TV reviews

Book Review – Anna

I picked up the book “You,” by Caroline Kepnes from my library last year after reading some glowing reviews, and I fully expected to read something completely cheesy and cliche- the totally predictable narrative of the depraved mind of a stalker/killer obsessed with his victims, something I had read before and probably will read again. However, instead of being met with an insane and disgusting, or insanely disgusting, creep of a character that I would instantly hate, I was met with Joe Goldberg, who did not instantly put me off with his murder-y behavior, but charmed me with his humor and wit. And thus it began this way, my love-hate relationship with Joe Golderberg, serial killer and obsessive stalker. Who knew one book would make me question my very fundamental ethical standards??

The plot of the book basically goes like this: Joe meets Beck at the used book shop he pretty much runs and instantly becomes obsessed with her, immediately beginning his stalker behaviors by looking her up online and following her around New York City. They “by chance” (I say this because to her, it seemed that way, but it was definitely not) meet again and hit it off officially when she drunkenly falls onto the subway tracks and he is magically there to save her from her impending death. What unfolds is his attempting to eradicate everything in her life that would take her away from him, leading him to kill multiple people in the process. It’s a wild ride, y’all. I mean, I devoured this book in the span of only a few sittings, wanting to find out what Joe had in store for us all next.

you book tv show lifetime penn badgley elizabeth lail caroline kepnes thriller

And while the plot itself was pretty full of twists and surprises to keep you interested, it was the way the book was written that really made it unique. It was written as almost a stream of consciousness inside of the mind of Joe, where we see all of his cleverness, witty humor, and charming asides to make you want him to succeed just to see what else he will say about the world around him. For all of his insanity in wanting to stalk and kill for a girl that is not very interesting (just saying- I did not like Beck’s character), Joe had a lot of actually valid critiques of the world and the people that Beck surrounded herself with, making me believe Kepnes wrote this fully intending it to be a cultural satire of sorts. That becomes even more apparent in the second book, where Joe finds his way to LA to tell us just what he thinks of that culture and lifestyle (that book is great too- seriously, y’all, read it!).

As I mentioned breifly before, and as Jaden will mention again in his review of the TV show, the only thing I hated about this book was Beck, Joe’s obsession. She was the very epitome of a shallow, wannabe-bestselling-author trying to “make it” in New York that lived the most inane lifestyle that would never lead to her writing anything good. While this may have been the point, I thought it made the whole thing a little unbelievable. I mean, Joe was smart enough to critique these very kinds of people, so why would he fall in love with one? Beck was not a good person- she lied and cheated, and ultimately had very little interesting qualities to redeem her in my eyes. I actually think that they did a much better job of creating her character in the show. She was kind and caring, and I did actually feel bad for her when things didn’t go her way. In the book, I didn’t care at all, and maybe that’s what made it so easy to root for Joe, instead.

I give the book an 8/10 and would highly recommend it, and its sequel, to anyone interested in novels with dark, yet simultaneously funny, plots.

TV Review – Jaden

After my girlfriend recommended that I sit down with her to start watching “You,” I was skeptical. She had previously read the book, and didn’t seem to care much for it (not true!!! see my review above 🙂). Much to our surprise, however, the show actually turned out to be pretty good.

“You” does a great job of putting the viewer into the mind of a serial stalker/murderer. Joe Goldberg, the protagonist, is such an ordinary guy that I often found myself laughing at his antics and even rooting for him at times. I had to constantly remind myself what an awful person this protagonist was, and every time I did I found myself liking the show more and more. In this regard, the show nailed it.

I did have some problems with the show, however. I found the protagonist to be a little too stupid to be believable. This isn’t to say that he was stupid objectively, he was actually of much higher than average intelligence. Rather, he was too stupid not to get caught kidnapping, stalking, and murdering people immediately. Also, I really hated the character of Beck, Joe’s love interest. She has no depth to her, and most of the things she said and did were pretty annoying.

“You” is by no means the best show I’ve ever seen, but it is pretty good. The first season was made for cable, so it isn’t some super intelligent look into the mind of an evil genius. It’s a weird, kind of awkward mix of a stalker/murderer psychological thriller and romantic comedy, and I’m not sure that it quite landed. But I was thoroughly entertained by season 1, and it left enough loose ends that I plan on watching season 2 as well.

Overall, “You” is entertaining, and tries to get the viewers to sympathize with the evil protagonist, and few shows succeed at this as much as “You” did.

6.8/10 would recommend

I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t have high expectations for ‘Killing Eve’ when I lazily clicked into it on Hulu one night after entering the “show hole” yet again when I finished a different television series. There was just so much hype surrounding it and I don’t usually indulge in shows that EVERYONE likes, because shows like ‘The Bachelor’ and ‘Big Bang Theory’ are among the most popular on television and well… you know… they’re not the most quality programs you could be wasting your time on. So forgive me for being a little skeptical of a show I’ve heard nothing but good things about. All of this to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it, even if I’m not one to enjoy “espionage” or action shows- there was so much about this show that broke it out of the norm that it kept me watching (I finished the 10- episode first season in about three days).

jodie comer sandra oh killing eve assassin action espionage tv show — Jodie Comer’s assassin character Villanelle gleefully demands dinner from Sandra Oh’s Eve, knife in hand.

The first thing I could go on and on about is the fact that the main cast of the show is almost entirely women. Just let that sink in. In a society where most forms of media are about men, this in and of itself was a reason the show intrigued me in the first place. And the show wasn’t in-your-face about it, and didn’t try too hard to make it a statement. The characters were just women, and that was that. No fanfare required, even if they were powerful, intelligent badasses that deserve the attention.

My boyfriend Jaden, who I easily convinced to join me in watching the show (he enjoys a good cat and mouse storyline) had a similar opinion.

” I’m not one who usually cares about the demographic breakdown of characters in media, and often find myself rolling my eyes at the so-often shoehorned female characters in action movies, but ‘Killing Eve’ actually does it right. This show does a great job of not being in your face about the fact that strong women make up most of the main cast, and actually treats them as regular characters in a thriller, only mentioning their sex when it would realistically be necessary,” he said.

Eve, played by a magnificent Sandra Oh, and Villanelle, an equally magnificent Jodie Comer, have such a great dynamic, that I was never bored with the plotline. Villanelle is a ruthless, psychopathic assassin obsessed with Eve, and Eve is a British intelligence officer equally obsessed with Villanelle, a relationship that culminates in an entirely surprising, yet strangely satisfying interaction in the season finale- one that leaves me eagerly awaiting the next installment.

killing eve jodie comer sandra oh queer representation tv show review — The show weaves an interesting and complicated dynamic between Eve, an intelligence officer and Villanelle, a psychopathic assassin with a penchant for curly-haired women.

A few other points that make the show so damn irresistible are that many of the characters are queer (Villanelle is openly bisexual), something we don’t see a lot of, and the action sequences are actually realistic (wait so there aren’t chase scenes where people easily scale buildings and blow up cars by merely shooting at them? Is it even an action show??).

“… the action is never over the top or unrealistic. The attention to realism in the action, as well as the development of the main characters, gives me hope for the future of female actors portraying more traditionally masculine roles,” Jaden remarked on the action in the show.

jodie comer villanelle killing eve suit fashion style tv show review — Villanelle in a sharp suit, one of my favorite looks she wore during the season.

And the fashion, you guys. Villanelle is such a flamboyant dresser, and I enjoyed all of the looks she created. I could write an entire article about the outfits in this show and how they communicate the emotional state of the characters at the time, or even just a reflection on how good the wardrobe in this show really was, but this is something that has already been written about at length (like in this article, and this one). But the scene where she wears the oversized, bright pink Molly Goddard dress is definitely iconic and is going into my ever-growing pool of potential Halloween costume ideas.

Needless to say, I am highly anticipating the next season, and can’t wait to see where Eve and Villanelle’s life and death game of cat and mouse will take them next. In Jaden’s words:

” At the end of the day, ‘Killing Eve’ is an excellent show, and anyone with an affinity for spy/assassin thrillers with characters that are actually down to Earth and fun to watch should check it out. I’m eagerly awaiting season two.”