You season 4 part 2 review: an incredible twist hiding in plain sight

After the first of Please season 4 dropped last month, it was an enjoyable, albeit shaky, status quo change for Netflix’s twisty drama about Joe Goldberg, a former bookseller trying to turn a new leaf in London after some “stateside whoopsies” where he just couldn’t stop stalking and murdering people. It turned out the series had been cancelled. You can find out moreIn store

Part 2 of the season, now live on Netflix, takes such an outrageous turn that it’s hard to talk about without spoiling. This review follows the lead of Netflix and is divided into two sections. This is the first part for those who have already seen Part 1. This second part goes in to the major twist, but leaves the end untouched.

And thankfully, you don’t have to read them a month apart.

Part 1: A spoiler-free version of part 2

[Ed. note: This will have spoilers for part 1.]

Image courtesy of Netflix

The first half of season 4 was largely a murder mystery centered on the Eat the Rich Killer, a serial killer that targeted members of London’s wealthy young socialite community that Joe has fallen into thanks to his new alias as Jonathan Moore, a well-to-do English professor at a prestigious university. This is the killer You can also see it here knew Joe’s past somehow and was anonymously tormenting Joe about it, inspiring a paranoia that he might be next.

Part 1’s killer was finally revealed as Rhys Montrose by Ed Speleers. Picard’s third season), a rags-to-riches author whose disdain for the elite caused him to find kinship with Joe — that is, until Joe found out Rhys was the killer and had intended to frame him. Instead, he settles for attempting to murder him by trapping him in a cellar set ablaze, which Joe survives — only to find that his new nemesis is running for mayor, and he might be the only person who knows the truth about him.

The cliffhanger is left PleaseIn an unlikely place that could push the show towards Dexter territory where the deluded protagonist believes he can enjoy his dark proclivities of stalking and incidental killing for good. While this sort of thing could conceivably lead somewhere good, it’s also a premise that could undo the show’s careful work to not overly empathize with or justify Joe, even as it remains firmly rooted in his perspective.

Part 2 immediately puts the fear behind. First, it introduces a new player — Tom Lockwood (Greg Kinnear), the father of Joe’s current love interest, Kate Galvin (Charlotte Ritchie). Lockwood, a casually brutal figure who is closely involved in his daughter’s life, keeps an eye on Joe and all aspects of Joe’s. He knows Joe isn’t Jonathan Moore because of his wealth, but he suspects that Joe may be a serial killer due to his history with women who have died.

This traps Joe as a pawn in a cat-and-mouse game between Rhys and his girlfriend’s father, as each wants Joe to kill the other. Joe wants to forget his past and have a happy and healthy relationship with Kate. However, none of this is possible because Please There’s more to come. For those who want to remain unspoiled: Consider watching as soon as you can, because it’s the sort of thing that recasts the entire season, and makes it about something entirely different from what it has been thus far.

Part 2: You Season 4’s Big Twist

[Ed. note: Spoilers for You season 4 part 2 follow.]

Image courtesy of Netflix

While I think of myself to be a clever person, it seems that every story has a way to make me smarter. Fight ClubIt’s a trap I fell for, PleaseIt is no exception.

This season has two episodes in part 2. PleaseIt all turns on its head, when Joe arrives at Rhys Montrose’s murder scene and finds that he doesn’t know who Joe is. Joe, the Rhys Montrose Joe was talking to is Tyler Durden. Fight Club, a creation of Joe’s fracturing psyche, an alter that embodies his darkest impulses while Joe tries to live the fantasy of starting over as Jonathan Moore, a man that doesn’t have to live with the crimes of Joe Goldberg.

PleaseThe pulp has been exceptionally clever and with a point. It is a dramatic interrogation about the ways that white men of privilege can exaggerate their faults and heroically center themselves within any story by failing to recognize the agency others. There is always a “You” that Joe is obsessing over, addressing in his thoughts, building a whole imaginary identity around a person he watches from afar and up close, never really accepting the real person in front of him over the version he created. Joe’s violent behavior in past seasons was a result from conflicting ideas about a person. This conflict is something he rationalizes as being a result of his personality and not because it happened. His inner Rhys Montrose was born. PleaseJoe begins to wonder if all of the deaths that follow Joe are just misfortune or a sign that Joe is denial-based.

Image courtesy of Netflix

For the viewer, the answer is pretty obvious — Joe is no hero. But with its alternate-personality twist, Please’s writers give the accumulated sins of Joe Goldberg shape and form that Joe can’t reason his way around, as much as he tries. The ever-present, guttural voice of Joe Goldberg now speaks back to him. It pushes him towards acceptance and away from denial. It’s wonderfully hammy stuff — as Joe’s inner Rhys, Ed Speleers is a delectably wicked presence that sells what otherwise is a very odd choice for the show’s direction, one that is hard to get on board with unless it plays into the show’s endgame. Sera Gamble, the showrunner, has made it clear, as does the way the season is moving in that direction.

Please’s twist is ultimately a matter of necessity, a device to counter the mounting ridiculousness of Joe’s crimes and for the writing staff to maintain their show’s sense of morality while finding new ways to let their wildly entertaining monster loose. Rhys helps Joe confront and deny his violent nature. It externalizes an internal conflict which, quite frankly, is very difficult to resolve. Please bringing to the forefront. It was not. PleaseWould have been a Dexter Problem is that it keeps its protagonist in a bind, not because there’s anything else to do, but because it has to.

Fourth season Please makes a shaky, albeit convincing, case for the continued murderous misadventures of Joe Goldberg by placing him among the 1% — people whose lifestyles are afforded by economic predation. Some are unaware, others enjoy it and some, such as Kate, attempt to get their hands off of the dirty. Maybe, You’s writers suggest, there’s a reason that Joe slides into their lives so neatly despite not having money. Perhaps the best Joe Goldberg could survive this season, as the show suggests.