Bookstore manager Joe Goldberg has a meet cute with aspiring writer Guinevere Beck, and an internet search about her leads to Joe's following Beck around, monitoring her social interactions, and even entering her apartment while she is out. Joe is nearby when a drunken Beck falls onto the subway tracks, and he saves her. By the time Joe has taken Beck home, he has stealthily stolen her phone, which gives him full access to everything she does with her new phone. Beck later stops by the bookstore to thank him for rescuing her, and he asks her out. Joe lures Beck's philandering boyfriend Benji to the basement of his shop, hits him in the head with a mallet, and locks him in a plexiglass book vault.
"The Last Nice Guy in New York"
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Joe is not sure what to do with Benji, who is an addict and desperate to be freed. Meanwhile, when Beck rejects her professor's advances, he threatens to take away her teaching assistant job and housing. Beck's wealthy friend Peach is suspicious of Joe. Beck turns the tables on Professor Leahy by threatening to expose his sexual harassment of her and six other women. After obtaining a video of Benji hazing a fraternity pledge to death, Joe gives him a coffee laced with peanut oil, and Benji dies from an allergic reaction.
"Maybe"
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Joe plans how best to get rid of Benji's body, while Beck is intimidated by Blythe, a rival graduate student. Joe doubles down on his efforts to convince Beck that he is "the one" for her after finding out that she is spending her time away from him hooking up with other random guys to perform a "Benji exorcism" on herself. Beck opens up to Joe about her addict father, but their attempt at lovemaking is interrupted by Peach, who needs to be taken to the hospital for a chronic ailment. Joe is almost caught burning Benji's body in the woods as he is talking to Beck on the phone. She invites him over to "finish what they started" earlier, and they finally have sex, but he prematurely ejaculates almost immediately.
"The Captain"
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Beck surreptitiously messages her friends about Joe's disappointing lovemaking, which he sees via her old phone. She subsequently makes weekend plans with an older man she calls "The Captain" and lies to her friends about it. A jealous Joe follows her to a Charles Dickens festival in Nyack and soon learns that the man is her father, Edward, who she had previously said was dead. Meanwhile, Peach has learned that Joe is in Nyack, which forces him to reveal himself to Beck. They go to lunch with Edward and his new family, but Beck explodes at her critical and disapproving stepmother, Nancy. Beck explains to Joe that her father left her family after a drug overdose, and although he has overcome his addiction, she has kept him at a distance. Joe and Beck have sex again, and this time she loves it.
"Living with the Enemy"
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Peach continues to be suspicious of Joe, who seeks a way to neutralize her. Peach makes a show of introducing Beck to a famous literary agent, but when he hits on Beck and tells her the negative things Peach said about her, Beck blows up at Peach. Joe sees through Peach's subsequent faked suicide attempt, and in accessing her laptop comes to realize she is obsessed with Beck. Knowing that Peach will always win Beck's attention, Joe follows Peach on her morning run in Central Park and hits her over the head with a rock. Joe arrives home to find that Paco has drugged Ron to protect his mother. Joe saves Ron, but the unhinged Ron beats him. Joe learns that Peach is alive.
"Amour Fou"
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A recovering Peach is staying with Beck and deftly banishes Joe. Joe lays it all out for Beck: Peach is in love with her and trying to keep Beck dependent on her. Joe secretly follows when Peach whisks Beck off to the Salinger family estate in Greenwich, but he hits his head and begins hallucinating his ex-girlfriend Candace. Peach invites her and Beck's old friend Raj over, and kisses Beck when they are all high on MDMA. The next morning, Beck confronts Peach about the kiss and leaves, after which Peach discovers Joe in the house and pulls a gun on him. She accuses him of stalking her, and Joe reveals all that he knows about her. They wrestle for the gun, Peach is killed, and "she" leaves a suicide note written by Joe.
"Everythingship"
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Joe makes an appointment with Beck's therapist, Dr. Nicky, using the alias Paul. He talks about how his relationship with "Renaldo"—really Beck—was going well after Peach's death but slowly deteriorated. With Beck becoming increasingly moody, distant, and secretive, Joe jealously follows her, but she catches him. He accuses her of cheating on him with her therapist, and she breaks up with Joe. In the present, Joe listens to one of Beck's therapy sessions on Dr. Nicky's computer, which makes Joe realize Beck is better off without him right now. He tells her what she wants to hear and lets her go.
"You Got Me, Babe"
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Three months after his and Beck's breakup, Joe is happily dating Karen, and Beck's story about Peach's death has landed her a book deal. Beck begins to miss Joe and texts him after she engineers their "running into" each other. Both Beck and Joe confide in Dr. Nicky: Beck denies flirting with Joe but is sure that Karen is wrong for him, while Joe is starting to compare his new love "Brad" (Karen) with his ex, "Renaldo" (Beck). Joe and Beck reconnect while helping Blythe move in with Ethan, and Joe and Beck later have sex. A tearful Beck admits to Joe that she now knows how good he was for her, but she was afraid to need him. Joe breaks up with Karen and rushes over to visit Beck, who agrees to get back together with him. Karen confronts Beck, filling her with doubts about Joe.
"Candace"
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Joe recalls Candace's cheating on him with Elijah, whom Joe subsequently pushed to his death. Meanwhile, since Joe will not talk to her about Candace, Beck begins her own obsessive investigation to learn what happened between them and why no one ever heard from Candace again. When her efforts lead to a dead end, Beck confronts Joe, who successfully explains everything. Joe discovers that Beck did have an affair with Dr. Nicky, which she finally admits before telling Joe she loves him. Clued by Paco, Beck discovers Joe's hiding place in the bathroom ceiling and is horrified as she recognizes the cell phones and other mementos he has kept. When Joe realizes what Beck has found, he locks her in the book vault.
"Bluebeard's Castle"
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Joe tells Beck the reasons he killed Benji and Peach, and relates his childhood mental abuse at Mooney's hands. Joe learns from Annika and Lynn that Peach's family have hired a man to investigate her death. Imprisonment prompts Beck to write about her own actions which have brought her to her current situation, and she suggests to Joe that he use Dr. Nicky as a scapegoat for his crimes. Ron's abuse puts Claudia in the hospital, and Joe kills him to protect Paco. Beck lures Joe into the vault, manages to lock him in, and calls him a psychopath. Still trapped in the basement, she calls out to Paco, who thinks she knows about Ron and leaves. Joe has escaped the vault and kills Beck. Four months later, Joe has used Beck's writing to frame Dr. Nicky for all of Joe's murders. Claudia and Paco move to California. Joe is stunned to see Candace is alive when she walks into the bookstore telling him they have unfinished business.
Future Thread Titles:
Joe: You don't understand. I would never hurt someone I love. |
Joe: The only thing I wasn't wrong about was loving you. So I'm letting you go. |
Peach: After everything I've been through, Male energy in my healing space isn't optimal. |
Beck: I'm starting to think I'm some kind of magnet for dudes with issues. |
