You transcended its origins as an under-the-radar gem on the Lifetime Channel to become a huge hit on Netflix. The show’s fanbase constantly memes its wild happenings and unabashedly lusts after Penn Badgley, even though Joe Goldberg is a possessive freak easily prone to violence. The dissonance between the content of the show and the perverse pleasure people get from it extends to the actors on screen as well. Guinevere Beck (Elizabeth Lail) was one of Joe’s first victims on You with his time held captive in a cage playing a big party at his death. Despite the gruesome nature of the setup, Lail considers these scenes his favorite moments on set. You.
Beck was Joe’s obsession in the first season of ‘You’
Beck was a humble MFA student who dreamed of a career as a writer before becoming the object of Joe’s disturbed affection. He kills several people close to her and interferes in her life to make Beck “love” her.
Towards the end of the first season, she discovers the depth of Joe’s madness after finding his stache of murder memories. Joe’s reaction to this is to use what we now know to be one of the go-to moves in his playbook: keeping people captive in a cage. Beck’s escape attempt is interrupted by Joe and although her death is never shown on screen, she only appears in season two as a ghost relying on Joe’s bad conscience.
The weight of Beck’s death reappears in the penultimate episode of season four when she and fellow victims Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti) and Gemma Graham-Greene (Eve Austin) appear in his Valium-induced nightmares to convince Joe that the only way to atone for his crimes is to kill himself.
Elizabeth Lail had a great time hanging out in the cage
Lail and Badgely were guests on an episode of the Podcrushed podcast. He is asked to name his favorite scene from the series to film and Lail chooses Beck’s captivity in Joe’s cage. Bringing those moments of terror to life was an entertaining exercise for the actor.
“During the week I was in the cage, although it seems like a strange thing to enjoy. It’s intense, and you can kind of live in that intensity,” Lail said. “I would just stay in the cage and lay down, and people would work around me. There’s something in the cage that looks like a theater because it’s dark around [the set] then the lights come on.
Many actors would give the same answer as Lail in this situation. Finding the right emotional tone in such an extreme setting is a challenge that many performers find appealing. It can be fun to explore these kinds of scenarios without having to deal with an actual stalker.
Where will “You” go after the events of season 4?
We know from the beginning of You that Joe is a killer. But the revelations in season four pushed his actions into an even darker place.
Joe’s attempt to reinvent his identity as a London-based professor succeeds in the worst way. Rhys Montrose (Ed Speelers), the “Eat the Rich Killer” wreaking havoc on his social circle, turns out to be a projection of Joe’s spirit to help him dissociate himself from his murderous compulsions.
Netflix renewed You for a fifth and final season. Star Badgely said he was excited to see Joe potentially facing some consequences.
I feel like Joe has to get his way, and now he has to fall again because he has all this power and wealth,” he told IndieWire. “But of course it’s not up to me. I don’t know where it’s going. But for me, with this concept and with this character, you always wanted to be responsible and it’s not just the kind of thing you can let go because it works well.