'You' Season 2 Episode 3 brings out Joe's savior complex as he plays guardian angel to Ellie and Forty
For viewers who watched Season 1 of 'You', one thing about Joe Goldberg that stood out was how he always looked out for his neighbor, Paco, whose mother is in an abusive relationship. Joe goes as far as killing Paco's mother's boyfriend when he continues to hurt Paco. Since Joe has moved to Los Angeles, we don't see Paco anymore, but in his place, there is 15-year-old Ellie, his neighbor. We met her in the first episode itself and we saw him immediately strike a friendship with her.
In this episode, Joe's savior complex becomes full-blown as he suspects that there may be something sinister happening to her -- and this danger is posed to her by Henderson -- Forty's sort-of friend who is a famous Hollywood comedian. We learned that Henderson had raped Delilah, and the third episode shows that Henderson has now set his sights on Ellie. Joe comes to suspect this when he sees her after a night at Henderson's, throwing up and saying she passed out -- and warning bells ring.
So now, Joe is on a mission to find out everything about Henderson and how he can protect Ellie -- who is quite stubborn and not as susceptible to Joe's charms as Paco. In the midst of it all, Joe is also trying to figure out how to keep his not-relationship with Love safe -- he does not want to go down the same path as Beck, but Love definitely wants to be more than Joe's friend.
While at Henderson's party later in the episode, he also sees Forty lose his sobriety and tries to help the brother of his 'new love' to make it back home. This is after a failed attempt at finding anything untoward in Henderson's place -- but he does steal his laptop.
Love and Joe end up together by the end of the episode, but the focus is on Joe's need to act as savior -- first to Ellie, then to Forty. Joe also learns from Forty that Henderson's house has a "creepy dungeon" -- giving him a clue as to where he can find incriminating evidence on Henderson.
We also see Joe interacting with Will, who acts as a "faux-therapist" to Joe -- and to be honest, diagnoses him pretty well. Will asks Joe whether he is looking out for Ellie because he gets something in return -- that is, to convince himself he is a good guy.
One thing is for sure -- the supporting characters in Season 2 are far more layered than their Season 1 counterparts, though it took us a while to get used to them.
All episodes of Season 2 of 'You' are now streaming on Netflix.
