You found something special in the way he organized his fourth season. While the series started to get pretty formulaic during the first three chapters, the final season finally brought something new. Season 4’s 10-episode arc featured two seemingly different parts, including a thrilling plot twist in the second half of the season that turned everything we knew from the first part on its head. Gathering a fresh look at the old formula and giving Penn Badgley the chance to show their acting skills even more than usual, You got it all in season 4. The fear of repetition was suppressed. The host of the show finally faced some stakes. There was more to this story than just Joe Goldberg killing people because of his obsession with a woman.
Looking back You In season four, one of the best creative changes is something that may have escaped the attention of some fans: the removal of Joe’s childhood memories that we’ve seen intermittently in previous seasons. In addition to adding context to Joe’s upbringing and how he got to where we see him today, these flashbacks seemed to serve as a means to get the audience to relate to this twisted character. Growing interest in dark, evil leads dating back to the times dexter. You goes to great lengths to make Joe as attractive as possible despite his heinous acts, and showing us the memories of Joe’s tough childhood is a tool to make us sympathize with him - which is why Season 4 made the right decision to drop them.
“Early childhood memories made us sympathize too much with Joe”
In the early days You, it was interesting to see how this cruel man came to be. We knew that Joe had to go through something traumatic to reach this point in his life - the way he was able to lead his life as an innocent bookstore manager without ever looking embarrassed by his heinous crimes was breathtaking. So the decision to incorporate brief moments from the past into his younger self made sense. More interestingly, it seemed to give us the opportunity to sympathize with this terrible man. Going in this direction, of course, was risky, but in the end it forced You into what is today.
Looks like dextermaking the serial killer someone that the audience is attached to and even sympathetic to (as painful as it is to realize to this extent) - You was able to captivate us with every move Joe made. Through the use of childhood memories, You was able to create a main character so captivating that some fans began to root for him, despite his serial killer mannerisms. It’s part of what’s done You work, but it’s also a big part of why it was the right decision for season 4 to cut them. As a child, Joe suffered a heartbreaking trauma, but that doesn’t detract from the fact that he is a serial killer who stalks and kills anyone who gets in his way.
After so many seasons, there also comes a point where flashbacks get tiresome because they don’t necessarily add anything new to our understanding of the character. It was hard to see how Joe’s mother abandoned him as a child, how he sought her affection to the point of killing for her in defense of her, and how every aspect of his life, even outside the home, was rather bleak. However, at some point, these memories became unnecessary. We can say that his upbringing was cruel. We knew that was the root of who he became. There were moments in season 2 when the flashbacks started to feel over the top, but it was season 3 where the story involving the school nurse felt far-fetched. Eliminating them entirely in season 4 only helped move the story forward.
Season 4 of “You” used memories in a different, more effective way.
With concept You In the fourth season, it would be almost impossible to smoothly and effectively recall Joe’s childhood. There was the fact that he had abandoned his old identity, so rehashing his past would be inappropriate. Moreover, for that big exposure that Rice (Ed Speleers) we saw in part 1, it was really just Joe’s psyche - to pay off, he had little time to spend on anything else.
Conveying this twist, Part 2 spent most of Episode 8 showing a flashback of what really happened between Joe and Marienne (Tati Gabriel, season 4 stealth MVP) from her point of view. It was a much better and necessary use of time for the show. The final episode also featured several flashbacks in time that filled in the missing holes. While Joe and KateCharlotte Ritchie) were interviewed in the final scene, the audience could only guess what happened to Nadia (Amy Lee Hickman) and Edward (Brad Alexander). Shortly after this interaction, we see a flashback of what happened to these two students, one of whom sadly met his demise and the other faced a grim outcome after being framed.
There’s been a lot this season You sought to achieve by making her the most ambitious chapter You to date. However, all the creative changes seemed to pay off, including missing out on Joe’s childhood. The internal dialogue between Joe and himself - aka Rhys - was compelling and demanded all the screen time he could get. This time, the use of flashbacks was justified and added much-needed context to this season’s plot. It’s not that getting to know Joe’s childhood in the earlier seasons was unnecessary, it just ran its course as we bonded with him and didn’t need any further context for who he once was. More importantly, this season’s time You better spent not on making us sympathize with Joe’s past or hope for his redemption, but rather on showing us who he really has become in the present.
All four seasons You now streaming on Netflix.
Source: Collider
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