You Season 5 Review: Joe Goldberg’s Story Comes Full Circle

Please note this review contains spoilers for You Season 5.

Joe Goldberg’s story comes full circle in what is a mostly satisfying final season of You. Some of the narrative shortcuts it takes to reach the conclusion are a bit too easy, but it doesn’t make the season any less fun to watch.

The season picks up with Joe back in New York, married to Kate and living a life that’s no longer in the shadows. Instead, he’s a well-known figure whose crimes have been all but washed away.

He even has his son Henry back. It’s a perfect life — and while it’s explained that Kate’s money and influence brought all of that together, some of it does feel like a bit of a stretch. Still, it’s worth it to see him back in New York, and now the owner of Mooney’s bookstore.

This version of Joe is different, too. In fact, this could have almost been a redemption story.

Joe loves his life with Kate, though he’s a part of the kind of world he always used to scoff at. He loves his son and tries to be a good father. So, in trying to be better, he fights his monstrous urges in the best way he knows how.

In an attempt to put the past behind him, he channels his urges to kill — among other things — by writing. It’s fitting for his character, and on some level, the viewer probably wouldn’t mind if Joe Goldberg got a happy ending.

That’s the draw of the show, after all. We root for Joe as the hero just as much as we root for his downfall — maybe more, at times.

Then, when Bronte, played by Madeline Brewer, arrives on screen, it’s just as conflicting to see how Joe’s relationship with her evolves.

Every woman Joe has fallen in love with has been unique, and they’ve all spoken to different parts of who Joe is. Bronte is no exception, and she seems like she could be his perfect match.

If her arrival at Mooney’s and her knowledge of Guinevere Beck feels suspiciously convenient, that’s because it is.

You flips everything on its head halfway through the season with the reveal that Bronte’s real name is Louise, and she’s in New York, with her friends, to bring Joe down.

Louise and her friends have done the same kind of internet stalking that Joe has always been so good at. They use social media to their advantage, and the hashtag #JoeGoldberg is poetic justice. Almost.

Everything from Joe’s past comes back to haunt him. People he’s affected, all sorts of characters from previous seasons, make posts with that hashtag to bring about a real sense of finality. It’s all catching up to him, and it’s happening because of the same tools he’s used to hurt other people for years. 

Meanwhile, Kate was already realizing that Joe’s history was worse than she could have ever imagined. That starts with Joe doing everything he can — what he thinks he should, in his twisted way — to protect Kate and their family.

Not everyone in Kate’s family is thrilled that she’s now the CEO of the company, especially since she’s using the Lockwood Foundation as a way to make penance. 

But the lengths Joe will go to are more than Kate bargained for, and it leads her to investigate Joe’s past in a way she wasn’t willing to before. That investigation brings Joe’s story full circle even further. 

Kate manages to bring together all of Joe’s victims — the ones that managed to survive — in her own mission to take him down. 

This is another element that feels just a bit too easy, but it’s worth forgiving that detail to see Joe face his past so spectacularly. All the while, he does have some part of himself that seeks redemption. More than that, he really does just want love.

Bronte is that chance for him. As Kate pulls away, Bronte is there to be a near-perfect match. While it started out as catfishing, Bronte starts to fall for him in the process. He’s Joe Goldberg, after all.

The chemistry between the two characters is palpable, and there’s even a moment when it seems she could match Joe in his darkness. Madeline Brewer’s performance is stellar throughout all of it, keeping viewers — and Joe — guessing as to her real motivations.  

So, the question we’re constantly asking is whether she’ll become the Bonnie to Joe’s Clyde, become another of his victims, or be the one to finally take him down. Even the character herself seems uncertain of the answer. 

There is also a final showdown, so to speak, that is incredibly intense and suspenseful and brings about one of Penn Badgley’s best performances — all while running around in the rain in his underwear. The show pulls no punches here, and it’s captivating to watch.

I’ll avoid stating here exactly what happens by the end of the series, but everything leads to a more satisfying conclusion than I could have expected.

This final season also makes its own commentary on the character of Joe Goldberg and how he is charming, irresistible, and terrifying all at once.

There are reflections throughout the season as his past comes back to haunt him, and those reflections ask the viewer to consider similar ideas. Why are viewers so intrigued by a character that can do such awful things? It’s summed up perfectly in this one line:

“The fantasy of a man like you… is how we cope with the reality of a man like you.”

Overall, the final season has everything that has made this show so intriguing from the start: Joe’s narration, the thought-provoking psychological elements, the comments on classism, the blood and gore, and the bits of humor. It’s a fun ride. It serves the characters well, and it ultimately results in a solid, gratifying conclusion.

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You is currently streaming on Netflix.

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