You season five is the final chance for Joe Goldberg to redeem himself, but has he turned over a new leaf or is he still the same old stalker-turned-serial-killer we have come to know and loathe?
WARNING: This article contains spoilers from You season five.
The dark and addictive series You has been a massive hit on Netflix since it first graced our screens seven years ago, and now season five wraps up the psychological thriller once and for all.
Fast forward in protagonist Joe Goldberg’s (portrayed by Penn Badgley) timeline, and three years have flown by. He’s happily settled in New York with his new wife Kate Lockwood (Charlotte Ritchie), and they’ve been reunited with Joe’s son Henry (Frankie DeMaio).
On the surface, life couldn’t be more picture-perfect: Joe and Kate are the talk of the town, heralded as a “power couple”.
With Kate at the helm of Lockwood Corporation, their financial woes are non-existent, they’ve got the idyllic family life with little Henry, and not one murder on Joe’s conscience since his departure from London – what more could he want?
Yet Joe can’t rid himself of that niggling itch for chaos, and when a problem threatens to disrupt Kate’s corporate reign, it’s back to old habits as Joe’s darker side unfurls once again.
The initial episodes of season five are heavily centred around the drama engulfing Kate’s company, with Joe’s efforts ranging from shielding her from the press frenzy to contending with her sister Raegan’s (Anna Camp) aspirations to climb to the pinnacle of Lockwood Corporation.
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This focus steered the first half of You’s farewell season towards tedium, coming across as mere filler content rather than an engaging part of the overall narrative.
The only sprinkle of excitement came with the introduction of Joe’s potential new romantic interest, Bronte—a troubled yet ambitious writer played by Madeline Brewer.
Joe’s roving eye, in spite of his “perfect life”, is hardly a shocker because it’s a pattern he cannot shake off, no matter how good things might look on the outside.
But, after a series of unremarkable five episodes, it’s the final moments of the fifth chapter, ‘Last Dance’, that really jolt You season five to life with a twist that snaps you out of the daze.
This pivotal scene becomes the engine driving the latter half towards what appears to be a well-earned conclusion to Joe’s twisted tale.
The show comes full circle with a string of elements: Joe’s return to Mooney’s bookstore and the ominous glass cage, along with several surprising cameos that throw us for a loop.
Yet, the finale brings us a feral tour de force from Badgley and the inevitable collapse of Joe Goldberg.
Despite getting his just deserts, Joe flips his use of “you”, previously reserved for his love interests and victims, on its head, this time directing it at us, the viewers, in the closing moments.
He might be facing the wreckage he’s caused, but somehow, “you”, meaning “we” the audience, are still the issue. Not him, or so he implies.
Perhaps, to an extent, he’s making a valid point: blockbuster series like Fifty Shades Of Grey, Twilight, and the more recent After have drawn huge audiences despite glorifying toxic relationships and behaviours.
TV and film fanatics are irresistibly attracted to the darker shades of love stories, leaving behind the sugary Disney fairy tales of our childhoods.
However, the reality that Joe is so detached from his deeds, not even grasping why he was in the wrong, and that he was never the “white knight” he thought he was, truly spotlights how delusional he is.
That “He” has always been the problem.
You is available to watch on Netflix.
