Neil Reynolds
@neilreynolds.bsky.social
writer, producer, gm, creator, dog dad.
https://neilreynolds.name
https://neilreynolds.name
60/ In the last moments of the series, Joe finally turns on you—but that’s Joe, not the show. I love our fans and am so grateful to everybody who watched over the years, talked about the show, and rode the rollercoaster with us. 🧢
April 24, 2025 at 6:39 PM
60/ In the last moments of the series, Joe finally turns on you—but that’s Joe, not the show. I love our fans and am so grateful to everybody who watched over the years, talked about the show, and rode the rollercoaster with us. 🧢
59/ I wrote the review I hoped the show would get (with apologies to Roxane Gay, who truly has nothing to do with this):
April 24, 2025 at 6:39 PM
59/ I wrote the review I hoped the show would get (with apologies to Roxane Gay, who truly has nothing to do with this):
58/ I’ll close this walk down memory lane with an anecdote from season one. While producing ep 110, at the height of my own hopes and insecurities for the show, the props department asked me to write a fake blurb for the table tents around The Dark Face of Love, Beck’s posthumous bestseller...
April 24, 2025 at 6:35 PM
58/ I’ll close this walk down memory lane with an anecdote from season one. While producing ep 110, at the height of my own hopes and insecurities for the show, the props department asked me to write a fake blurb for the table tents around The Dark Face of Love, Beck’s posthumous bestseller...
57/ In the end, the version that makes it to screen is the most fun (we are all the deer), but the heart and nuance have a way of filtering into the rest of the season.
April 24, 2025 at 6:35 PM
57/ In the end, the version that makes it to screen is the most fun (we are all the deer), but the heart and nuance have a way of filtering into the rest of the season.
56/ Of all the things I’m proud of in our final season, the writers’ long, complex, respectful and heartfelt discussions of how to end this series were the highlight. Every option was weighed.
April 24, 2025 at 6:35 PM
56/ Of all the things I’m proud of in our final season, the writers’ long, complex, respectful and heartfelt discussions of how to end this series were the highlight. Every option was weighed.
55/ As a staff and as a product, we’ve been together since the birth of the #MeToo movement… and we’ve witnessed the pendulum of patriarchy swing back toward our present moment. There are no wrong answers to what Joe deserves... as long as it’s a true comeuppance.
April 24, 2025 at 6:35 PM
55/ As a staff and as a product, we’ve been together since the birth of the #MeToo movement… and we’ve witnessed the pendulum of patriarchy swing back toward our present moment. There are no wrong answers to what Joe deserves... as long as it’s a true comeuppance.
54/ Implicitly and explicitly, we were concerned with our own legacy, because we have nobody to blame but ourselves for making the audience fall for a misogynistic serial killer season after season.
April 24, 2025 at 6:35 PM
54/ Implicitly and explicitly, we were concerned with our own legacy, because we have nobody to blame but ourselves for making the audience fall for a misogynistic serial killer season after season.
53/ Is death a karmic make-good, or an easy escape from culpability? How do we condemn Joe without condemning the fans who love him?
April 24, 2025 at 6:35 PM
53/ Is death a karmic make-good, or an easy escape from culpability? How do we condemn Joe without condemning the fans who love him?
52/ “What does Joe deserve?” The question that drove more discussion and debate than any other creative choice we made across five seasons of the show. Never once entertained giving him a happy ending. So what form does justice take? In the real world? In the heightened satire of our tone?
April 24, 2025 at 6:35 PM
52/ “What does Joe deserve?” The question that drove more discussion and debate than any other creative choice we made across five seasons of the show. Never once entertained giving him a happy ending. So what form does justice take? In the real world? In the heightened satire of our tone?
51/ SEASON 5: This season’s writing was interrupted by the strike—we actually started work on s5 over two years ago, in March 2023. I am so relieved it’s finally out.
April 24, 2025 at 6:35 PM
51/ SEASON 5: This season’s writing was interrupted by the strike—we actually started work on s5 over two years ago, in March 2023. I am so relieved it’s finally out.
50/ It is possible to have empathy for Joe while condemning him, and by now, we were veterans in milking that empathy to balance the horror he inflicted on his victims. But, still—karma has to have its day, which is why season 5 was always intended to be the last.
April 24, 2025 at 6:35 PM
50/ It is possible to have empathy for Joe while condemning him, and by now, we were veterans in milking that empathy to balance the horror he inflicted on his victims. But, still—karma has to have its day, which is why season 5 was always intended to be the last.
