Netflix's You - Episode 2.04 "The Good, the Bad, & the Hendy"
As he tries to adapt to sharing Love with Forty, Joe is caught off guard by a group date - while his protectiveness of Ellie quickly escalates.
In 2018, there were 495 scripted shows airing amongst the linear channels and streaming services. The way people are consuming content now is so different than it used to be. It happens according to one's own schedule. As such, there is less necessity to provide ample coverage of each specific episode in any given season from a show. Moreover, it is simply impossible to watch everything. As such, this site is making the move to shorter episodic reviews in order to cover as many shows as possible. With all of that being said, here are my thoughts on the next episode of Netflix's You.
"The Good, the Bad, & the Hendy" was written by Justin W. Lo and directed by DeMane Davis
Joe desperately wants to be seen as a good person. He spends so much time thinking about that concept. He doesn't naturally do good things though. In fact, his natural instincts embrace some rather horrifying actions that certainly condemn him to a path of evil. Whenever he does something heinous, he immediately becomes obsessed with doing something good in order to balance out his life so that he can continue to live in the delusion of aspiring to be a good person. If he did something bad and failed to feel anything about it, then he truly would embrace life as a criminal who deserves to be punished. He disagrees with that assessment of how he lives his life. The audience may plainly see it. Candace does as well. She wants him to accept that he isn't a good person. Will is also trying his best to psychoanalyze his captor in order to figure out the best way to survive this ordeal. It is significant that Will is eventually freed from his cage. That is the first time someone has actually escaped that prison that Joe has created. That confined space has been a death sentence to whomever is imprisoned there. That fate has happened more than once. As such, things always looked dire for Will. Joe needed him for technical support. He may only succeed in getting so close to Henderson because he has Will's expertise. But Will is much more perceptive in understanding that there is nothing that he can do that could convince Joe that none of this will come back to hurt him. Joe is always afraid of the potential consequences for his actions. He understands that they are bad and wrong. He just rarely has to deal with any significant repercussions because of his privilege. He can kill people and still be seen as a viable romantic interest. He wants to buy into the romance he has started with Love. Forty being upset upon learning that his new friend and twin sister are hooking up isn't a huge problem. It just showcases how codependent Love and Forty actually are. Joe doesn't like that. He doesn't see it as healthy. However, he also sees a society in Los Angeles that acts completely different than how he is accustomed to living. He may just have to add a sense of irony to everything he is saying in order to fit in. None of this should be seen as contempt for the culture though. It's a particular way of life that has been beneficial to Love and her friends. She finds comfort and support from them. That's something that Joe doesn't have. Every relationship he has is artificial. It's ultimately defined by his need to protect them and keep them from being their own worst enemies. With Love, that means trying to get her away from Forty by setting some clear boundaries while indulging in the codependency a little bit. With Ellie, that means chasing after her when it's clear she is about to be alone with Henderson in his house. Joe feels justified in everything that he does because he is removing a sexual predator from the world. His actions aren't as simple and noble as he wants to perceive them as though. In fact, he is frustrated that Delilah hasn't taken action in a timely fashion. She upholds a sense of journalistic integrity. She knows just how compromised a story can get if it isn't researched and corroborated accordingly. She has to be responsible because lives are at stake. She can't take some pictures at face value no matter how disturbing they are. That fuels Joe's need to have Henderson confess on camera. But that just leads to the latest murder Joe has committed. He may say that this was an accident. However, he covers it up in the hopes of making it seem like a messed up suicide. That narrative may deceive some. He has figured out how to better clean up after himself. That is scary and should unnerve everyone. But again, it all comes back to his personal sense of worth. A man is dead and Joe has to find a positive thing to do quickly to restore balance to his standing in the world. As such, he lets Will go with the hope that freedom will avoid any future conflicts. And yet, Candace makes her return to Joe's world by also befriending Forty. These problems have to be omnipresent for Joe. He can't ever forget them or let a day go by where he isn't pushed to the edge. That can be exhausting over time. The show can only offer up a sense of reason about Joe's identity for so long. At some point, he will have to admit whether or not he truly is bad without blaming it on the actions of others that drove him to take a perverted sense of justice into his own hands.
