means the First Time the show has to do this I prefer to see the show's writing as a pendulum that intensifies in its swings as the seasons go on the further down the seasons the more they have to keep things shallow it All Began back in season 1 with Paco's stepfather he was a generalization of an abusive envir violent partner he did not receive any real development and he was only there to show how much Joe cares for Paco season 2 has Henderson who is a child predator they are very obviously triy to portray him as a character who is meant to paint Joe in better colors they are not really settle about it either that's why you're doing this no you hit yourself so you're trying to destroy me we're the same no no I'm nothing like you and by the end of season 2 The riters probably realized that well Joe is beginning to not look very good so by season 3 they increase the amount of characters within the cast who serve not much of a point besides proving the point that Joe is somehow better than the rest of them season 3 features as it is described by Joe a soulless and shallow Suburbia and is filled with characters equally as shallow we then have an antivaxer probably to try and provide some social commentary but all the commentary they provide is well if you are an antivaxer you deserve to be bonked in the head and as Joe and love try to reason to themselves you are worse than literal serial killers that is not to say that Gil was completely shallow but he still has this issue attached to him we also have Ryan who once again is quite a sweeping generalization of a horrible person he is so horrible that he must be killed just so maranne could live with her daughter and this sort of approach is carried over into season 42 and Amplified that is because as Seasons go on and Joe's crimes keep piling up it becomes becomes increasingly more difficult for the audience to think that Joe has at least a shred of humanity part of the charm of the first two seasons are arguably the side characters you always featur the cast of interesting characters yet season 4 while having a few characters that might be of interest to the audience features practically none of that charm again because they now have to because they have to show you that sure while Joe is a serial killer he's also doing these kind of quote unquote Justified skills that are supposed to make him a bit more heroic and while we are considering the intentionality of the choices made by the show we may rewind a little bit more overwhelming this is why that commandment exists another reason to dislike this twist is the way it recontextualizes the entire season because this whole mystery and these reveals they make the whole season Joe's dream literally it was just a dream and it is clear that the intention behind the season was to show just how insane Joe has become throughout all of the seasons the internal monologue of Joe Goldberg was used to show the disconnect from reality it was always the engine of the show since the plot was always carried forward by Joe's own delusions season 4 hyperbolized this to an extreme with the plot of a crazy killer and a murder mystery taking Center Stage again you can see the utility within this plot and what it is trying to portray you can see the reasoning behind the twist but in order to pull off that twist the show twists the laws of logic in such weird ways that it becomes way too obtrusive and yes I understand that applying logic to the show is inherently breaking the premise right from the beginning but with more and more seasons with each Escape that Joe makes with each additional layer of plot armor Joe gets it leaves a dent on the logic the law of the detective fiction that I mentioned saw a whole new layer of delusion invented by the show just so the show could bypass it and have an actual plot because without it the whole plot is just not there again all of that was in the servitude of Joe season 4 was already on quite a thin ice with the audiences it carried the baggage of the crimes committed in previous Seasons the show had a difficult task ahead of themselves to navigate as much as I would love for the show to be representative of a bigger idea behind it and that very well might be the intention here it simply does not fit that notion I and many others believe that season 4 should have been the last and season 4 shows us exactly why the show makes huge concessions in logic as well as presents the plot in such a writing that it leaves a lot to be desired they are sacrificing the quality of writing to service the character of Joe Goldberg but there is a silver lining in this situation some of the concerns such as his crimes piling up and plenty of witnesses existing out in the world and not creeping up are promised to be addressed in the last season of the show you're considering what or should I say who Joe will come up against as he finally returns to New York though I can't say who just yet we all know there are many Loose Ends from Joe's past to me it is simply too late it feels as though the show itself is losing its Vision it has departed from what made the show great it had such an incredible journey from being cancelled to coming back to life yet as of now it has derailed itself and slowly formed from one of the more thought-provoking pieces to yet another popular show produced to keep one entertained and not to be any further analyzed what I would also like to say is that my findings and my opinions they are not gospel you might see this video and easily pick out flaws in my thinking but I would like to say that for what it is worth if you enjoy it good on you do that ignore me but I simply mourn for what could have been and that is exactly why I believe we have witnessed a downfall of Netflix is [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Andrew Reviews

Views: 829,940

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Id: VDKRBQei-5o

Length: 76min 33sec (4593 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 11 2023