Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for the You Season 5 finale.The underlying question since the very start ofYouhas always been: Will Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) ever get his comeuppance for all of the stalking and killing, and if so, what will that look like?The fifth and final seasonanswers this question, although it continues to keep viewers on their toes, constantly switching between multiple possible directions for this character. While it looks like killing Clayton (Tom Francis) on camera will be the thing that destroys Joe, he gets out unscathed. Then, he almost dies in a fire that Maddie (Anna Camp) sets at Mooney’s, but he makes it out alive after Bronte (Madeline Brewer) saves him.
The Season 5 finale opens with Joe and Bronte going on the run together. Bronte doesn’t know that Kate (Charlotte Ritchie) recorded a voice note of Joe confessing to murdering Love (Victoria Pedretti), and that she sent it to Nadia (Amy-Leigh Hickman). Joe doesn’t know that Bronte has changed her mind about him once again after a conversation with Marienne (Tati Gabrielle), whom she previously believed to be dead. As the two take a road trip up north together, the episode builds toward an intense and unforgettable ending.
In the ‘You’ Series Finale, Joe and Bronte Fight to the Death
The series finale ofYoudoes something different by splitting the voice-overs between Joe and Bronte. Joe is focused on getting out of the country with Bronte, while also hoping that he can speak to Henry (Frankie DeMaio) one last time before he does. Meanwhile, Bronte is trying to keep the act going so that Joe doesn’t figure out what she knows or what she is planning. At the same time, she thinks over how she will confront him and get answers about Beck’s death, while secretly keeping a gun hidden in her bag. Joe and Bronte have a close call with the police, but they manage to make it to a secluded house up north.
Over dinner, Joe talks abouthis vampire romancenovel, and Bronte flies too close to the sun and suggests that Joe’s hero doesn’t deserve a happy ending. She gets around this by making him think that she’s worried about the two of them getting caught, andshe is able to keep her motives hidden for the night. After a boat ride, the two of them start to hook up, and then Bronte pulls out a gun. From there, everything is intense as Bronte confronts Joe about Beck, and he is very careful in the answers that he gives. They take a break so that Joe can say goodbye to Henry, but Henry calls Joe a monster and makes it clear that he wants nothing to do with him anymore. Joe and Bronte then wind up outside in a fight to the death, where Bronte almost drowns. For a moment, Joe thinks that he has killed her,but Bronte is actually alive and has already called 9-1-1.About to get arrested, Joe begs Bronte to kill him, but she refuses. Joe runs at Bronte, and she shoots him, leaving him alive but with an unfortunate injury in the crotch, as he is finally arrested.
The ‘You’ Series Finale Reveals Where Everyone Else Ends Up
Every season ofYouends with a flash-forward wrap-up to show where each ofthe characters of that seasonends up, normally narrated by Joe. In the series finale, it is narrated by Bronte. She describesJoe being found guilty at first for the murders of Beck and Love, and then a number of other murders as well. Kate somehow made it out of the fire alive, although the details aren’t explained. She has taken a step back from the Lockwood Corporation, which is now fully nonprofit and run by her brother, Teddy (Griffin Matthews). Kate is also now parenting Henry on her own while throwing herself into advocating for artists, including Marienne, who is a famous artist now that she doesn’t need to hide from Joe anymore.
Meanwhile, Nadia is writing again while teaching literature classes for incarcerated women. Dr. Nicky (John Stamos) and Harrison (Pete Ploszek) are also both out of jail now, and Harrison is raising Gretchen (Lillian Tardie) with Maddie, who is now pregnant with twins. Afterforcing Joe to cross out all the scenesin Beck’s bookthat he rewrote,Bronte has gotten it republished without his additions, and the new version is even more successful. On the day of its publication, Bronte imagines Beck, and then she moves on with her life, finally able to minimize Joe as just a terrible ex-boyfriend.
In the ‘You’ Series Finale, Joe Goldberg Ends Up In Jail
It was always clear that Joewould end the series being punished, although this could have been with either death or jail. Jail feels much more fitting, especially after Joe begs Bronte to kill him. Death would have beenthe sort of epic and poetic ending that Joe could have romanticized. Instead, Joe has been turned into a joke on the internet, has been held accountable for his crimes, and is forced to live out the rest of his days alone in jail. Still, Joe refuses to take accountability. The final scene in the series shows Joe receiving fan mail and then concluding that he’s not the problem, but that the problem is actually society.
This isa satisfying end toYou,embracing its suspenseful and comedic elements while giving Joe Goldberg exactly what he deserves. Even after being found guilty, Joe still sees himself as this tragic hero who was “a product of [his] environment.” Each ofYou’s other season finales ends with a major death, butthe series finale subverts expectations by forcing Joe to live. Joe doesn’t get to die a tragic hero, and he is ultimately stuck living a mundane life, as every living person that he’s harmed finally moves on.
All episodes ofYouis available to stream on Netflix.
