Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) is again — however he’s by no means been one to surrender with out a battle.
With the fifth and last season of Netflix‘s (beforehand Lifetime’s) soapy thriller due on the streamer April 24, there’s no higher time to revisit the circuitous, murderous journey that led right here. “You” was a pre-pandemic megahit, exploding on Netflix after the primary season in 2018 and gripping viewers around the globe with the story of a stalker turned lover turned killer based mostly on the novels by Caroline Kepnes. The character isn’t precisely charming, however he’s eminently watchable, because of star Badgley — to the purpose that the actor needed to explicitly inform viewers to not root for Joe. As a result of he and the showrunners have been at all times clear about their ethical standing, “You” entered the world because the streaming period’s dream present: completely engrossing, stuffed with juicy twists, and irresistible to binge.
Sadly for all of us, 2018 was a very long time in the past, and it’s honest to say that “You” — for all its deserves — is a little bit of an intense sequence to rewatch simply to jog your reminiscence between seasons. He went to California, then to London, fell in love with fairly just a few folks and killed much more — he even grew a beard that one time, keep in mind?
Earlier than you compromise in to devour that last season, right here’s every part to recollect from Seasons 1-4 of “You.”
New York (Beck)
Season 1 launched Joe Goldberg, a person with a darkish previous who hopes to seek out salvation by love. It’s hopeless romanticism (allegedly) that makes Joe concoct a fantasy of Guinevere Beck (Elizabeth Lail) the second he sees her, a first-sight infatuation that shortly curdles into obsession as he stalks her on-line and in individual. By the point the 2 truly meet (he saves her from a shifting practice as a result of he was following her) and begin to date (he locked her boyfriend in a glass field), Joe is years forward within the relationship fashioned in his thoughts, and might’t bear the considered shedding her.
That’s unhealthy information for these near Beck, who start to note Joe’s suspicious habits and subsequently begin dropping like flies. There’s the aforementioned boyfriend Benji (Lou Taylor Pucci), her finest good friend Peach (Shay Mitchell), and the mysterious ex he received’t discuss — issues she confides in Dr. Nicky (John Stamos), who’s certain by doctor-patient confidentiality however whose mere existence threatens Joe as a result of he’s afraid of Beck dishonest (to be honest, she did have a earlier relationship with Nicky and shouldn’t be his consumer anymore).
However then Beck finds the field — not the glass field that shops uncommon books and Joe’s victims within the basement of Mooney’s bookstore (the one fixed in his life) — however his field of “mementos” that incorporates her lacking cellphone, and outdated pair of panties, and proof linking him to all of the lacking/lifeless folks in her life. A panicked Joe locks Beck within the field (the massive one this time), hoping that he can persuade her of his true position as companion and protector, however finally killing her when she tries to flee. Joe finishes the manuscript Beck wrote in captivity and sends it to a writer, giving her posthumous fame and success whereas pinning his crimes on Dr. Nicky.
After which, he packs as much as transfer throughout the nation.
L.A. (Love)
Joe — now going by the identify Will — takes his possibilities on the left coast, the place he shortly meets Forty Quinn (James Scully) and his alluring sister Love (Victoria Pedretti). He deploys his typical relationship maneuvers, like getting a job on the retailer Love’s household owns and an house that appears immediately into hers. He even begins stealing little keepsakes for a new field of treasures, however the Season 1 parallels ultimately screech to a halt.
Joe’s ex Candace (Ambyr Childers), who surfaced on the finish of Season 1 after his previous try to kill her, reveals up and tells Love every part. However after a while aside (together with different relationships, extra cage tenants, and Forty’s try to hammer out a screenplay), the 2 reunite when Love kills her — and admits that she had been stalking Joe since his arrival and believes that they’re soulmates. It could appear Joe has lastly met his match, so he marries his pregnant spouse (R.I.P. Forty, who acquired too near the reality) and prepares for his or her new life collectively.
Madre Linda (Marienne)
“You” leans closely into the thought of misleading appearances, not simply with Joe, however with everybody round him. Because the protagonist/antihero, audiences meet everybody by his eyes (and imperious narration) — and in his view, most individuals are shallow and aggravating, particularly the residents of Madre Linda. He tasks his isolation and peculiarity onto Marienne (Tati Gabrielle), an area librarian and one of many few on the town who doesn’t come from cash. Joe has at all times detested the rich, ever since Season 1, however retains attracting them together with his glowering singularity.
Now a husband and father, he’s decided to show over a brand new leaf and be the right position mannequin for son Henry, hoping that his and Love’s violent pasts are behind them and that the honesty will strengthen their bond. Alas, Joe Goldberg will not be the one one in his marriage with a streak of jealousy, obsession, and violence, and his plans to begin recent are shortly thwarted when he A) cheats with their neighbor Natalie and B) Love kills her. Because the homicide investigation closes in and Joe’s relationship with Marienne escalates, Love decides to kill him and, in fact, finally ends up lifeless. Joe cuts off his personal toe to go away DNA proof of their home, which burns to the bottom, presumably with Joe Goldberg in it.
London (Kate)
Effectively, first there’s Paris, the place Joe follows Marienne, however she doesn’t need something to do with him. He nurses his wounds with a instructing gig in London, attempting and failing to not spy on his neighbor Kate (Charlotte Ritchie), whose boyfriend finally ends up lifeless in his kitchen after the primary night time they hang around. His proximity to the sufferer and his grieving girlfriend makes it not possible for Joe to flee Kate’s circle of mega-rich associates, the place the one individual he can stand in any respect is working class hero Rhys (Ed Speleers).
Besides that Joe by no means met Rhys in any respect; he entered a dissociative state the place Rhys was his solely ally within the group and the Eat the Wealthy Killer, whereas Joe himself was in actual fact committing quite a few new murders. He kidnapped Marienne whereas in that state and left her within the glass field (which he doesn’t keep in mind assembling in London, however in fact he did), the place she’s discovered by Joe’s pupil Nadia (Amy Lee Hickman). The 2 of them faux Marienne’s loss of life and a guilt-stricken Joe tries to leap into the Thames — however he’s saved by Kate, in additional methods than one. The highly effective inheritor to the Lockwood empire, Kate has crimson in her ledger too, and he or she’s completely snug beginning a life with Joe so long as he leaves the previous previously (they usually body Nadia for homicide).
Season 4 proved that Joe Goldberg would by no means escape himself, and that the present’s ending could be considered one of retribution somewhat than redemption. The Season 5 trailer already hints that he’s feeling stressed in his marriage, and an entire new forged of characters current numerous alternatives for him to slide up one too many occasions — to not point out that he’s again in New York and now not underneath an alias, exposing himself to all types of scrutiny — or vengeance.
“You” Season 5 begins streaming Thursday, April 24 on Netflix.