You Season 5’s Ending Confirms Joe’s Next Big Obsession (With A Twist)

Warning! Spoilers for You season 5 ahead!

Joe’s story came to an official close in You season 5, but the show’s final moments paint a picture of this character’s future. Joe Goldberg got precisely the ending he deserved in the Netflix series’ finale as he was finally put behind bars for the countless murders he committed between seasons 1 and 5. Bronte explained that the trial was grueling, but Joe was ultimately made to see himself clearly. As the evidence was presented, You‘s killer could no longer pretend that his violence was for anyone’s benefit. Joe was just a monster through and through.

Joe’s recognition that he is a broken and despicable killer in You season 5 isn’t the same as taking responsibility for his actions. In the end, Joe decides that he is the way he is because of all the ways society has failed him. Sure, he is a monster, but so is everyone else. Joe’s evidence of this in You season 5 is the letters fans write him. They don’t care that Joe is a killer. They are obsessed with the idea of a poor, misunderstood bad boy who will make them feel dangerous, but loved. Though Joe seems disgusted by these letters in You‘s final episode, it’s hinted that they will be all he has left.

You’s Ending Hints That Joe Will Become Obsessed With A Prison Pen Pal

He Doesn’t Have Any Other Options Left

The true weight of Joe’s punishment is the loneliness. The only time he took any sort of responsibility for his actions in You is when he begged Bronte to kill him rather than send him to prison. He claimed that death was what he deserved. However, in truth, Joe just wanted an escape from the profound loneliness he would experience in prison. He said as much in You‘s final scene. Joe stated that he would never be loved again. He would never be held by anyone. For someone like Joe, this is the worst possible thing. All he has left is his letters, and one day, one is sure to stand out.

If there’s anything we have learned about Joe throughout You‘s five seasons, it’s that he must have a subject of obsession. It’s what gives him purpose. Joe is unlikely to find that in prison in any other way than through his letters. Though disgusted by the one he reads in the final episode of You, it’s only a matter of time before he is intrigued by someone’s writing. He will write back to them, and a pen-pal relationship will begin. There won’t be any touching or real stalking, but Joe Goldberg is sure to believe that he is in love again.

A Prison Pen Pal Can Give Joe Everything He Wants

He Would Still Be Lonely, But This Relationship Would Be Ironically Perfect

Ironically, a pen pal may be the only romantic interest that can give Joe what he wants. Throughout You, Joe was desperate for someone to see his full self and accept him. He didn’t want to hide that he was a killer, and wanted to be appreciated for the way his violence was in service to whatever woman he loved in the given moment. Anyone writing to Joe in prison would be entirely aware of all the terrible things he had done. His case was public, so Joe can no longer hide his past behavior. It would just take one well-written woman to write and agree with Joe that it isn’t his fault that he is a monster for him to become obsessed.

Related

Every You Returning Character Who Spoke Out About Joe Goldberg In Season 5

You season 5 came with the return of several characters who survived Joe throughout the years. With their help, Joe finally faced justice.

Of course, whoever Joe next becomes hooked on after the events of You won’t be able to show him the kind of love he is actually desperate for. He won’t be able to stalk and protect them. However, this is, ironically, the trade-off for Joe finally getting what he always wanted—a woman who would appreciate the ugliest things about him.

Joe’s Next Obsession Might Actually Be Safe From Him

Joe Can’t Turn On Any More Lovers

Out in the world, Joe inevitably turned on the woman he was obsessed with. Love Quinn was, perhaps, the most perfect person for Joe. She knew he was a killer and recognized that this was his way of protecting her. However, Joe was disgusted by the fact that she was a killer too, so he murdered her. If Joe were to come face to face with a pen pal who loves him for the monster he is, he would likely do the same thing. Joe knows what he wants, but he makes achieving it impossible. Ironically, being behind bars is the only way Joe won’t ultimately turn on the subject of his obsession.

Joe Goldberg no longer poses a threat. Prior to his arrest in You season 5, Bronte stated that the “fantasy of a man like you is how we cope with the reality of a man like you.” In prison, Joe might as well be a fantasy to whatever woman becomes his next correspondent. He will be safely behind bars, and she will tell him what a wonderful, misunderstood protector he is, with no danger of becoming a victim of his violence. It’s somewhat pathetic, but that’s just another way that Joe’s You ending is perfect.

You

7/10

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