Way back in 2006, one of the best thriller series of all time, Dexter, was released, and it quickly became a household name thanks to its uncanny nature and surprising nature. Netflix's You is quite similar to Dexter. It's dark, humorous, and full of surprises.
Envisioned by Sera Gamble and Greg Berlanti, the psychological thriller series released its first season on Netflix in 2018, which introduced us to the show's protagonist, Joe Goldberg. In the series' two seasons so far, the viewing experience has been elevated by the way each character has developed across every episode. It's just impossible to imagine the show without its characters. Without further ado, let's rank some of the best of them.
Karen Minty
After suffering a setback in his relationship with Beck, Joe turns to Karen, who is one fun-loving woman. She keeps Joe happy—at least, for the time being—so much so that even Joe thinks Karen is good for him, despite his obsession with Beck.
In the end, Joe breaks up with Karen and cites the "lack of spark" as the primary reason—when it's quite clear what the real reason is. Karen is a fun character to watch, and, thankfully, she doesn't end up on Joe's "to kill list."
Dr. Nicky
Beck cheated on Joe with Dr. Nicky, but that's not the only reason why the latter was an important character in season one. Dr. Nicky was a therapist who was seeing both Joe and Beck. His sessions allowed us a sneak peek into what both of them thought about each other and their relationship.
In the end, thanks to Beck's idea, Joe successfully frames Dr. Nicky for Beck's murder. In season two, Forty visits Dr. Nicky, and it becomes crystal clear from their conversation that the therapist has accepted his fate, even though he didn't murder anyone.
Delilah Alves
Delilah is Joe's landlord in season two and Ellie's big sister. She doesn't open up to anyone that easily and the reason for that is her past. She was molested by a stand-up comedian named Henderson when she was a teenager, and it had a lasting impact on her.
Joe killed Henderson, and somehow Delilah not only found the former's hidden cage but also figured out that her tenant murdered her molester. This led to Joe locking up Delilah, and, when she was about to be released, Love popped up out of nowhere and killed the poor girl. Delilah, unfortunately, got mixed up with Joe's messy life, and she paid the price.
Forty Quinn
Love's brother, Forty, is one complicated character. He's an adult, but he often acts like a child, which means Love has to look out for him every other day. He is a struggling writer who decides to make a movie about Beck's book.
He somehow figures out that Joe's a cold-blooded killer and confronts Dr. Nicky about it. Forty, in the end, gets killed by a police officer when he points a gun at Joe's head in front of his crying sister. The impact of Forty's death on Love will be visible in season three.
Ellie Alves
As mentioned above, Ellie is Delilah's little sister who thinks very highly of herself. She is a smart teenager who gets mixed up with the wrong guy—i.e Henderson. She is one of the biggest reasons why Joe killed Henderson as the killer was trying to protect Ellie.
She is very close to her sister, and, when she finds out about her death, she is devastated and blames Joe for coming into their lives. Despite that, Joe helps Ellie, gives her some money, and tells her to leave LA. But, as of now, we don't really know what actually happened. It wouldn't surprise anyone if Ellie didn't leave LA and showed up in season 3.
Candace Stone
During the first season, there are brief mentions of Joe's past life before meeting Beck, with one name resonating louder than the others: Candace. Flashbacks aside, Candace doesn't have much of a role to play in the first season, but her impact is felt when she shows up at the end of the last episode in the first season. In Joe's flashbacks, the show makes it seem like he killed Candace. However, that wasn't the case as she, quite miraculously, survived.
She confronts Joe in New York and tells him that she will make his life a living hell. Somehow, Joe escapes to Los Angeles, and, while he is thinking about his future with Love, Candace enters the scene by making Forty her boyfriend. Despite Candace's best efforts to defeat her ex, she eventually dies in the last episode of the second season.
Peach Salinger
Peach is Beck's best friend and a proper snob. She has an obsession with Beck, which comes to the fore when Joe threatens to remove her control over his girlfriend's life. Peach is a sadistic maniac who wants Beck all to herself. Throughout the first season, Peach and Joe battle many times with each other in order to stake their claims in Beck's life, but the latter comes out on top. Moreover, Peach fails to convince Beck that she is better off without her boyfriend.
Joe then kills Peach and makes it look like a suicide. Despite all of her flaws, Peach is a very good friend to Beck. This is highlighted by the fact that Beck takes some time to get over her friend's death.
Guinevere Beck
Beck is a struggling young writer in New York who is trying very hard to become an independent woman, but her messy life leads her in other directions. She fails to find an inspiration to write, owing to her daily problems. She is a complicated human being who falls in love with Joe. In the end, this turns out to be her biggest mistake, but one good thing that comes out of her relationship is that she reaches her fullest potential as a writer when she is pushed all the way by Joe.
When locked inside Joe's dreaded cage, Beck writes a book depicting her life story that turns out to be a best-seller after her death. Beck is one of those rare characters in the series who doesn't have any dark secrets and didn't deserve to die.
Love Quinn
Love is the object of Joe's obsession in the second season. She's a person who acts on impulse rather than thinks about things. She is another character with ulterior motives, and she surprises you at many turns. Love is also a psychopath, which makes her the perfect partner for Joe. She doesn't feel remorse and only sees the pros of her actions without even considering the cons.
Love is the one who kills Candace and Delilah in order to protect Joe. Despite her murderous nature, Love doesn't see herself as a killer. Instead, she tries to portray herself as a girl belonging to a rich family. She hates everything about her close circle, leaving her friends aside, of course. Her dark secrets surprise Joe, but, in the end, he accepts her for who she is.
Joe Goldberg
Joe is the glue that binds You. He is not your regular psychopath, as he doesn't want to hurt anybody, but circumstances are such that he always has to. Because of his abusive past, he believes that sometimes inflicting pain on the ones he cares about is the way to make them understand why he does what he does. But that trick doesn't work on anyone other than Will Bettelheim, who turns out to be the only man to walk out of Joe's cage alive.
Joe is not an entirely bad man. He loves to be around kids and tries to protect them from bad influences. He cannot help but fall for every other beautiful girl that passes him, and the end to the second season establishes this fact. Joe Goldberg will be remembered as one of the best Penn Badgley performances.