Rating: 4.5 Stars

When Caroline Kepnes’s first book, “You,” was released, its polarizing, disturbing tone kept readers interested in its story of a Manhattanite stalking an attractive up-and-coming author. Those same readers will find the story makes a fairly graceful transition to the big, or in this case, small screen, even if some things have been tweaked in translation. 

“You” revolves around Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley, “The Paper Store”), the manager of a sleepy New York City bookstore, who finds himself captivated by Guinevere Beck (Elizabeth Lail, “The Good Fight”), an attractive MFA Student at NYU. One would think this sets up a classic love story, until Joe begins digging into Beck’s life. Breaking down her personality and gathering details into his massing hoard of data, he finds her dreams, friends, lovers and address. He gazes into her windows at night and reads her texts, among other disturbing hobbies.

This would certainly fall apart if the writing and acting was not as sharp as it is. Badgley pulls off an amazing performance, trailing a thin line between rational and homicidal to the point where audiences find themselves taking pity on him. This, of course, turned to spectacle when Badgley’s Twitter feed got flooded by fans asking him to kidnap them. While some people might be disappointed that the narrative only rarely slips into the stalkee’s point of view, keeping the viewer ensnared in that madness ironically helps to provide that sense of sympathy.

A nice bonus of the writing is a slow reveal of the protagonist’s view of the world, showing that even the most deranged people have parts of normalcy in them. As Joe juggles stalking Beck and tending to his basement, he also makes an effort to connect with his neighbor Paco (Luca Padovan), a young child whose poor parenting constantly makes the audiences wish that he would intervene and show a more humane side to his psychotic persona.

The visual medium does take away some of the strengths of experiencing the story as a novel. For one, the book is constantly told through Joe’s narration. The unreliable narration was a selling point of the book that simply could not be moved over to the show with the same intensity. While his smarter-than-thou style of commentary is still present, it is reserved for asides and monologues. That is not to say that it is not funny or even bad, it is just not the main priority anymore. 

The show has almost a picaresque style when new villains present themselves, each one of which threatens Joe’s love life. Watching him interact with them reflects how these people are probably in the right if they were not overwhelmingly smug or obnoxious to be around. But the real treat comes from Joe and Beck, as they bounce back and forth with nuance and a satisfying humor that shows how they were almost made for each other in a sick, twisted way. 

Through knowing Joe’s warped view of the world, at times it can feel like the show is going 80 miles per hour toward a brick wall. Audiences know this is not their average romantic comedy, but the desire to know just how a story this evil could end is enough to keep viewers glued to their seats from beginning to end.

Image from Netflix via YouTube