xoxo, Dan Humphrey’s murderous alter-ego

I hope you guys enjoyed my rambling reviews! I definitely enjoyed writing them. It felt liberating to share my thoughts unfiltered, unrestrained by the standard reviewing conventions. Thank you for reading, liking and commenting – let’s do this again very soon!

THIS POST IS LIGHT, BUT FULL OF SPOILERS!

On the whole, YOU proved to be much more interesting than I expected. 

I’ve read and seen variations of this story plenty of times before, yet YOU brought something fresh and unexpected. For instance, it gave us a new version of Dan Humphrey and Serena Van Der Woodsen, and it played with their characters and their relationship until I didn’t see them as those characters anymore. 

In fact, Joe and Beck (yes, even Beck) are more complex and therefore interesting characters than Dan and Serena. It’s good that they didn’t try to justify Joe’s actions by his terrible childhood or the sadistic bookshop owner who used to lock Joe in the basement. Those points were made to give meaning to Joe’s character rather than portray him as a victim of circumstance. His actions are without a doubt criminal and despicable, but they seem more realistic than those of your usual fictional serial killer. You can see how a person could rationalize his actions to the point where even murder seemed okay. And Joe still cared enough about Paco to try and help him – hey, he even did a bonus murder for his sake! – and he almost succeeded at having a normal relationship. And boy, was I glad when it was over because I did not want to see Karen end up in the dungeon.

Beck is more difficult for me to digest. We have established that she is THE WORST, but there’s something irresistible about her that draws people in – I’m not going to deny that. Still, she was my least favorite character on the show – apart from Ron who was the actual worst, but at least the plot didn’t revolve around him – and I don’t want to talk more about her than I already have. One thing I will mention is that, upon further inspection, I’m not the only one who’s bothered by Beck not having curtains.

The most underappreciated character of the show was Peach – I want a spin-off just for her, but in an alternate reality where Beck is not involved. Peach is the Blair Waldorf of this show, only she’s a more tragic and far less caricature character. And she is so SO gorgeous! I will miss her and her incredible rare book collection. 

The main non-character related aspect of the show that I love is ALL THE BOOKS. Those are my jam, and I am here for that! Joe is me when he says that all you need to know about him is hidden in the room full of rare books. Of course that’s also the room where he keeps his prisoners and later their dead bodies… At least I don’t have that layer to me, I swear! Still, the book love is so sincere and the store is properly moldy and cloaked in perpetual semi-darkness. And the reality of this mostly used-book store selling the latest Stephen King to stay afloat would have been painful, had I not been a massive Stephen King fan. Thank you for choosing him as you financial savior!

And the writing… I don’t want to say Beck is me when she’s procrastinating her writing assignments, mostly cause I can’t stand Beck. Yet it’s true – I procrastinate my writing assignments like it’s nobody’s business. I’m working on it, but it takes time and energy and self-control… and probably something else, but I’m too lazy to come up with more.

Speaking of writing, I am at once annoyed with Blythe for being so pretentious, and I applaud her for getting rid of all digital distractions and even going so far as trying to find a typewriter for Beck. Cause really, is there any other way to stop procrastinating and start writing?

It turns out that one of the ways is having a reason to write. YOU is the reason why I wrote all these reviews, and for that I am grateful. Let’s hope Season 2 doesn’t disappoint.