On April 24th, You will return for its fifth and final season, and if you need a refresher before you watch, we have you covered.
For four seasons, Penn Badgley’s portrayal of serial killer Joe has captivated viewers, making You one of Netflix’s most popular series.
After the horrific events of season 4, the stakes are higher than ever as season 5 approaches.
Here are some important things to keep in mind from Season 4 before Season 5.
*Warning, spoilers ahead*
- The beginning of season four kicked off with Joe Goldberg taking on a completely new persona
Since the conclusion of You season three, Joe has relocated to London and assumed the persona of Jonathan Moore, an English professor.
In order to get away with the murders he committed in season three, including his wife Love, Joe faked his death.
2. Joe widens his social circle to a group of elite socialites
Similar to previous seasons of You, Joe finds himself in a social circle with characters he hates in season 4.
This refers to the London social elite in season 4, the majority of whom Joe finds completely intolerable due to their money, egocentric tendencies, and rudeness towards others.
The You season 4 cast of characters comprises many of these socialites, including Lady Phoebe (Tilly Keeper), Kate (Charlotte Ritchie), Adam (Lukas Gage), and many others.
The group runs into some serious problems in season four, as they are being killed off one by one by the “Eat the Rich Killer.”
3. The “mystery” of the Eat the Rich Killer turned out to be Joe, in a Fight Club style reveal
In contrast to what viewers have seen Joe do season after season, he genuinely joins the hunt for the murderer and is repeatedly depicted attempting to shield rather than hurt this group of pals.
However, it was later revealed that Joe was the killer; he had just been completely dissociating from the crimes.
4. Joe finds a new love, eerily reminiscent of Love Quinn
Kate, a character within the London socialite group, becomes Joe’s love interest at the centre of season four.
At first glance, Kate appears to be a quite kind socialite who is probably much wiser than the people she hangs out with.
However, it becomes evident by the end of season 4 that Kate has a dark background of her own and a vicious, powerful father.
5. The shocking revelation that Rhys Montrose was a hallucination
You season 4’s shocking revelation was that Joe had been hallucinating Rhys Montrose the entire time.
This was especially crucial because Joe was convinced that Rhys was the actual Eat the Rich Killer.
This implied that Joe had been suffering from dangerously severe delusions all season long and that the true murderer was still at large, which turned out to be Joe himself.
The dissociation added another level of terror to the story, as it implied Joe had completely lost touch with reality.
6. Joe has a full-on mental breakdown
By the end of season 4, Joe was shown to be experiencing a total mental breakdown, which had started when he found and kidnapped Marienne.
When Joe first saw Marienne in season three, he became completely enamoured with her. But it had appeared like Joe had let her go at the start of season 4.
In a shock twist, this was revealed to be another hallucination, and Joe had kept Marienne trapped all along.
7. Joe frames his student Nadia, revealing a darker side to his character
Joe gets away with a lot of what he does in season 4 because he frames his student, Nadia, in what was maybe one of the most disturbing story elements in You to date.
This came on the heels of Nadia discovering and freeing Marienne, however, she didn’t stop there.
In order to find out the truth, Nadia goes to Joe’s flat, but is quickly caught by the killer.
By the end of the season, Nadia is in prison and has made no effort to defend herself or speak.
Although Joe has been a murderer for many years, he has consistently stood up for the young people in his life, such as Paco and Ellie.
Despite not being a child, Nadia was a young woman who admired Joe and this storyline demonstrates how dark the character of Joe Goldberg has gotten.
7. What does the future hold for Joe?
The very end of season four also hinted at an intriguing future for Kate and Joe.
Kate saves Joe after he attempts to take his own life, and he confesses his crimes to her, to which she seems eerily ok with.
It’s uncertain if Kate is truly aware of the scope of Joe’s killings, but she clarified that Joe was exonerated in Rhys murder after her father’s assistant concealed the DNA found on his body, proving that she is aware of Rhys.
When Kate and Joe are shown living in New York City in the season 4 finale, it is clear that Joe’s reputation has completely recovered.
Who was killed in season four?
Joe killed Malcolm, Simon, Vic, and Gemma in the first part of You Season 4.
However, he convinced himself that Rhys was responsible for the killings after having hallucinations about their relationship.
But who dies in part two? Find out below:Â
- Rhys – While questioning Rhys about the Eat the Rich murders, Joe strangles him to death. However, Rhys had never really met Joe, and he had never killed anyone. Joe’s involvement is concealed, and Rhys’s body was found to have “inconclusive” DNA present, which Kate discloses in episode 10.
- Tom Lockwood’s bodyguard Hugo – When Hugo enters the workshop where Joe has Tom, Joe stabs him to death.
- Tom Lockwood – Joe suffocates Kate’s father with a garbage bag and cuffs him to a chair, killing him. Kate explains and hypotises that her father was “murdered for money” – which means Joe gets away with it.
- Edward – Joe kills Eddie, Nadia’s boyfriend and a classmate, after discovering him hiding outside his home while Nadia is prying inside. Eddie is framed for Rhys’ murder, and Joe frames Nadia for Eddie’s murder.
