The Viewer’s Paradox: Two series fandoms
This year, two well-known shows came to an end — The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu) and You (Netflix), which have been with us for a similarly long time, just a year apart. I decided to share a few thoughts and observations about both stories, but also about the fandom reactions and certain “similarities” I couldn’t help but notice.
You might ask — what the hell do these two shows have in common? A story about survival in dystopian Gilead and the tale of a serial killer? Well, there’s something there, I promise!
⚠️ This post contains spoilers for both finales.
Honestly, it was more of a coincidence that I watched both shows around the same time. I’ll even admit that I’ve known You much longer than THT. But I was more of a casual viewer, and after season 2 (which I watched five years ago), I only got around to catching up a few days ago.
Even before I saw either finale, it was impossible to miss the wild fan responses — especially the disturbing hate campaign against Madeline Brewer, who just so happens to appear in both shows (Janine in The Handmaid’s Tale, Bronte in You).
She’s a beloved character in THT, but one of the most hated in You. On social media, the actress was subjected to truly awful bullying — people were saying she "ruined" the show, and many insulted her appearance as well.
I was honestly shocked by how far people will go online (hiding behind their screens, many clearly think they can say anything), and it just felt wrong. Even after watching the finale, I had to go read multiple reviews just to understand what people were so upset about.
IMDb ratings for the final episodes:
You:
Finale – 5.4 (7.6K ratings)
Penultimate – 8.5 (3.6K ratings)
THT:
Finale – 5.7 (3K ratings)
Penultimate – 9.2 (3.5K ratings)
It really caught my attention that both shows had very highly rated penultimate episodes, but their finales totally flopped. In both cases, fans complained about a drop in narrative quality, unsatisfying resolutions, and weaker writing compared to earlier seasons. And sure — both shows touch heavily on feminism and misogyny. Or maybe people were just… bored?
What I found especially fascinating was this:
In one show, viewers praise something that viewers of the other hate. Namely — the invincible female character trope.
In You, it’s Bronte who brings justice and finally gets the protagonist into the hands of the law after all these years of slipping through the cracks.
But what breaks the logic is that she was severely injured and somehow became nearly unstoppable for the sake of plot. Viewers had a huge problem with that — same as with another character who survived certain death, clearly just for shock value.
It immediately reminded me of the scene with June, who survived being hanged from a height, and in the next scene she’s basically fine — just complaining about a sore throat.
Fan reactions? The opposite. Many people admired June, while many started to hate Bronte.
Who's really the bad guy?
Now to the core of why I’m even writing this: Nick Blaine and Joe Goldberg.
Surprisingly, I found some very interesting parallels between them:
Both experienced childhood trauma and abandonment by their mothers.
Both were willing to kill for love and were portrayed — in some ways — as romantics.
For both characters, there is talk of viewers liking them because of their looks.
Joe was not a good person. He could “love” someone — and then kill them when they were no longer “the one” or when they “betrayed” him (in his own twisted view). He was a deeply disturbed man who repeated his cycle until it caught up to him.
Nick, on the other hand, was always loyal to his love. Yes, he was capable of violence — but only to protect her or help her. And most of the time, she knew about it. One could even say she counted on that kind of help. Sure, he was part of the “bad side” — but it was about survival.
Joe enjoyed his position. He literally admitted to enjoying the violence he inflicted. Nick carried the weight of his choices. We could see how it affected him.
Yes, their backgrounds and contexts are vastly different — but it’s still astonishing to me how audiences perceive them.
Joe killed over 20 (mostly innocent) people on screen, yet many viewers still feel sympathy for him. I've read several people's reactions that he deserved a happy ending with a woman who would finally accept him. Even after everything.
Nick? He never did anything on screen that made me say “wow, that’s a bad man.” And yet, the clumsy writing of the last few episodes tried to tell us he was bad. Period. Without any real scenes to support it — just a few vague lines of dialogue.
And the story, the promo, and even some of the actors played along with it. Nick ended up as the guy who reaped what he sowed. And many viewers agreed, showing zero empathy for him.
And I keep asking myself: How is this even possible?
Are the audiences of these two shows really that different?
How can one character be written off based on a few inconsistent lines that contradict the rest of the story — while another, a literal serial killer, gets sympathy and understanding?
It honestly blows my mind.
In the end, the show I didn’t even care that much about (You) turned out to be far more enjoyable to me than the one I had a deep connection with (The Handmaid’s Tale).
Joe is, in my opinion, the true definition of someone who reaped what he sowed. That absolutely does not apply to Nick.
