You 1x03 Maybe

Things were heating up on You quite a bit this week, both literally and metaphorically. I was right when I said Beck would fall for Joe if only he asked her out on a date like a normal person. He did, and she had. The problem is, Beck kept putting him at arm’s length because she had fallen for him. She had no problem going on meaningless Tinder dates and having sex with all the guys she met, but with Joe she didn’t want to rush into anything because she likes him. It’s the kind of logic I see a lot on American TV and one I am absolutely unable to relate to. This whole culture of dating multiple people at the same time and being unable to decide whether you want to be exclusive or not is completely alien to me, but hey. It’s just TV. In any case, even if Beck took the simple route and just started dating Joe like she clealy wants to, there’d be obstacles galore.

For one thing, there’s poor murdered Benji. Yes, he was kind of a douche, but he didn’t deserve to go out like that. For now Beck believes that he just vanished without a word, and since that apparently fits his personality, she’s not bound to question it too much. The truth is, of course, Joe poisoned the guy, and kept him in his bookstore’s cellar for days before punching out his teeth, taking him to the forest and setting him on fire. Right now I can’t imagine what will eventually give him away but something is bound to, this being a TV show and all. Someone’s dog will probably dig up some charred fingerbones or something like that

Obstacle nr. 2 is Beck’s friend Peach. For now she’s pretty much just a dumb rich socialite, but she’s suspicious enough of Joe (for misguided, classist reasons but still) that she might inadvertently dig something up about him that could jeopardize his whole plan. On a similar path is Joe’s neighbour, Ron, who is a colossal asshole and yet the only one who already suspects that something is not quite right with the guy, no matter how heartwarming his interactions with Ron’s stepson Paco always are. I expect him to start spying on Joe any episode now.

And then there’s Candace, Joe’s ex-girlfriend who mysteriously „moved to Rome” after they broke up, without a single word to her friends. There may be a pattern here but somehow I really don’t think she’s dead. For one thing, Joe’s treatment of Benji’s corpse was so amateurish that I really believe this was his first murder, but also I know that an actress has been cast to play her later in the season. Sure, it might be in flashbacks, but I don’t think so. I think we’re gonna hear what happened between them from her own mouth, and I can’t wait to find out what it was, especially since Joe, in his characteristically self-unaware way, insists that it was her who gave off all the red flags. Sure, Joe. That must have been it. On a semi-related note, John Stamos is also set to recur later as Beck’s therapist, which gives me all sorts of questions and ideas. What could possibly send her to therapy? Will it be just something school related, general anxiety, or will she figure things out about Joe way before the season ends?

The road is still long for our wannabe hero if he wants to win and also keep his dreamgirl’s affection. While he seems to have remarkable luck in some aspects, like the cops buying that he really needed all that shady stuff from the shop for his little backyard garden, or the two hikers completely oblivious to the burning corpse not five metres ahead of them... well, he’s extremely unlucky in others. Who would have expected his first time having sex with Beck to last all of three seconds? She certainly didn’t.