DON’T BE LIKE JOE- A Realistic Truth Behind The Psychotic Main Character in Netflix’ New Series “YOU”
In the crazy world that we live in today, I don’t put much past too many people, but holding your lover hostage in a soundproof glass cage within the basement of your profession? I think that’s fair to constitute as unrealistic, and bat shit psychotic.
The new Netflix series “YOU”, encapsulates a young man named Joe in New York that meets a girl, Guinevere Beck, and falls in love, all the while being wrapped in his self-absorbed turmoil. One thing leads to another and suddenly, Joe, finds himself guilty of numerous occasions of breaking and entering into Beck’s apartment, theft from her and her friends, a few murders, and yeah, holding Beck hostage in a soundproof glass cage.
For the sake of this piece, we’re going to somewhat forget the fact that Joe is actually fucking crazy, as we can’t really relate his entire person to ourselves.
SO WHAT’S REALISTIC ABOUT JOE?
One aspect of his thought process is something that we can relate to. Before the audience even has a hint that Joe is capable of stalking, theft or murder, something interesting and societally familiar stands out about the character. He has a tendency to overthink. Don’t get me wrong, overthinking, to an extent, is completely fine and often necessary to avoid becoming oblivious, although Joe’s overthinking leads to him arrive at conclusions about Beck’s personal life, friends, work and even mental state.
What’s also interesting is that Joe never really communicates his thoughts with Beck, , and when he tries to, it’s either after he’s already convinced he’s right, or it’s a pretty much half-ass effort.
Now like many of us, Joe has good reason to be trapped in his own head, he was cheated on by his previous girlfriend, Candace, and it was a situation he’s still not over with ( probably because he murdered her friend and had something to do with her disappearing but remember we’re forgetting that Joe is crazy). As a result, he figures with Beck, he’s not going to miss one single detail, he’s going to note every potential sign for why the relationship may not work, and that he’s going to do everything in his power to try to be the ‘perfect boyfriend’. (which is IMPOSSIBLE)
All the while doing so, he’s eating away at his peace of mind, over analyzing everything Beck says or does. It get’s to the point where he’s not even an active participant in some conversations because he’s too busy thinking about what she said five minutes ago. Furthermore, if things were to ever work out with Beck for the long-run, the relationship would’ve never flourished to its true potential as a result of his lack of honesty and communication.
The scary thing is that the majority of Joe’ intuitions are spot on 100% correct, and a lot of the things that he says are things I’m sure many viewers would agree with or say “Wow, this is something that would go through my mind.” So if it’s true that we have a part of Joe in us, how do we avoid being taken over by what goes on in our minds?
DON’T BE LIKE JOE.
For all the psychotic people out there that need to here this, the Netflix series “YOU” advises us to not go around stalking your crush, stealing their stuff, plotting against their associates and locking them in soundproof glass cages. For you mentally sane people though, Joe shows us that it’s crucial to communicate our intuitions, particularly in relationships. The bottom line is that if Joe was ever honest with Beck about his feelings, things would’ve been different, maybe not better considering Beck isn’t the greatest girlfriend, but nonetheless, different.
Who’s not to say Beck has somewhat of a heart and is more hesitant to cheat on Joe if she knew more about his past. It’s fair to say that Joe never came to peace with himself and his thoughts, otherwise, he would’ve been more open, not a quiet freak. He was so hung up on the consequences of talking about Candace, he never realized the consequences of bottling her up inside. Joe taught us that the longer we keep relative feelings, opinions, or uncertainties to ourselves, the more of a danger we become to ourselves and ultimately, significant others.
