Reasons Why You Should Watch YOU
By: S.A. Ozbourne
Tags: Netflix, Entertainment, Love, Crime, Murder

1. The Writing Is Amazing

Hello. Who are you? All your accounts are public, you want them to see you, to listen to you, to know you. And I thank you

Right from the beginning, you will appreciate all the thoughts that randomly pop into Joe, the main character’s head. Luckily, as the viewers, we are able to hear him and see his true identity. Unfortunately, the people around him don’t and sometimes they end up paying dearly.

One thing that really sticks out in this drama is the superb writing and wit. All the characters have powerful personalities, and conversation flows very easily and quickly. Almost like Dawson’s Creek, but not as cheesy, the intellectual banter and quick wit of all the characters always keep the viewers paying attention and laughing along.

What also grabs the viewers though is along with the wit and conversations between characters, there is also a lot of meaningful conversation and revelations.

There are terrifying people in the world. It’s important to be safe and that’s why I have to do what I’m going to do

Joe thinks these words, and though he is delusional and feels he is killing for a positive reason, it’s easy to see how his mind works and we even start to accept his reasons for doing such horrible things. We can see his mental illness and past trauma at play.

That’s sad. People buying books because of what’s popular, and not because they wanna be moved or changed in some way.

Beck speaks these words and her opinion on modern society and the way celebrity status is put on a pedestal is quite smart. Considering this show is targeted to teens and the pop-culture, the Instagram, follow-the-latest-trend crowd, they are quite deep.

Is she secretly talking to all of us? Are we the sad people who try hard to fit in and do everything in the hopes that people will like us and think we are part of the “cool group?”

2. The Dark Humor

Pro tip of the day: screen your calls when you’re trying to burn a body, because it turns out things slip out that you didn’t actually wanna say.

This drama focuses on really important and pressing issues in our time like masculinity and feminism, class, race, and the use of modern technology. Social media and the internet are scrutinized and crime and criminals are highlighted. But all of this is done in a comedic, light-hearted, and often exaggerated way.

One example that pops up (bad pun) is when Joe is standing outside Beck’s (the girl he is obsessed with)home and sees her masturbating through the window. He decides to pull out his junk and start going at it too. Out in public and almost caught by an old couple, Joe dreams of making love to Beck while pleasuring himself in public. The scene is quite funny.

But thinking about it deeply, a man who has stalked a girl, found her house, is invading her privacy, and then is touching himself in public is not really a laughing matter. But we do it anyway.

There are so many instances of violence and criminal activity but it is always glazed over in humor. Even the disposing of bodies, cutting off limbs, or hiding of human remains is portrayed in a light-hearted and whimsical manner.

But rather than making it feel like the crimes are being sensationalized or glamorized, it shows how wrong and strange these crimes are by juxtapositioning them with humor.

And rather than liking Joe when he does something bad or creepy, the humor helps us realize how unbalanced, flawed, terrible, and ridiculous he is.

3. Pretty People

“Come for the spring lettuce mix, and stay for the perfect life that could be yours if you just spend enough and quit gluten, you f — -ing a — hole.”

I know this might be a petty reason, but it really reflects the latest trends, fashion, and styles that are popular. Whether you are living in LA, New York, London, Tokyo, or any city around the world, each character has a unique and fashionable look that viewers can relate to.

The show itself has an organic, vegan, hipster vibe running throughout the seasons. In Season one, Beck’s ex-boyfriend Benji who was part of an organic soda start-up company only drinks specific lattes and asked for sushi as a meal while trapped in a glass cage is the ultimate hipster lifestyle, poster boy.

Also, in Season two where Joe works, which is called ANAVRIN (Nirvana spelled backward) is like a Whole Foods type of gluten-free, plant-based, organic, food shop that sells moon juice and other healthy lifestyle type items.

The shop is actually based on a real shop called EREWHON in Los Angeles. The shop is a health and wellness store that specializes in health-conscious foods such as detox cleanses and non-GMO products.

The characters are also always dressed in the nicest or trendiest clothes, are tweeting or Instagramming their lives, and are very superficial about every aspect of their life.

The ultimate being Peach Salinger, Beck’s friend who comes from a rich family, ironically J.D Salinger, writer of Catcher in the Rye, a book about fakeness and phonies in society. Peach Salinger is everything J.D. Salinger would hate. She is fake, phony, self-obsessed, materialistic, and deceptive.

But the funny thing is, everyone can relate to having a friend like her. Or even being her. Every character in the show seems to be taken out of someone’s Facebook wall and placed together. And though the show is extreme and absurd, the characters are very true to society.