10 Things To Remember Before Season 5

You is finally coming back for its fifth and final season on April 24th—here’s everything you need to remember from You season 4 to prepare for the series finale. To say that You season 5 is highly anticipated would be a major understatement. You has proven to be an incredibly popular Netflix show, with Penn Badgley’s serial killer Joe Goldberg bringing audiences back season after season. After the You season 4 ending, though, audiences are particularly invested in where this story will go next.

This is especially true given You season 5 is the end of Joe Goldberg’s story. Throughout You’s four seasons, the list of people Joe Goldberg has killed has only grown longer and more alarming, including the You season 4 deaths, yet he always manages to escape prosecution in the end. Now, season 5 will almost certainly show Joe’s fate, answering once and for all whether Joe is caught and incriminated or if he really gets away with all he has done. Before season 5 of You releases, though, here is everything you need to remember from You season 4.

Joe Goldberg Begins A New Life As Professor Jonathan Moore In London

Joe Has Once Again Taken On An Entirely New Persona

Joe Goldberg kicks off season 4 with a completely new persona. Since the end of You season 3, Joe has moved to London and taken on the identity of an English professor, Jonathan Moore. This comes on the heels of the You season 3 ending, in which Joe killed his wife, Love Quinn, and left his son with friends.

To get away with his season 3 murders, Joe also had to fake his own death, complete with chopping off his toe, so it makes sense that he would have to make such a drastic life change. This is also not the first time Joe has moved, either, given he also took on a new identity and moved from New York City to Los Angeles between season 1 and season 2. Nevertheless, this set the stage for a very different story in season 4.

Joe Befriends A Group Of Elite Socialites In London

Joe Detests Most Of Them But Joins Their Social Circle All The Same

Joe also once again finds himself in a social circle with people he despises in season 4, just as he has throughout You’s other seasons. In season 4, this means the social elite of London, most of whom Joe finds entirely unbearable because of their wealth, self-centered natures, and nasty behavior toward others. This continues to be a great irony of Joe Goldberg, as he is obviously a vicious killer but also dislikes seeing others act in cruel ways.

The You season 4 cast of characters comprises many of these socialites, including Lady Phoebe (Tilly Keeper), Kate (Charlotte Ritchie), Adam (Lukas Gage), and many others. In addition to the group’s at times obnoxious personalities and behaviors, though, the friends have a much more serious problem. Namely, the friends within this social group are being killed off one by one by a mysterious “Eat the Rich killer.”

The “Eat The Rich Killer” Seems To Be The Season’s Main Antagonist

Joe Becomes Entangled In This Mystery As Well

Because Joe is socializing with this group, he becomes wrapped up in the murder mystery as well. For much of this season, it also seems as though the so-called “Eat the Rich killer” is the true antagonist. Contrary to what audiences have seen Joe do season after season, he actually becomes part of the effort to catch the killer, and on more than one occasion, he is shown trying to protect rather than harm this group of friends.

This was a fascinating reversal for Joe’s character, and it raised some questions about whether he may really have turned a new leaf with his brand-new life in London. In the end, this (somewhat unsurprisingly) ended up not being the case whatsoever. Instead, the identity of the true Eat the Rich killer was revealed to be Joe himself—he’d just had no idea.

Joe & Kate Lockwood Develop A Romantic Relationship

Joe’s Latest Romantic Relationship Isn’t What It Seems

Throughout You, Joe has had a series of relationships that end in violence, disaster, and death. In fact, in a disturbing sense, You is the story of Joe Goldberg’s efforts to find love, although that is obviously ruined time after time by Joe’s own serial killer nature and the fact that it’s always obsession, not love, that is driving his relationships. This is bad news for Kate, who becomes Joe’s new love interest in season 4.

However, Kate is different from most of the women Joe has been with before. At first, Kate seems to be a relatively sweet socialite, who is arguably quite a bit smarter than the company she keeps. By the end of season 4, though, it’s clear that Kate has a dark past of her own and a very powerful father who is ruthless and violent in his own right. If anything, Kate is reminiscent of Love Quinn in that sense, who also had an unexpected past and a powerful family.

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Joe Is Revealed To Be Hallucinating Rhys Montrose In A Shocking Twist

This Plot Twist Was Entirely Unexpected

In the shock of the season, You season 4 revealed that Joe had been hallucinating Rhys Montrose the entire time. This was particularly important, as Joe firmly believed that Rhys was the real Eat the Rich Killer. This meant that the real killer was still at large and that Joe had alarmingly been experiencing intense delusions throughout the season. Ultimately, these issues were revealed to be linked.

