Penn Badgley's You role makes him TV's best narrator

Polygon

Badgley’s voice "doesn’t just sound great, it makes the show transcendent," says Joshua Rivera. "If storytelling’s golden rule is 'show, don’t tell,' narration is the rebel without a cause, sticking its middle finger under the principal’s nose in open defiance of that rule," says Rivera. "Except narration runs the dangerous risk of proving why showing is superior to telling, sticking that middle finger in a live power outlet instead of towards The Man, and making the rebel much less cool. Netflix’s You, however, bucks this rule with incredible style, delivering a narrator that isn’t just good, but possibly an all-timer. You is a thriller that follows Penn Badgley as Joe Goldberg, a bookseller who, maybe more so than most, considers himself to be the hero of his own story. And his goal in the grand novel of life? To sweep the woman of his dreams off her feet. Over the course of You’s story, that woman changes, because he spends all his free time stalking his latest target, and killing anyone who gets in between him and his fantasy of being with her. How the audience knows this is simple: Joe handily narrates nearly every waking moment. Even the awful ones. Joe’s narration is also an elegant solution to a persistent problem with anti-hero protagonists: the natural tendency to sympathize with — and root for — a point-of-view character you spend a significant amount of time with. Like lots of shows about terrible people (Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, Friends) a lot of the tension in You stems from Joe Goldberg, actual murderer, escaping consequences for his actions for three seasons and counting. And while Joe narrates the show, he’s not the only character it follows. Joe is always part of a community — and because You cares about the characters in that community, no matter how charming he is, he is always ultimately a cancer." ALSO: Penn Badgley celebrates his 35th birthday with a You-themed cake.