Netflix’s 5-Season Dexter Copycat You Is an Uncomfortable Binge

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Netflix is a top choice for fans of true crime and crime dramas. Though the thriller isn’t based on a real-life event – it’s adapted from Caroline Kepnes’ novel – it still feels incredibly unsettling. This is largely due to Penn Badgley’s compelling performance as the main character, Joe Goldberg, and the surprising plot twists throughout the show’s five seasons.

The show You first aired on Lifetime, but it became much more popular after moving to Netflix for its second season. Many viewers immediately compared it to the Showtime series Dexter, as both shows revolve around a serial killer. Like Dexter Morgan, who operates by a strict moral code, Joe, the killer in You, justifies his actions. A key similarity is the narration by the main character, which gives insight into their thinking. However, there’s a significant difference in how the characters are perceived. While Dexter is awkward but likable, earning a strange sort of affection from fans, Joe’s personality is much more disturbing, leaving viewers feeling uneasy and making the show harder to binge-watch.

Joe Loses Control in a Very Different Way

In the TV show Dexter, the main character, Dexter Morgan, learned to manage his violent impulses with the help of his adoptive father, who has since passed away. Dexter carefully chooses his victims, ensuring they’ve committed terrible crimes before taking action. He sees himself as eliminating dangerous people from society, essentially ‘taking out the trash’.

Joe constantly tries to justify his actions, but he distorts the truth to fit his own twisted worldview. It’s baffling how he rationalizes killing people – for example, he told Beck in the first season that his past trauma and abuse explained the deaths of Benji and Peach. He always creates a reason, typically claiming he had to kill to protect someone he cares about (or himself), and he genuinely seems to believe these explanations. This allows him to kill without feeling guilty.

Joe experienced significant trauma and hardship throughout his life, including abuse, neglect, and abandonment. However, this doesn’t justify his behavior. When watching Dexter kill, it’s easy to understand his reasoning. It’s hard to disagree with him taking the lives of people who commit horrific crimes like kidnapping and sexually abusing children, or murdering innocent people.

Dexter only targeted people who were already dangerous criminals – murderers, drug dealers, and rapists. But Joe is far more disturbing. He doesn’t just kill; he justifies his actions with warped logic and genuinely seems to believe he’s doing the right thing. His method of keeping people captive is actually more frightening than Dexter’s acts of violence and disposal of bodies.

As the show goes on, Joe’s behavior becomes increasingly bizarre. The third season is particularly strange and often disturbing, featuring uncomfortable scenes, including a group sexual encounter between Joe, Love, and people who will soon become their victims. Love’s own disturbing personality and her desperate attempts to hold onto Joe are equally unsettling. Despite being well-made, this season is difficult to watch.

It’s deeply unsettling how easily Joe kills people now, and how cleverly he plans it. He manages to kill Love and avoid consequences, then shockingly decides to track down Marienne, another woman he became fixated on. As a viewer, especially as a woman, it’s genuinely frightening and makes you feel constantly on edge whenever Joe focuses on someone new.

By season five, it’s clear Joe has completely lost control. However, season four is the most disturbing. It’s packed with shocking reveals, the most unsettling of which show Joe experiencing delusions and hallucinations. He committed a series of murders over a long period, all while seemingly taking advice from someone who wasn’t real.

The instant Joe realizes the extent of his actions and loses control is genuinely unsettling. It’s a particularly intense season – you might need a break after watching it before starting the final one. You could even find it helpful to re-watch the first half to catch subtle clues you missed the first time around.

Joe’s Treatment of Women is Most Scary

Joe is designed to resemble real-life serial killers, particularly someone like Ted Bundy. Like Bundy, he’s attractive and charismatic, able to easily gain people’s trust. This serves as a warning that appearances can be deceiving and you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.

Joe was a smart, witty, and considerate man who always prioritized the women he cared for. However, his desire to protect them gradually turned into a frightening obsession. This often started with him targeting someone close to the woman – someone who had hurt her, or who he perceived as a rival.

Whenever Joe wore his baseball cap and started secretly following, researching, or investigating someone, it wasn’t thrilling like when Dexter prepared to hunt down a criminal. For Joe, it signaled he was about to do something awful to an innocent person.

What’s truly unsettling about Joe’s behavior isn’t just what he ultimately did, but how he gradually convinced each woman she needed to prioritize him above all else. He’d put them on a pedestal, creating an uncomfortable dynamic where they felt pressured to abandon their lives for him. What made it even stranger was that he genuinely seemed to believe he was being a wonderful partner. He felt misunderstood and convinced himself he was a great person, blinding him to his own flaws and distorted perceptions – and that’s what made him so dangerous.

Joe is Among the Best TV Serial Killers

Joe Goldberg has become a truly iconic character. However, what’s most disturbing about him is his unwavering belief that his actions were justified, even at the very end. Unlike Dexter, who understood killing was wrong from the beginning, Joe never acknowledged any wrongdoing. Dexter carefully selected his victims, rationalizing his actions by believing he was preventing greater harm, but Joe consistently failed to recognize the wrongfulness of his choices.

Joe didn’t experience any real change or understanding, even after learning he was a killer and being confronted with the devastation he caused to his victims and their loved ones. He continues to believe he’s not a killer, but simply someone who was always acting in self-defense and protecting those close to him, and still blames external forces for his actions.

People often compare You to Dexter, but it doesn’t quite reach the same level of quality. However, You offers a distinctly unsettling experience. While Dexter was often violent and featured numerous killings, dismemberments, and dangerous situations, You feels more disturbing and uncomfortable to watch.

Joe’s unstable and self-destructive behavior makes the show difficult to watch at times. While Dexter killed because of a powerful inner drive, Joe’s motives are rooted in a need to control and dominate others. Though both characters end up committing similar acts, their reasons for doing so are quite different.

I always felt a strange connection with Dexter. He struggled with darkness, and honestly, he was a bit of a monster. But watching him wasn’t disturbing – it was captivating! I often found myself hoping he’d pull things off, that he wouldn’t get caught. And it’s the same with the new series – I’m still on his side, even knowing what he is.

In the show You, the story is told from the perspective of the victims, making you feel their fear and helplessness. Even though the character Joe is charismatic, kind, and well-spoken, it’s deeply unsettling because you eventually discover he’s actually a dangerous killer.

His behavior during interactions, particularly when he gets angry, is really disturbing. This is a credit to Penn Badgley’s acting and the show’s excellent writing, which keeps you hooked. It’s one of the best shows out there and definitely worth a watch, but be warned – it’s best to pace yourself.

Honestly, this show isn’t one you’ll want to race through. You really need to take your time with each season because Joe is… a lot. It’s not just about what he does, but really understanding his messed-up way of thinking and the impact he has on all the women he gets involved with. If you don’t, you’ll start to feel as trapped and desperate as the characters themselves, and believe me, you don’t want that.

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2026-01-26 01:40