You - The Captain/Living with the Enemy/Amour Fou - Triple Review

Hours before we continue the second half of our season, I'm back! And boy do we have some things to discuss. Mostly about how much I still don't like Peach but the whole dad thing is a pretty heavy talking point as well, not to mention that whole Peach getting murdered aspect, too. It would be an understatement to say a lot has happened in my absence. So, let's pick up where I last left you, just after the infamous eight seconds between Joe and Beck.

The Captain

As Beck and Joe lay in bed and lament the sex that barely happened, we are treated to both of their inner monologues on the subject. As Beck gets a text from "The Captain", she excuses herself to bathroom to exchange messages about meeting up with him as Joe watches the conversation from her old phone. Convinced The Captain could be someone to worry about, Joe of course decides to follow Beck to the meet-up only to discover that The Captain is Beck's dead father who, obviously, is not very dead, and that they are meeting up for a Charles Dickens festival. As Joe stands in the shadows of the festival, Beck interacts with the new family her father has married into and it's clear that neither party is a fan of the other. Beck eventually discovers Joe at the festival, but he is able to play this off since he is an avid book lover. After introducing Joe to the family and inviting him to eat with them later, we learn that most of Beck's stories about her father were true. He was an addict and he did overdose. However, the overdose did not kill him. He instead left Beck and her mom after a relapse and ended up getting clean, thanks to a blogger with kids, which would end up being his new family. Rather than tell that terrible story to everyone, Beck simply tells people that her father is dead, because it's easier, and true to her in a figurative sense. This is a real thing people do, too. I once saw a family have a memorial service for another family member they considered dead to them. This stuff happens, people! Anyways, dinner predictably isn't a very cheery meal and ends with Beck storming away from the table. Joe leaves to comfort her and offer suggestions on how to move forward (including "jokingly" asking if she wants him dead), but she blows up at him as well and asks him to leave. Next, it's her dad's turn to try and salvage things. She calms down a bit more, but things are still not sunshine and roses. Later that night, Beck remembers a bit of Joe's advice and begins working on a story for class, which is later praised by Blythe in a text message. Despite receiving a text from Peach saying she needs help moving things because she has bed bugs, Beck shows up a Joe's apartment. In light of the great story she was able to write due thanks to his advice, she has come to apologize to him by letting him redeem his eight seconds. Not expecting this visit, Joe has left tons of evidence of his stalking around the apartment, but he is able to cleverly hide all of it as he and Beck make out all over the apartment. Things are all good for Joe in the end. He has Beck, the sex was better, and he managed to return Ozma of Oz to Peach's bookshelf while she was out of her apartment.

Living with the Enemy

Now a solidified part of Beck's life, Joe is now subjected to spending time with Beck's friends, all of whom he despises. Peach, of course, is his least favorite, because, well, Peach is just so hard to be around. It doesn't help that she's constantly trying to see through his lies and referring to him as "Joseph" is a condescending tone. She even tries to bait him into incriminating himself for the theft of her book that has now been returned to her. She is unsuccessful. When Beck's friend, Annika, comes to the bookstore and offers to help bring more attention to the store via social media, Joe does a deep dive and discovers and old photo of her with Peach, who had a distinctly different nose than she does now. Joe convinces Annika to post the photo now and shortly after, a mysterious new page posts a video of drunk Annika saying some fairly racists sounding things, resulting in a massive drop in Annika's reputation. Joe's money is on Peach (as is mine), but she of course would never admit to doing such a thing. If that wasn't enough, Peach gets worse. When Beck tells her about a jobs-for-hire opportunity she's received, Peach pretends to just realize she's friends with an important publisher, Roger, she could have introduced Beck to this entire time. She insists on a party at Joe's bookstore to set up the meeting, which Joe agrees to because he loves Beck and she thinks she wants this. As Beck and Roger begin talking, Peach engages Joe in conversation as they watch. Joe mentions he's running now, which Peach uses as an opportunity to take a dig at his eight second mishap. A few undercut insults later, Peach declares that Beck is lucky to have her, because she doesn't usually know what's best for herself, but Peach knows. Joe later sneaks away from the party with Peach's bag to do some research and discovers a strange photo of Beck in her notebook. While returning the bag, he overhears Peach and Roger having a conversation about getting Beck to drop out because her stuff isn't great. Joe decides he has to get into Peach's laptop and steals it, but returns it to her place in time for her to come to his apartment and accuse him of stealing it in front of Beck. Joe then confronts Beck about not sticking up for him to Peach and tells her Roger isn't actually interested in her writing, but she refuses to believe this and leaves a bit angry. During this time Joe is able to crack Peach's laptop code (beckalicious) and learns that Peach is completely obsessed with Beck and wants her all to herself. Beck also learns Peach isn't so great when Roger tries to take advantage of her and tells her the truth when she refuses him. She blows up at Peach and heads back to Joe, so they can spend the night together. They're interrupted, however, when Peach calls to say she's killing herself, but Joe discovers from her food intake log that the pills she's taken are nowhere near enough to kill a person. Of course, he looks terrible when he tries to suggest something, and they decide it's best if he leaves. The next day, Joe attacks Peach with a rock on her morning run and leaves her for dead. Thinking he's won, he returns to find Paco's mom's boyfriend unconscious in the hallway and learns that Paco has drugged him. Joe saves him and is beaten to a pulp for his struggles. However, he's still blissful about Peach's death, until Beck calls to say she's visiting Peach in the hospital.

