After five seasons filled with madness, shady obsessions and a lot of bodies along the way, You comes to its grand finale. And boy, was it a close to live up to. Here’s our review of the finale of “You”… but BEWARE! It contains spoilers, so if you haven’t seen the entire season, continue at your own risk.
Joe Goldberg-that guy who once seemed like just a hopeless romantic with a taste for books-finally ends up where many fans have wanted to see him for a long time: paying for all the chaos he left in his wake.
Joe, with no way out
From the first episode of season 5, it feels like everything is going to fall apart for him. Joe is trying to escape (again) with Bronte, his new “victim in disguise of love”, heading to Canada with fake passports. But this time, luck is no longer on his side.
Bronte, who has already discovered the whole truth-including what he did to Beck-plays a dangerous card: she pretends to be in love, but what she wants is for Joe to fall. And she succeeds. The key moment occurs in a remote cabin, where she confronts him with a gun and forces him to confess his crimes… and even to correct what he falsely wrote in Beck’s book. A symbolic and powerful act: giving a voice back to the one Joe tried to erase.
The ending we deserved
After years of narrow escapes, Joe finally goes down. Arrested, tried and convicted for all his murders. And no, there is no magical escape or open ending. He is sentenced to life in prison and ends up alone in a cell, facing the worst possible punishment: his own reflection.
Most shocking is his final monologue, breaking the fourth wall with a sentence that remains reverberating: “Maybe the problem isn’t me. Maybe it’s you.” Straight to the audience. As if to say: “And why did you keep watching me?”. A cold, calculated closing, and very much in tune with what You always was: a story about the dark side of love… and our obsession with villains.
And the other characters?
Closure isn’t just about Joe. The others also get their dose of justice and redemption:
- Bronte survives, gets her life back on track and makes it clear: Joe will be just “one more jerk she dated.” Period.
- Kate Lockwood makes it out of the fire alive and becomes a stronger version of herself.
- Marienne is finally able to live quietly and pursue her art.
- Joe’s son Henry grows up away from the chaos.
- And characters like Maddie, Harrison, Teddy and Dr. Nicky also find some sort of closure or new opportunity.
An ending with weight
The series closes with several symbolic winks. We return to Mooney’s, the bookstore where it all began, as if to say: “look how far we’ve come”. And the scene in which Joe has to correct what he wrote about Beck is not only narrative redemption; it is a call to not forget the real victims, those who are often left in the background in stories about criminals.
What do the critics say?
Although some had a hard time letting go of “Charismatic Joe,” most critics applauded the closure. It’s dark, yes, but necessary. Penn Badgley says goodbye to the character with a brutal performance, perfectly capturing that balance of charm and insanity that defined Joe from day one.
Plus, the ending throws a thoughtful critique at the audience: why do we continue to be fascinated with villains? Why do we sometimes justify them just because they’re attractive or complex? You made us look in the mirror… and not all of us came out looking good.
In short: The ending of You is fair, powerful, and holds nothing back. Joe finally pays for his crimes, the victims get their voices back, and fans get that closure they’ve been waiting years for. It’s not just the end of a story: it’s a reminder that the real punishment for monsters is for the world to see them without the mask.
