People Editor
Warning: Spoilers Ahead for You
On Apr. 24, Netflix released the fifth and final season of You. The psychological thriller wrapped up with ten chaotic episodes that perfectly tied all the plot lines together.
The show follows the main character, Joe, through his life in New York, LA, the town of Madre Linda, and London. As a neglected foster child, Joe’s trauma fuels his need to protect the women with whom he falls in love. He begins as a stalker, but soon reveals himself as an obsessive murderer. Each season, Joe takes more lives and slowly falls into madness. The most impressive and captivating part of the series is Joe’s blindness to his faults as well as his ability to justify every murder. He is often a hypocrite, judging other people for stalking his own girlfriend while doing the same. Joe’s charismatic and charming personality differentiates him from the typical cold serial killer, drawing viewers into loving him as well as the women he stalks.
In Season Four, Joe finally accepts and embraces his murderous side, setting up his chaotic killing spree in Season Five. Viewers see a switch from his justification that he never wanted to kill anyone, to directly telling his wife, Kate, that he enjoys murder. Joe continues to follow his narcissistic and misogynistic pattern in Season Five with a new love interest, Bronte. His past comes to light with multiple accusations on social media after the reveal that Bronte has been part of a plot to out him as a murderer.
Episode Ten ends with a fight scene between Bronte and Joe in an abandoned house. With nothing left to lose, Joe demonstrates his terrifying nature and will to kill. The scene fittingly culminates with Joe’s downfall and his descent into truly homicidal behavior. Many people disagreed with the ending, with Joe in a jail cell and never able to find love again, but many also found satisfaction in the season finale. The scene ends with Joe receiving a disturbing letter from a fan. He states, “Maybe we have a problem as a society. Maybe we should fix what’s broken in us. Maybe the problem isn’t me. Maybe…it’s you.” This statement accurately encapsulates Joe. He avoids all responsibility for his crimes, claiming that his past and other people drove him into murder.
The final monologue also calls attention to the audience’s tendency to romanticize and therefore justify Joe’s crimes. Actor Penn Badgely, who played Joe, called out viewers on X and in interviews, proclaiming his hatred for the character and hope for viewers to stop romanticizing him. Many fans took to social media to complain that Joe was caught. One reddit user summed up the point of the show saying, “Joe is not the villain. Those truly awful women are.” Bronte’s character also garnered a lot of hate, with audience’s criticizing the ease with which she falls in love with Joe. However, this was exactly the point of her character – to showcase Joe’s charisma and reflect viewers’ tendencies to romanticize him. One of Joe;s victims, while trying to reach Bronte, calls out the abusive pattern of romanticizing killers. She tells Bronte, “If you got fooled by this guy, you are not as smart as you think you are. You are one of those women.” Despite controversy, You Season Five used the criticism to prove their point about romanticizing abusive men.
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