It's only been a month since You began airing on Netflix, but fans are already hooked on the romantic psychological thriller. And if you're one of those who already spend most of their free time binge-watching the show, you most likely have some of complicated feelings about the show's protagonist -- Joe Goldberg, the charming gentleman who also happens to be a murderer.
Well, you're not alone. So many fans struggle with love/hate feelings towards the character, that the actor who plays him, Penn Badgley, can't stress enough just how nasty Joe is. "How far are we willing to go to forgive an evil white man? Quite far apparently," said the 32-year-old actor at a recent press conference in Manila -- part of his Netflix Talent Tour.
Based on the novel of the same name by Caroline Kepnes, You follows Joe, a handsome New York boutique bookstore manager with the mind of psychopath. He meets and falls in love with beautiful blonde writer Guinevere Beck (Elizabeth Lail), one of the customers at his bookstore. Joe soon becomes obsessed with Guinevere. He begins stalking her, and decides to use all forms of social media, and everything else in his power, to get closer to her. He will even go so far as to get rid of anybody who comes between them.
You first aired on the US network Lifetime in September last year. At first, it didn't seem to be making much of an impact, with only around 650,000 tuning in to each episode. Viewership was so low that even the show's producer Greg Berlanti admitted in an interview that "barely anybody" was watching it.
But when the show moved to Netflix in December and became available to an international audience, it quickly became a viral and critical success. In an unusual move, Netflix released its own viewing data for the show, tweeting that You was on track to be viewed by 40 million people by the end of January. You's popularity appears to be largely due to its main character, the charming but murderous Joe, who's become the object of many fans' affection -- much to Badgley's horror.
"I'm still really questioning why people like Joe so much," said Badgley. "When I first read the script, I was quite troubled because I understand all the elements of the show. Everyone else gets to watch it and enjoy it. But for me, I didn't know if I could be this person."
Penn Badgley in Manila. (Photo courtesy Netflix Thailand)
Despite Badgley's character being a pretty awful human being, viewers have found themselves romanticising Joe's behaviour and murderous tendencies. Badgley acknowledged that he has to take some responsibility for the hype over this new anti-hero.
"Even though I've been encouraging people to see Joe for all that he is rather than just the way that he is when he is charming, I also understand the appeal because, after all, this is a television show and there's a very obvious reason why everybody is charmed by him," he explained. "I'm playing him, so I don't want to hold viewers solely responsible. It's also our responsibility [as actors] too."
You is not the first time Badgley has played a stalker. The actor got his first big break back in 2007 when he played Dan Humphrey, a lonely young man who stalks one of the central characters in the hugely popular CW series Gossip Girl.
"I wasn't that fond of Dan's character either," said Badgley. "There are definitely parallels between Dan and Joe. I get why people draw comparisons between them. It's not that I don't appreciate my characters. It's just, after a while, you're become known as some sort of creep that you're just not."
When asked which scene he remembered best, Badgley said that most scenes in the finale were the hardest to film. The actor also recalled a specific scene in the show's pilot which he felt particularly uncomfortable about afterwards -- when Joe masturbates while stalking Guinevere at her apartment. But Badgley does like some things about Joe. For one, the two share a passion for books and reading.
"Joe is a bookstore manager. He loves collecting rare vintage books and he takes care of all his books attentively," he said. "I'm not that much of a collector, but I do read a lot. Kurt Vonnegut was one of my favourite authors when I was in my teens. Then I started reading nonfiction in my 20s, such as Arthur Hochschild and Robin DiAngelo."
Badgley also prefers physical books to modern technology like Kindle: "I love the feeling of books while I'm reading them. You can laugh at me, but I've been travelling across the world carrying a whole bags of books everywhere I go."
Penn Badgley is set to reprise his role as Joe in Season 2 of You later this year. The first season is currently streaming on Netflix.
