History Characters / You2018MainCharacters

The titular You's of ''Series/You2018''.

** The plot of Season 3 hinges on this no longer being an option for her after the divorce of her parents; thus, [[spoiler:she can't just hire someone to clean up her spur-of-the-moment murders, attempted or otherwise, which inevitably draw attention and [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome put her and Joe in jeopardy]]]].

* ClingyJealousGirl: The minute she meets Joe (Will), she wants to spend as much time with him as possible, doesn't take kindly to him cancelling on their dates, and wants him to meet her friends within days. She's also like this with her brother Forty, though it's far more obvious on his side than hers.

* HotLibrarian: A beautiful librarian whom Joe freely fantasizes over.

Main characters of ''Series/You2018''.

* NotSoStoic: After spending most of the season behaving icy and cooly, Kate finally breaks into tears and sobs in Joe's arms after learning that her father was behind every success in her career and that she accomplished nothing without his influence.

!! Katherine Galvin

* ContrastingReplacementCharacter: Compared to Beck, Love, Marienne, [[RedHerring and to a lesser extent]], Natalie, who are all [[NiceGirl Nice Girls]] who have a near instant chemistry with Joe and are quickly charmed into a relationship by him, Kate at first treats Joe with thinly veiled and outright unveiled contempt. Joe's relationship with her is also different; while he spends most of his narration fawning over Beck and Love, he sees his protecting of Kate as a chore and is annoyed that [[DudeWheresMyRespect she still treats him rudely]]. She becomes warmer to him after they officially start dating, but still has a witty edge.

* EveryoneHasStandards: While Kate herself is (initially) a huge bitch to everyone and Joe, she is still disgusted by Gemma's unfair treatment and bullying of others who did not deserve it. At Phoebe's manor, Kate storms out after witnessing Gemma cruelly humiliating the help during a pall-mall game.

* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: [[spoiler: She continues to believe that Joe is a good person, even when he confesses to being a murderer..]]
* JerkassHasAPoint: Although she is unnecessarily rude and snobbish to Joe, she has repeatedly caught him peeking at her through the window, following her and proclaiming that he needs to protect her, so there is reason for her to be annoyed at him.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: While she is somewhat of a jerk to Joe at first, she is a loving friend to Phoebe, mourns Malcolm and Gemma despite their flaws and disapproves of her friends' snobbishness.

* NotSoStoic: After spending most of the season behaving icy and cooly, Kate finally breaks into tears after learning that her father was behind every success in her career and that she accomplished nothing without his influence.
* PetTheDog: When Phoebe is moved to tears by Joe apparently saying something very profound, Kate can be seen hugging and consoling her.

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: She hates her new step-father's perfect family.

* DontYouDarePityMe: She feels uncomfortable when Peach offers to pay for things or help her out financially, even though Peach can certainly afford it.

* ParentalAbandonment: A variant in that, despite having stuck by him through the worst of his addictions, she feels her father is more focused on the new family he has gained since recovery and now treats her as an unwelcome reminder of his past. He still loves her and tries to make her part of his life but Beck feels, not unjustifiably, that neither he nor his new family want much to do with her anymore and see her as intruding on their new happirer lives.

* WickedStepmother: Her father's new wife is a downplayed version in that while she is generally nice, Beck always feels unwelcome in her presence and like she has made Beck's father regard in a similar manner, as an unwelcome part of his past and someone to be tolerated rather than made part of a family.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: While she is somewhat of a jerk to Joe, she is a loving friend to Phoebe, mourns Malcolm despite his flaws and disapproves of her other friends' snobbishness.

* MistakenForMurderer: [[spoiler:Joe catches her kneeling over Gemma's corpse holding a bloody knife. She didn't kill her.]]

* SlidingScaleOfBeuaty: Common Beauty, Unlike other love interests who are often described as world-class beauty, Kate's beauty doesn't usually attract much attention, beyond a few flattering comments.

[[folder:Kate Lockwood]]
!! Katherine Lockwood

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/guinevere_beck.jpg]]

* DeadPersonConversation: She shows up a bunch of times in Season 2 as a guilt-induced hallucination Joe is having. Note that these hallucinations have her spelling it out clearly for Joe and the audience that she really is dead, in contrast to Candace, who really did miraculously survive. Joe sometimes has difficulty telling the difference.

[[folder:Kate]]
!! Kate Galvin

[[folder:Forty Quinn]]
!!Forty Quinn
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2019_12_29_a_guide_to_all_the_new_you_season_2_characters.png]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/JamesScully (Adult), Creator/AntonStarkman (Teenager)

Love's troubled twin brother. An aspiring screen-writer who wastes his potential on parties and decadent living, knowing that his rich parents can look after him.

