'You' star Charlotte Ritchie shares her reaction to Kate's fate, and why she's 'mixed' on the series finale

• "You" star Charlotte Ritchie, who plays Kate Lockwood, spoke to BI about the fifth and final season.
• Ritchie reacted to Kate's fate and said she was "on the fence" about what should happen to her.
• The actor also gave her opinion on how Joe's story ends.

Warning: Major spoilers ahead for season five of Netflix's "You."

The final chapter of Netflix's hit series "You" has arrived, and star Charlotte Ritchie is (mostly) thrilled that her character, Kate Lockwood, made it out alive.

The fifth season of "You," released on Thursday, picks up three years after Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) and Kate move back to his hometown of New York City at the end of season four. Everything is going well for the now-married power couple, but Joe's dark side can only be suppressed for so long, and once it reemerges and reinvigorates him, their relationship becomes fraught.

Ritchie told Business Insider that Kate has known all along that this is who Joe is — she's just been in denial about it. This season is "a real lesson in accepting the reality of your situation," Ritchie said.

When Kate finally sees clearly, she decides that the only way to stop Joe is to kill him.

"She is genuinely afraid of him and what he can do," Ritchie explained. "I think she just sees how this man consistently gets away with everything, and she's like, 'He has to not exist anymore for us to be safe. There's no system in the world that could keep him from us.'"

Kate recruits Joe's season three love interest Marienne Bellamy (Tati Gabrielle) and season four character Nadia (Amy-Leigh Hickman) to help her. This is one way the final season weaves together loose ends from the series and provides closure for other fan-favorite characters.

"What I love about this series is that they really lean into the genre. They really lean into the history of the show," Ritchie said. "I think it does the whole narrative justice."

In one dramatic moment in the penultimate episode, after getting into a physical altercation, Kate and Joe end up on the floor of Mooney's basement as the bookstore goes up in flames.

Resigned and more truthful than ever and thinking they've both reached their end, Joe admits that he killed Kate's dad and murdered Love. Relieved, Kate reveals that she secretly recorded Joe's confession and will be sending it to the authorities.

"You got me," Joe says. "You can die happy."

It's a scene that, like many in the show, finds the humor in unconventional moments.

"I love that that's in there, just Kate and Joe both quite dryly commenting on how absurd it is and how sad that they're both going to die," Ritchie said. "I just think it's a great scene. I think it's really well written."

Neither Kate nor Joe dies in that moment, and Ritchie has complicated feelings about her character escaping the fire.

"I was so happy because I've grown to really love this character, and I found it was so fun to get to be right in the midst of getting him," Ritchie said. "But I also felt like if there's ever a poetic justice in death, there was some justice in Kate going down with him."

"I really don't believe in people dying because they've done bad things, but in the world of the justice of this show, there's such a redemptive element to Kate's demise that it would've been OK," she added.

With Joe locked up for life in the finale, Ritchie said she's happy that Henry has a consistent and stable parent. But still, Kate's not innocent.

"She's done some pretty dastardly things and she's got herself into scrapes and been responsible for a lot of people's downfalls," Ritche said. "So yeah, I was on the fence as to what should happen to her, but I was obviously really pleased that she comes through."

"You" co-showrunners Michael Foley and Justin W. Lo previously told BI that they are prepared for fans to have varying reactions to Joe's fate in the finale and their choice to put him behind bars. Ritchie, too, is still grappling with that conclusion.

"I feel so mixed about it," she said.

After multiple seasons of seeing Joe do terrible, gruesome things, she's not sure what ending could adequately bookend his story.

"There is no fate that matches a life like that," Ritchie said. "But I do feel like the isolation is a good punishment for him. The thing is, I just don't get any sense that he's going to reflect or grow. It's not going to be a formative or spiritual experience for him. Broadly, it isn't for people. As far as I can tell, solitary confinement just seems to wear people down, except for some kind of amazing exceptions."

Case in point: in the final scene, Joe reads a creepy fan letter and says that maybe the problem isn't him — perhaps it's society.

"I do find the letter-writing thing quite an interesting twist, and his ability to turn it back onto his admirers and these women who have been asking to be involved with him," Ritchie said. "He'll never accept responsibility."

As the press tour for season five winds down, Ritchie already misses the cast and crew, including her frequent scene partner Badgley.

"I love Penn," Ritchie said. "I think he's such a decent and thoughtful and committed actor. He's such a lovely friend. He's very funny. And he commits to that role in a way that means that when you are working with him, you can do the same."

After seeing Kate go from closed-off and cold to blossoming in the final season, Ritchie is going to miss exploring more sides of her.

"And I'll miss the outrageous scenarios that are constant. Like, the nonstop drama, the daily, different high-octane situations where people are constantly about to extort somebody or about to kill somebody," she said. "That kind of level of high drama, I'll miss."

Season five of "You" is now streaming on Netflix.