Diksha Sundriyal
Stalking is one of the most common crimes that people commit in the name of love. It could be stalking someone on social media or even physically, people usually connect it with their love for the other person. Stalkers form all sorts of stories in their mind about how they would end up with the object of their affection, but it rarely happens so. It never ends well, especially for the person on the receiving end.
Netflix’s ‘You’ follows one such story. Joe Goldberg believes that Guinevere Beck is the one for him. In order to confirm that she is a good person, he stalks her, and then, tries to make her fall in love with himself. This leads to murders, and Beck’s entire life is upended. If you haven’t yet seen the show, head over the Netflix. SPOILERS AHEAD!
Plot Summary
After trying to woo her, successfully getting competition out of the way, breaking up with her, reuniting with her, and finding out about her affair, Joe finally gets what he wanted from Beck. She tells him that she loves him and they agree to move beyond their differences. It is all sunshine and rainbows again. And then the worst happens. Tipped off by Paco, Beck discovers that there is a secret hiding place in the ceiling of the bathroom. She tries to resist it but then gives in to the curiosity of what skeletons would Joe be hiding in his closet. Turns out, there are actual skeletons, or at least, teeth.
She finds her lingerie, the phone she had lost the night on the subway, and everything else that leaves no doubt in her mind that she has been dating a psychopath and that if she doesn’t run, he will kill her too. Before she can put the things back in their place, Joe comes back and startled by his voice, she drops the box and cuts her finger while hiding it. Composing herself, she comes out and tells him that she has to leave. But he sees the cut on her finger and goes in the bathroom to get a band-aid, and realises that she knows the truth.
She tries to run away, but he catches her. He imprisons her in the basement of the bookstore. She shouts, cries and begs him to let her out, but Joe has something else in mind. He accepts that he had killed Benji and Peach, but he also offers justification for his actions. He shows her the clip where Benji had killed a person. He shows her photos from Peach’s laptop. He tries to show her that all he ever did was for her. He even brings a typewriter for her so that she can use her time in there to focus on her writing, get some perspective and let it out of her system.
What Happened to Beck?
After being scared and frustrated, Beck finally gives in. She recounts her entire story, pondering upon the reasons why she allowed herself to be with people like Benji, and what she saw in Joe that made her fall in love with him. When he comes back, she tells him that she has thought it over, and the only way for Joe to dodge the blame of the killing is to put it on someone else. The therapist, Dr Nicky, proves to be an excellent fall-guy. She even writes a manuscript, detailing her account with the therapist and how he murdered her friends.
She tells Joe that she understands why he did what he did and that she loves him. Having been accepted for who he is, Joe opens the door. Beck has her opportunity and after stabbing him, she runs out and locks him in instead. She tells him that he is a monster, she could never love him and that he will spend the rest of his life in prison now. But another problem waits for her. She can’t open the door to let herself out because Joe has the keys.
Meanwhile, Paco enters the bookstore and on hearing her cries of help, finds her locked on the other side. But when he hears that Joe is the one holding her, he goes away. Beck misses her chance and Joe gets her. But we never really see him kill her. So, what happened to Beck? Did Joe actually kill her? Or did she just disappear like Candace?
Turns out, Joe really did kill Beck, and he also found a way to not let it come back to him. We see that Joe buries a body and the box with all the evidence, and then tips off the cops about the therapist. Because the cops catch Dr Nicky for the murder of Beck, they would have confirmed that the dead body was indeed Beck’s. After this, Joe puts together all of the stories written by her, both before and while she was in the basement. He has read enough books to know how to bring together a story that supports his claim. Also, wasn’t it Beck who suggested it! He sends the manuscript anonymously to Blythe, who gets it published and thus, Beck’s dream of becoming a famous writer is fulfilled.
The Ending: Is Candace Alive?
The first season of ‘You’ begins with Joe’s search for the love of his life. No love story is really over until it has a happy ending, and Joe doesn’t get his happy ending. So, of course, it isn’t over yet. He has decided to move on from Beck and it doesn’t take much time for some other girl to walk into his bookstore. He evaluates the mystery girl just as he did Beck, but when he comes face to face with her, it is not what he had expected. It is Candace, standing right in front of him. But, didn’t she die?
There are two ways to explain this. First, she didn’t die. The first person that Joe had killed was Elijah. He had been pretty broken about it because he wasn’t used to killing by then. So, when he attacked Candace, it could be that he didn’t really kill her. Maybe, he thought he killed her, but she survived. In the flashback, we see that Joe has a very angry reaction to when Candace says that she never loved him. But we never see him kill her. So, it could be that he just left her unconscious, as happened with Peach. Candace survived and ran away, keeping it a secret from Joe because she wanted to be rid of him. But when she heard about Beck’s death, she realised what Joe was doing and came back to make him pay for it.
Or, she is dead. It is not really her. Joe is imagining her. Remember how Joe had a concussion when he crashed his car on the way to Greenwich? He had hallucinations about Candace then. Because he never got it looked at, maybe it stayed with him. Or, it could simply be that he is finally beginning to lose the faculty of his mind and can’t differentiate between what’s real and what’s not. Because we don’t see anyone else talk to Candace, it could be that he has made her up. We’ll only find out what the truth is when the second season airs.
Read More: You Season 1 Recap