* AddledAddict: He's constantly in a cycle of abuse and relapse as the series goes on, including getting drunk at a house party, smoking crack at his parents' anniversary and downing enough alcohol and LSD to kill a cow while scriptwriting with Joe.
* AdaptationalHeroism: In the book, [[spoiler:he finds out the truth about Joe and is happy to keep it quiet]] providing that Joe writes screenplays for him for the rest of their lives, on top of being a sleazy manipulator. In the series, he is genuinely devoted to his sister Love's well-being [[spoiler:and when he finds out the truth about Joe, he takes a gun to Joe in an attempt to protect Love from him.]]
* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Joe despises him in the book, and while in the series he does describe him as an "adult baby" as someone who needs attention and love from everyone, and clings on tight to Love, he actually is a very sweet, protective brother deep down and his main creepy behaviour only comes out when he's high, while book-Forty is actually even more of a creep constantly.
* TheAlcoholic: His love of booze only scratches the surface of his addiction, but it's definitely there.
* AmbiguouslyBi: He's definitely into women, but he's also ''really'' attached to Joe. When he's on acid, he asks Joe if he'd fuck him.
-->'''Forty:''' ''[handing Joe a flower]'' Give that to Delilah. And when you're fucking her... think of me.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: He's a very fun and upbeat person. [[spoiler:He was also fully prepared to kill Joe when he finds out about his true nature.]]
* BigBrotherInstinct: Even though they're twins and Love functions as his protector for most part, [[spoiler:Forty loses his love and respect for Joe the moment he connects the dots that Joe is a monster, and is prepared to kill Joe to protect Love]].
* CampStraight: Perhaps an EnforcedTrope, as his actor is openly gay in real life. Forty loves to be dramatic, needs to be the center of attention, and will often achieve this through campy mannerisms. This is one of the reason he's an EnsembleDarkHorse.
* CantTakeCriticism: When Ellie says they should start the script over again, he runs away from their writing session, and goes and gets drunk.
* CassandraTruth: He sobers up in the later episodes, trying to [[spoiler:protect people from Joe]], but he's dismissed because people think he's high or drunk.
* CloudCuckooLander: Although not a happy version, Forty is in deep denial and his self-absorption often causes him to behave this way, and even more so when he falls OffTheWagon.
* CrazyJealousGuy: A platonic(-[[IncestSubtext ish]]) version to Love. Some of the reason he likes Joe/Will so much is because Joe lets him come along.
* DeceasedFallGuyGambit: [[spoiler:Joe and Love pin Henderson's and Candace's murders on him after he's shot by a police officer.]]
* DesperatelyCravesAffection: Love is the only person who truly cares about him, but Forty is desperate to befriend and impress ''everybody''. Just look at how quickly he falls for "Amy Adam." This quote really says it all:
-->'''Forty:''' God! Why can't I just meet, like, a nice girl like Creator/JessicaAlba, who won't lie to me, and who just wants to have my babies and love me forever? Like, is that is that too much to ask?
* DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation: [[spoiler:Forty gets hit by a car in the novel, but dies by being shot by a police officer in the series.]]
* DumbassHasAPoint: He's more right than he could ever know that Love is unfit to be a mother.
* EntitledBastard: His relationship with Love and, eventually Joe, can be described as very needy. Forty needs to write a script for the movie he's making, but Joe is planning to leave LA forever. His response is to [[spoiler:kidnap and drug him to work on the movie]].
* FamilyThemeNaming: Like his sister, he is named after a tennis term. In his care, "Forty" refers to the highest amount one can score, symbolizing the ParentalFavoritism of Forty over Love.
* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: The "foolish" to Love's "responsible", even when it's revealed that [[spoiler:he didn't kill their babysitter; she did]]. She's still always supposed to take care of him.
* FreudianExcuse: One of the reasons he needs Love to be his emotional crutch is because his parents have always coddled him when he was younger. [[spoiler:A lot of his issues can also be traced back to the fact that a babysitter raped him when he was young, and his parents chose to cover it up, and didn't even bring him to counselling or anything. He still considers his abuser to be his "first love," and was further devastated by her death.]]
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Well, Love loves him a ''lot'', but none of Love's other friends can stand him, and Joe can't either (although warming to him later).
-->'''Joe:''' I will try my hardest to accept being in a damn thouple with your brother.
* GenkiGuy: Forty is ''always'' going full force.
* HeroicSacrifice: In his final scene, Forty prepares to [[spoiler:shoot Joe in cold blood, ruining his relationship with Love and likely condemning himself to prison, in order to protect Love from Joe. Forty himself is shot dead before he could.]]
* HiddenDepths:
** Surprisingly, he ''is'' capable of writing a pretty good story, if he forces himself to focus and get real about his shortcomings as a writer. He wrote and directed a short film called ''The Third Twin'' that won a grand jury prize at Sundance. When working on an adaption of Beck's book, he's able to figure out what actually happened, suggesting some kind of insight.
** He's ''much'' more self-aware than he lets on. He's actually perfectly aware he's a trainwreck, and ''hates'' himself for it. [[spoiler:He's also much more perceptive of Love's issues than she realized, though he doesn't realize just ''how'' deep that particular rabbit hole goes.]]
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: He has no idea something is off with "Amy Adam" [[spoiler:aka Candace]], misses the millions of red flags about both her and Joe, has no problem with Joe pretending to be Will and continues to want him and Love to get back together after that. [[spoiler:PlayedWith in regards to Love. He reveals he's well aware -- more than ''she'' is, even -- that she's just as screwed-up as he is, and bluntly points out she's not going to be a very good mother. However, he goes to his death unaware of [[{{Yandere}} just how right he is]].]]
