The final season of Netflix's You fails to deliver

After suffering a mental break for most of the fourth season of Netflix’s You, convinced another man—one he was hallucinating—was committing the murders that he was responsible for, we left Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) on a much darker note than before. He finally came to terms with and embraced the monster inside of him, no longer denying the thrill he’s felt from the many murders he’s committed over the years and the sickening delight he takes in stalking his prey. And, throughout a barrage of classic and horrifying Joe Goldberg brilliance, he manages to clear his name—thanks in part to his now-wife Kate (Charlotte Richie) and her increasingly deep and powerful pockets—and return to his former stomping grounds of New York City, but not before killing and pinning the “Eat The Rich” murders on his student Edward (Brad Alexander) and framing and, subsequently, imprisoning his other student Nadia for Edward’s murder as an act of heroic but illegal vigilantism. Thus, the season left us with a question: With no more hesitation and internal strife, having blossomed into a full-blown serial killer, what’s next for Joe?

The answer? No more killings, apparently, at least during the three-year flash-forward. Now a free, rich, powerful, and once again married man, Joe has the perfect life. His name has been cleared, and he’s become a darling in the public eye after his explanation—lies—about his escape from Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti) and why he faked his death in Madre Linda. He has the picture-perfect family, having regained custody of his son Henry (Frankie DeMaio). However, it feels like the evolution we saw throughout Joe in the previous season was walked back, making the final season rather challenging. While completely cognizant of his killer urges, Joe has repressed this side of himself because of an agreement he made with Kate after telling her the truth about only some of the dark deeds he’d committed in the past (unlike we were led to believe). So, the Joe we see walking the streets of New York City again—after causing so much damage and death since killing Beck (Elizabeth Lail)—doesn’t feel all that different from the Joe of previous seasons because he’s still holding the monster back.

As the season progresses, it quickly becomes clear that Joe is much more reckless than before. It’s difficult to tell whether this was a conscious decision by the writers—potentially as a sign of his newfound and unwavering confidence in his abilities and the money and power now standing behind him or to showcase that he is devolving (as the Criminal Minds profilers would say)—or just inconsistent writing. It never quite reaches a point where it feels this recklessness makes a profound difference in the story. I mention this because it’s the perfect example of how small, somewhat subtle things through the final season of You differ from the show we left back in 2023; it’s also rather difficult not to wonder how it would’ve looked had co-creator and showrunner Sera Gamble not stepped down after the fourth season.

Additionally, Joe’s new paramour Bronte (Madeline Brewer) is… interesting. She is so unlike the other women he’s been involved with, and it’s hard to gauge whether the character actually works. Some aspects do, while some do not whatsoever, causing the character to be rather inaccessible and impossible to understand fully. Her actions and emotions are all over the place. As such, the greater audience is certain to be split with powerful feelings about Bronte (in either direction), especially given her unbelievable importance—surpassing that of nearly every other character—in Joe’s final chapter. I found Bronte to be mostly tolerable, though despite watching screeners weeks ago, I’m still filled with frustration over how this newcomer overshadowed everyone in Joe’s world and ultimately had the final say in what his ending would be.

As Lail’s self-proclaimed #1 fan, I appreciate that everything, in the end, came back to Beck (and that we even got a few glimpses of her throughout these episodes), including Bronte’s connection to Beck and that being the motivating factor for nearly everything Bronte does. On the other hand, the series does a poor job of addressing loose ends and holding Joe accountable for all of his nefarious deeds. For instance, despite an all but certain promise that Jenna Ortega would be reprising her role as Ellie, and Netflix even including Ellie in one of the teasers, she doesn’t appear. As far as I can remember, there’s not even a mention of Delilah (Carmela Zumbado), nor is there closure for those who loved and lost her and received no answers as to what happened. Given Ortega was probably too busy, surely Delilah’s love interest Fincher (Danny Vasquez) could have appeared to offer some semblance of finality to this long-running thread. Forgetting to (or choosing not to) include Delilah is probably because she was technically Love’s kill as, similarly, there is no justice for Candace (Ambyr Childers) either, nor is Joe forced to face the music for the role he played in their deaths.

It was inevitable that You’s conclusion would be a tidge disappointing. Having watched the show from the very beginning, back when it started on Lifetime, my expectations had been growing, with countless theories swirling around in my head, since 2018. But, I never expected to be as disappointed as I find myself now. The majority of the final season is quite messy, unsure of how to proceed, waiting too long to get to the big twist, and wasting time on the many new characters introduced. (Only the addition of Anna Camp as twins Reagan and Maddie is worth the time, in my opinion.) There’s also much too little of those Joe had wronged in the past — seriously, why is Marienne (Tati Gabrielle) only in two episodes and given such an inconsequential role in Joe’s takedown after all of the misery he inflicted upon her?

While it’s a nice full-circle moment for Joe’s involvement with Beck to be what both starts and ends the show, how it’s handled doesn’t feel right, particularly as nobody we met during the first season with a connection to Beck plays a part. Couldn’t Annika (Kathryn Gallagher) and/or Lynn (Nicole Kang) have been working behind the curtain with Bronte and her friends to get justice for both Beck and Peach (Shay Mitchell)? It would have been entirely plausible that others who crossed paths with Joe over the years and managed to survive could have come together (in secret) to seek justice after his worldwide return from the dead. To place it all, or nearly all of it, on newcomers whom the audience has no attachment to was the wrong call, causing the final season—and to some extent, much of the show, as only very few on Joe’s long list of victims see justice delivered—to fall flat. Nonetheless, You nailed the very final scene of the show, which could not have been a more perfect way to leave Joe behind.