The psychological thrillers have a way to creep inside your brain. Though I watch and take time to understand, I maintain a healthy distance from it. The series is a perfect example of our times where we accept an antagonist to lead the show. The psych of it is difficult to understand but we all have our vices that drives us closer to an antagonist first. We try to find a way to associate and indulge with the character unless the scenario compels us to hate it. This series does a really good job of keeping the antagonist as human as required.

Joe Goldberg is an obsessive character that dwells on people’s lives to finally imbibe it. The obsession to find the perfect You and have self-indulgence is not a new concept. We all do at times but for different or better reasons. Here the character arc of Joe Goldberg (played by Penn Badgely), in its obsession of finding You, is so designed that it covers all the stages of a character development. Each season starts with a back story of recovering from a past trauma, pushing the character into a wilderness of its own to find a new You, getting wrapped in the potholes of own doing, and finally ending on a success note to keep the motivation up. In fact, the entire romanticism in the movie making is based on it and so it’s instantly relatable. The character arc makes us believe in the antagonist as the show’s protagonist.

The series creators Greg Berlanti and Sera Gamble have created great shows in the past but I think Sera’s adaptation of Caroline Kepnes’ writing is excellent. I could see the traits of Supernatural in it with all the televised twists and turns. Caroline Kepnes is known for her novel Providence where she maintains the supernatural angle but Sera has adapted that beautifully and in her own style. Greg does bring the charm of Flash and Arrow to drive the show by introducing different characters at a pace. The writing just works well with all of them teaming up together.

I’m not sure if the story or the novel ends with season four. The pattern reveals it differently. In odd numbered seasons (one and three), the character of You dies whereas in even numbered seasons (two and four), the character You survives. But, then the fourth season also surprises us by not killing the past and the current season’s love interest. Interestingly, the survival of the characters of two Yous is something new but could also mean that the story could end here meaning that Joe Goldberg has finally overcome his obsessiveness for You. It sure is a meaningful end to his character without disturbing the series’ balance. We will have to wait and see if we get a surprising fifth installment of this successful psychopathic journey.