* IntergenerationalFriendship: With Ellie. Also borders with InterclassFriendship.
* JerkassHasAPoint: An immature, self-destructive AttentionWhore who does have the occasional insight.
** When Love gets angry at him for butting into her love life, he shoots back that she hired someone to spy on his girlfriend. Even Love can't deny his point.
** As his sister can also attest, both of their parents are assholes.
** [[spoiler:In his final confrontation with Joe and Love, he angrily but accurately points out that his sister is just as messed up as him, she's just better at disguising her pain]].
** [[spoiler:He is also correct about the danger Joe poses, even towards Love.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He eventually reveals himself to be this. He's a clingy, annoying, needy drug addict who ''seriously'' gets on Joe's nerves, but he also genuinely loves Love, is pretty friendly to nearly everyone, and wants things to turn out well and is also aware of his own serious flaws and sincerely wants to improve.
* {{Keet}}: He's ''very'' energetic.
* KickTheDog: While drinking in a bar, Forty is feeling sorry for himself because he wants a stable relationship and a "girl to love him forever". He pays $10,000 to a pair of newlyweds so he can kiss the bride. In front of their entire wedding party. Joe comments that he ruined their marriage before it even began.
* LonelyRichKid: While Love has a solid group of friends, Forty has no friends at all and is, in fact, very jealous of anything getting between him and Love. It's left ambiguous whether he wants it this way, since he does try to alienate Joe when Joe first tries to befriend him (because he wants Love to himself), but he is then very clingy towards Joe when Joe shows him affection.
* LoveHungry: Forty wants love from anyone, all the time, especially Love. Joe notes that he won't let go of him until he calls him a "genius".
* ManChild: He is an irresponsible addict who always relies on his family to bail him out of his messes.
* MamasBoy: He refers to his mom as "his Gaia, his Isis". Deconstructed somewhat as he still knows his mother is very abusive and is visibly distraught when she hits Love in front of him.
* {{Misogyny}}: Joe -- who himself has a rather messed-up view of women -- finds his writing to be in poor taste due to the script he's working on concluding with every woman dying.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:He's riddled with guilt because he believes he killed the au pair who molested him. Turns out that was actually Love.]]
* MySisterIsOffLimits: He's suspicious of Joe's interest in his sister Love. He later becomes a ShipperOnDeck, though, and actually turns this attitude towards Love's friend with benefits, Milo, until [[spoiler:he finds out the truth about Joe's crimes.]]
* NewAgeRetroHippie: Zigzagged. He was raised in this culture by his parents, and the store he runs, Anavrin ([[SdrawkcabEman "Nirvana" spelled backwards]]) revolves around fringe beliefs about organic health food, and he's internalized this to a much greater degree than his down-to-earth sister (his [[DrinkBasedCharacterization drink of choice]] is ''kombucha'', for crying out loud). But as with most other things in his life this is inertia more than anything else; Love at one point tells Joe that his impulsive rant about ditching his parents' vegan clean-eating diet and ordering a bunch of Taco Bell is a typical sign he's about to go on a bender.
* PsychologicalProjection: While he won't admit it to himself, he wants to adapt Beck's book because he identifies with her and Nicky's QuestionableConsent relationship. This is confirmed when he gets high and acts as Beck while he forces Joe to act as Dr Nicky and asks "Nicky" why he manipulated and took advantage of "Beck".
* RapeAsBackstory: Love reveals to Joe that he was raped by their au pair. In disturbing TruthInTelevision, Forty refuses to recognize this as sexual assault and views her as his "first love".
-->'''Love:''' My parents started Anavrin when we were like 13. And they hired this woman, Sofia. She was like 19. She was from Spain. The way Forty tells it, ''she'' was his first love. To this day, he does not acknowledge that it ''was'' abuse.
* RecoveredAddict: At first, although Love goes through great stress to keep it that way.
* RomanticizedAbuse: His take on what happened with the au pair.
-->'''Forty:''' I was in love with Sofia, our au pair. My parents said I was too young, but I wasn't. I loved her. And she loved me. It wasn't just some dumb crush: it was love. When I found out she was seeing some college guy, I felt this rage inside of me; like an animal made of teeth and of fire.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: When he's in a jam, Forty's first course of action is to try to bribe the problem away.
* SheepInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler:Although he suspects he himself murdered his "first love" -- his predatory babysitter -- it turns out it was actually Love, and the only violence Forty commits throughout the whole series is when he tries to protect Love from Joe.]]
* ShipperOnDeck: For Love and "Will", even expressing anger and jealousy about Love's relationship with Milo [[spoiler:until he learns that Joe is a murderer.]]
* StepfordSmiler: Beneath the amiable, UpperClassTwit persona, Forty is ''not'' a happy guy. [[spoiler:He's traumatized by past sexual abuse and his AbusiveParents.]]
* TokenGoodTeammate: [[spoiler:{{Downplayed}}. While he himself is far from perfect, he serves as one for the Quinn family.]]
* UndyingLoyalty: For Love.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: His kidnapping of Joe sets of a chain reaction leading to the deaths of Delilah, Candace and Forty himself.
* UsedToBeASweetKid: Love describes him as talented and sweet when he was younger, until [[spoiler:their au pair raped him.]]
* UpperClassTwit: Despite his serious HiddenDepths, he does fall into this, being pretty ditzy and oblivious to the darkness between Love and Joe.
* WellDoneSonGuy: As revealed in his parents' vow renewal, Forty longs for his dad's approval but is incapable of making them happy. Zigzagged as he's clearly messed up a lot in the past, but at the same time, this is at least part thanks to his parents' mean and abusive behaviour.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Marienne Bellamy]]
!! Marienne Bellamy
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/marienne.png]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/TatiGabrielle

