You series finale: Ending explained
After five seasons, Joe Goldberg's run of mayhem, murder, and much problematic romancing has come to an end. Star/producer Penn Badgley warned that Season 5 of their hit show, based on Caroline Kepnes' psychological thriller book series, would be the big finale. And with ten episodes full of kinky sex, twisted turns, and more homicides than a Law and Order episode, You delivers with a shocking and largely satisfying final chapter.
For a series as truly winding as You, a finale that'll sate all fans was surely impossible. But props to showrunner Sera Gamble, who kept all the plates spinning in a season that included a Succession-like business plotline, Anna Camp as deliciously devious twins, a new lit-obsessed love interest for Joe to drool over, and lots and lots of ties to his past crimes, sparking the return of familiar faces (along with some who've been recast or downright forgotten).
However, with that final monologue, Joe delivers one last crushing blow to fans who've stuck by him since Season 1. So let's get into it.
What happens to Bronte in You Season 5's finale?
Early on in the season, it looked like Bronte (aka Louise) was going to be doomed to go the way of her old pal Beck (Elizabeth Lail) — meaning death by Joe. Not only had a series of very smart women fatally fallen for Joe's white knight schtick before, but also Bronte's erotica about wanting to "drown" in her partner seemed like it could be foreshadowing, especially when they arrive at a lake house (emphasis on lake).
And for a moment, it does seem like the bottom of that lake is precisely where the series is going to leave her. But like Jason Voorhees, she dramatically resurfaces and gets her revenge. Not just by shooting Joe as cops swarm closer, but by shooting him in the genitals, an arguably poetic justice for the man led by his libido into a series of homicides.
Bronte uses Joe's book-centered confession to get a new version of Beck's book published, without Joe's additions. "It was more praised, more cutting, more imperfect." To Bronte, this is part of getting justice for Beck. Now, she can move on. "Eventually, he'll just be some asshole I dated," she says.
Meanwhile, Bronte's friends, Dom and Phoenix, take their online sleuthing victory to podcast appearances, advocating for justice and community outreach to tackle cold cases. (Though, while we're talking about the finale, it seems a missed opportunity for You to reconnect Bronte with her friends, whom she repeatedly said was her family! Those hers is a happy ending, it feels like a dropped thread that she never reconnects with Dom and Phoenix.)
What is Joe Goldberg ultimately convicted of?
After crotch-shooting Joel, Bronte takes over his voiceover to lead the epilogue. Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" plays as a handcuffed Joe is led by police through a courthouse to his "messy" trial for the murders of Beck and his first wife, Love (Victoria Pedretti).
In this sequence, we learn Joe is convicted of murdering both Beck and Love. First-degree murder convictions would also follow for Beck's boyfriend, Benjamin Ashby III (Lou Taylor Pucci), and her bestie, Peach Salinger (Shay Mitchell). That all leads to Dr. Nicky's (John Stamos) false conviction for Beck's murder being vacated.
In a voiceover, Bronte says, "One thing's clear: Joe Goldberg will never be free again."
Does Kate Lockwood die in You?
At first, it certainly seems likely! After grappling over a gun with Joe, she's left shot and unconscious in the basement of Mooney's bookstore, which is on fire thanks to Maddie's impulsive thinking. While Bronte gets Joe out of the burning bookstore, Kate's fate is left up in the air. Even when Joe calls his son Henry on the phone, all that's known is that Joe did something bad to Kate — but her death is not confirmed.
This epilogue reveals that Kate did not die, escaping with burn scars on her arm that she sees as "badges" of penance. She's handed the company over to her half-brother, Teddy (Griffin Matthews), who has turned the Lockwood Corporation from a villainous greed machine into 100% nonprofit. Turns out Kate was not all talk. She surrendered a big chunk of her power, realizing Teddy could do better things with it.
As for Kate, she's focusing on raising Henry, and she's returned to her Season 4 passion for art by backing Marienne Bellamy (Tati Gabrielle), the painter whom Joe fell for in Season 3 and was assumed to have killed in Season 4! Marienne is not only alive, but she — and her 14-year-old daughter — seem to be thriving.
What happens to Nadia in You?
As a student of Joe's when he was teaching English Lit under a false identity in Season 4, Nadia (Amy-Leigh Hickman) was framed for killing Edward (Brad Alexander), who was framed by Joe as being the Eat The Rich Killer (who was actually Joe operating with a split personality). Season 5 doesn't get into all of that, focusing instead on Kate owning up to Nadia about her part in the student's unearned downfall.
Kate gets Nadia out of prison and her name is cleared, basically with a shrug of "money makes the world go 'round." Once freed, Nadia conspires with Kate to bring Joe down. She also is partially blamed for Kate being shot, since she brought a gun to Mooney's. But on the other hand, they were going to trap a killer. It's wild more people aren't armed when they confront Joe!
While their plan went tits up, Nadia has found some peace in the epilogue. Bronte tells us through voiceover that Nadia "returned to writing and teaching." What's shown is Nadia walking into what seems to be a prison's cafeteria, carrying books for an assembled group of women. She's giving back by embracing her passion and her past to create a better future.
What happens to Maddie and Harrison on You?
These self-proclaimed "piece(s) of shit" find their happy ending. Yes, Maddie murdered her twin Reagan (while under intense pressure from Joe). Yes, Harrison agreed to cover it up so he might embrace the twin he was cheating on his late wife with. But if we've learned nothing else about the Lockwoods, it's that money lets them get away with a lot, including murder and "arson." (Real talk: It should have been attempted murder as she was trying to kill Joe in the fire and nearly killed Kate!)
