It’s been a month since I watched Netflix‘s latest Harlan Coben thriller, and I’m still thinking about it. I Will Find You is the perfect summer TV show. You could say it’s a guilty pleasure since the plot twists and connections between characters can be melodramatic. And maybe some moments are hard to believe. Then again, you could also say that there’s nothing to feel guilty about because it’s an entertaining story that you can enjoy on a hot summer day with the A/C on. (That’s the camp I fall into.)
Anyone who has watched the eight-episode series about David Burroughs (Sam Worthington), a husband and father who escapes from prison to search for his son, has likely seen at least one other Coben Netflix thriller. But while these shows are all compelling in similar ways, I believe that the five-season series You tells a more alarming and more sweeping story than any of them.
Netflix’s Thriller ‘You’ Feels Much Bigger Than Every Harlan Coben Series
I’ve written about You a lot because it’s one of my favorite thrillers, and I don’t think many series can match it in terms of scale. In Season 1, Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) seems like yet another New York City-based hipster who loves books and is hoping to find someone to spend his life with. The writers might have kept him in NYC for the entire series, and the show’s themes of cruelty, love, trauma, and abuse would still have been impactful.
Harlan Coben’s thrillers are impressive, but they don’t feel quite the same as this one. Yes, I Will Find You has a global setting, as the mystery reaches Geneva, Switzerland. However, You goes even further, as Joe Goldberg moves across the United States and even internationally. In Season 2, he tries to call Los Angeles home, and in Season 3, he moves to Madre Linda, a suburb in California, with Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti). Although he’s back in NYC for the fifth and final season, Joe’s relocation to London in Season 4 is one of the biggest and most interesting changes in the entire series. He meets a new group of people whom he lies to, and you wonder if he could keep doing this forever.
Since Joe is a serial killer, his presence in New York City would be scary enough. But as he lives in various places, he targets even more people, which makes his actions even more significant. In Season 5, the impacts of his reign of terror are felt the most. Several characters are aware of the truth about Joe and want to see him punished. Bronte (Madeline Brewer) lies about her identity to catch Joe. Nadia (Amy Leigh-Hickman), who lived in London and was imprisoned, is also part of the plan. Bronte’s pals Clayton (Tom Francis), who is Dr. Nicky’s (John Stamos) son, and Dominique (Natasha Behnam) help her out, too.
You has a lot in common with Harlan Coben’s Netflix thrillers like Safe, Fool Me Once, and Run Away. These are all dark stories about characters who hide their true selves, and they feature murder, disappearances, and other tragedies. But when I reflect on the legacy of Joe’s character arc, I can’t help but think about how many characters were affected by him, and how many lives he ruined. Beck’s (Elizabeth Lail) friends and family were devastated by her death, and when Nadia went to prison, it’s hard not to think about how terrible that was for the people in her life.
Without Joe constantly moving around, from urban environments to (not so peaceful) suburbia, You might not land quite the same. Sure, New Yorkers might read about a serial killer who claimed he was a hopeless romantic on the news, and that would be disturbing. Joe’s problematic beliefs and desire to be loved no matter what affect people he has never met. And that makes him truly evil.
- Release Date
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2018 – 2025-00-00
- Network
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Lifetime, Netflix
- Directors
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Marcos Siega, Lee Toland Krieger, Cherie Nowlan, DeMane Davis, Kellie Cyrus, Marta Cunningham, Martha Mitchell, Victoria Mahoney, Erin Feeley
- Writers
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Justin W. Lo
