“You” on Netflix: What does the season 4 finale mean for Joe’s future in season 5?

+++ Beware, there are spoilers for the “You” season 4 finale +++

With season 4, the extremely successful Netflix series “You” has undergone a change of direction of sorts. It’s no longer central to making sense of why it’s considered romantic within the series to be stalked and killed by a serial killer. Instead, in season 4, the series sees itself as a (confused) crime game in which Joe (Penn Badgley), as literature professor Jonathan Moore, tries to build a new life in London, but is soon overtaken by the old abyss.

After he met Kate (Charlotte Ritchie) and her wealthy and annoying circle of friends in the British metropolis, the murders started again. Joe continues to receive mysterious messages from the killer, who initiates him straight into his bloody craft. The killer turns out to be best-selling author and mayoral candidate Rhys (Ed Speleers), who wrote in his bio about having a traumatic childhood like Joe.

Events come thick and fast

After some back and forth, with Rhys also urging Joe to kill Kate’s father Tom (Greg Kinnear), it finally comes to a big twist: Even if the character Rhys actually exists, he is Rhys is just part of Joe’s fantasy. That becomes clear when he kills the real Rhys on behalf of Kate’s father Tom (who knows Joe’s real identity) – and his imaginary Rhys just appears next to the body. Yes, events roll over here (and not always coherently). Plus, Marienne (Tati Gabrielle), Joe’s love interest from Season 3, is back – and locked in a glass cage by Joe after the act was believed to be leveraged by Rhys.

But that’s not all: Joe succumbs to a nervous breakdown and all the ex-girlfriends get to rub the sexy serial killer’s nose once more about how horrible he’s been in the past. From this point on, it almost seems like “You” is heading towards a major series finale, finally deconstructing Joe’s character into its component parts. After Marienne is revealed to have also died of an overdose of painkillers in the display cabinet, Joe decides that he must kill himself in order to end the pain of his loved ones (only to quickly get rid of Kate’s father and himself). on their bulging bills).

A wasted ending

What follows could be the conclusion (perhaps it should have been): Joe pushes his alter ego, the imaginary Rhys, off a bridge and jumps after himself – and seems to have thrown himself into his death. But because of! After being rescued by the police, he has the courage to confess his past to Kate. Surprisingly, she takes the whole thing with ease.

And then another twist: Marienne is not dead at all, she pretended to be dead. She was supported by Joe’s favorite student named Nadia (Amy-Leigh Hickman), who gradually found out about his secret. So Joe kills her boyfriend and frames Nadia for the murder. Eventually he returns to New York and buys a bookstore. Almost everything in the beginning.

In short, You season 4 finally gets to where the show was in season 1: The moral scruples that made Joe think more and more about his existence no longer seem to play a role. Instead, there’s some kind of happy ending for Joe, which resets the hands and should kick off Season 5. In terms of content, we have therefore returned to the accusation that ‘You’ has always had to endure, namely to romanticize serial killers.

What’s Next in Season 5 of “You”?

First of all, it should be said that a fifth season of “You” has not yet been officially confirmed. Given the popularity of the series, it’s hard to imagine that Netflix will cancel the series after the fourth season (but nothing is impossible, of course). And mind games about a possible next season are of course allowed anyway, especially after the – in the truest sense of the word – looking back finale.

Of course, Joe would have arrived at a different point in his life in Season 5 and it’s not all like Season 1, just too many things have happened in the past for that. But also the return to New York, of course a good reason to close or complete the circle – and with it the series. Marienne, who Joe believes would be dead, will definitely play a role here as well. In fact, she goes back to Paris in the season 4 finale.

Should a fifth season of “You” get the official green light, we’ll of course keep you updated here as usual.