10 Creepy TV Characters You ACTUALLY Root For
1. Joe Goldberg (You)
The entire point of Netflix's You is that Joe Goldberg is a creep. The premise of the series is that he develops an unhealthy infatuation with a woman, before stalking her and inserting himself into her life in whatever twisted ways he can.
In the first season, the target of his "affection" is writer Guinevere Beck. Joe kills her best friend Peach and ex-lover Benji and begins to date her, but ends up killing her when she finds out about his obsessive nature. In season two, Joe meets LA chef Love Quinn, and once again falls back into his old stalker habits. Cue a giant mess.
The point is, Joe is an absolute nutcase, and yet, because he's the protagonist of the series and we follow him throughout, it's hard not to find yourself rooting for him, no matter how violent and off-kilter his romantic schemes become.
You also does a few clever things to make us empathise with Joe and put us on his side. One, we can actually hear the character's thoughts throughout each episode, so we can understand what he's thinking, and more importantly, what he's feeling. When you hear him thinking about how much he misses Beck, for example, there's a part of you that starts to feel sorry for him, despite the crimes he commits on a regular basis.
And two, it's clear that Joe's abusive father messed him up as a kid. At the end of the day, the guy just wants somebody who he can love, even though he doesn't really understand how to achieve that goal in a normal, healthy way. And that basic desire to have someone special in our lives is something that we can all relate to - even though none of us would go to such dangerous lengths to get there.
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Did you find yourself rooting for any of our chosen creeps? Let us know in the comments section!