Diksha Sundriyal
There is someone for everyone. No matter how good or bad you are, there is a match made for you. Joe meets his in this season of ‘You‘. After what happened with Beck, he really did want to change things. He can run from the past, he can run from New York, but not from his darkness. Damaged attracts damaged. Despite all his efforts and sacrifices to do things better this time, to be a better man, to do right by Love and everyone else around him, he can’t really let go of who he truly is. And he finally comes face to face with it in this episode.
You Season 2 Episode 9 Recap
After discovering the dead body of Delilah in his cage, Joe is forced to reconsider what he thinks about himself. Ardently believing that he couldn’t have hurt her, that he was actually going to let her go, he sets out to find out who could have found out about the cage and done this. Was it someone who wanted to frame him? Or was it really him? Did he lose control while tripping on acid?
Meanwhile, Ellie is becoming more frantic about her sister. The death threat on her doorstep doesn’t make things easier. Joe tries to calm her down, but he also has to find out what happened in all the time he had lost. With the help of Forty, he traces back some of his steps. And then Candace shows up.
You Season 2 Episode 9 Review
“What is it about Joe fucking Goldberg?”, wonders Candace. And so do we. What is it about him that makes him so acceptable to the Quinn family, in spite of his lies and deceit? What makes all of them want to be a part of their family so bad that they are ready to look past the possibility of him being a murderer? The last episode gave us a glimpse into what could possibly connect Forty to him. Turns out, the rich, spoiled brat is also a murderer. He, too, has killed the girl he claimed he loved, in a fit of jealousy and rage. So, if Joe has done the same, Forty understands how these mistakes are possible. Or maybe, he just really likes Joe too much to let go of him so easily.
But it’s not the same for Joe. He doesn’t think he would kill someone without reason, let alone out of jealousy! So, when he sees Delilah all bloody and dead, he has to go back to his childhood and trace the roots of his evil. Finally, ‘You‘ has Joe accept his darkness. He has a reason to come out of his deluded sense of self, his righteousness and all the things that he has claimed fair in the name of love. He is giving up on himself because that is the only right thing left to do now. He wonders if it has something to do with his life choices, or if the events of his childhood and young years had already moulded him this way. Perhaps, there really is no hope for him. But, there’s another twist in store.
I can’t say I didn’t see it coming. I had been waiting for it to come up and see how that changes Joe’s life. In all honesty, this is the one thing that could be the saving grace of this season. I wish they had handled it better, and earlier. Considering the repetitive nature of all that happened in the past eight episodes, they could have used this twist in a much better way. It could be their set up for the events of the next season, which we might have after all. I will wait for the last episode, see what route they have chosen to settle this dilemma for Joe. But that doesn’t change the fact that it is pretty, if not too, late. Now, we just have to find out if it is too little.
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