Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for You, Season 4, Part 2.
There aren’t many opportunities a show has to successfully pull off a misdirection and make its viewers second-guess everything they just saw. Yet, that’s what You was able to pull off after dropping Part 2 of Season 4. It was no secret that the Penn Badgley-led series needed to switch up its premise. After three seasons of running storylines that felt far too similar and the lead never facing any real threat or high stakes, the show had to find a new gear in Season 4. What transpired through the first five episodes, which also marked the first time the Netflix series had split up the season into two parts (and maybe that was to aid in the big twist that occurred), was something that certainly felt different from the preceding chapters. Gone were the murderous ways of Joe Goldberg, who now goes by Professor Jonathan Moore, and replacing it was a whodunnit show that pitted the series’ star as the one playing the role of detective. In attempting to rewrite itself, You was able to accomplish what it set out to do through the first five episodes, even at the expense of feeling too far removed from what made the series so popular.
That was all fine and well but YOU opted to use that change-of-pace to set up its major plot twist and did it deliver. During Part 1, the one thing that felt the most different in nearly five hours of content was that Joe wasn’t himself; it truly felt like he was serious about changing his behavior and living a quiet life in London after we see him early in the season attempt to reconcile with Marianne (Tati Gabrielle) but later let her escape. The bodies that were showing up all around Joe and his new group of rich socialites were not of his doing but of the "Eat the Rich" killer, who had a bone to pick with this particular group that Joe had somehow fallen in with. By the time Part 1 wrapped up before the month gap between releases, it was discovered that Rhys (Ed Speleers) was the one who was secretly doubling as a friend of the group but also picking off each member one-by-one as a way of strengthening and tightening his campaign for office. It was a discovery that made sense in a dark and twisted way, which perfectly lined up with what we’ve seen in You. The reveal allowed for a month's worth of dialogue about how Joe will get out of this predicament and how he can use his experience (you know, he’s murdered a person or two in his past) to help take down Rhys.
Not So Fast… Here Comes the Twist
During that month in which fans of the show theorized this new approach to You, one popular fan theory was that what unfolded in Part 1 was actually a hallucination of Joe’s. What helped to fuel this was the teaser that came out for Part 2 in which Love (Victoria Pedretti) was seen in the final shot. While that was proven not to be the case, it was a theory that wasn’t completely too far off from what actually happened. Everything that we saw in Part 1 was thrown for a loop with the reveal in Part 2 that Joe was the one behind the three murders believed to have been carried out by Rhys. How could that be so? The Rhys we saw was actually non-existent, the conversations he had with Joe were not a two-way dialogue, it was just Joe talking to the surrounding air. Having developed an obsession with the real-life Rhys, from replaying his videos to feverishly note-taking in reading his autobiography, Joe had created this second personality of his all in his head and portrayed by Rhys. So everything that we saw in Part 1 involving Rhys was actually not what it appeared to be and all the off-screen acts that we were told Rhys had committed were actually all Joe.
This brilliant narrative device forces us to now look back on those first five episodes with a new perspective, breathing new life into Part 1 in a way that only a twist of this nature could do. In what we thought was a much more subdued Joe through five episodes was actually far from the case, as he had fallen even deeper into darkness than we had ever seen him. The first episode set the groundwork for the Eat The Rich killer when Malcolm shows up dead on the table in Joe’s apartment. Perhaps we should have not fallen for the trap and assumed a dead body showing up in a serial killer’s flat was of his own doing. The texts that Joe receives about being watched and suggesting the person who was sending these messages was the one behind the killings all have a new meaning when you realize this was all a one-way exchange he was having between his two personalities. When we see Simon die in Episode 2 and Gemma in Episode 4, the scenes that lead up to their deaths play a lot differently when you realize it's Joe behind them. Before Simon was offed by Joe, he caused a disruption at his art exhibit when a woman threw red paint over his work. We later discover he was not the one behind these works of art, and he was instead stealing others' work. Immediately after the paint ruins his work, Simons urges Kate to find this woman or else, a clear threat that didn't read as serious in the moment but now has a new undertone to it, as it's at that point when Joe sees Simon as a threat to Kate. With Gemma, Joe and Kate have a conversation just before her body shows up in which the latter explains how “vile” Gemma is following a confrontation at dinner. So naturally, Joe reacts by eliminating the negativity from her life.
Seeing Season 4, Part 1 in a New Light
There are so many other small details throughout Part 1 that have a new light following the big reveal. The way Joe talks about Rhys, almost excessively, makes a lot more sense now. The lack of interaction we see with Rhys and everyone else in the group also adds up now that we know he was never there in the first place. If you really want to be an investigative reporter, if you pay close attention or even slow down the scene in Episode 1, the very first book we see Joe open up five minutes into the show and sit down to read outside his class is Rhys’ A Good Man in a Cruel World boom. There's also the first time Rhys comes on our screen, fittingly occurring with just Joe by himself and the first words he says are, “Rhys Montrose. What’s he doing here?” It meant nothing to us at that moment but upon rewatching, it highlights just how lost Joe was inside his mind. Every other moment between these two characters have small intricacies that have a double meaning and truly demonstrate how much thought went into every line. It's a testament to the writers of the show for making a story like this not just work from Point A to Point B but also when watching it all over and seeing things differently.
You needed to change things up this season. It's safe to say the show did just that. It's clear that there's never going to be a redemption arc for Joe Goldberg as evident in the final scene of this season in which he sees a reflection of himself, and it's of Rhys, signifying that darkness is still in him. With no hope for return, You found a creative way of keeping its premise but exploring it in a whole new manner. We’ve seen Joe fail to understand just how horrible of a person he is through two seasons and watched him have to confront a person he saw as crazier than him in Season 3. This latest season has him in unfamiliar territory where he finally realizes that he’s the problem, which is why he succumbed to attempting suicide. With the way we see things end here, Joe now has power and money to protect him, a woman he has a deep care for, a clean slate and the belief that he can be untouchable. The series may have just showed us what the plan is for Season 5: what Joe looks like when he understands everything he’s doing is bad, and he just accepts it.
You is now streaming on Netflix.