It is likely to go down as one of Netflix’s biggest triumphs. You, and its latest season have become enshrined in streaming service gold as the series once again dominates the most popular charts and serves up a tasty morsel of murderous fun. However, for those who have already watched the first instalment of the latest season, one golden enshrinement will be burned into their memory.
You serves up a hefty dose of sex, murder and violence across four seasons and has retained viewership like no other. Love him or hate him, you cannot ignore Penn Badgley’s Joe Goldberg — a deranged and dangerous sociopath whose penchant for books, women’s panties and murder leads him to fall for various women across the seasons. His obsession makes him descend into a rabbit hole of gruesome violence, where he kills to protect the ones he allegedly loves.
Season three ended on an epic cliffhanger. Love Quinn, Joe’s equally deranged former wife, dies in a fire, and Joe sets out to Paris to look for his next target, Marianne. However, season four sees him on his little “European holiday”. Now called Jonathan Moore, Joe’s distinguished beard, tweed coats, and messenger bags help him fit into the role of a loner academic and professor in London, albeit without a degree.
While Joe desperately tries to keep his hands clean, he quickly finds himself assimilating into a group of filthy rich British people who love nothing more than keeping up appearances, backstabbing one another, hating the poor and snorting cocaine at any given moment. These rich people are vicious and obnoxious, grew up with platinum spoons thrust in their mouths and love to pick on those beneath their stature, especially Joe.
While the usual blood and tea are spilt, one scene has got a lot of viewers double-taking: the golden shower scene. It sees Joe stumble upon Lukas Gage’s Adam indulging in some pee play with one of the staff members of the grand house as he adorns safety goggles and says: “piss on me!” Though the scene may have been inserted into the drama for the jaw-dropping shock factor, Gage believes it serves a higher purpose.
Gage believes the script should be “very honest” with Adam’s sexual fluidity as he told Digital Spy: “I always like to look at what we don’t see about characters and what they hide from people, what has led them to that where they feel like they can’t fully show people who they truly are and where that stems from.”
As Adam’s girlfriend Phoebe finds out about the kink, she tries to engage in it with him. Though Adam’s preference is for the power imbalance to incite pleasure and leave Phoebe unable to imbibe in this particular fantasy, this moment shows a somewhat heartening reflection of real-life love.
Tilly Keeper, who plays Phoebe, told the publication: “It’s written as a kind of comedic moment in the show, but I actually think it’s a real poignant moment for their relationship because it demonstrates how much Phoebe’s willing to do to get the love that she deserves out of her partner and how far she’s willing to go to prove herself. I don’t think she’s acting out of insecurity or desperation. But I think it’s like she wants to validate Adam as well.”
In television, such kinks were usually relegated to laughs at the character’s expense, a way of dehumanising a powerful figure. However, within the unlikely home of You, we have a touching moment between two lovers trying to find common ground. And not get murdered.