Anyhow, Bronte tells us Maddie "went to rehab for her pill addiction," and now is not only raising the daughter she birthed for Reagan as a surrogate, but is also pregnant by Harrison. And in a bit of seemingly happy symmetry, they're expecting twins. These two could inspire a lot of trashy true crime shows. But in a show where plenty of good and bad people get taken down by Joe, there's something incongruently wholesome in seeing them frolic in Central Park as a happy family. That's something Reagan could never have accomplished.
What happens to Joe in You's finale?
After trying to flee the country, Joe is caught thanks to Bronte's risky plan to get him to confess to Beck's murder. Ultimately, he is comically wounded, both by a gun and then by the internet that relished mocking his physical wound. (Imagine Joe doomscrolling to find Cardi B tweeting, "He WAS a 10 now he's a 2…inches #JoeGoldberg.")
Locked up in a prison cell, Joe is far from the world, where the women he loved and tortured are alive and thriving. The Elton John track is cut off so that only the echo-y ambient sound of the prison surrounds Joe. The vibrant color palette of Bronte's voiceover sequence is left behind for a murky, suffocating green-gray, enhancing the bleakness of the setting. In his cell, he has been robbed of his classically good haircut. But he has plenty of time to read, as he's shown with a copy of Norman Mailer's The Executioner's Song.
This Pulitzer Prize–winning true crime novel ignited a national debate about capital punishment when its subject, convicted killer Gary Gilmore, chose to be executed by firing squad. Could it be Joe — who begged Bronte to fatally shoot him before the cops could catch him — sees a bit of himself in Gilmore? That's a mystery You leaves for us to figure out.
The other reading materials Joe has in lock-up are letters from lovelorn fans. Reflecting the response to You, fans of Joe relish the illicit thrills of lusting after a madman who would kill for you. While Joe fed into this fantasy as he wrote his own vampire smut to please himself and Bronte, now he's critical of such fandom. (Notably, this reflects Badgley's real-life response to women who crush on Joe on social media, as he responded on then-Twitter to thirst tweets.)
What does Joe's final speech mean?
The final moments of You are wickedly clever. For one thing, Joe was never going to let any of his lovers have the final word, be it Beck's book or Bronte's narration. Yet in this final moment, his voiceover doesn't rush in. Instead, episode 10 allows us to soak in the silence of Joe's cell. Perhaps this is a reminder that while the audience could hear his inner monologue across all five seasons of events, he always remained eerily quiet as he stalked, stared, socialized, and serial killed. (Props to Kate's siblings for calling this creepiness out early on in the season!)
When he does speak, he is self-pitying, proclaiming, "My punishment is even worse than I imagined." He is lonely and "knowing this is forever." He opines, "It's unfair, putting all of this on me. Aren't we all just products of our environment? Hurt people hurt people. I never stood a chance."
Joe leans on cliches to push away the blame for his body count, meaning the actual amount of corpses he caused and not the number of people he's bedded. But then a fan letter arrives, and he finds someone else to blame: us.
In voiceover, he pronounces it's unjust that he's "in a cage" while these "crazies" write to him about their sexual fantasies, where violence and lust collide. Now, "Creep (Very 2021 Rmx)" by Thom Yorke begins to play in the background as Joe looks at the letter.
"Maybe we have a problem as a society," he muses. "Maybe we should fix what's broken in us. Maybe the problem isn't me." Behind his voiced inner thoughts, Yorke's electronically distorted voice squalls, "You're so very special." Then, Joe concludes, looking right into camera, "Maybe it's you."
Yorke sings, "I'm a creep," and the episode cuts to credits. So, what does it mean?
Since its start, You tapped into two genres that appeal distinctly to women: true crime and romance. The grim reality of the worst that can happen to our bodies collides with the steamy fantasies of the best that might.
As dreamed up by Kepnes, Joe is the monkey's paw version of a dream man. He is absolutely obsessed with his love interest, devoted to knowing her intimately and protecting her fiercely. But there is a dark side to such obsession, as Joe's entire identity and happiness depends on being loved back just that intensely. He — like real-world abusers — aims to isolate his girlfriends (and wives) by killing off those who might come between them. Endlessly, he'd argue that he was not the problem, because his motives are purely love. And this season, that evolves into demanding that his lover accept him warts and all — warts meaning killing people and liking it.
As a fiction, Joe's story is compelling precisely because it's repulsive and alluring. It's an enticing taboo to lust after a fictional villain, be he Joe Goldberg, Loki, or Draco Malfoy. However, there are many incidents in the real world of women swooning over actual serial killers. So, maybe Joe has a point when he argues there's something "broken in us," perhaps not being able to separate fantasy from reality. But isn't that the way he operates?
He's a master manipulator who can find that hook to lure you into his perspective, and next thing you know, you're making excuses for his volatility or possessiveness. You're helping him frame someone for murder, then marrying him to protect him from retaliation. You're ditching your crime-solving friends to curl up in his bed. It's a slippery slope listening to Joe Goldberg, who in the end blames his crimes — and by extension the very existence and popularity of this series — on you, the viewer. Our obsession is what allowed his to go on and on and on. Are we complicit?
In the end, Joe may be trapped in his cage. But these letters suggest his reach continues. More than that, his last look right into the camera, right at us, his audience, demands we reflect upon ourselves. Why are we watching You? Who are we rooting for? Not just in the show, but in the many real-world crimes and issues it reflects.
Joe may be gone. But with his final word, he assures us that he'll linger in our minds (and darkest fantasies) for years to come.