YOU

It's the perfect violent, depressing antidote to all that holiday cheer. Despite the mostly self-contained story in Season 1, "You" retains its thrills, chills and thoughtful questions about masculinity, abusers and modern relationships in new episodes.

The second season moves much slower than its predecessor, and the mystery of will-they/won’t-they takes a backseat to vital character development. That being said, the performances are fun, the skewering of Los Angeles should put folks from multiple districts in stitches, plus the soundtrack bangs.

Rivetingly told and well acted, YOU manages to make a viscerally unlikable protagonist endlessly interesting. That is no small achievement.

While illustrating his psyche, the show refuses to minimize Joe/Will’s actions, either. And in this season, as in the last, our antihero desires to be better, even though he can never quite manage it. As his life spirals out of control again, You challenges us with his good intentions, his troubled past, and his endless need to be loved.

It’s as tasty, and as bad for you, as ever.

Rather than simply diving deeper into his psyche, You surrounds Joe with a dynamic ensemble that pushes the story into richer territory. These new characters, especially the women, challenge Joe’s sense of power and control in different ways, at times bringing a much welcome lighter tone to the show in the process.

You proves itself to be a momentous, darkly spun treat this season that doles out blissful fun while providing fascinating commentary about the nature of desire, and it continues to be a great showcase for Badgley’s wiry menace.

YOU Season 2 is a meaty sophomore outing which gives its new cast plenty of new room to play while remaining familiar with its maniacal mainstay.

Equal parts smart, silly and scary, You remains an offbeat, uniquely contemporary pleasure on the whole.

In some respects, You just feels like one of the CW shows that Berlanti produces -- just really sharply executed, with a densely serialized edge.

Much of the new season is fun, and showrunners Greg Berlanti and Sera Gamble nod to YOU’s more ridiculous tendencies by slipping in jokes at the show’s expense.

By the bloody end, with twists I promise you won't see coming, Joe has a new appreciation for the insanity of this thing called love. [6-19 Jan 2020, p.9]

I'm sure many people who loved Season 1 will grouse at Season 2, which reboots the series to Los Angeles and delves deeper into Joe's psyche/trauma. You true believers may have glommed onto its shadowy New York City setting and Joe's erudite mystery, but Season 2 will appeal to viewers who will love to see a snob like Joe get eaten alive by Angeleno hollowness, like a cadaver dissolving in lye. In other words, viewers like me.

It’s not always as shocking or electric as the first season, but it’s more thoughtful and more twisted. On first watch I missed the pure seduction of the first season, but ultimately the new batch of episodes sat with me particularly well.

It’s good news for those who turned “You” into a Netflix smash — and bad news for skeptics — that the show, in its second outing, is itself but more so.