Raine Fielder

Beck and call… the police… on Joe

What is white knight syndrome? It is misogyny hiding in plan sight as chivalry. The idea that a male person is more adept at life and therefore needs to “save” women. In his previous role on Gossip Girl, Penn Badgley played a “sweet” stalker/writer named Dan Humphrey. And a lot of people are comparing his new character Joe, to Dan. Which is understandable. These guys do have some things in common. However, as far as we know, Dan never killed anyone. Or, you know, pleasured himself out on the sidewalk. But everyone is talking about these things, comparing Joe and Dan, and the conflict of Joe being a nice guy who happens to stalk and kill people. But is he really that nice? Even when he’s being nice? When I first finished the series, I was still reeling from the natural high of emotions that I had been dragged through. Now that I have had time to reflect, I’ve realized a few things. Red flags and little moments that tugged this gnawing part of me during viewing. A part of me that knew, even if I hadn’t known what Joe was doing behind Beck’s back, something was off with this guy. And it was partly Penn’s incredible acting, the sense of danger and instability in Joe’s face. But it was also the way he described himself, the way he saw himself and the way he saw women.