Image Credit: Tell Tale TV
Editor’s Note: This article contains spoilers from Lifetime’s Drama, YOU’s Season 1 Episode 5.
As usual, Lifetime’s YOU is astounding in its creepiness. The writers, Caroline Kepnes (who wrote the best selling book under the same name as the show) and Neil Reynolds have done an exceptionally eerie job at keeping the viewers on the edge of their seat. In this episode, it becomes increasingly obvious that Joe and Peach are not all that different, and neither of them is good for Beck to be around. Peach has always hated Joe, and vice versa, but what we knew about her character made everyone think that it was because she wanted to protect Beck. As she grows more intense, it appears that Peach is bored and wants to knock down those around her for fun, which means she needs to keep other people, like Joe, from getting in the way of that. Joe actually figures out that Peach is just as much of a stalker as he is- takes one to know one, I suppose. Peach and Joe are of different kinds of stalkers, however. Joe worships Beck- he does her laundry, makes her breakfast and even encourages her writing. He hacks her phone, which is messed up no matter what, but he doesn’t use anything he finds against her. Peach, on the other hand, has hundreds of drunk memories saved on her computer that she can whip out in a moment’s notice if she ever wanted to ruin Beck’s life. She made this clear when she did the same thing to another mutual friend of theirs, Annika. Played by Kathryn Gallagher, Annika is an Instagram famous, enthusiastic ball of energy. Although she is arguably annoying she is one of the only pure, lovable characters on the show. She runs a body positivity page on Instagram until an anonymous account, which had to have been created by Peach, posts videos of her drunkenly saying racial slurs. So who’s guilty here- the girl who said something racist a couple of years ago, or the girl who used footage of it to wreck her life? The answer is both of them, but for the time being it’s more necessary to focus on Peach’s lack of morale when it comes to supporting her friends. Joe does terrible things to salvage a girl he’s obsessed with, while Peach does terrible things because she’s bored and wants to remind her friends that she’s the boss. A lot more happens between the two of them in this episode, including a terrifying experience for Peach and Joe alike, which leaves each viewer wanting more.
Image Credit: TV Fanatic
If you didn’t feel bad for Beck about the whole dead father not being dead thing, you’ll feel bad now. In addition to the mess that her life already is, Peach has set her up with a family friend named Roger who can help her publish her essays and poems. This may seem like a nice thing for Peach to do, given her connections, but the fact that she chose to wait until now to give Beck the opportunity to meet him is a little suspicious. Like most men in Beck’s life, he turns out to be disappointing. He uses her issues with her dad that he found about when he skimmed her writings to try and coax her into doing it, right there in the back of the limo he picked her up in. The moment he put his hand on her thigh, it became clear that another perverted man had walked into her life, and finally, Beck can see a little more clearly that Peach may not be her friend. Beck really doesn’t need that negativity in her life- she is already scared enough that everyone will think she’s fake because she’s writing about her father as though he’s dead, plus she worries whether or not she’s even cut out to be a writer. She works so hard and tries to please everyone that reads her pieces but so many people have told her she’s no good. I’m impressed by her perseverance to keep going. Some may argue that Beck is too ignorant to see all of the horrific things the people close to her all pulling on her, but she is actually just blind sighted to it all. It’s not her fault that she attracts people with low morals, or that she can’t see what they’re doing to her. Once again, Elizabeth Lail uses her innocent puppy dog eyes to do an amazing job at portraying her character’s grief throughout the episode. This episode of YOU was the best one yet.
You airs on Lifetime on Sundays at 10 PM EST.
Featured Image Via Twitch TV
