- Warning: Major spoilers for “You” seasons one and two ahead.
- Season two of the thriller “You” dropped on Netflix on Thursday.
- Joe’s new name – Will Bettelheim – most likely alludes to a real-life controversial psychologist.
- One of the first jokes on the show is about peaches, which could be a nod to a fallen character from season one.
- The taco place where Joe meets Will is a real-life restaurant.
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About a year after Netflix first began streaming “You,” the thriller got its long-awaited second season.
The new installment of the Lifetime-turned-Netflix series dropped on Thursday and even though you devoured each episode, there are a few interesting and horrifying details you might have missed.
Joe’s new name — Will Bettelheim — most likely alludes to a real-life controversial psychologist.
For season two, Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) goes by the name Will Bettelheim, a name he stole from someone else.
His last name matches that of Bruno Bettelheim, a psychologist known for his work treating emotionally disturbed children. After his death, many of his achievements were clouded by accusations that he’d misdiagnosed many of his patients. There were further allegations of abuse.
Joe's stolen name could be intentional seeing as season two is the first time we get a glimpse into Joe's disturbing childhood, including flashbacks to how his father abused his mother and how his mother frequently abandoned him.
Later in the season, on episode five, Love's dad comments on Will's surname and asks if he's "a fan of Bruno," meaning Bruno Bettelheim.
In response, Joe says he's a fan of the book "The Uses of Enchantment," Bruno Bettelheim's collection of fairy-tales that have been analyzed using Freudian psychoanalysis. The book has been the subject of controversy as parts of it have allegedly been plagiarized from another psychiatrist's book, per The Washington Post.
One of the first things you see on season two is a mural of books.
The mural could be a nod to Joe's past working at Mr. Mooney's bookshop during season one.
It could also be viewed as foreshadowing - shortly after this scene, Joe is offered a job as a bookseller at the high-end wellness store Anavarin.
This is also a real-life mural located in Hollywood, California. All of the books in it are written by Charles Bukowski, a German-American poet and novelist whose home city is Los Angeles.
The wellness store's name is actually "Nirvana" spelled backward.
Anavarin seems like a random name for a store, but it's actually "Nirvana" spelled backward.
While it could be a mere nod to the transcendent state of nirvana - the store does sell spiritual books and products related to healing - it could also be a tie to the famous rock band with Kurt Cobain as its frontman.
If you're familiar with season one of the show, there are multiple references to the band Nirvana.
During the pilot episode, Joe talks to Beck about how author Paula Fox has a vague connection to Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. There was also a nail salon called Nirvana next to Mr. Mooney's shop.
Additionally, Beck wore Joe's Nirvana T-shirt during the season one finale.
One of the first jokes on the show is about peaches, which could be a reference to a fallen character from season one.
Joe and Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti) first officially meet in the produce aisle of Anavrin and the first thing Love says to Joe is, "Does this peach look like a butt?"
And although it seems like just some silly banter, it could be the show making a sly nod to Peach Sallinger (Shay Mitchell), one of Joe's enemies and victims from season one.
One of Love's friends works with Netflix.
During episode two, as Joe is talking about Love's agent friend Lucy, an article about how she's working on turning a poetry collection into a Netflix series briefly pops up on the screen.
This could be the show's writers addressing how "You" is now officially a Netflix series, although it began as a Lifetime show in 2018.
During episode two, Joe somewhat jokingly accuses Love's friends of wanting to steal her away to Paris, which is another reference to Peach on season one.
During episode two, Joe spies on Love and her friends and breaks down their possible intentions in his internal dialogue: "Do they secretly want to sleep with you? Own you? Steal you away? To Paris?"
This is a subtle callback to season one when Joe discovered that Peach bought tickets for her and Beck to jet off to Paris.
Joe later tried to encourage Peach to go to Paris alone, but he ended up killing her instead.
On the show, Hendy is a comedian. The actor playing him, Chris D'Elia, is actually a comedian in real life.
At one point, Joe pulls up Hendy's "The Vacuum Guy Netflix Special," which is a fun Easter egg since D'Elia has a few Netflix specials in real life, including "Man on Fire" and "Incorrigible."
Rufus has an "It" (2017) movie poster in his basement.
Rufus has also decorated his home with a poster for "The Shining" (1980). Both are famous horror films that are based on books by Stephen King.
This could be foreshadowing the gruesome events that happen at the end of this episode.
Beck's ghost is wearing a spin on a familiar outfit.
During episode two, Joe sees what appears to be the ghost of Beck (Elizabeth Lail), and she's wearing an outfit that's eerily similar to the one she wore during the "You" pilot, where she falls on the subway tracks.
Note the near-identical pink jacket, similar light-blue shirt, jeans, and stack of blue bracelets. The main difference is that Beck's ghost is wearing a scarf to cover her bruised neck.
The taco place where Joe meets Will is a real-life restaurant.
It's called Juanita's III and it's a drive-in Mexican restaurant located in Ontario, California.
