Murder through monologue

Express Tribune

04-05-2025

Out of all the serial killers running rampant in the world of fiction, only two can get away with giving us a relentless on-screen running commentary of their unapologetic innermost thoughts. The first is Dexter Morgan (a more dedicated forensic specialist, we have yet to meet). The second is Joe Goldberg, lover of glass cages with a keen interest in housing his (live) victims therein until that tipping point where he can stand them no longer.
It is the outwardly and sometimes inwardly charming Joe we are concerned with today with You Season 5 having crawled to an end. For as long as we have known him, Joe (Penn Badgley) has been spreading murder and mayhem wherever he goes, be it a bookstore in New York, a suburb in Los Angeles, or within the affluent confines of South Kensington in London.
In his latest and most ludicrous outing yet, Joe relocates to New York from his brief but characteristically violent spell in London, having persuaded his otherwise intelligent love interest (Kate Lockwood, played by Charlotte Ritchie) from the previous season to marry him. Will their wedded bliss continue to bloom? As you may have already surmised, it does not.
A rocky road
We enter season 5 three years into Joe and Kate's marriage. Joe's son Henry – whom he had abandoned for the previous season – now lives with them. For viewers who have forgotten, Joe had disposed of Henry's mother during an earlier encounter in season 3. Kate, who is in the dark about all this, is startled to learn that Joe is not quite the easily led white knight she had originally hoped for.
Whilst Kate is perfectly happy for Joe to kill on command when the situation demands it, she cannot understand why he is not racked with insomniac guilt like other normal people (i.e. herself). In other words, she wants to have her cake and eat it too.
On the other side of the equation, a hurt and bewildered Joe cannot for the life of him fathom Kate's opposition to murder for what they have both agreed is for (their) greater good. In Joe's eyes, his past actions have proved a more heroically blameless man has never existed. (Relatedly, he remains convinced he is also father of the year despite the niggling issue of having killed his son's mother that one time.) Kate's inhibitions vis a vis murder irk Joe to no end and pave his backslide as he encounters his most boring love interest yet: Bronte (Madeline Brewer).
If you are open to being emotionally manipulated as a viewer, unlike the denizens of Reddit and IMDb, you may be willing to overlook Bronte's objective dullness. Bronte swans into Joe's life via his largely empty bookstore and successfully woos him over with talk of literature. (This may be one of the most unbelievable aspects of You: stumbling upon a man interested in literary fiction.)
Unless you are a very gullible Joe busy handing over your heart, Bronte's true motivations remain a question mark throughout her time on the show. However, since the new love of Joe's life remains as interesting as a bowl of soggy bran flakes, you lack any emotional capacity to care why she does any of the things she does.
To compensate for Bronte's boring interlude, however, faithful viewers will be rewarded cameo appearances from all the people Joe has wronged over the years, much in the same way the Seinfeld series finale brought back Babu and the Bubble Boy for that one glorious day in court. All is not lost.
Insanely absurd
Kate has bigger problems than just a wayward husband (or so she thinks). For example, her sister Raegan, who is acting very strangely indeed, appears to be engaging in all sorts of shady nonsense in the family business. Due to not being privy to Joe's inner monologue, Kate has no way of realising that Joe is not entirely blameless in this Raegan situation. Unbeknownst to her (her husband is not in a sharing mood after Kate's reservations regarding violence), Joe cannot resist meddling in his wife's affairs and dealing with Raegan in his own special way.
Unfortunately for both him and us, things unravel as if plotted by a fourteen-year-old writing fan fiction. That is the thing to be said for You: it never shies away from the insanely absurd. Instead, it goes the other way and embraces it like a long lost brother. Just when you think you know where you are headed, along comes a mad plot twist to wrench you off course and bait you into the next episode to tentatively check if common sense will ever make a comeback.
Great news for common-sense haters: it doesn't. And why should it? Rationality has no place in a show about a well-read good-looking serial killer with an alluring baritone, and you will be relieved to learn that as the seasons progress, You liberates itself entirely from the shackles of cold hard logic. Mistaken identities, a twin switcheroo (Sherlock from Sherlock would be appalled), a heavy reliance on pop culture knowledge, girl-fixes-boy tropes, suspiciously clean glass cages with not a fingerprint in sight, a UK Home office that grants visas with the scantest of background checks, a rich woman who can click her fingers and make murder charges poof into thin air – this is not a short list. You invites you to not only suspend your disbelief, but to shred it to pieces.
Is this the end?
Who knows? When it comes to television, you can never be too sure if producers and writers will stick to their word after promising they have finished. For example, we all thought we had seen the last of Dexter after his questionable lumberjack era in Dexter: New Blood, and look at us now.
Poring over Dexter's troubled youth in Dexter: Original Sin to see what started his serial killing journey. On TV, the dead can be revived in a manipulative 'haha, fooled you' moment, and the imprisoned can dig their way out of jail, if they are dedicated enough. Throughout this roller coaster of a journey, however, one question, however, remains unanswered. How on earth does Joe keep his glass cage so sparkly? Out of all the things he shares with us, Joe never does let us in on that particular secret.
But do not despair. Despite Netflix swearing this is the last of You, we may hear from Joe again one day. As the saying goes, anyone can be a murderer if they have a good reason and a bad day – and as Joe's fans and wives come to know exceedingly well, here is a man who often finds good reasons on as many bad days. All he needs is one more wretched day and an excellent reason, and he may be back to murder and maim once more. And this time, let us know about that glass cage.