Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for Episode 9 of You Season 4.
Season 4 of You has been a wake-up call for Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) and the fans who still insisted on rationalizing the serial killer’s toxic behavior. After revealing that Rhys (Ed Speleers), the Eat-the-Rich killer, is just an alter created by Joe’s fractured mind, there’s no longer denying You’s protagonist is a deeply disturbed human who needs to be locked away for the safety of everyone around him.
Even if Joe likes to think of himself as a selfless romantic and a good man, the Rhys alter is there to underline the character’s erotomania, obsessive behavior, and sadistic desires. And as much as Joe would like to think of Rhys as someone else, Season 4, Episode 9, “She's Not There,” forces him to face the sins of his past and admit for the first time he’s a horrible man. Unfortunately, Joe’s realization might come too late, as Marienne (Tati Gabrielle) might not be saved after all.
Nadia’s Plan
After discovering Marienne locked in a glass cage, Nadia (Amy-Leigh Hickman) takes a day to keep appearances before Professor Jonathan and think about how to release the woman. When Nadia returns to Marienne’s prison, she reveals she has devised a crazy plan. We still don’t know what Nadia wants to do, as You is saving some surprises for the season finale. Still, Nadia's visit to Marienne also turns into tragedy since Joe comes to the place almost at the same time.
Nadia hides away while Joe apologizes to Marienne. He gives her some food and promises to come up with a way to get her out of her cage. Marienne begs Joe to let her go, saying she must return to her daughter Juliette (Dallas Skye). Joe seems genuinely disturbed, as he wants to free Marienne, but Rhys is there to underline how it would be easier to kill the woman and get on with their lives. Once Marienne realizes there’s no arguing with Joe, she just tries to make him leave faster, thanking him for the food and saying that she’ll wait for the next day.
Nadia hears the whole thing, realizing Joe is even more dangerous than she imagined. Marienne, in tears, says she will never find peace as long as Joe is alive. So, Nadia proposes to kill him. While the details of Nadia’s plan are still fuzzy, she promises to come back the following day with a drill to break Marienne free, a knife so that the prisoner can defend herself, and injectable ketamine to subdue Joe. Nadia asks Edward (Brad Alexander) to get her some ketamine, and the next morning, she rushes to Marienne’s prison. In the subway, Nadia realizes she doesn’t have tickets to use and decides to get on board for free. Her backpack gets stuck in the station door, drawing a guard’s attention. Nadia tries to create an excuse to evade the delicate situation with a warning. Unfortunately, she gets arrested once the guard realizes Nadia is carrying a big knife in her backpack.
After a few hours, Edward bails Nadia out of jail and gives her the ketamine she wants. However, the boy also pushes Nadia to tell him whether they are together or not. When she hesitates, Edward feels used and says goodbye to Nadia. She won’t get more help from Edward anytime soon, and her prison delayed her schedule. So, by the end of Episode 9, Nadia is running towards Marienne’s cage, hoping to get there in time to save the woman.
Damage Control
After seeing Marienne inside her glass cage, Joe realizes what Rhys has done while in control of his body. He decides Marienne must be freed and plans his escape from London. Joe gets fake passports and spends the last evening by Kate’s (Charlotte Ritchie) side. And even though Joe fails to help Kate prevent Adam (Lukas Gage) and Lady Phoebe (Tilly Keeper) from getting married, he tells his lover how she’s a good person that changed his life for the better. While Joe doesn’t want to say goodbye, he still needs Kate to remember their last moment together as sweet.
After leaving Kate on her doorstep, Joe revisits Marienne to let her know he’ll soon have the passport he needs before letting her go. Marienne asks Joe to check her phone because she’s worried about Juliette. Sadly, after vanishing for several weeks, Marienne’s family and friends think she has relapsed and is using drugs again. Therefore, Marienne loses custody of Juliette, and the girl will return to the United States with her grandmother. Since Juliette was the only thing giving Marienne the energy to stay alive, the woman has a breakdown, starts to cry, and begs Joe to kill her. Rhys once again tells Joe how taking Marienne out of the equation will allow them to have a happy life with Kate. Still, Joe is convinced that the right thing to do is to let Marienne go.
The following morning, Joe goes back to the glass cage to fulfill his promise. He gives Marienne a coffee and enters the code to open the door. However, it seems like Joe has forgotten the code. To make matters worse, Marienne starts to choke due to the presence of peanut oil in the coffee. Joe is confused because he isn’t aware of Marienne’s allergy. And it’s even weirder that she is dying the say way as Benji (Lou Taylor Pucci), Joe’s first on-screen kill in the show. The reason for that strange coincidence is that Joe is having a nightmare where he is forced to face his true self. In the nightmare sequence, Joe is visited by Gemma (Eve Austin), Guinevere (Elizabeth Lail), and Love (Victoria Pedretti). The women underline how Joe’s obsessive behavior led him to murder them and create excuses for his behavior. But if he wants to keep Marienne safe, he must realize he’s a serial killer, and killing himself is the only definitive way to stop doing bad things.
After waking up on his couch, Joe grabs a gun Rhys stole from Vic (Sean Pertwee) and goes to Marienne. Despite Rhys’ protests, Joe is decided to shoot himself after releasing his prisoner. Things don’t go as intended, though, as Marienne is overdosing after swallowing a whole bottle of painkillers. Without Juliette, Marienne doesn’t have a reason to live anymore, which Rhys thinks is the perfect opportunity to abort the suicide plans. Joe is lost, and Nadia is coming. With only one episode left to wrap every loose thread, we might witness the end of Joe’s bloody journey.
'Til Death Do Us Part
Joe is not the only You character going through a decisive moment in their life. In Episode 9, Kate does whatever she can to stop Adam and Phoebe’s wedding, especially after hearing the conman brag to friends about how he’ll use his wife's fortune to fund his projects. Lady Phoebe’s mental health has also deteriorated due to drug abuse and lack of proper medical care. Adam knows Phoebe is suffering, but he still manipulates her to marry him to gain access to her family’s fortune, which is the very definition of a scumbag.
After asking Phoebe to call off the wedding, Kate argues with her best friend, who doesn’t understand why she can’t just be happy with the wedding. Kate, then, distracts Adam while Joe tries to put some sense in Phoebe’s head. Joe’s subtle approach makes Phoebe realize she’s uncomfortable with the rushed wedding, but Adam interrupts their talk and kicks both Joe and Kate out of the party. Phoebe goes through with the wedding, but immediately regrets her decision and has a psychotic meltdown as soon as the deal is done. Her husband, Adam, is now responsible for all her assets and for supervising her health, so he puts Phoebe in a mental hospital and just burns her cash with sex workers. To Adam’s distress, his greedy ways prove to be his end.
On the morning after the wedding, Tom Lockwood (Greg Kinnear) visits Kate and asks her to take over the company. Kate refuses and confesses she’s worried about Phoebe. So, Lockwood sends killers disguised as sex workers to kill Adam and solve the problem. Kate is shocked by the bloody ending of Phoebe’s marriage and decides to confront her father. Lockwood underlines how he only did what Kate wanted, as he always did. Despite Kate thinking of herself as an independent woman, Lockwood was behind every job proposition she ever had while also solving legal problems for the people close to her. Kate is Lockwood’s biggest investment, and now he’s coming to collect. He gives Kate an ultimatum, saying she has no choice but to take over the company — and after Adam’s murder, Lockwood has proved he doesn’t take no for an answer.
All episodes of You Season 4 are now available on Netflix.