Joe had been the real Eat the Rich Killer all along, but he had been dissociating to such a degree that he had truly not known he was the killer. Although Joe has obviously been a serial killer throughout all of You, this was a new level of terrifying behavior. For the first time, it felt like Joe had completely lost touch with reality and was no longer even aware of what he was doing—setting up a horrifying story arc for season 5.

Joe Has A Full-Fledged Breakdown & Is More Out Of Control Than Ever

This Season Sees Joe In A Terrifying Mental State

In addition to the massive reveal that Joe was the real Eat the Rich Killer, he was also shown having a complete mental breakdown by the end of season 4, which had really begun when he tracked down and abducted Marienne. Joe met Marienne in season 3, and he had developed an obsession with her. However, at the beginning of season 4, it had seemed as though Joe had let her go.

Towards the end of the season, it was instead revealed that Joe had Marienne trapped all along, and flashbacks showed in brutal detail how he had captured her and kept her drugged for days. Just like with the Eat the Rich Killer, Joe had seemingly truly believed he had let Marienne go, but all of that had been a delusion. In reality, he had brutalized Marienne and held her captive, confirming just how far gone Joe was.

Lady Phoebe & Adam Have A Disastrous End To Their Relationship

Phoebe Has A Devastating Realization About Her Relationship

In a considerably less serious side plot from season 4, Lady Phoebe and Adam, two of the socialites Joe had befriended, had a disastrous end to their relationship. Throughout the season, it was clear that Adam wasn’t any good for Phoebe. He was consistently shown cheating on her, and it was evident that he was immature and self-centered.

This came to a head when Adam was proven not only to be cheating on Phoebe but also to be after her money. Thankfully, the You season 4 ending confirms that Phoebe does not stay with Adam. Instead, she has left the elite social sphere of London behind her and now teaches children in Thailand.

Joe Frames His Student, Nadia, Who Was Getting Too Close To The Truth

This Was A Truly Dark Turn For Joe, Even After All He Had Done

In what was arguably one of the most unsettling plot points in You so far, Joe gets away with much of what he does in season 4 because he frames his student, Nadia. This came on the heels of Nadia discovering and freeing Marienne. She didn’t just stop there, though; Nadia actually went to Joe’s apartment to try and uncover the truth, and Joe caught her in the act of snooping. For obvious reasons, Joe couldn’t allow that, so he had her set up for his crimes.

By the end of season 4, Nadia is in prison, refusing to speak or attempt to defend herself. This is crushing because an innocent young woman is now locked up, but this was also a dark turn for Joe. Yes, Joe has been a killer for years, but he has always defended the young people in his life (like Paco and Ellie). Nadia may not have been a child, but she was a young person who looked up to Joe. By framing Nadia, Joe proved that he has abandoned the person he was—and he was already bad enough.

Joe’s Story Becomes The Darkest It’s Ever Been With The Season 4 Finale

Joe Has Returned To His Old Ways, But Worse

By the end of season 4, Joe’s story is truly the darkest it’s ever been. Not only has he been hallucinating Rhys, captured Marienne without realizing it, and framed Nadia, but he is also killing without any remorse. In fact, when he kills Kate’s father, Tom Lockwood, at the end of season 4, Joe seems to be accepting that he truly is a killer.

This is quite a jump from what we’ve seen with Joe so far. Even when he was killing people throughout the first three seasons, he was always justifying it to himself, still seeing himself as a fundamentally good person who had done terrible things out of necessity. Now, he seems to be embracing his identity as a killer, which makes him so much more dangerous than he has been before.

Joe & Kate Move To New York City As A Power Couple, Setting Up Season 5

Season 5 Will Undoubtedly Bring Something Entirely New

The very end of season 4 also set up an interesting path ahead for Kate and Joe. In the season 4 finale, Kate and Joe are revealed to be living in New York City, evidently with Joe’s public image entirely rehabilitated. In fact, Kate and Joe are even being interviewed and are clearly presented as a power couple.

This was a shocking turn in Joe’s story, and it sets up a fascinating final season. With Joe stepping back into his true identity as Joe Goldberg and now operating with a powerful woman at his side, it’s terrifying to think how much he could get away with. You season 5 is just around the corner, and season 4 has set up a brilliant (and horrifying) final season for the fan-favorite show.

You

Release Date

2018 – 2025-00-00

Showrunner

Sera Gamble, Greg Berlanti

Directors

Marcos Siega, Lee Toland Krieger, Cherie Nowlan, DeMane Davis, Kellie Cyrus, Marta Cunningham, Martha Mitchell, Victoria Mahoney, Erin Feeley

Writers

Justin W. Lo

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  Penn Badgley

  Joe Goldberg

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  Elizabeth Lail

  Guinevere Beck