For Millennials. By Millennials.
Fans couldn’t help but point out the similarities between Netflix’s You character Rhys Montrose. A charming British candidate for London mayor in Season 4, and Tyler Durden from the 1999 cult classic, ‘Fight Club‘. One curious thought that popped up in our head was, who is more evil? So we decided to do an analysis to find out what makes each character gripping and fascinating. We loved Ed Speeler‘s performance and we can’t get over Brad Pitt‘s either (more than 20 years later, JEEZ!).
So let’s talk about the two fictional characters who represent the dark side of their main characters: Rhys Montrose and Tyler Durden. These guys are hallucinatory alter-egos, who are so bad, they make Darth Vader look like a teddy bear!
Netflix’s ‘You’ Character Rhys Montrose –
The Inspiration: Tyler Durden
Tyler Durden is the OG alter-ego, the charismatic and manipulative leader of an underground fighting club. He represents the main character’s inner desire to reject society’s consumerist values and find meaning through physical violence. As the movie progresses, we realize that Tyler Durden is just a figment of the main character’s imagination, which is about as crazy as a three-eyed monkey playing the piano!
Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) is a complex character who has been interpreted in different ways by different audiences. Some see him as a symbol of masculine rebellion against a society that suppresses men’s emotions and desires, while others see him as a nihilistic force that seeks to destroy everything in its path. The character is intentionally ambiguous, leaving it up to the viewer to decide what he represents.
One thing that’s clear, however, is that Tyler Durden is not a role model. He’s a violent and destructive character who leads his followers down a dangerous path. His philosophy of rejecting consumerism and societal norms may sound appealing to some, but it ultimately leads to chaos and destruction. He’s a cautionary tale about the dangers of extremism and the need for balance in our lives.
Tyler Durden‘s relationship with the main character is also fascinating to explore. He’s not just a hallucination, but rather a projection of the main character’s subconscious desires. In a way, he represents the part of the main character that he’s afraid to confront, the part that’s been suppressed for too long. The relationship between the two characters is like a dance between two opposing forces, each pushing the other to the limit.
Related: Netflix’s ‘You’ Season 3 Is Crazier and Somehow Better Than Ever
Netflix’s ‘You’ Rhys Montrose – Deep Dive
Netflix’s ‘You‘ actor Rhys Montrose (Ed Speelers) is a character who is initially introduced as an ambitious and humble politician with a mysterious past. He’s one of the only working-class people in a group of wealthy British socialites that the main character, Joe, falls in with. At first, Rhys seems disgusted by his friends’ absurd wealth, but he’s oddly unable to extricate himself from the group. Then, the rich friends start dying one by one at the hands of a serial killer dubbed the “Eat the Rich” Killer.
In the first part of season four, Rhys reveals himself to be the killer and the person who has been harassing Joe via text messages. However, at the end of the second part of the season, it’s revealed that Joe and Rhys are one and the same. Joe has been fully dissociating from his murderous tendencies by attributing them to an entirely separate person, Rhys Montrose.
Overall, Rhys is a different kind of hallucinatory alter-ego than Tyler. While Tyler Durden represents the main character’s subconscious desire to reject societal norms and find meaning through violence, Rhys represents the darker, more violent side of Joe‘s personality that he’s been unable to confront. He’s a manifestation of Joe‘s dissociation and denial, a character that allows him to distance himself from his own violent actions.
Netflix’s ‘You’ Rhys Montrose – Comparison
Unlike Tyler Durden, who is intentionally ambiguous and open to interpretation, Rhys Montrose is a more straightforward character. He’s a killer who is motivated by his own twisted desires, rather than a symbol of a larger societal issue. Rhys is a reminder of the danger of dissociation and denial, of the harm that we can cause when we refuse to confront our own inner demons.
Both characters are symbolic representations of their main characters’ psychological struggles, but they exist in different narrative contexts and serve different narrative purposes. Tyler is all about rejecting society’s values, while Rhys is more about Joe trying to hide from his dark side. They may be bad boys, but they’re representations of different manifestations of the psyche, both metaphorically and symbolically.
Related: Is Netflix’s You Season 4 The Last One?
Rhys Montrose vs Tyler Durden-
Who’s More Evil?
Tyler Durden‘s violent tendencies are obvious from the beginning of the story, as he encourages the narrator to engage in street fights and vandalism. He forms an underground fight club that quickly escalates into a violent revolutionary group. Tyler‘s ultimate goal is to destroy society as it currently exists, believing that it is a hollow, meaningless existence. He represents the narrator’s inner desire to break free from conformity and embrace chaos.
Rhys Montrose, on the other hand, is a much more subdued character who only reveals his true nature at the end of “You” Season 4. Throughout the season, he presents himself as an ambitious yet humble politician with a past full of unnamed traumas. He is the only other working-class person in the group of rich British socialites that Joe falls into, and like Joe, while he seems disgusted by his friends’ absurd wealth, he’s oddly incapable of extricating himself from the group.
It’s only in the final episodes that we realize he is the serial killer known as the “Eat the Rich Killer,” and that Joe has been dissociating from his own murderous tendencies by attributing them to Rhys as a separate personality.
At their core, Tyler and Rhys are both alter-egos that represent their respective main characters’ dark sides. They showcase the potential for violence and manipulation that exists within all of us, and they serve as reminders to confront our inner demons before they consume us. Whether you prefer the nihilistic chaos of Tyler Durden or the suave manipulation of Rhys Montrose is, quite frankly, a preference.
As for who is more evil? That’s a tough question, like asking whether a shark or a crocodile is more dangerous. It all depends on the situation and the narrative context. But one thing’s for sure, both of these alter-egos are so bad, they’ll make your hair stand on end!