10 Times Lazy Writing Ruined Netflix's You Season 2

Season One of Netflix’s hit drama, You, was an intoxicating watch. Joe Goldberg’s obsession, stalking and eventual murder of his love interest, Guinevere Beck, unfolded in front of our eyes in a way that made it impossible to look away. Despite being a complete psychopath, Joe was a strangely likeable and sympathetic character, and it was sometimes hard to remember that we shouldn’t be rooting for him as the episodes played out.

This was, in no small part, due to the excellent writing of the show. The characters had depth and their interactions could range from hilarious, to heart-breaking, to horrifying at a moment’s notice. They helped form a narrative that was crazy, yet believable, and kept the viewer gripped from start to finish.

Therefore, it was bitterly disappointing that You took a nose-dive in quality when it came to Season Two. Characters were one-dimensional and the writing was a mixture of laughably bad to tediously predictable. It came across as more of a caricature of its former self and has left many fans very sceptical of the already-announced third season.

Beware of spoilers as we take a look into ten examples of how lazy writing ruined Season Two.

Throughout Season Two of You, Joe often needs to hide in plain sight. This is most commonly when he’s trying to stalk his prey, whilst remaining undetected. As you can imagine, someone who’s managed to orchestrate complicated murder and kidnapping plots, while simultaneously retaining the reputation of a kind and thoughtful man, will be highly skilled in this art.

How does Joe do this, you ask? Does he lurk in the shadows, making only the most featherlight of footsteps? Perhaps he wears an elaborate disguise? Does he sit on a bench, reading a newspaper with eye holes cut out for him to peak through?

Nope. He wears a baseball cap. That’s it.

Dawning his cap, like some sort of upgrade to the Invisibility Cloak from the Harry Potter books, allows Joe to seemingly just disappear from the human eye. This grants him the ability to walk pretty much right up to his target, in broad daylight, and linger around them without being acknowledged whatsoever.

This happens time and time again across this season, with Joe never once being spotted in this presumably magical piece of kit. Why he didn’t just wear it when he was kidnapping and/or killing people is anyone’s guess. It probably would have saved him a fair bit of trouble.