A librarian that Joe meets in suburbia.
----

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Joe Goldberg]]
!!Joseph "Joe" Goldberg
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/joe_goldberg.jpg]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/PennBadgley

The VillainProtagonist of the story. As far as everyone knows, he is merely a humble and rather pleasant bookstore manager, but he has a secret double life as a psychopathic stalker obsessed with finding true love, whether the object of his desire wants it or not. With every new love interest, Joe's crimes slowly but surely escalate into even more serious and heinous territory.

* AbuseMistake: In Season 3, a camera catches Joe punching the wall in a rage while arguing with Love. This leads Theo to believe that Joe is a domestic abuser (he was with Candace and Beck, but not with Love).
* AbusiveParents: His birth father was abusive and his mother did not do anything to protect him. His adoptive father, Mr. Mooney, was also abusive, although Joe believes Mr. Mooney actually helped him and was acting in his best interest -- which is part of why Joe is able to justify such extreme behavior toward his love interests.
* AesopAmnesia: Joe has instances of moral clarity where he finally realizes that he is the bad guy and deserves to be punished, and that he shouldn't obsess over women. But it never lasts. Justified, as he's a psychopath, and his obsessions are pathological.
* AffectionateNickname:
** Candace always calls him "Bunny", which is especially notable as there aren't many nicknames for Joe.
** His mother called him "Joey."
** Forty dubs him "old sport," a la ''Literature/TheGreatGatsby''.
* AmbiguouslyBi: [[spoiler:He stalked the real Rhys extensively, even stealing a sweaty gym towel. The imaginary Rhys refers to him as an erotomaniac.]]
* AmbiguouslyJewish: When Forty discovers Joe was lying when he said his name was the very Germanic-sounding Will Bettelheim, Forty has to ask if Joe is a self-hating Jew. It's never made clear if Joe is Jewish or not, although having a last name like Goldberg makes Jewish descent likely.
* AnimalMotif: It is less obvious than other examples but Joe is repeatedly associated with Wolves.
** His predatory nature towards his obsessions are akin to a Wolf stalking its prey.
** Wolves love to play with children but tend to hurt them on accident, mirroring Joe's fondness towards children but tendency to only complicate their lives whenever he tries to help.
** He and love use 'I Wolf You' as a substitute for 'I Love You.', which is particular telling once you factor in Love's own predatory behavior.
** As much as he wants his fairytale romance, Joe himself is, sympathetic qualities aside, the villain of these relationships, like the Wolf is in most Fairytales.
** Forty outright calls Joe a 'Wolf in Loves Blindspot'
* AntiHero: Joe of all people has a more heroic role as he goes after the "Eat-the-rich" Murder, [[spoiler: eventually Subverted with the reveal.]]
* AntiVillain: {{Subverted}}. Joe may came from a hard life and while some of his victims weren't entirely good people, he's still not absolved from his numerous heinous acts.
* AwfulWeddedLife: In the Season 2 finale, we see Joe and a pregnant Love living in suburbia after their BonnieAndClyde-esque killing spree, which Joe refers to as his 'Siberia' and prison. Season 3 shows that the two are barely holding it together as a conventional couple, with the only things uniting them being their love for their son and their violent misanthropy.
* AxCrazy: Make no mistake, he may hide it a bit better and posture towards her about, but Joe is no less, vengeful, dangerous or violence prone than Love.
* BadassBookworm: Although a villainous example, Joe genuinely loves books, and he is very violent and manipulative about his behavior.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: He longs for an adoring wife who loves him as much as he loves her and appreciates all he'd do for her, and expresses a desire for children multiple times. At the end of the second season, Love happily provides him with all those things... because she's an utterly insane murderer, just like him.
* BelievingTheirOwnLies: Joe is as good at deceiving himself as he is others and seems to have genuinely convinced himself that he's done nothing wrong, that he's a romantic hero and his actions are justified due to his love for his victims.
* BigBrotherInstinct:
** Joe loves Paco like a little brother, often feeding him, lending him books, and being there for him when his parents can't. This culminates in him killing Ron to protect him.
** This carries over in season two, where he takes it upon himself to protect Ellie [[spoiler: from Henderson]] if her sister can't.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: Plays up his innocent BoyNextDoor demeanor, and has no trouble convincing cops, and the public in general, that he's an upstanding citizen.
* BlatantLies: Frequently, both in long-term plots and when caught off-guard by law enforcement.
* BoomerangBigot:
** Joe hates Peach for stalking and controlling Beck while stalking them both, especially Beck.
** Joe dislikes Forty for displaying misogynistic tendencies in his writing when he's actually a misogynist himself.
** Most specifically, Joe comes to hate Love, having been obsessed with her all season, once he learns that she's a murderer and a {{Yandere}}.
** In season 2, Joe genuinely believes that he's the victim and Candace is the psychopathic stalker, when in reality it's the other way around.
* BornInTheWrongCentury: DownplayedTrope, but Joe is constantly described, both by himself and by others, as "old fashioned". This basically amounts to NewMediaAreEvil and a fondness for books. His ideal time period might be the 80s or 90s, maybe even the Renaissance given his romanticized mindset.
* BornLucky: He has committed a litany of felonies, including breaking and entering, assault, stalking, destruction of property and murder, often times with very little planning, and has been able to evade justice while the people who do learn of his crimes often end up dead.
* BrainyBrunette: He has wavy black hair and is an avid reader who makes observational and insightful notes on people.
* CaptureAndReplicate: Mundane variant. When we see him again in Season 2, he's moved across the country from New York to Los Angeles and is going by the assumed identity of "Will Bettelheim", whom in a WhamShot we learn is a real person he's got locked in the same cage he had Beck in. Downplayed, in that the whole reason he stole the original Will's identity is it was a carefully crafted fictitious identity [[TheNondescript designed to be as featureless as possible in the first place]], and he makes no effort to actually pretend to be the original Will until he's forced to by Will's enemies catching up with him.
* CantGetInTroubleForNuthin: [[spoiler: When Joe realizes that he is a horrible person, he decides to accept being punished, either for being sent to prison or being killed by Forty, but when he is about to be killed, he is saved by Fisher and Forty is blamed for Joe's crimes.]]
* ChickMagnet: Attracts a number of women throughout the series.
* ChronicVillainy: At the start of seasons two and three, Joe honestly tries to change his behavior and avoid falling into the same traps as before but he can never go straight for very long.
* CommonalityConnection: Joe and Beck both love literature. He attempts to invoke this trope in other ways, in his stalking of Beck and showing up in places she likes.
