During the mid-2000s, I was an awkward, young, middle school child. In 7th grade, the TV show Gossip Girl became an obsession in my school. Everyone watched this show. My favorite character on the show was Dan Humphrey because he was a writer and seemed less stuck up than the other characters. Dan is played by Penn Badgley. Even if you don’t know Gossip Girl Penn can be seen in other iconic films such as Easy A, John Tucker Must Die, and The Stepfather. Now Penn is playing a stalker / serial murderer in You and it’s entertaining to watch Penn act in a completely different type of role.

Joe Goldberg (played by Penn Badgley) is the manager of Mooney’s, a bookshop operating in NYC. As Joe is working in the store, we see a young blonde woman walk in and immediately she captures Joe’s eye. Guinevere Beck (played by Elizabeth Lail) attracts Joe’s attention enough where Joe becomes obsessive. He takes Beck’s phone and interfere’s with her life in subtle ways.

I can’t say much more than that without spoiling both seasons. Each season has a different mood to me. Season #1 feels more “bougie” whereas season #2 feels more psychotic. It keeps the story interesting between both seasons since they’re so different. During the first season, each episode tells the story between Joe and everyone in his life. As the episodes unfold, we can see Joe slowly fall into the pressure of not getting caught. Each episode leaves on a cliffhanger, which made it difficult to not spend 10+ hours watching the season in one sitting.

This series is based on the books written by Caroline Kepnes. She has two books in the series titled You and Hidden Bodies. I won’t be reading them myself as I wish season #1 turned out differently, but I heard it’s accurate to the book.

You is a satisfyingly sexy thriller on Netflix. The first two seasons are out while the third season won’t be released until sometime in 2021. Anyone who enjoys serial killer documentaries, New York culture and cliffhanging episodes will definitely need to watch this series.