Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) is back — but he’s never been one to give up without a fight.
With the fifth and final season of Netflix‘s (previously Lifetime’s) soapy thriller due on the streamer April 24, there’s no better time to revisit the circuitous, murderous journey that led here. “You” was a pre-pandemic megahit, exploding on Netflix after the first season in 2018 and gripping viewers around the world with the story of a stalker turned lover turned killer based on the novels by Caroline Kepnes. The character isn’t exactly charming, but he’s eminently watchable, thanks to star Badgley — to the point that the actor had to explicitly tell viewers not to root for Joe. Because he and the showrunners were always clear about their moral standing, “You” entered the world as the streaming era’s dream show: thoroughly engrossing, full of juicy twists, and irresistible to binge.
Unfortunately for all of us, 2018 was a long time ago, and it’s fair to say that “You” — for all its merits — is a bit of an intense series to rewatch just to jog your memory between seasons. He went to California, then to London, fell in love with quite a few people and killed even more — he even grew a beard that one time, remember?
Before you settle in to devour that final season, here’s everything to remember from Seasons 1-4 of “You.”
New York (Beck)
Season 1 introduced Joe Goldberg, a man with a dark past who hopes to find salvation through 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 quickly curdles into obsession as he stalks her online and in person. By the time the two actually meet (he saves her from a moving train because he was following her) and start to date (he locked her boyfriend in a glass box), Joe is years ahead in the relationship formed in his mind, and can’t bear the thought of losing her.
That’s bad news for those close to Beck, who begin to notice Joe’s suspicious behavior and subsequently start dropping like flies. There’s the aforementioned boyfriend Benji (Lou Taylor Pucci), her best friend Peach (Shay Mitchell), and the mysterious ex he won’t talk about — concerns she confides in Dr. Nicky (John Stamos), who’s bound by doctor-patient confidentiality but whose mere existence threatens Joe because he’s afraid of Beck cheating (to be fair, she did have a previous relationship with Nicky and should not be his client anymore).
But then Beck finds the box — not the glass box that stores rare books and Joe’s victims in the basement of Mooney’s bookstore (the only constant in his life) — but his box of “mementos” that contains her missing phone, and old pair of panties, and evidence linking him to all the missing/dead people in her life. A panicked Joe locks Beck in the box (the big one this time), hoping that he can convince her of his true role as partner and protector, but ultimately killing her when she tries to escape. Joe finishes the manuscript Beck wrote in captivity and sends it to a publisher, giving her posthumous fame and success while pinning his crimes on Dr. Nicky.
And then, he packs up to move across the country.
L.A. (Love)
Joe — now going by the name Will — takes his chances on the left coast, where he quickly meets Forty Quinn (James Scully) and his alluring sister Love (Victoria Pedretti). He deploys his usual dating maneuvers, like getting a job at the store Love’s family owns and an apartment that looks directly into hers. He even starts stealing little keepsakes for a new box of treasures, but the Season 1 parallels eventually screech to a halt.
Joe’s ex Candace (Ambyr Childers), who surfaced at the end of Season 1 after his past attempt to kill her, shows up and tells Love everything. But after some time apart (including other relationships, more cage tenants, and Forty’s attempt to hammer out a screenplay), the two reunite when Love kills her — and admits that she had been stalking Joe since his arrival and believes that they’re soulmates. It would seem Joe has finally met his match, so he marries his pregnant wife (R.I.P. Forty, who got too close to the truth) and prepares for their new life together.
Madre Linda (Marienne)
“You” leans heavily into the idea of deceptive appearances, not just with Joe, but with everyone around him. As the protagonist/antihero, audiences meet everyone through his eyes (and imperious narration) — and in his view, most people are shallow and irritating, especially the residents of Madre Linda. He projects his isolation and peculiarity onto Marienne (Tati Gabrielle), a local librarian and one of the few in town who doesn’t come from money. Joe has always detested the wealthy, ever since Season 1, but keeps attracting them with his glowering singularity.
Now a husband and father, he’s determined to turn over a new leaf and be the perfect role model 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 is not the only one in his marriage with a streak of jealousy, obsession, and violence, and his plans to start fresh are quickly thwarted when he A) cheats with their neighbor Natalie and B) Love kills her. As the murder investigation closes in and Joe’s relationship with Marienne escalates, Love decides to kill him and, of course, ends up dead. Joe cuts off his own toe to leave DNA evidence in their house, which burns to the ground, presumably with Joe Goldberg in it.
London (Kate)
Well, first there’s Paris, where Joe follows Marienne, but she doesn’t want anything to do with him. He nurses his wounds with a teaching gig in London, trying and failing not to spy on his neighbor Kate (Charlotte Ritchie), whose boyfriend ends up dead in his kitchen after the first night they hang out. His proximity to the victim and his grieving girlfriend makes it impossible for Joe to escape Kate’s circle of mega-rich friends, where the only person he can stand at all is working class hero Rhys (Ed Speleers).
Except that Joe never met Rhys at all; he entered a dissociative state where Rhys was his only ally in the group and the Eat the Rich Killer, while Joe himself was in fact committing numerous new murders. He abducted Marienne while in that state and left her in the glass box (which he doesn’t remember assembling in London, but of course he did), where she’s found by Joe’s student Nadia (Amy Lee Hickman). The two of them fake Marienne’s death and a guilt-stricken Joe tries to jump into the Thames — but he’s saved by Kate, in more ways than one. The powerful heir to the Lockwood empire, Kate has red in her ledger too, and she’s perfectly comfortable starting a life with Joe as long as he leaves the past in the past (and they frame Nadia for murder).
Season 4 proved that Joe Goldberg would never escape himself, and that the show’s ending would be one of retribution rather than redemption. The Season 5 trailer already hints that he’s feeling restless in his marriage, and a whole new cast of characters present countless opportunities for him to slip up one too many times — not to mention that he’s back in New York and no longer under an alias, exposing himself to all kinds of scrutiny — or vengeance.
“You” Season 5 starts streaming Thursday, April 24 on Netflix.
