The showrunners of season four of “You” turned the show around when the second half of part two was released. This release put the show in a new perspective, and added more gore and even darker aspects than what audiences saw and ultimately showed unexpected twists. “You” is a Netflix show that has been immensely popular since its first season was released in 2018.

The separation of real and fictional Rhys Montrose (Ed Speleers), who Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) imagines, was interesting and compelling to watch, even if it was predictable from the beginning of the season. However, when the fictional Rhys is shown to represent aspects of Joe’s character is where it gets more interesting. Rhys has a more tense dialogue with Joe, representing the darkness that Joe attempts to ignore and showing how insane Joe is becoming. Rhys is a major aspect of his delusions, which is emphasized every time the camera cuts from Rhys and Joe’s heated argument to the reality of Joe standing by himself in a room. The shot in the last episode even displayed how Joe stopped running from his dark side and embraced it when he looked in his reflection and saw Rhys, which adds a whole new layer to Joe’s character.

Season four depicts the pain that Marianne Bellamy (Tati Gabrielle) goes through, as well as her point of view of being kidnapped and watching Joe’s obsession and the beginning of his insanity. This shift in perspective was influential considering that the audience thought that she was free and happy before this reveal. The addition of Marianne is pivotal not only because it creates more stakes in the show, but adds to Nadia’s discovery of information relating to “Professor Moore” and shows what really happened when Joe first went to London. This was one of the twists that season four part two incorporated that may leave the audience speechless.

Even though there were significantly more interesting plotlines in season four’s part two, Adam (Lukas Gage) and Lady Phoebe’s (Tilly Keeper) marriage was not one of them. Even though it was flowing naturally, at the end of the season their relationship is simply there to keep the story moving along because neither of them had lasting ties to any other characters. The only connection is their clearly flawed relationship foreshadowed the nature of Joe and Kate Galvin’s (Charlotte Ritchie) relationship. Adam used Phoebe for her resources and money and she did not recognize that, which is the same thing that Joe did to Kate to cover up his murders. It would have been interesting if Phoebe had stuck around in Kate’s life, maybe opening Kate’s eyes to this. These characters were too important to be sitting on the back burner, only to be removed entirely.

The first half of season four showed Joe as a hero, a stark contrast to the season’s end where he was embracing his darker side — something he was trying to remove until now. If the show continues, it may show how a new Joe no longer claims he is the good guy, but instead who knows he is a murderer and embraces it. That alone may be a much scarier concept for the audience, considering that up until now he was killing people under the idea that he was not that kind of person. A main character who embraces their darker side and encourages it is a scary idea, especially now that Joe is incredibly powerful with an almost unlimited supply of resources.

Even though the release of season four in two parts was to make the impact of the events more compelling, it instead separated them rather than uniting them. Many viewers will be watching the entirety of season four instead of watching the two parts separately. Overall, it would have been more appealing if there was more foreshadowing of Joe’s decency into insanity in the first part of season four.

Overall, the second half of season four was much more interesting than the first. As the audience roots for the eventual downfall of Joe in another season, they will be left with the idea that monsters, like Joe, could be lurking all around us.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars