After binge-watching episodes of “You,” the frothy thriller that stars Penn Badgley as Joe, a charming sociopath, it’s hard to get his intense baritone voice that narrates the series out of your head.
You hear him assessing a new love interest on the show. He comments on her cleverness, the way she smiles, her compassion for others. In Season 1, Badgley’s Joe at first appears to be a gentle bookseller, but he has eyes that can get crazy and hands that can get murder-y. He fantasized about poet Beck (Elizabeth Lail), who he wound up locking in a glass chamber used to restore rare books. In Season 2, Joe quickly starts obsessing again, after assuming a new name (Will) in a new city (Los Angeles) with a new woman, a baker who says something flirty about peaches in a grocery store. Her name is not subtle: Love (Victoria Pedretti).
Love, right (Victoria Pedretti), becomes the new object of Joe's (who now goes by Will) affections. (Photo: Netflix)
Does he love her? Does he even know what true love means? Is he just a deranged stalker? Answers to these questions vary over the course of the twisty and clever new 10-episode second season from creator Sera Gamble and executive producer Greg Berlanti (now streaming). (The streamer became “You”’s new home after it made the Lifetime series a delayed hit.)
The new season has plenty of sex, more blood than last season, cliffhangers and enough romantic-trope subversion for a dark and entertaining time that leaves you wary of guys, including Henderson, a comedian played by Chris D’Elia, who appears to be nice, but is anything but.
And then you read a recent post from the real Badgley on his Instagram.
It’s a message for his wife, Domino Kirke, on her birthday. It’s about her “invisible qualities,” as Badgley puts it.
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Happy birthday, Dom. A super-brief review of your invisible qualities: A truly radiant soul, you seem to spark alight almost everyone you meet, like a 99% success rate. It’s really impressive, and quite mysterious. You encourage others to be honest, and brave, and gentle, and expansive. Your great capacity for empathy is obvious, something anyone can get warm by like a glowing stove. Your desire to be of service to others is miraculous. It is in your DNA. In pictures as a very young child, you exude it—a great care and sweetness; an invitation. You make others happy by you. For me, it is a joy to witness you when you are happy. For you, I always hope to be a source of joy. I’m really glad we’re married.
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“A truly radiant soul, you seem to spark alight almost everyone you meet, like a 99% success rate. … Your great capacity for empathy is obvious, something anyone can get warm by like a glowing stove …” The lengthy post is one of the most romantic Instagram tributes you’ve ever read.
But you read it in Badgley’s Joe voice. Can you trust that voice?
A commenter posts: “Dom, blink once if you need help.”
It turns out Badgley appreciates the meta joke.
“At that specific comment, Domino and I both laughed out loud,” admits the actor, who immediately sounds more relaxed and thoughtful. He’s introspective about himself, about Joe, and about how the two conflate. He’s also down to pontificate on anything from spirituality to social media psyche.
“I think the irony is that, in a way, I’ve been able to be more transparent and forthcoming and more, quote-unquote, ‘myself’ in talking about Joe than I ever had been before,” says Badgley, 33, best known for playing Dan Humphrey, the bookish guy who turns out to be the title narrator on CW’s “Gossip Girl.”
Yes, he sees the characters’ similarities.
Badgley's character is still sneaking around in a hat in Season 2. (Photo: Netflix)
And yes, he sees your tweets about Joe, and posts about “You” himself, primarily to emphasize that Joe is a murderer, so it’s unhealthy to romanticize him. He follows the conversations that the show has spurred online about white male privilege, victimization and problematic relationships. A few of Badgley’s concerned tweets about “You” have gone viral.
“It’s a strange time to be part of a show that encourages this kind of conversation and introspection. I think it’s interesting. It’s kind of a little bizarre.” He trails off for a moment, wondering how to talk about a show he’s proud of, but doesn’t necessarily get. “I’m not even sure how to finish that thought,” he says, before offering that “You,”with its unreliable protagonist and ability to tap into the zeitgeist, strikes “a very, very special balance, but it has been struck, you know?”
Indeed, that balance now includes a new theme: a satire of Los Angeles wellness culture.
Will (that's what he's called now), right, attends a improv show with Forty (James Scully). How very L.A. of him. (Photo: Netflix)
Season 2 sees Joe starting fresh in the City of Angels, with a job selling books at overpriced L.A. market Anavrin. That’s where he meets Love and her brother, Forty, an aspiring screenwriter. (Yes, the two play tennis.) Outside of work, Joe keeps a low profile with his still-effective incognito hat. But he can’t avoid meeting his neighbors: Delilah, his landlord with an investigative eye and little patience for “mansplantations”; and her little sister Ellie, a precocious 15-year-old who teaches Joe about what makes a “fake” Instagram feed.
Joe can easily track down someone’s social media, but he has a lot to learn about curating his own feed, and about L.A. culture. He doesn’t immediately take to any of it.
He comments on the “glaring privilege driving (Angelenos’) so called conscious choices,” and the “teeth-achingly, hippie-dippy” customs of his store’s shoppers, from cleanses to calling upon spiritual healers to make them feel whole.
Badgley, who’s been a New Yorker for the past 12 years, has a kinder critique than Will of West coast self-care.
“My most humane response is that I can appreciate people are really seeking to better their understanding of themselves and to relieve themselves from anxiety, which really is kind of at an epidemic level,” he says, allowing that has used acupuncture for sorenes but otherwise thinks consumerism and wellness shouldn’t mix.
“I don’t drink or smoke. I like to go to bed before midnight if I can. My understanding of true spirituality is actually evident in relationships and in our ability to demonstrate compassion and patience and to listen to our inner souls toward service of others.”
If you follow Badgley’s social media, you’d think the star is practicing what he preaches. He’s kind online, bringing awareness to gender-based discrimination, posting about granting people access to higher education, typing that love note to his wife.
But how can we believe that Badgley is legit, after the “don’t fall for the nice guy” PSA that’s “You”?
“I hadn’t even really thought of it that way because, well, no one is ever going to really know me who doesn’t actually know me as a public figure,” Badgley says.
“You just kind of have to make peace with that.”
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