* CrazyJealousGuy: If anything gets between him and whomever he's currently fawning over, he'll kill them. He desperately tries to avoid this with Love.
* ChronicHeroSyndrome: Deconstructed and crossing over with EngineeredHeroics. Joe genuinely thinks he wants to "help" Beck (and he actually does want to help Claudia and Paco), but he will be extremely manipulative and controlling, in fact actually just trying to create his perfect romance most of the time. Repeated with Marienne when her abusive ex-husband tries to break her.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Abandoned by abusive parents and raised by the abusive Mr. Mooney. It's partially why he's so nervous to be raising a son instead of a daughter as he fears his son will turn out like himself. Lampshaded in 3.04 when he tells his backstory to Marianne, she doesn't believe him, and he makes up a milder, more plausible version to tell her.
-->'''Joe:''' I was practically homeless. A bookstore owner took me in, and let me work for free, and I slept in a cage in his basement.\\
'''Marianne:''' [storms off]\\
'''Joe:''' No, wait, Marianne, Marianne, hang on! Wait a second, stop. I'm sorry, stop. That really crossed a line. It was an exaggeration. But the truth is, we straddled the poverty line my entire childhood, and I escaped with books.
* DeadpanSnarker: Constantly makes snarky and insulting remarks about people he meets in his inner monologue.
* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: Of the handsome DoggedNiceGuy.
** Joe lies to Beck, manipulates her, steals her things, violates her privacy, and kills several people and, eventually, her. He justifies this by saying that it's all the name of love, but the series goes out of its way to point out how horrible this all is.
** Shows up again with Marienne, as he plays the good guy right when her ex-husband is emotionally destroying her. By this point it's no secret that Joe would do the same if Marienne deviated even slightly from his vision.
* DespairEventHorizon: Joe crosses it when [[spoiler:Candace locks him in his own glass cage and reveals his true murderous nature to Love, so much so that he throws out the key he'd hidden inside and prepares to let himself be arrested.]]
* DoggedNiceGuy: An extreme and homicidal version. If Joe wants someone, he'll overshadow their entire life, twisting things in such a way that his love interest will fall into his arms. If she ever decides they're not soulmates or finds out he's a violent sociopath, Joe will unleash his full wrath for breaking his dreamworld.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: By his own admission, Joe tends to clobber first, think of a next step later. He gets ''very'' close to getting caught multiple times because of this.
* DirtyCoward: When push comes to shove, Joe will kill rather face the consequences, even the ones he supposedly cared for.
* {{Determinator}}: Nothing will get in the way of Joe and the girl he's decided he loves. Even the girl's own wishes.
* EngineeredHeroics: Joe genuinely wants to help some people out of selflessness (Paco and Ellie) but generally he falls into this, manipulating situations where the object of his affection will be seriously hurt, physically or emotionally, so that he can swoop in and help.
* EntitledToHaveYou: If Joe falls for a girl, he's going to make sure to make her think that she deserves him. He'll even murder to make sure the girl in question only has him.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Despite knowing that both his mother and father weren't good parents, Joe is more forgiving towards his mother as while she was neglectful his father was physically abusive.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes:
** He genuinely cares about Paco, Claudia, Mr. Mooney, Ellie, Delilah, [[spoiler:Henry]]...
** Subverted with his love interests (Beck, Love and Marienne), though he supposedly loves them, he doesn't really care about them.
* EvenEvilHasStandards:
** Even Joe seems to be appalled by Henderson's manipulative sexual exploitation, but there's a strong hypocritical bent. Indeed, rape (and sexual assault) appears to be the one thing Joe wouldn't do to his partners (or anybody). Not so much for kidnapping and murder.
** To a lesser extent, Joe finds Forty's writings and general sense of taste to be lacking in substance and narrow-minded when it comes to women.
** A more humorous version but, for all of Joe's various crimes, he often goes out of his way to make sure the rare books in his possession are never harmed and can't stand seeing books be mistreated in general.
* EvilAllAlong: In season four, Joe seems to fill more of an anti-hero role as he investigates the true identity of the "Eat-the-rich" murderer, [[spoiler: eventually revealing that Joe was always the killer to begin with.]]
* EvilTeacher: As a professor in Season 4.
* {{Expy}}: Of [[{{Series/Dexter}} Dexter.]] One is a psychopath, the other a sociopath, both have NiceGuy personas and a MaskOfSanity, both make excessive use of FirstPersonSmartass and both are serial killers. However, Dexter kills as a means to channel his homicidal urges towards something more [[SerialKillerKiller productive]] and tries to NeverHurtAnInnocent, while Joe kills for (what he thinks) is [[LoveMakesYouCrazy love]] and is much more ruthless pursuing it.
* ExtremelyProtectiveChild: He shot a guy who was attacking his mom.
* FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon: A TallDarkAndHandsome guy who is very good at concealing his insanity and malice.
* FauxAffablyEvil: While he can play the part of a loving boyfriend, he is innately selfish and contemptuous to about everyone he meets, with few exceptions such as his "You's".
* FirstPersonSmartass: His internal monologue is just as sarcastic as it is utterly horrifying.
* FriendToAllChildren: He strikes quick friendships with both Paco and Ellie, and is very protective of the both of them. He is also seen briefly reading to kids in the bookstore in episode 3 of season 1.
* FriendsRentControl: In Season 4, Joe moves to London and takes on a new identity as a lecturer at a university. It’s currently unexplained how someone of his salary-level could possibly afford a spacious apartment in Kynance Mews, South Kensington — one of the wealthiest areas of one of the most expensive cities on the planet — as at the time of filming, flats in the mews were valued at £3.65 ''million'' and renting out at £15,000 per month.
* FreudianExcuse: Initially, it seems his warped views on love primarily comes from Mr. Mooney, who taught him that through his abuse. Later subverted when we learn that [[spoiler:his very first murder was done to protect his mom, who assured him he did the right thing. In the orphanage, he grows attached to his therapist and later finds out she's being abused by her partner. It's later strongly implied she was killed by her abusive partner, and the combination of aforementioned events instilled in him a powerful belief that he's justified in violence if it's for the protection of someone else.]]
%%* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: Despite the above, it's clear that ''nothing'' excuses Joe's actions.
* {{Gaslighting}}: Joe makes himself and his victims think they are the ones not remembering things correctly just so he won't be blamed.
* GeniusBookClub: Fitting, seeing his profession and TrainingFromHell from Mr. Mooney.
* GildedCage: What he sees his future as, at the end of Season 2. He marries the pregnant Love, but ends up trapped with her in suburbia, being watched over by her evil parents and her blade-happy temperament.[[spoiler: Season 3 ends with him escaping to France after killing Love and faking his own death.]]