This isn't the first time Joe has brushed up on his knife skills.
During episode two, Joe uses kitchen knives to butcher Jasper's body, and he might be using some skills he learned during season one when he killed Benji.
While trying to figure out how to dispose of Benji's body, Joe referenced a cookbook that explained how to butcher a chicken. He actually ended up burning Benji's body, but he might've recalled some knife skills from the book during season two.
Fans of the show "Dexter" might recognize part of how Joe killed Jasper.
During episode two, Joe kills Jasper on top of a sheet of plastic wrap. It's a haunting image that may remind fans of the Showtime series "Dexter" (which ran to 2006 to 2013).
On "Dexter," the titular Dexter Morgan covers entire rooms with plastic wrap and then covers his victims, too, so there's almost no mess when he kills them. Dexter typically chose victims who he felt justified in murdering, such as rapists or other murderers.
Similarly, Joe also tells himself he's operating with a skewed sense of justice, like when he kills the abusive Ron during season one or Peach for stalking Beck, despite the fact that both crimes are really driven by other motives.
That's not the only slight nod to the Showtime drama series during this season of "You."
Later, during episode six, Love tells Joe, "Why did [Candace] tell me that you buried her alive? ... Well, she also believes that you killed a woman and that you're basically Dexter."
Joe's "souvenirs" have a new hiding place, which might seem familiar to fans of Caroline Kepnes' book "You."
By episode two, Joe has already stolen Love's underwear but this time he's hiding them in a box in his wall behind a painting, which is different from how he placed Beck's personal belongings in a box inside of a ceiling vent during season one.
Anyone who read the book "You" by Caroline Kepnes will be familiar with Joe's new hiding spot. In the novel, Joe hid Beck's things in a hole in the wall that he also covered with artwork.
To get into Hendy's secret room, Joe pulls a stack of Charles Dickens books, which is the second time the series has highlighted this author.
On episode four, Joe tugs on a stack of Charles Dickens books to gain entry into Hendy's secret room, but this isn't the first time we've seen this English author's name on "You."
During season one, Joe attended the Charles Dickens Festival to spy on Beck although he later got caught and met her family.
The connection to Dickens could be as obvious as Joe working in a bookstore and Dickens being a famous author, though it could also tie-in with one of Dickens' most famous works "Oliver Twist."
In the beginning of "Oliver Twist," Oliver is an orphan-turned-apprentice. Joe was also orphaned as a child and apprenticed under Mr. Mooney at the bookstore (with dark consequences).
During episode five, Candace (Ambyr Childers) says her lifelong dream is going to Italy, which is a callback to season one.
On episode five, while in the sharing circle, Candace (as Amy) says, "I will fulfill my lifelong dream of traveling to Italy" to which Joe internally responds with, "Italy? Seriously? She is obsessed with me."
During season one, viewers were led to believe that Candace cheated on Joe and then disappeared to Italy and cut off contact with her life in the US. In fact, Joe tried to murder Candace and buried her in the woods.
On episode six, Hendy's eulogy is read by a real-life comedian.
Kathy Griffin, who reads Hendy's eulogy, is a comedian in real life, just like D'Elia, who played Hendy.
Episode eight shows us a breakdown of everything that was in Beck's book.
As Forty Quinn (James Scully) maps out his screenplay based on Beck's book "The Dark Face of Love," viewers finally get a glimpse of the lies that were spun in the published piece as well as the real events that were included in it.
"Beck Fails At Poetry Reading" is referencing Beck's cringeworthy open-mic performance during season one. Shortly after the performance, she fell on the subway tracks.
"Beck Threatens To Report Her Pervy Professor" is about Beck being sexually harassed by the professor she was working with during season one.
"Beck Finds Box Of Teeth And Other Horrors" lets readers know that the book depicts Joe's creepy box of Beck's teeth, old phone, underwear, and other personal items. In the book, however, that box belongs to Dr. Nicky (played in season one by John Stamos).
After being locked in the glass box once again, Joe whips out a hidden spare key — something he also did during season one.
This isn't the first time Joe hid a spare key. During season one, Beck locked Joe in the cage as she tried to escape, but he quickly got out.
"When Mooney locked me in, I learned a big lesson: Hide a spare key so you can get out of the goddamn cage," he told her.
This time, though, he pulls the spare key from the cage's frame and tosses it out of a hole in the box because he doesn't believe he deserves to be free.
Ellie seemingly ends the season in Florida.
The postcard that Ellie (Jenna Ortega) sends Joe features a snapshot from the film "Key Largo," a 1948 noir film about a veteran who's come to comfort his friend's widow, who helps to operate a mobster-filled hotel in Florida.
The back of the postcard is also postmarked with Sarasota, Florida.
Joe's new target seems to be wearing a diamond ring.
During the final shot of the season, we see Joe setting his sights on a new target - his neighbor who is reading through a stack of classic books and taking notes.
She also appears to be wearing a diamond on her left ring finger, which could possibly be an engagement ring or wedding band.
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