Joe Goldberg’s Story Comes Full Circle In A Slow-To-Start Yet Juicy Season That Ends On A Satisfying Note For The Series
After Netflix split You season 4 into two parts, the excitement of the season waned. My only thought was how this show could continue to sustain itself when Joe Goldberg (played masterfully by Gossip Girl alum Penn Badgley) himself was on a downward spiral. You season 5 smartly gives us all ten episodes to binge at once, which enhances the viewing experience without ruining the tension. And just as season 4 explored Joe as he attempted to separate his charming persona from his killer one, season 5 recreates some of that analysis — this time through Joe’s embrace of himself.
Being a killer is good, he opines to billionaire CEO and wife Kate Lockwood (Ghosts UK actor Charlotte Ritchie), who’s trying to make amends for her past mistakes and complicity in her father’s business. Kate’s unconvinced, and as Joe leans into this ideology about himself, the further away she gets from him. Theirs is an interesting dynamic in a season full of interesting dynamics. While not entirely as memorable an ensemble as, say, season 2, You’s final season has enough reflection and twists to keep us engaged, even as I became frustrated with some of the characters’ actions.
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You Season 5 Cast & Character Guide
Joe Goldberg is surrounded by a host of new characters (and possible victims) in You season 5, so let’s take a look at the talented new cast.
Season 5 picks up three years after You season 4 ended. Nadia (Amy-Leigh Hickman) is still in prison and Joe is back to using his real name as he lives a very cushy life with Kate, who’s scrubbed his murderous history (even the details she doesn’t know about) and turned Joe into a beloved figure — an attractive husband and father who dotes on his wife and son Henry, who was last seen at the end of season 3, having been taken in by Dante and his husband.
At the start of the season, Kate is as much Joe’s protector as he is hers. When her uncle threatens to reveal Kate’s past — which could remove her as CEO of Lockwood Corporation, much to the pleasure of her half-sister Reagan (Pitch Perfect’s Anna Camp, who deliciously plays the controlling, straight-laced Reagan and her more amenable, pushover twin sister, Maddie) — Kate activates Joe. Unknowingly to him, it’s the beginning of the end of his story in more ways than one.
You Season 5 Has A Lot Going On But It Still Pulls Us In
You season 5 is a bit slow to start, having to introduce a bunch of new characters — including Bronte (Madeline Brewer), a budding writer who shares Joe’s love of books and becomes his, you guessed it, new obsession. But once that’s done with, and right when I thought the show didn’t have much else to give, You reveals a few of its fangs before opening its vampiric mouth wide in preparation for the kill.
…the season contemplates how women, even ones who seemingly have a good head on their shoulders, can be drawn to Joe and all that he offers.
That Joe begins to believe being a killer is good, and not just that he has to do it out of some necessity (a lie he’s convinced even Kate of), is a refreshing change. In a way, this is the final stage in his delusion; he’s told multiple times that he plays the victim, but he doesn’t believe anyone because he doesn’t believe it’s true. It’s only in the end that he sees himself through other people’s eyes, forced to confront the ugliest parts of himself.
And yet, You leaves us with a question about the state of our own society and how we view men like Joe. “The fantasy of a man like you is how we cope with the reality of a man like you,” is an astute line as the season contemplates how women, even ones who seemingly have a good head on their shoulders, can be drawn to Joe and all that he offers. This season is very much about the cycles these women become trapped in. Hungry for love and acceptance, they believe a delusional man with his twisted fantasies about romance.
You Season 5 Is All About Waking Up To Joe Goldberg’s Manipulations
It’s the ultimate exploration of how one can fall for such an abusive person, even if one thought they never would. Despite being a “pathetic misogynist,” we, like these women characters, are drawn into Joe’s web. Though I dare say that in season 5, Joe has lost any of the weaponized charm he once used. The attempts are made, but Penn Badgley specifically plays Joe in a way that is indeed pitiful and thoroughly disgusting. By this point, Joe, who’s gotten used to certain comforts and the thrill of getting away with everything, begins to grow unhinged.
He’s gotten sloppy, but he still victimizes himself to convince others it’s he who’s been done wrong. His eyes scream, “Look at me, I will save you! My trauma is the sole reason for my behavior.” And, like Bronte, we’re pushed to sympathize with him, but season 5 is all about waking up from the draw of Joe Goldberg. Not only is it about truly seeing Joe for who he is, but what these characters are going to do about him when they finally step out of the fog.
As much as You season 5 is the closing chapter of Joe Goldberg’s story, it’s also about the women who have been killed or harmed by him in some way — mentally, emotionally, physically — as they acknowledge their actions while trying to take back their own power and narrative. To that end, You’s final season is a success.
Season 5 doesn’t always work, and there are dipping points as the story twists and turns to keep us intrigued. But there’s certainly enough there to keep us on the hook for a while longer, even if it’s only to find out how Joe’s story ends. As an exploration of Joe as a misogynist who hides behind his romantic notions, and the women who fall for him before shaking themselves free of his manipulations, You season 5 ultimately sticks the landing.
