And They Lived Happily Ever After
Episode 1 of You Season 3 begins with Joe in hospital, forcing a thin smile as he watches Love give birth to a beautiful baby… boy? Oh no. With Joe still reeling from this shock, Love decides to name him Henry Forty Quinn. Joe and Love move in to a cliché, white picket fence house in Madre Linda, which happens to be just outside San Francisco. Apparently it’s the safest neighbourhood in the area – go figure! And all of this is funded by Love’s rich family. The only trouble is, Joe struggles to connect with Henry and between trying to process Forty’s death and Love’s Mum showing up and claiming that the kid is Forty reincarnated, things aren’t rosy in paradise. So naturally Joe clings to his old life through his books. However, Joe’s big weakness here stems from his neighbour, Natalie. She’s quiet, standoffish and exactly what Joe wants. For now though he sticks with trying to be a good father, or as good as he can be. Every time he holds Henry he ends up crying. When Love lashes out, claiming Joe’s heart isn’t in this, our stalker leans harder into thinking of Natalie and claims she’s the greenlight getting him through this. She even buy some diapers for Henry while he’s out alone in his car. It’s all pretty innocent until Natalie lets slip a “joke” about condoms. So naturally Joe does what Joe does best. He gets online and begins searching. Natalie is a realtor, and she’s married to a businessman called Matthew Engler. He’s out of town most of the time and seemingly preoccupied with work. Given the extended period of time he’s gone for, Joe contemplates whether she may be craving something more. Meanwhile, Love heads off to the gym but runs into online blogger and Peach-clone Sherry. She’s there with her friends Kiki and Andrew, who both backhandedly call her fat before inviting her out for a latte. Joe, armed with Henry strapped to his chest, starts to follow Natalie and arrives in a library, In fact, she even picks out a book for him in “Tender is the night.” Joe interprets this as flirting and things only escalate that night when she gets his number, courtesy of her tech-savvy husband. So naturally, when Love decides to take Henry away for a few days, Joe joins Natalie for a drink. That drink soon turns to Natalie showing him her “reading room”. Midway through kissing, Joe has second thoughts and decides to head back home instead. Love comes home early and the pair end up having pretty passionate sex. That night, Sherry hosts a party. Everyone’s there and while Joe does his usual narration shtick, Natalie ends up growing close to Love. When the latter overhears Sherry calling her family a garbage fire, Natalie encourages Love to be authentic. She urges her to press on with her plans of opening a bakery. Love meets with Natalie later on, who encourages her to sign a 3 year lease on the property. Heading down to the basement, she shows off the area but Love, having found Natalie’s underwear in Joe’s secret stash, decides to get her revenge and slices wildly at her neighbour, leaving her in a pool of blood on the floor. Phoning Joe, and ruining his breakthrough with Henry who had just got his son to laugh, Love tells him they need to go to couple’s therapy.
The Episode Review
You is back and just like the previous two seasons, we kick things off with a deliciously twisted surprise at the end of the first episode. Love slips back into old ways while Joe – still clearly fighting his urges – is trying to become a better person and failing to do so. We’ve seen this rodeo before and also know exactly how it turns out so we’ll have to wait and see if this season follows suit as well. For now though, You settles back into a consistent rhythm, with plenty of nods toward the previous seasons and familiar set-ups rehashed into new scenarios. Sherry and her pals, for example, feel like a natural extension of Peach and her cronies . The only difference is Love happens to be an unhinged new mother with a history of killing, whereas Beck was naïve to these manipulative ways. However, the end reveal that Love killed Natalie is a nice twist and certainly something that comes unexpected as a result. The first episode gets things off to a decent start and it’ll be interesting to see where the rest of the season goes from here.
