u/Think-Flamingo-3922

As the old saying goes - "art reflects life". Yes, the specific characters of "Joe" and "Love" are fictional, but they are based on real life people/behaviour.

Joe violates women to feel a sense of power over them. This is literally how predators and rapists operate. He also gets violent with women for showing autonomy (e.g. kidnapping and trying to kill Candace for dumping him, same with Marianne, strangling Beck for standing up to him etc). This stuff happens. It is not romantic or cool or badass or hot or whatever Joe fangirls like to call it.

Love breaks people in order to make them depend on her. Like Forty, making him think he's a terrible murderer. This "break them to save them" beahviour happens in real life. And she shows the same entitlement like violent energy Joe shows to his love interests to James when she murders him for wanting a divorce. It's just a gender bent version of what he does. Not to mention she is a huge internalized misogynist and victim blamer "Guinevere Beck was unspecial and mediocre, she didn't deserve you (you = the man who strangled her to death)".

Also a statement that will hypocritically annoy these same people who make this case for Joe/Love:

Beck is a queen for cheating on Joe. And lying to him about it.

I mean... It's fictional? So why are you so upset about it? #GirlBoss #ISupportWomen'sWrongs

The title of this post is what I personally dub season one to be. The story is the tragedy of this young woman, told from the perspective of the antagonist, the villain of it.

1. Beck's father

Is it better to have had and lost, or to have never had?

If Beck's dad was a deadbeat from birth, would Beck be better or worse off? Because the fact is he was around until she was a teenager. And he did love her, they had many bonding moments together, like the pancakes and red ladle (which that mf Benji misinterprets to be a sex toy, fuck that guy).

And... she lost him. There's a sense of grief to that that there would not be if he just abandoned her from birth. If he did, there would be no loss.

So... Which is worse?

2. His new family

And while he does try to make amends with Beck when she becomes an adult, he also changes his identity entirely to fit into his new family, those Christian fundamentalists. So whenever Beck does see him, there's a sense of hurt, of pain. This... Isn't the father she remembers, the one she has loving memories of. So he's back.... But is he really?

And his new family (which to her, will naturally feel like a replacement for her) treat her like garbage. The kids are as Beck says, just kids, but the mother is a full blown narcissist who wants to alienate Beck from her father's life because well, she wants him all to herself.

3. Her bullies and her insecurities

We find out in the finale that Beck was bullied at her high school by students from richer families.

There's a kind of... vibe of uncertainty to Beck? That we see in her, which imo Elizabeth plays very well. Just the way she talks, she almost sounds ashamed of herself. Beck is very unsure of herself and her whole life is built upon gaining approval from others, like her rich girl friends. And knowing her background makes this more heartbreaking... Between not feeling good enough for her father, and her bullies making her feel terrible about herself in her childhood... Wow.

4. The betrayal of Joe

The spectacle of her tragedy of meeting Joe is that well, he locks her up in a glass cage and kills her. But I think there's a more subtle tragedy here which can easily be overlooked due to how heinous Joe is.

Beck fell for a lie.

Beck is a woman who really, is lonely. Her friends don't care about her, her father has moved on with his life, she's not really in contact with her siblings or mother (to the point it's easy to forget as a viewer that they even exist). Beck meets Joe and she is someone he opens up to about her vulnerabilities, who she connects with and falls for. Someone who seems to have her back, like nobody before him ever has. Someone she feels safe with.

This gets to the point where Beck starts to believe Joe is too good to be true. The reason she chose Dr Nicky over Joe (I think) is because Joe felt too ideal. Everyone in her life before this point had failed her, leading her to not believe someone who could care for her like the way he seemed to could possibly exist. Meanwhile Dr Nicky is supportive of her while clearly being toxic, since he was married and a therapist yet still wanted to do her. So she chose him because he felt more real, more safe.

Despite this she does end up taking Joe back, giving it another chance. She starts to finally believe it in the final scene of season 1 episode 9. She dances around the apartment, tells Annika that Joe is the best etc. Finally she feels safe.

But then she finds the box. The Joe she fell for doesn't exist. He's truly just a self centred guy who is only concerned for having and keeping her. A pervert, a murderer, and just all around psychopath.

5. The spectacle; the glass cage and her murder

Well obviously waking up, locked in a glass cage, is fucking terrifying. Torturous and every second you fear for your life. While Joe's just going out and about.

And well.... She dies. Never finding the chance to finally find people who cared about her, who made her feel safe. Never getting to achieve her MFA. Never getting to gain the self confidence she tragically lacked.

Okay this ended up a lot longer and more like an essay than I meant for it to! So sorry!!! My thoughts on this show are quite large aha.

EXTRA: The strangulation...

Oh and season 2 gives us the context that Joe killed Beck via strangulation. One of the most gruesome ways to be murdered... Suffocation. Not only did Beck not have a decent life, she didn't have a decent death either...