Do we like them?

Do we like Joe Goldberg?

A character from You (2018-2025)

Our score: 1 out of 10. No. He tells himself he's a romantic hero, but he stalks and hurts people and blames everyone else. Lovely taste in books, though.

Joe is introduced as a soft-spoken, well-read bookstore manager in New York. When a customer catches his eye, he starts quietly tracking her online and in person. The series is told through his charming, self-justifying narration, so you're pulled into his view of things even as his behavior turns frightening.

Across the seasons he moves cities and takes on new identities, hoping each time that this relationship will be the one that makes him a good man. Each time, the same pattern of obsession, control and violence returns. He casts himself as a protector, but the people around him pay the price.

He scores low because the show keeps showing the gap between how Joe sees himself and what he does. His self-awareness is mostly an excuse. The final season is built around whether he will ever face consequences, and the coverage I found disagrees on the details, so I've left them out here.