YOU Review: Amour Fou (Season 1 Episode 6)
My jaw is still on the floor. YOU Season 1 Episode 6, “Amour Fou,” is tense, terrifying, and tantalizing.
Just when you think you know what kind of show YOU is (a peek into the inner workings of a serial killer a la Dexter), it adds some curveball (like Peach’s readily murderous obsession with Beck) to misdirect your assumptions.
Watching YOU is never comfortable, but it is always entertaining.
The title of the episode, “Amour Fou,” refers to an uncontrollable or obsessive passion. From the first episode of YOU, we know that Joe has amour fou for Beck. As we learn the extent of Peach’s amour fou for her as well, we are tossed into a never-ending kaleidoscope of obsession, that extends, in Joe’s disorientation, to Candace.
When Joe pees in that mason jar as a break from watching Peach watching Beck, it becomes clear that poor Beck is never going to make it out of this alive. Joe is so attached to his controlling obsession with Beck that he is willing to make a peeing sound while standing less than five steps from his prey and while bleeding from a massive head wound.
Nothing is going to stop him. This is war, and Beck herself will eventually be the one standing in the way of his control over her.
Peach’s murder on “Amour Fou” bolsters this clarity, because we now know that this is a show that kills main characters.
I love the bait and switch the episode gives us by letting Peach survive the jogging attack, making us think the show won’t kill her off. Even just one episode away from her near-death, Peach is delivered a death-death.
Like I said, jaw on the floor.
The jumpy and shocking aspects on the episode do the trick to keep us invested and engaged in the story. But the special details in the plot and character development are really what pull YOU out of a predictable box.
I love that Joe gets into his car accident because he avoids hitting a deer. So often, serial killers are depicted as hurting animals and having no emotions. That’s not Joe.
Joe naturally breaks for this animal, and he shows empathy and care in other places as well. This actually makes him even more creepy, because we viewers don’t hate him. He is confoundingly uneven in his personality traits. The physicality, voiceover work, and costuming Penn Badgley uses in his performance is stellar. I don’t know how to feel about this thoroughly messed-up murderer.
I love, too, that Peach continues to call Joe “Joseph” up until and during their final deadly shootout. Shay Mitchell’s acting on the episode is just phenomenal, and her subtle use of “Joseph” is a prime example of her choices in diction deepen her character.
She doesn’t use “Joseph” as an insult or barb during their fight; it’s just who he is to her. She will never give him his identity on his own terms, and that’s just how Peach relates to the world.
Just like how she says the word “adult.” It’s ridiculous and snotty, but the way Mitchell says it is understated. She’s sure that she has convinced everyone else of her fairytale.
Peach lives in a false reality, just like Joe. Both of them have built up these cathedrals of delusion and obsession.
Even though it is scary, tense, and utterly shocking… wow, is it fun to watch!
What did you think of this episode of YOU? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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YOU airs Sundays at 10/9c on Lifetime.
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Janelle Ureta
Janelle Ureta is equal parts Veronica Mars, Raven Reyes, and Rebecca Bunch, but she aspires to add some Tammy Taylor to the mix. An attorney turned teacher, Janelle believes in the power of a well-told story. She is currently exploring how to tell short stories, 140 characters or less, on twitter. She loves to talk about TV, and right now she can't shut up about Timeless, Dear White People, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, The 100, or Younger.