* HasAType: Seems to be into artists and creative types. He also wants someone he can take care of, who ''needs'' him.
-->'''Joe:''' I see it now. This is why "you". You're a pattern. You're a lost lamb, attracted to wolves. Ergo, what I feel... it's not because ''you're'' special, it's--wait for it--it's [[LikeParentLikeSpouse mother issues]].
* HeelRealization: Near the end of season two, [[spoiler: after being locked in cage by Candace,]] he realizes that he is a monster. But it quickly becomes an IgnoredAesop.
* HijackedByGanon: In the fourth season [[spoiler: it seems that "Eat-the-rich" murder is the new main villain, while Joe will have the role of anti-hero, it turns out that the supposed culprit was just Joe's double personality , so he was the main villain all along.]]
* HumiliationConga: In "Fear and Loathing in Beverly Hills", he attempts to [[spoiler:fly to Mexico before Delilah escapes the time-release cuffs he put on her. Before he could get to the airport, he is kidnapped by Forty who confiscates his passport and forces him to help him write his script, all while Ellie freely comes and leaves. Forty later reveals that he drugged Joe with LSD and Joe gets punched and thrown back into the room, where Forty roleplays as Beck and gets briefly strangled by Joe.]]
* {{Hypocrite}}:
** He expresses shock and outrage over Peach's stalking behavior, without a hint of self-awareness.
** He considers cheating the worst kind of sin, despite cheating on Karen with little guilt.
** He is disgusted with men who treat women poorly, despite being far more violent toward women than any of them will ever be.
** He hates privileged and entitled men, yet believes that [[spoiler: living in a posh suburban home with a rich wife who loves him is the definition of hell.]]
* IgnoredAesop:
** In the Season 2 finale "Love, Actually", after a tumultuous killing spree, Love's FaceHeelTurn and news of her pregnancy, everything ''should'' be settled then, right? Wrong. In the final scene, we see Joe's eye wandering again onto an unfortunate neighbor.
** After [[spoiler:Love kills Natalie]], he promises not to put anyone else in danger before he can leave her with Henry. Enter Marienne.
* IgnoredEpiphany: Joe has acknowledged his evil nature a few times but such revelations tend to be forgotten when he meets his next potential great love.
* ILoveYouBecauseICantControlYou: Inverted. It's implied that he wants to escape Love because she ''isn't'' as easily manipulated the way any of his other victims are.
* InLoveWithYourCarnage: By Season 3 Joe and Love can't stand each other, but they're both aroused by their mutual villainy.
* InsaneTrollLogic: Used to justify his {{Hypocrite}} tendencies, and violence in general.
* ItsForABook: In season 4 Joe finds himself in the middle of a murder mystery and tries to familiarize himself with the genre. When discussing whodunnits with a student he justifies his interest as a writing project. He has a better excuse than most due to being a literature professor.
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Joe never gets in trouble for any of the murders he's committed.]]
* KickTheMoralityPet: [[spoiler:Joe spends most of Season 4 looking out for his student Nadia, taking writing advice from her and retrieving an incriminating letter she sent to Malcolm at her request. At the end, when Nadia learns of his crimes, he murders her boyfriend Edward and frames Nadia for his murder and the murder of Rhys Montrose, even taunting her that no one will believe her and sarcastically talking what a promising student she was.]]
* TheKindnapper: A ''very'' dark version of the "obviously misguided" subtype. Joe truly believes he's doing Beck a favor by locking her in the cage, suggesting that it's an opportunity for growth for her or a chance for her to focus on her writing, all in the face of her screaming and crying for him to let her out and begging him not to hurt her. Even aside from that, he has kidnapped at least three people to protect himself or his relationships. Flashbacks into his backstory show how Mr. Mooney taught him this philosophy by repeatedly locking him in the cage under the bookshop for even the flimsiest of reasons, all to "help" Joe straighten his life out.
* LaserGuidedKarma: For anybody else, being trapped in a relationship with an utterly insane murderer who's obsessed with them would be a terrible fate. But after everything Joe's done over the course of the first two seasons, it's hard not to see it as a bit of divine retribution.[[spoiler: Too bad he gets out of that as well after killing several more people.]]
* ALighterShadeOfBlack: Played straight and averted depending on the case.
** Played straight in comparison to [[spoiler: Henderson]], Although Joe is a crazy stalker, all the women he shows interest in are of legal age and always had relations with them in a consensual way.
** Averted in comparison with Peach and [[spoiler: Love Quinn]], They're both very wicked people, but Joe is no better than them in any way, even [[spoiler: Love has more or less committed the exact same crimes as Joe for the exact same reasons.]]
** Subverted with Ron, Although Joe initially appears to be less bad than Ron, [[spoiler: the fact that he is willing to kidnap and kill Beck shows that Joe is as bad as Ron, even if he is not overtly abusive.]]
* LoveMakesYouCrazy: Joe is of this opinion, but it's actually a subversion, as Joe seems to have serious issues regardless, love is just his preferred method of showing it.
* LovingAShadow: Joe doesn't so much fall in love with actual people as with imaginary, perfect versions of them he places on a pedestal. When the ladies in question break the illusion by acting like real human beings, he turns on them quickly.
* MadonnaWhoreComplex: Despite clearly thinking of himself a feminist, it's made clear Joe has some serious issues with women, seeing them as either perfect or evil, and overriding their agency as he sees fit.
* MeaningfulRename: A {{justified|Trope}} version.
** In season 2 Joe changes his name to "Will Bettelheim" in order to escape Candace's revenge on him.
** In season 4 Joe goes by "Jonathan Moore" to escape the drama of Madre Linda.
* {{Misogyny}}: Despite thinking of himself and even referring to himself as "the only feminist I know", he dismisses most women he meets as vapid or promiscuous. While he puts Beck on a pedestal, [[{{Hypocrite}} he doesn't have any faith in her intelligence, agency, or right to make her own choices]]. [[spoiler: He even falls out of love with Love when he realizes that she has much more agency than he thought.]]
* MistakenForPedophile: Ron is under the belief that the only reason he hangs out with Paco is because he's a "freak." Delilah also suspected that he was creeping onto Ellie in their first interaction.
* MoralMyopia:
** Joe could be the trope namer, he's such an egregious example. He can justify basically all of his awful behavior while freaking out over the possibility of Peach stalking Beck.
** A notable example in the second season where [[spoiler:Joe finds out about Love's true nature. He's utterly repulsed, even though she's done basically exactly the same things as him, for the exact same reasons]].
* MrFanservice: A lot of fans probably look past his actions on account of how handsome he is; there's also plenty of scenes of him shirtless in the show, mostly when he's engaging in sexual behavior with Beck and Love or fantasizing about it.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone:
