A couple of days earlier than “You” Season 5 premiered on Netflix, I went to see Christopher Landon’s “Drop” in theaters. As we emerged from the “punchy, ridiculous thriller” into broad daylight, my buddies had been fast to dismiss it, to have interaction within the frequent however misguided observe of conflating intellectual high quality with leisure worth. “Drop” isn’t any cinematic hallmark (although a few of Marc Spicer’s photographs will stick with me for a very long time), nevertheless it saved me engrossed, entertained, and invested within the closing consequence.
The identical strategy will repay with the tip of “You,” created by Sera Gamble and Greg Berlanti and dropped at the bloody end line by showrunners Michael Foley and Justin W. Lo. Should you’ve caught with the sequence to date, you signed up for outrageous twists, cartoonish characters, and an exorbitant variety of murders, all tied collectively by Penn Badgley‘s bewitching efficiency. It’s not status TV, nevertheless it’s unapologetically entertaining, and Season 5 delivers on all the pieces that bought audiences obsessive about this sequence.
Set just a few years after Joe rose from the lifeless in London, he’s now a part of a prolific energy couple with spouse Kate (Charlotte Ritchie) and again in his previous Manhattan stomping grounds. Kate and Joe are adored for his or her against-all-odds love story and fierce philanthropy — however when somebody threatens their new established order, Joe handles it the old school method and lights the fuse on blowing up his complete life.
There’s additionally a brand new legal responsibility within the type of Bronte (Madeline Brewer), a manic-pixie-literary-dreamgirl completely calibrated to unravel Joe with only a look. She’s written as a vexatious ingenue, which must be deliberate, highlighting simply how unimaginatively Joe perceives girls and the way little it takes to tempt him away from the life he allegedly holds so expensive (Badgley and Brewer are near the identical age, however Bronte is clearly purported to be in her early twenties — which reads much less as Joe’s patronizing impression of her than a basic Hollywood gaslight).
In actual fact, Joe and Bronte’s interactions result in a number of the season’s finest comedy, all on the expense of our pseudo-feminist assassin (she loves books! she hates the wealthy! is she The One??). Badgley is legitimately laugh-out-loud humorous as his character reacts to her smallest hints of flirtation, falling into his common patterns with sitcom-level predictability, all reinforcing his fixed failure to alter. Badgley continues to be magnificent in a darkish, demanding, and disturbing function, turning Joe right into a masterclass of internality that by no means softens his sinister nature. It’s been a killer efficiency, from begin to end, and undoubtedly the rationale that the present discovered each recognition and endurance.
He’s not the one one having enjoyable through the closing hurrah; a solid spotlight must be Anna Camp as Kate’s twin half-sisters, each equally exaggerated and pleasant. The “Pitch Good” star is all however displaying off within the scene-stealing twin roles, sinking her enamel into the sequence’ unhinged tone like she’s been there from the beginning (what higher technique to lean into the present’s campiness than with literal Camp?). Griffin Matthews deftly balances this out as grounded brother Teddy, and extra gamers pop out and in all through the ten episodes.
Like its earlier seasons, Season 5 begins sluggish earlier than gaining momentum — however Netflix made the good move to launch the entire thing directly, in contrast to Season 4’s misguided two-part drop. The halfway twist paves the best way for uncharted narrative territory, from Joe’s shut relationships to his public persona and the unanswered questions from his previous.
Certainly, he can’t outrun his destiny ceaselessly — however my goodness, it has been enjoyable to observe him strive.
Grade: B-
“You” Season 5 is now streaming on Netflix.