Amour Fou
Continuing to play the part of the supportive boyfriend, Joe shows up with a balloon at a gathering to support Peach's recovery and Peach stares daggers at him the entire time. While Joe and Beck enjoy a moment alone in the kitchen, Peach comes to interrupt. Despite standing right next to Joe, Peach tells Beck that "Joseph" should leave because "male energy" isn't good for her "healing space" and tells her to give Joe his balloon back. She doesn't say this to Joe directly because she can't handle confrontation right now. If that wasn't enough to annoy him, Joe finds a flight itinerary in Peach's bag for her and Beck to go to France, which he deduces is her final attempt to have Beck all to herself. Even more, Beck tells him the next day that Peach asked her to come with her for the weekend to her estate in Greenwich, Connecticut. He tries to warn her that Peach is in love with her, but Beck doesn't want to hear it and leaves the store mildly peeved at Joe. It's not all bad, though! Paco's mom is grateful Joe hasn't pressed charges and offers him one no questions asked favor he can cash in at any time. So, there's that. But, back to his problems. Joe decides he won't let Peach get away with any of this and is determined to get to her estate, even after his car has a run-in with a deer and leaves him with a large gash and a concussion. He tries to search the house and sew up his wound while Peach and Beck are out for the day, but his concussion-induced hallucinations/memories of the weekend he suspected Candace was cheating on him get in the way, as does his fainting onto the floor. He comes to just in time for Beck and Peach to return, which starts a fun little sneaking journey for Joe to find the gun he ends up seeing in Peach's purse. This journey begins with him peeing in a jar after watching Peach watch Beck take a bath, and ends with him under a bed while Peach tries to incite a drug/alcohol induced threesome with their friend, Raj, on top of said bed. Beck realizes what's going on (her and Peach making out was a pretty strong hint) and decides she wants none of this, leaving Peach and Raj to have their own fun while Joe is forced to listen and exchange cute messages with Beck.

The next morning, Beck confronts Peach about the night before, but Peach turns it around and accuses Beck of remembering the night wrong so she didn't have to take responsibility for her part in the evening. Rude. Beck leaves, completely fed up with Peach, leaving Peach and Joe alone in the house. Joe decides the only course of action is to shoot Peach, but he has one last Candace hallucination that involves shouting, which obviously catches Peach's attention. When he comes out of it, Peach knocks him out and then holds him at gunpoint as we realize she's figured pretty much everything about Joe out, especially when she sees Benji's watch on his wrist. He reminds her that since he stole her laptop, he's seen all the pictures she has of Beck and says that his associate (Paco, of course!) will release everything if he dies. He tries to negotiate a sort of peaceful truce between them, but Peach just opts to try and murder him. The resulting chase/struggle ends with Peach's demise, which Joe decides to frame as a suicide, given her history. Things are looking good for Joe as he cashes in his favor with Paco's mom to get himself stitched up and Beck asks him to stay with her after Peach's funeral, solidifying him as the most important person in her life now. However, he undoubtedly left fingerprints all over that estate, not to mention that the jar he peed in is still there as well, so that could easily put a damper on his current happiness.


Book of the Week
I'm not letting this die, I'm too stubborn for that. For week one, I'm going to nominate Beck herself as the book of the week, as she truly became an open book to us. We got to further explore her nuances and learn all of her secrets. If not all of them, at least her biggest secret: her father isn't dead. While she has been lying to everyone about this secret, she also sort of hasn't. Her father, the man she knew and loved, truly is dead for all intents and purposes. However, minus the new, less than perfect family, he's better off than he was, and I really hope she realizes this and starts trying to form a better relationship with her father in the future.

Happily, week two gave us The Count of Monte Cristo to sink our teeth into. A classic tale of revenge, Joe gave this book to Paco to teach him that value of being patient and outsmarting your enemy, rather than attacking outright without thinking of the repercussions. Unfortunately, Paco wants to end his mom's relationship now and doesn't heed any of Joe's advice from the book. Coincidentally, Joe also doesn't take this advice when he decides his best course of action is to bash Peach over the head with a rock during her morning run. To Joe I would say, practice what you preach, and don't attack Peach.

For week three, I'll call Peach the open book. Granted, we're only getting a look at things from Joe's perspective, but most of these things just objectively make her a bad person. It's fun to watch Joe criticize everything Peach does, especially when he does half of those things as well in less obvious ways. Now that we've read Peach for the Beck-obsessed person that she is, we really know most of her motivations and can put her on the same level as Joe. He murders for Beck, and she (probably) fakes suicide attempts for Beck. How fun. Though I never condone Joe's murderous ways, I will say Beck is probably better off without Peach, and I'm much happier knowing I won't have to listen to her constant condescension every episode.


In my opinion, this show has continued to improve as it's gone on. The tension has really increased as I continue to care more about what happens to Joe and Beck, especially when I realize that Joe has had an overall very positive effect on Beck's life. She's no longer dating a cheating boyfriend who doesn't care about her, her writing has become more inspired, she's overall happier, and now she's back down to just one stalker since her controlling, manipulative "best friend" is dead. Now, I 100% do not approve of any of the methods used to get Beck's life to its current state, but the life of present-day Beck is objectively better than it was when we first met her. I can't wait to see what twisty paths we'll be taking in these last four episodes, and I have high hopes for a gripping finale.


Where do you stand with Joe now? Are you happy we've seen the last of Peach? Do you think Joe will remember he needs to go back to that house and hope the cops haven't found all of the incriminating evidence against him? Sound off in the comments below!