** In Season 2, he hallucinates Beck after [[spoiler:killing Jasper and recalling that he strangled her, sobs, begs her not to disappear and frantically apologizes]].
** While he generally shows little to no remorse for the horrible things he's done and constantly finds ways to justify his actions, [[spoiler:Delilah's supposed murder by his hands truly upsets him, and he goes to great lengths to find evidence that proves otherwise. When he was incapable of doing so, he wanted to turn himself in or somehow be punished]].
* NeverMyFault: Joe acknowledges that some of the things he does are wrong, but he always tries to give a justification for why he does the things he does.
-->''(after attacking Peach)'' She forced my hand, that's on her and her family for screwing her up.
* NonActionBigBad: Joe's not very athletic.
** When trying to follow Peach while she's jugging in the morning in season 1.
** When he tries to follow Milo in season 2, he can barely keep up. And in his one fair fight, he gets absolutely clobbered.
** Going on a men's retreat with the fitness-junkie Cary tests his durability once again. He also struggles in his fight with the athletic Ryan.
* NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist: In Season 3, Joe falls deeply in love with Marienne, to the point he [[spoiler:even murders her abusive ex-husband]], and it appears he actually cares about her. However, when [[spoiler:Love reveals his murder of Ryan, Joe begs Marienne to say she still loves him, and when Love decides not to kill her and tells her to leave, he is not relieved that Marienne's safe but horrified that she's going to leave him.]]
* ObliviouslyEvil: Joe honestly does not seem to understand his evil nature and sincerely thinks of himself as a loving romantic partner who will do anything to protect those he cares about.
* OnlySaneByComparison: Despite Joe being a stalker, misogynist, and a downright ''murderer'' he still comes off as the most grounded character while living in the suburbs with Love. This was earlier alluded to by Forty when he stated that despite Joe not being very trustworthy, he's still nowhere near as pretentious as the usual LA crowd.
* OnTheRebound: Tends to do this right after a breakup. With Beck, it was Karen Minty. With Love, it was Delilah.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: You know Joe and [[spoiler:Love]] are really through when Mr. {{Yandere}} there helps a grievously wounded and barely still alive [[spoiler:Theo]], even taking him to the hospital, even after [[spoiler:Theo confesses to having sex with Love. Justified since Joe gave up on her, he doesn't care if Theo slept with her]].
* PaperThinDisguise: Joe's infamous baseball cap is the only attempt he makes to hide his features whenever he's stalking someone. By season 3, it's a lot less effective, as when he attends AA/NA meetings with it to check out what Marianne's ex husband is up to, he ends up drawing attention to himself.
* ParentalAbandonment: In season 3, a therapist coaxes this out of him, his great fear: "If someone sees me--if someone sees the real me--they'll go away. For good." Because that's what his mother did. Given the kind of person Joe is, his fears are a pretty blatant self-fulfilling prophecy.
* PayEvilUntoEvil: Joe can differentiate between good and bad, and most of the people he targets are abhorrent in his eyes (e.g. douchebags, stalkers, rapists, and domestic abusers) and believes that his actions benefit the world at large. However, he can't recognize that he is also a bad person.
* PetTheDog:
** He displays genuine concern for his neighbor Paco, and regularly gives him books, food, and companionship.
** In the second season, he goes out of the way to look out for Ellie when he realizes she's getting groomed by a pedophile.
** Rather than [[spoiler:holding Delilah in the glass cage indefinitely or killing her when she learns of his crimes, Joe sets her in mechanical handcuffs timed to release her once he's taken a plane to Mexico.]]
** After his HeelRealization in Season Two, he finally, truly apologizes to Candace and admits she was right about him and what he is all along. It's probably the most decent thing he ever did regarding her.
** Joe also makes sure to [[spoiler: leave Henry with a stable couple when he goes on the lam because he genuinely wants his son to have a healthy childhood]].
* PennyAmongDiamonds: He didn't grow up well-off, but finds himself in several elite social circles anyway: New York socialites in season 1, obnoxiously rich suburbia in season 3, and London aristocrats in season 4. He's often uncomfortable in these groups and internally derisive of them and their wealth.
* PragmaticVillainy: In Season 2, Joe becomes a lot less eager with murder, with his only two that season being in self-defense and a complete accident. This is partially motivated by guilt of killing Beck and possibly doing the same to Love, it's also because his relationship with Love being much less complicated (she did not have a lover, she's already very into him and her friends and family support their relationship) and there is no need to jeopardize it with crimes. However, in Season 3, after falling in love with Marienne, he has no problem [[spoiler:murdering her ex-husband.]]
* PsychologicalProjection: He does this all the time, whether putting his own motives onto others (Candace once she comes back, Peach), but also assuming his romantic interests will genuinely requite and understand his horrible behavior.
* PsychopathicManchild: It's shown throughout the series that Joe is still caught in a fairly childlike mentality, both in relation to romance and the world in general. He talks about himself like the prince in a fairy tale, sees his increasing number of love interests as the perfect princess and rationalizes that anything that brings them together is acceptable, even if it means murder.
* ReformedButNotTamed: In Season 2 and 3. While "reformed" is very generous a word, Joe takes pains to avoid relapsing into his possessive behavior. Though he does consider murdering [[spoiler:Milo and Candace]], he doesn't follow through with said attempts and [[spoiler:doesn't kill anyone in pursuit of wooing Love for the whole season]]. His reformation [[spoiler:goes completely out the window when he kills Ryan.]]
* RetiredMonster: Subverted, at the end of the second season he decides to withdraw from his life as a stalker in pursuit of being a good father to his child, [[ChronicVillainy but quickly becomes obsessed with another woman]].
* RichSuitorPoorSuitor: Occupies the role of "poor suitor" compared to Beck's other romantic interests, and social circle in general, especially Peach and Benji. Feels it deeply.
* SelectiveObliviousness: Absolutely refuses to acknowledge that Beck, Love, or Marienne, aren't as perfect as he believes she is. He also refuses to acknowledge that there's anything really wrong with his behavior.
* SerialKiller: His body count is up to at least four by the end of the first season and he doesn't stop there.
* SherlockScan: Joe is shown to be very perceptive, [[InsufferableGenius perhaps to a fault]].
* SlidingScaleOfBeauty: Joe seems to be an example of "Common Beauty", several people note that he is good-looking, but not enough to stand out or attract attention. However his charm and wit more than makeup for it, making it easy to believe people wouldn't see his true nature.
* StalkerWithACrush: The premise of the series; every time Joe gets a love interest, he begins stalking her to find out everything about her and endeavors to form a relationship with her based on said stalking.
