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The Heights
Monday, February 20, 2023
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‘You’ Season Four Lacks Variety, New Plotlines By Ernest Romero Heights Staff Part one of the fourth and final season of Netflix’s original show You revived Penn Badgley as Joe Goldberg, a moody hopeless romantic with a penchant for murder, on Feb. 9. You is the perfect Valentine’s Day watch, so our antihero protagonist Joe would hope. Having killed his equally murderous wife, Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti), and set his suburban California home aflame in a staged murder-suicide in season three, Joe finds himself on the other side of the pond in London, chasing yet another unattainable damsel in distress at the start of season four. Originally arriving in Paris, Joe is determined to find Marienne (Tati Gabrielle), an artist and former coworker of his at the Madre Linda Public Library, and
who he believes is the love of his life. His search for Marienne is cut short when a hitman sent by his late wife’s affluent father reveals that Joe’s former father-in-law has discovered the truth about and will stop at no end to avenge his daughter’s death. Fortunately for Joe, the hitman in question offers him another chance with all of the proper documents needed to reenter life as a Columbia-graduated English professor at a British university. Despite having none of the proper education to pursue such a field, Joe takes a liking to life as a professor, falling into a crowd of Soho’s elite. That is until Joe discovers that he is being stalked by a stranger and once again tied to a series of murders, which leads him back into a life of secrecy, foul play, and manipulation. Throughout Joe’s life on the
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‘You’ Released Feb. 9, 2023
screen, viewers have gotten to know the Brooklyn native as a deluded man-child with serious childhood trauma and an intense savior complex. Paired with his license to kill any and all who get in between him and his plans—which more often than not includes preying on any woman Joe deems different from the rest—Joe has somehow landed a spot in the hearts of the Netflix masses. Upon its initial release in 2018, You quickly skyrocketed to popularity among Netflix viewers. Harping on a cultural obsession with serial killers and true crime, Badgley as Joe represents an antihero archetype—a protagonist who is convinced that he is good while simultaneously enacting destruction wherever he goes. Joe’s small redeeming qualities and good deeds prevent the character from total derision from the show’s viewers. Despite this, Joe continues to throw himself at whatever unexpecting woman he can get his hands on, only to later victimize himself when she turns out to be human rather than the romanticized image he forced upon her. Joe’s antics have grown rather repetitive since the show’s release in 2018, in addition to the blatant laziness that has plagued the You writing room for too long.
Each of the show’s season’s individual plots reveals itself to be purely aesthetic, changing the setting and side characters rather than the central conflict, which continues to be Joe’s search for a soulmate and his past that attempts to get in the way. Looking back on each season, Joe, a working-class white man, seems to be constantly finding himself among affluency. Whether New York socialite Peach Salinger, Madre Linda “mom-fluencer” Sherry Conrad, or this season’s London gallery director Kate Galvin, Joe somehow only befriends the wealthiest and most stuck-up individuals, to which he claims to rise above, embellishing his persona as a wellread humble orphan looking for his soulmate. With each passing season—and lover—Joe’s position as a multi-layered and complex character has grown weaker and weaker. The constant redirection of Joe’s setting and background characters only adds to the lack of connection between the audience and plot, as new victims and chess pieces to Joe’s idiotic whims are added and discarded every season. While easily adapted through the first three seasons, the loss of the equally sociopathic yet fanadored Love has caused a rift among viewers, as Joe disregards their marriage as a fatal mistake and sets
off after the mousy Marienne, who carries little to no substance as a character. Joe’s constant inner retaliation against his identity as a murderer has too become repetitive and substanceless. For someone who has killed as many people as Joe, one would think he could at the very least admit his own faults rather than place the blame on his conquest for whatever woman he seems to believe is incapable of taking care of herself without him. After several seasons, his moves have become predictable and boring, as he pines after any woman who gives him the slightest bit of affection and then proceeds to murder someone because of it. This season is no different. As for the reversal of Joe’s position from stalker to stalkee, it is hardly worth mentioning as a major plot point, as the mysterious stalker messages on his British phone added little to no excitement to an already monotonous season. Having been one of Netflix’s most critically acclaimed shows in recent years, one would expect more from Joe as he enters his final hurrah in the final season of You. Nonetheless, it seems Joe has flown too close to the sun. Hopefully by the end of the season, his facade will come crashing down. n
‘TRUSTFALL’ Addresses Value of Trust and Love By Parker Leaf Heights Staff P!nk’s ninth album, TRUSTFALL, consists of 13 tracks that reflect the value of finding trust and love in life. TRUSTFALL was released on Feb. 17, but P!nk released two singles from the album before the release date. The title track, “TRUSTFALL” was released at the end of January, and it contains the familiar pop-genre sound signature to P!nk. The song begins with a metronome beat that sets a steady tempo for the entire song and high-pitched echoes of the lyrics repeating. The song connects to the album’s overarching theme of being able to leave behind the mess of life and have love and trust to fall back on. “Close your eyes and leave it all behind / Go where love is on our side / It’s a trust fall, baby / It’s a trust fall, baby,” P!nk sings. Three days before the release of the album, P!nk released an-
