'You' season 2: Candace's return in season 1 finale makes us hopeful of a greater twist in the tale
The first season of the stalker drama-thriller 'You', based on the books by Caroline Kepnes, kept fans wanting more even besides its dark and eerie feel to the entire stalker-murderer character played by Gossip Girl star Penn Badgley. His role in this captivating thriller series is as Joe Goldberg, a local bookstore manager in New York. The story is based on his newfound love for the tech-savvy world of social media that leads him to find the love of his life by the name Guinevere Beck ( Elizabeth Lail), a broke NYU graduate student who aspires to be a writer.
The story's slow-paced demeanor follows the journey of a stalker who begins to follow Beck after her first visit to the bookstore where he falls in love with her. Joe is so obsessed with Beck and her life that he finds the need to control it and make it better by eliminating the people who have no value for her existence in the busy life of New York City. Joe's character was perceived as a boy full of charm and etiquette running his bookstore with ease and humility only to later reveal his gameplan.
The stalking reaches a point where he finds out that Beck is someone looking out to be taken care of by somebody who values her for who she is from the inside and not just to sleep around with. Joe's character in the series shows two sides to him - one of a creepy stalker who can just about do anything for the sake of Beck's betterment according to his perception and two, the sober one. Joe feels like he is the guy that people come to for help and he has this urge to help people like Pacco (Luca Pandovan), his neighbor's son, and Beck because, without his presence in their lives, they wouldn't be happy. Season one gives the viewers an insight into Joe's character and the choices he makes to make life better for the love of his life Beck. When she realizes that Joe's presence in her life would be good for her, they begin to date and everything goes well till Beck's posh self-obsessed friend Peach (Shay Mitchell) gets suspicious about Joe's identity and everything that he is. This is where the story becomes enthralling to the audience and raised the viewers to about 60,000 on Netflix.
Candace played by Ambyr Childers is introduced into the series as Joe's ex. Through the hallucinations he has of her, he kills Beck's friend Peach (Shay Mitchell). The season shows Candace as a musician who cheats on him and then flees to Italy to start a new and fresh life with her lover. When Joe is questioned by Beck, he is inevitably forced to show Beck the secret Instagram account of his ex-girlfriend to prove to Beck that she is still alive and happy. Although, Beck begins to become suspicious when they bump into a friend of Candace's at a party who proceeds to quiz Joe about his ex who seems to be missing.
Gradually, it is revealed that Joe did murder the person with whom he presumed Candace was cheating on him with, who was a record executive helping her launch her career as a musician. Joe pushed him off a tall building in a fit of anger whereas, the death of Candace was never shown. There was a breakup scene that the viewers witnessed though his ex did appear in the form of flashbacks and hallucinations. Many did assume with the understanding of Joe's character that Candace was murdered bringing upon the same fate for Beck at Joe's hand. His hallucinations were images of him drowning Candace in a lake out of rage.
The return of Candace in season two would mean more unexplored aspects of Joe's personality revealed. Though Candace played a very small role in season 1, her entry towards the end was one that shocked the entire fan base. Her return in season two and the plot of the story is what everyone is looking forward to. The moment of truth will come out as she will bring about a new outlook to the series with her taking the situation into her own hands. Joe's perplexed expression at the end of season one shows that the next season is not going to be one that is as eased out as season one. It is sure to have a twist to the plot. The guy who thought he had everything in control just lost his hope of leading a normal life. Season two is said to have a location change and Joe has found a new love for himself to play with till he pleases. Candace will bring turmoil and dismay into his life, hence he decides to move away to Los Angeles. The fans of this thriller series have crazy theories outside of Twitter. One of the theories is that Joe did not actually kill Beck as the body was not shown, all that was shown was the sack. The other more relevant one being if Candace was actually dead, was Joe hallucinating when he saw Candace before? or was it in his mind that she could actually be alive this whole time? The mysteries behind Candace's death and her return, in the end, will and can only be known with the release of season two of 'You'.