Nothing like spending time with a psychopathic erotomaniac; sometimes he starts to make sense, says streaming columnist NICK OVERALL. 

AT first glance, Joe Goldberg seems to have it all together. He’s good looking, intelligent, charming and the proud manager of a bookstore in New York. 

One small catch, he also happens to be a psychopathic erotomaniac.

Joe’s the “protagonist”, if one can use that word to describe him, of the hit Netflix series “You”, and this month he’s back for a third season.

The first season of “You” dropped viewers into downtown New York with Guinevere, a beautiful, ambitious young woman who, after happening across Joe’s bookstore, catches the eye of the serial stalker. 

But unlike what audiences are accustomed to with psychological crime thrillers, it’s not the victim here that the plot follows, nor is it a noirish detective trying to track down the bad guy.

In “You”, the bad guy is the main character and narrates his story with a blow-by-blow rationale explaining his actions and why he does them, and rather disconcertingly, they sometimes almost make sense.

On the outside, he’s Mr Charm, setting up dates and doing all he can to care for Guinevere who quickly becomes besotted with him.

But behind the scenes he’s watching his “true love’s” every move and pulling the strings of their relationship much more closely than she thinks.

It’s Joe’s disturbing and sometimes even darkly amusing narration that holds the show together. 

The contrast of his clean-cut exterior versus his cynical inner monologue that the audience gets let in on makes for a great hook, and the show’s tinges of comedy and rapid-fire pacing keep it from collapsing under the weight of its heavy and often frightening premise.

Of course, Joe leans heavily into anti-hero territory and is able to instill a disconcerting amount of sympathy in his audience. In the vein of “Dexter”, he doesn’t hold back on using deadly means to deal with those who hurt his “true loves”.

It’s a young boy who lives in Joe’s apartment that in one scene sums the concept up perfectly.

Always playing the hero, Joe brings books back from his store as gifts for the young lad to read so as to help him escape a troubled home life.

Having read “Frankenstein”, he comments to Joe: “It’s cool how you get in the monster’s point of view, you understand why he does stuff, almost like it’s justified.”

This is another of Netflix’s most popular shows and the drop of the third season keeps the success rolling while the platform continues to ride the raging success of south-Korean phenomenon “Squid Game”.

While the first season of “You” was based on Caroline Kepnes’ popular book, season two and now three stray from the source material, yet still manage to use its dynamic protagonist to chilling effect.

BUT what about those looking for a love story on the saner side of the fence?

Streaming on Stan is an underrated Irish drama also based on a best-selling book called “Normal People”, which tells the story of high-school social king Connell and outcast Marianne who try to hold on to a relationship away from the prying eyes of their teenage peers.

Does the premise sound clichéd? Absolutely, but it doesn’t take long for the show to reveal why it’s a standout. 

What makes “Normal People” unique is how it manages to maintain a genuine air of authenticity while not sacrificing on entertainment.

That’s certainly aided by the episode’s 30-minute run time, making the show perfect for some easy, evening viewing.

Like its characters, this is a charming, softly spoken story.

It’s not supermodels in the lead roles dishing out juicy drama for the audience. Connell and Marianne feel like people one could have actually met in high school.

Indeed, the show leans into the idea of the romance of two, well, “normal” people but manages to convince that it doesn’t make them any less remarkable.

And if, like me, you’ve just binged another 10 episodes of the madness of Joe Goldberg, a little bit of normalcy is rather therapeutic.