49/ As far as the love story of the season, my favorite scene is the last conversation on the bridge between Joe, and the dark part of himself that just wants Joe’s love. We were inspired by parts-work therapy to ground the psychology behind all these shenanigans.
April 24, 2025 at 6:35 PM
49/ As far as the love story of the season, my favorite scene is the last conversation on the bridge between Joe, and the dark part of himself that just wants Joe’s love. We were inspired by parts-work therapy to ground the psychology behind all these shenanigans.
48/ I muse on this sometimes, the power of platforms, and how much more fluid we could be than the model we inherited from broadcast (premiere, midseason finale, finale).
April 24, 2025 at 6:35 PM
48/ I muse on this sometimes, the power of platforms, and how much more fluid we could be than the model we inherited from broadcast (premiere, midseason finale, finale).
47/ Sometimes I wonder what it would’ve been like to hold just the final three episodes for the month, cliffhanging on the real “gotcha” rather than the fake reveal of Rhys-as-killer. Woulda coulda, and totally moot now...
April 24, 2025 at 6:35 PM
47/ Sometimes I wonder what it would’ve been like to hold just the final three episodes for the month, cliffhanging on the real “gotcha” rather than the fake reveal of Rhys-as-killer. Woulda coulda, and totally moot now...
46/ ... from our usual pattern. More of our “love story” energy was between Joe and… himself. But we didn’t really tip that that was the heart of the thing until ep 410.
April 24, 2025 at 6:35 PM
46/ ... from our usual pattern. More of our “love story” energy was between Joe and… himself. But we didn’t really tip that that was the heart of the thing until ep 410.
45/ The show was designed to be a ten-episode binge and even with a mid-season cliffhanger, the whole picture of what we were doing (the “Fight Club” reveal) didn’t emerge until the final act of episode 407. As an enemies-to-lovers pairing, Joe and Kate’s relationship consciously leaned away...
April 24, 2025 at 6:35 PM
45/ The show was designed to be a ten-episode binge and even with a mid-season cliffhanger, the whole picture of what we were doing (the “Fight Club” reveal) didn’t emerge until the final act of episode 407. As an enemies-to-lovers pairing, Joe and Kate’s relationship consciously leaned away...
44/ For me, this season was defined by the “split”—Netflix was experimenting with dropping 5 episodes, waiting a month, then releasing the other 5. Based on my small sample size, people who waited and watched the whole thing as a 10-episode binge enjoyed it more. No slight; just a learning.
April 24, 2025 at 6:35 PM
44/ For me, this season was defined by the “split”—Netflix was experimenting with dropping 5 episodes, waiting a month, then releasing the other 5. Based on my small sample size, people who waited and watched the whole thing as a 10-episode binge enjoyed it more. No slight; just a learning.
43/ The creative lift of this season was reverse-engineering Joe’s psychotic break and hiding it from the audience, seducing us once again into thinking Joe is the victim.
April 24, 2025 at 6:35 PM
43/ The creative lift of this season was reverse-engineering Joe’s psychotic break and hiding it from the audience, seducing us once again into thinking Joe is the victim.
42/ SEASON 4: So instead of romance, a new genre. The answer to “whodunnit” on our show is always, always going to be Joe, so the work was to hide the ball in a new way.
April 24, 2025 at 6:35 PM
42/ SEASON 4: So instead of romance, a new genre. The answer to “whodunnit” on our show is always, always going to be Joe, so the work was to hide the ball in a new way.
41/ Saying goodbye to Love was another painful milestone—inevitable, planned from the beginning, but, a loss nonetheless. She was created to be Joe’s soulmate, and she was so perfect for him it was impossible to imagine building another season around romance.
April 24, 2025 at 6:35 PM
41/ Saying goodbye to Love was another painful milestone—inevitable, planned from the beginning, but, a loss nonetheless. She was created to be Joe’s soulmate, and she was so perfect for him it was impossible to imagine building another season around romance.
40/ I also could not have predicted getting review-bombed by anti-vaxxers so fragile they couldn’t bear to see Love throw Gil in the cage for giving her kid measles. Accusations of the show “becoming woke”—like, you’re really choosing measles as your line in the sand?
April 24, 2025 at 6:35 PM
40/ I also could not have predicted getting review-bombed by anti-vaxxers so fragile they couldn’t bear to see Love throw Gil in the cage for giving her kid measles. Accusations of the show “becoming woke”—like, you’re really choosing measles as your line in the sand?