other single, “When I Get There.” This emotive track is a tribute to her father who passed away in August 2021. “Sometimes love leaves us too soon,” P!nk wrote on Instagram on Feb. 14. “On Valentine’s Day- I cherish the love I have that I can touch- and the love I have in my heart for those who have gone on to the next adventure. This one’s for you, Daddy Sir.” “When I Get There” is a slow and captivating song which fits P!nk’s strong raspy voice, as she reminisces about her father. The whole song is written in the second person, creating a sense of intimacy as the listener gets to feel like they are listening to a private conversation between P!nk and her late father. “Is there a place you go / To watch the sunset and oh / Is there a song you just can’t wait to share? / Yeah I know you’ll tell me when I get there,” P!nk sings. A theme throughout the album is P!nk’s incorporation of
questions into her lyrics. In her 11th track on the album, “Feel Something ,” P!nk sings about wanting to and being able to give and receive love. In the chorus, the tempo builds up in the first half of each line as the lyrics express her effort, but quickly the tempo falls again by the end as P!nk acknowledges that she got nothing out of it. “My feet are gettin’ sore, but I keep runnin’ / I do it again and again and again, but I found nothin’ / I gave my heart to the wolves and they tore it open,” P!nk sings. TRUSTFALL has three credited guests: The Lumineers on “Long Way to Go,” First Aid Kit on “Kids in Love,” and Chris Stapleton on “Just Say I’m Sorry.” The Lumineers sing as an echo to P!nk on the song. Folk duo, First Aid Kit, harmonizes beautifully with P!nk in “Kids in Love.” The song dips into the country genre, a style which complements P!nk’s voice. “Just Say I’m Sorry”
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‘TRUSTFALL’ Released Feb. 17, 2023
is an emotive duet that combines P!nk and Stapleton’s powerful raspy voices. The song relates to the themes of the rest of P!nk’s album and dives into the complexity of love. “Just say, ‘I’m sorry’ / It’s not the hardest thing to do / Just say you’re wrong sometimes / And I’ll believe you ‘cause I love you / Just say, ‘I’m sorry,’” P!nk and Stapleton sing. P!nk’s other tracks, “Turbulence,” “Never Gonna Not Dance Again,” “Runaway,” “Last Call,” “Hate Me,” “Lost Cause,” and “Our
Song” all continue to play with the themes of finding sources of trust and love. “‘Cause I know that you noticed I hate kissing you with my eyes closed / Keep ‘em open and stare at your face making sure that your eyes close / ‘Cause I was never taught to trust somebody, nobody” P!nk sings on “Lost Cause.” TRUSTFALL has something for every member of P!nk’s audience of different ages and backgrounds as it dives into the universally relatable layers of love and the emotional trustfall that life is. n
‘This Is Why’ Disappoints With Flat, Boring Melodies By Charley Conroy Heights Staff Pop- punk band Paramore returned with its first album in six years with This Is Why on Feb. 10. Despite a powerful and upbeat start, This Is Why mellows out in the second half, making the album an overall disappointing experience in comparison to the high-energy music Paramore produced in the past. This Is Why feels like an album of two sounds. Paramore could have capitalized on the contrast between the quiet and loud songs on the album, but as it stands, This Is Why feels like an album that occasionally reaches the explosive highs of Paramore’s discography but fails to impress in the softer moments. This Is Why instantly draws listeners in with the best song on
the album—the title track, “This Is Why.” “If you have an opinion maybe you shove it,” lead singer Hayley Williams softly sings before bursting into an explosive chorus. The chorus exclaims that the pressure of being the face of Paramore and the expectations thrust upon her by critics is why Williams doesn’t leave the house. The song is bold and energetic
while simultaneously addressing Williams’ struggles. The next three songs on the album maintain the exciting sound set up by the title track. “The News,” “Running Out of Time,” and “C’est Comme Ça” are the types of songs that will stick around on playlists for a long time. But by the fifth track “Big Man, Little Dignity,” this upbeat energy is entirely abandoned. The entire song feels lethargic and even
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‘This Is Why’ Released Feb. 10, 2023
when it tries to liven things up in the chorus, it doesn’t come close to Paramore’s past pop-punk anthems. Williams can be so powerful and commanding in her music, but in the quieter moments on the album, it feels like she’s holding back. These songs don’t hit their emotional highs in the way they have the potential to. Instead, they just leave a little to be desired. Meanwhile, the entire time you’re hoping for another “This Is Why” to show up out of nowhere. While Paramore’s comeback album was boring, it showed that a quieter and more chill sound is clearly the direction the band wants to move toward in the future. Listeners on Spotify were greeted with a video message from the band talking about the album. It’s unfortunate then that the part of the album that is most en-
joyable is the part that references Paramore’s original sound. The first four tracks feel like old Paramore, and it’s genuinely some of the band’s best material. This Is Why would have been more suited as a fourtrack EP, as the presence of the slow tracks at the end of the album ruins its pacing. From “Misery Business” to “Still Into You,” the music of Paramore provided fun anthems to sing along to. Songs like “This Is Why” and “The News” satisfy listeners’ itch on This Is Why, but the rest of the album fails to provide anything exciting. With This Is Why, it seems like Paramore is growing up. While this effort didn’t strike the same chord as its old music, or as something new, it lays the groundwork for a much more subdued Paramore to come. n