Psychological thriller glamorizing a murderous stalker — graphic violence and deeply problematic moral framing.
The most interesting — and most troubling — thing about You is that it's genuinely good television. Penn Badgley is charismatic, the writing is sharp, and the show is compulsively watchable. That quality is also what makes it worth examining seriously.
You is told from Joe's first-person perspective. We hear his inner monologue, we understand his rationalizations, and — crucially — we often find ourselves agreeing with his assessments before being horrified by his actions. The show is extraordinarily effective at creating intimacy with a man who stalks, manipulates, and murders. Proverbs 4:23 instructs us to guard our hearts because everything we do flows from it. Spending five seasons in the mind of a predator — rooting for him, understanding him, finding him attractive — is not a neutral spiritual exercise.
You contains graphic violence, sexual content, strong language, and extended sequences of stalking and psychological manipulation. Later seasons are more graphically violent than early ones. The show is unambiguously TV-MA throughout.
Defenders argue that it teaches viewers to recognize manipulation and predatory behavior. There's some truth to this. But this argument works better in theory than in practice. The show's structure — Joe's sympathetic inner monologue, his genuine love for his son, his moments of real kindness — consistently pulls viewers toward identification rather than horror. Most viewers don't come away with a clinical understanding of predatory psychology. They come away having found Joe Goldberg compelling.
Available on Netflix.
GodlyScore evaluates every show across nine signal categories grounded in Scripture: profanity (Ephesians 4:29), sexual content (1 Corinthians 6:18-20), violence (Psalm 11:5), LGBT normalization (Romans 1:24-27), spiritual darkness (Ephesians 5:11), glorification of sin (Romans 1:32), deception mechanics (Proverbs 12:22), virtue strength (Philippians 4:8), and redemption arc. The score reflects not just whether content is present but how it's framed — depicted critically, neutrally, or as aspirational. You Netflix scores see full guide.
See our Christian TV Reviews hub for comparisons. For episode-level content breakdowns, Plugged In and Common Sense Media complement GodlyScore's biblical framework. Age recommendation: older teenagers and adults.