* SympatheticPOV: Joe is a horrible person, but he manages to be sympathetic to the fact that we see the story from his point of view, teeming with people just as awful as he is but with much less depth.
* TallDarkAndSnarky: Not so much in real life for the snark, but in his monologues, he absolutely excels at this.
* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: He's charming, handsome, and intelligent. No one would think that he's murdered several people.
* ThinksLikeARomanceNovel: He really believes in true love and destiny, and imagines he's the protagonist of a romcom or an epic RescueRomance with whoever he's crushing on, thinking about how he "can't wait to tell [their] kids about this." Which only makes his behavior ''so much creepier''. Beck actually {{exploit|edTrope}}s this to trick Joe into letting her out of the cage by pretending it's the WartsAndAll moment where the girl professes her love for the guy in spite of all his flaws. He falls for it, and the second she's out of the cage, she makes a break for it.
* TookALevelInKindness: After Season 1, Joe is a lot less willing to resort to violence, only [[spoiler:killing a gangster in self-defense and a child rapist by accident]], and near the end, he even [[spoiler:realizes when a monster he is, gives up his shot at escape, confesses his crimes to Love, apologizes to Candace and prepares to let himself get arrested for seemingly killing Delilah]]. In Season 3, he tries to be an upstanding neighbor and a [[spoiler:good father, but Love's outbursts force him to cover up her messes. Then Marienne enters the picture and he's the possessive, murderous creep we know and love to hate again.]]
* ATragedyOfImpulsiveness: He often does things without a plan of how to move forward. He frequently has to think of plans to deal with the aftermath of his mistakes. His [[StartofDarkness first murder]] was also an impulsive crime of passion, which helped set him on his current path.
* TranquilFury: His monologue slips into this whenever he's jealous.
* TheUnfettered: He has no moral qualms doing what it takes to get and keep Beck. This takes a weird turn in Season Two when he acknowledges that his actions are wrong and obsessively attempts to avoid repeating them, but he ends up doing them anyway.
* UnreliableNarrator: It's best to take some of his observations of and opinions on other people with a grain of salt, as they are very self-serving, and he's slightly AxCrazy.
* VerbalTic: Joe's inner monologue always puts heavy emphasis on the word "You" whenever he's feeling dangerously romantic. After awhile it becomes clear this "You" he talks about isn't actually any of the women he's obsessing over, but rather some abstract idea of the perfect woman whose face changes as soon as Joe finds someone attractive enough to fit his standards.
* VillainHasAPoint:
** While he surpasses any justifiable actions, he is spot on about Benji being a horrible person, Peach being in love with Beck, and Beck cheating on him with Dr. Nicky.
** In season 2, he continues to make valid points in regards to Forty's ManChild behavior and how [[spoiler:Henderson's past traumas doesn't excuse his actions]].
** It's very rich coming from [[SerialKiller him of]] [[StalkerWithACrush all]] [[{{Yandere}} people]], but in Season 3 he's not wrong that [[spoiler:Love]] has zero self-control when it comes to, you know, ''not murdering people'', or bringing that up in a fit of jealousy at the worst possible moments.
* VillainousBSOD: [[spoiler: He suffers from this once Candace locks him in his own glass cage at the end of season 2 and calls Love to show that ”he” killed Delilah. When this happens he thinks that this means that he is too bad and thus doesn’t deserve Love.]]
* VillainProtagonist: Joe is the protagonist in a series with a regularly-changing cast and he does some pretty heinous crimes throughout the show.
* VillainousParentalInstinct: He claims that his sacrifice is that he stays with Love to make sure that Henry is safe.
* WantingIsBetterThanHaving: The end of Season 2 reveals this to be his problem in a ''big'' way. [[spoiler:He gets exactly what he wants -- a brilliant, beautiful, and even wealthy wife in Love. However, although she ''really'' did only do it out of (twisted) love for him, he is both bored and repulsed by her.]]
* WickedCultured: Joe's a definite psychopath but also quite intelligent and has a love of books, particularly old and rare classics.
* WouldntHurtAChild: Arguably his ''one'' redeeming quality.
** Despite the fact that he's murdered multiple people, he wouldn't kill or hurt Paco.
** Extends to teens as well, as he's shown to care a lot for Ellie's wellbeing even knowing that her sister is capable of looking after her.
** [[spoiler:Joe does seem sincere in his desire to be a good father to his unborn child. When he disappears after killing Love and burning their house to the ground, Joe makes sure to leave Henry with a loving and responsible couple.]]
** [[spoiler:Subverted in the Season 4 finale, though they weren’t technically underage. He not only kills his student Edward, but frames his other student Nadia for his murder and leaves her crying next to his body as the police arrive.]]
* WrongGenreSavvy: Rather than the disturbing psychological thriller that it is, Joe perceives his romance with Beck as that of a romantic comedy, albeit maybe with a bit of drama. On one occasion he notes (when Beck almost catches him in her apartment) how he's seen enough romantic comedies to know the guy gets out of plenty of similar situations like his. When he and Beck get back together after having broken up, as Joe runs to her house he notes how much this is like in the movies when the protagonist is running in the rain to meet with the girl he loves (though it's not raining, and tellingly when he tries to throw a rock to get Beck's attention he breaks her window on accident.) Even Beck plays into this to tempt him to let her out of the cage, noting how if they were in a movie this would be the climactic moment when they would be kissing, with the music swelling and everything.
* {{Yandere}}: Will take out anyone he sees as "interfering" with his and Beck's relationship, including Benji and Peach. Additionally, it's shown that he can get extremely jealous and controlling if he suspects his girlfriend of cheating. Furthermore, he murders Beck when she ultimately refuses to accept his dangerous and obsessive side, as well as having kidnapped and then killed Candace (to his knowledge) when she angrily tried to break up with him.
* YouAreWhatYouHate:
** Joe hates Peach for being a StalkerWithACrush to Beck, despite that being his own most defining trait.
** He dislikes Forty's misogynistic writing, despite being a misogynist himself.
** Most glaringly, he utterly hates [[spoiler:Love]] when he finds out [[spoiler:she]] is a murdering {{Yandere}}, despite his own body count nearing the double digits by that point.
** Joe is disgusted by Ryan's manipultions and emotional abuse of Marienne, when he's been just as awful to his own love interests.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Guinevere Beck]]
!!Guinevere "Beck" Beck
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/guinevere_beck.jpg]]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/ElizabethLail

A broke NYU graduate student and an aspiring writer, who has the bad luck of crossing into Joe's orbit and becoming the center of his attention.
----

* KickTheMoralityPet: While he's usually genuinely benevolent to the youngsters, [[spoiler:at the end of Season 4, he gleefully frames Nadia for the murders of Rhys Montrose and her boyfriend Ed.]]