With Netflix's You season 4's announced release, the show's teaser trailer shows that You season 4 will be just as good as previous seasons. You is a psychological thriller series, centering the sinister Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley), that dives into the mind of a dangerously obsessive, deftly homicidal, and disturbingly charming psychopath. In each season, Joe becomes fixated on a romantic interest and pushes every moral and legal boundary for the sake of love.
Through constant voiceovers of Joe's thoughts, You has successfully delivered creepy, comedic, and overall quality television for three seasons running. In the first season, Joe works in a bookstore in New York City, and a crush on a customer leads him to commit multiple murders by the season finale. In order to distance himself from his crimes, Joe moves to Los Angeles for You season 2, and his love life becomes even more complicated when his romantic interest, Victoria Pedretti's Love Quinn, turns out to be just like him. The third season sees Joe in the suburbs, as a husband to Love and a father. The season again ends with murder and mayhem as Joe literally sets fire to his suburban life and fakes his own death.
The teaser trailer for the upcoming season of You features a line that Joe says in his usual voiceover, "I'm not the lovable bookstore manager in New York, or the shop clerk in L.A., or the doting husband in the suburbs. No, not anymore," before introducing Joe's new persona and location. He is now Professor Jonathan Moore, a bearded academic in London. This line in the You season 4 date announcement reveals the show's key to success and that season 4 will continue to use it. You's best trend is completely reinventing Joe, and everything and everyone around him, every season, and it seems that You season 4's story will be all new again.
You's Reinvention Means It Can (& Should) Be Good Every Season
You has jumped over the hurdle that many long-running television shows stumble over - repetition. You manages to keep each season feeling new and fresh because creators Greg Berlanti and Sera Gamble aren't afraid to completely reinvent the show. Although the show always centers the same character, Joe still moves to a different location, has a different job, and interacts with completely different people every season. By reinventing Joe's surroundings, You is able to reinvent Joe himself and his thoughts and reactions, which are always heard through voiceover. Because Joe faked his death at the end of season 3, Joe's reinvention is brought to a new extreme in season 4. With a new persona, a new vocation, and a new location - this time abroad - this Joe is completely different from previous seasons. In addition to the new Joe, there are many new actors in You season 4, and the teaser trailer introduces their characters, who will each bring even more newness to the show. Despite being the fourth season, You's upcoming season will be anything but stale, as the show has continued its pattern of complete reinvention.
Although each season of You is entirely reinvented, the show manages to balance the newness with familiarity. No two seasons of You are too different or disparate - they are all truly part of the same show. The show accomplishes this by sticking with its successful patterns. Every season, the upcoming season 4 included, You brings at least one character into the new season with Joe: season 2 brought back Candace, You season 3 brought back Love (and made her different), and the season 4 teaser confirmed that Marienne will be brought into the new season. Despite all his reinventions, at his core, Joe is always Joe. He always gets sucked into his worst instincts, he always, nonetheless, views himself as the hero, and he always wears a baseball cap when he's doing bad things.
You strikes a perfect balance between consistent and completely fresh. Based on the teaser trailer, season 4 will continue the show's successful pattern. Beyond season 4, if You continues to reinvent while remaining true to show's core elements, the show can and should be good for every season to come.
You season 4 will be released on Netflix with Part 1 on February 10 and Part 2 on March 10.