I really enjoyed the first season of "You" but was concerned that the second might struggle to thread the needle again. It just about did, but this third season almost feels like a different show and I'm not sure I bought the concessions to the returning plot points as much as I have previously.
Now resettled to the suburbs, Joe (Penn Badgley), Love (Victoria Pedretti) and their new baby are settling into domestic bliss. Pressured into this turn of events, Joe has already set his obsessive gaze on his neighbour Natalie (Michela McManus) but Love, who is wise to the way that Joe's mind works, is willing to do anything to keep the family unit together.
It's not that I didn't enjoy this series, I did. I like the humour in Joe's commentary on 21st century suburbia - all Instagram perfect lives, hiding the same fears and foibles that have always been there. I think the performances are good and I liked seeing Love and Joe as a couple, fixing their issues as only they know how.
I'm not sure it's the same show though. The first season was about a stalker, whom you could almost root for before the occasional and visceral reminder that, despite his past, Joe is the villain of the story. The show this season is about two people who essentially slaughter their way past any problem that comes their way. Returning plot points, such as the second return for the see-through cell in the basement (literally the Death Star of the series) seem more contrived and unnecessary. The credulity was stretched, for me, beyond breaking point in the finale though with a number of plot holes that the show didn't bother to explain.
That said, the positives still outweigh the negatives and I'll be back for season four next year.