Latest news with #YouSeason5
Express Tribune
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Murder through monologue
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.
Buzz Feed
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
'You's' Ending Was Literally The Only Possible Conclusion For Joe Goldberg — And Penn Badgley Has Been Telling Us For Years
Needless to say, there are some *serious* You Season 5 spoilers ahead. Last month, the much-anticipated final ever season of the hit Netflix series You finally hit our screens, and viewers couldn't be more excited to find out what will become of one of TV's most beloved serial killers, Joe Goldberg — played by Penn Badgley. Netflix And murder is far from the only crime that Joe has in his repertoire, with the entire premise of the show hinging on the fact that he is an obsessive stalker who manipulates women into being in a relationship with him, and will stop anyone who gets in his way. If those women see through him and decide that they don't want to date him? Well, that's when the killing comes in. Netflix Oh, and he also masturbated on the street a lot during Season 1. Despite all of this, many of You's viewers have been completely on Joe's side throughout the show — largely due to him being the narrator, which allows him to manipulate fans with his charm in the same way he does his love interests on-screen. Andddd as a result, many people hoped that the show would end with Joe getting away with all of his crimes and running off into the sunset, but they should have known that this was never going to happen. If you're wondering, the explosive final episode sees Joe go head-to-head with his Season 5 love interest Louise 'Bronte' Flannery, played by Madeline Brewer. The episode starts with the two attempting to flee the country after Joe was secretly recorded confessing to two of his murders. However, Joe is unaware that Bronte is only still with him because she wants him to confess to killing her friend Guinevere Beck, who was the focus of the show's first season. She ends up pulling a gun on him and demanding answers when they're in the bedroom together, and it is at this point that Joe's facade starts to break. At first, he berates Bronte — warning her that nobody will ever love her the way that he does. When this doesn't land, and after a call from his young son, Henry, who calls him a 'monster,' Joe plays the victim; sobbing about how unlovable he is and asking Bronte if this is what he deserves. Bronte doesn't fall for this either, and that is when Joe turns overtly nasty, boasting about how he got away with murdering her friend on camera before physically attacking her, including punching her in the face. An anxiety-inducing chase ensues, and, rather cleverly, this is the first time in five seasons that viewers are explicitly exposed to the reality of just how terrifying and powerful Joe is, without any of his trademark charm. Joe shoots, strangles, and even drowns Bronte on camera, which she (inexplicably) survives, pulling a gun on him to stop him from leaving as the police arrive. At this point, Joe begs Bronte to kill him, clearly choosing death over facing justice, but she refuses to give him what would be the easy way out. She does, however, accidentally shoot him in the penis as he is arrested, after warning him: 'You are going to live the rest of your life alone.' Which is exactly what happens. Joe ends up being sentenced to life in prison without parole, and in his final voiceover, he still refuses to take accountability for his actions, saying: 'My punishment is even worse than I imagined. The loneliness, my god, the loneliness. No hope of being held, knowing this is forever. It's unfair, putting all of this on me, aren't we all just products of our environment? Hurt people hurt people.' Meanwhile, all of Joe's survivors are thriving and free — even Beck gets some form of justice after Bronte redacts all of the edits that Joe had secretly made to her posthumous book, and releases an edition containing only Beck's words, not those of her killer. Netflix And, if you think about it, this was literally the only possible resolution for Joe Goldberg. After all, throughout the entire show, nobody has been a bigger Joe hater than Penn, who plays him, and he has made it abundantly clear throughout the show's run that he would not be satisfied if Joe did not get his comeuppance. While getting away with everything was clearly not an option, dying is undeniably too good for Joe, which means that, realistically, he was always going to end up in prison. And Penn affirmed this mindset in a recent interview with Extra TV, where he said: 'The concept needed to come to a close, the writers, me, everybody involved — the fans — we needed to bring this man to his rightful end, and I think we did so.' Netflix But he did deny having any direct involvement in what happened, saying: 'If I had any input, it was only through years of being the way I've been about him. The writers, I've always left them to their own devices because they do what they do best… I think we ended it very well.' Speaking to the Guardian about Joe's ending, Penn added: 'It was as though I couldn't sustain the rage anymore, couldn't sustain the levels of artifice with him, just all of it. Nothing is really good enough. There's levels to it; it's not just like: does he die? Does he go to jail? Is he tortured? Does he live and is he miserable alone? It's really about how we get there.' Netflix He reiterated that he believes they 'reached truly the best resolution for him.' In the same interview, Penn shared his concern that he'd made Penn 'too likable,' something that he has publicly grappled with for years. Speaking to EW back in 2020 about the way some viewers defend Joe, Penn exclaimed: "He's a murderer! He's a sociopath. He's abusive. He's delusional. And he's self-obsessed. You can't fool yourself into thinking that he just needs somebody who's right for him. Nobody's right for him!" Netflix 'I don't think redemption is possible for [Joe],' Penn added in another interview. 'I mean, maybe theoretically it's possible for all people, but he's among the worst.' That same year, he said during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: "I struggled greatly with the conflict of playing such a guy and him being partly so likable and having such a, as we say, thirsty response to him." Netflix A sentiment Penn had expressed in 2019 when he quote-tweeted a fan who'd written: 'the amount of people romanticising @pennbadgley's character in YOU scares me," and added: "Ditto. It will be all the motivation I need for season 2." And perhaps the most poetic part of You's series finale is the self-referential way it addresses viewers' love for Joe Goldberg. In the episode's very final moments, Joe receives fan mail in prison, and asks: 'Why am I in a cage when all these crazies write me all the depraved things they want me to do to them?' Perhaps anticipating that some fans may be left disappointed by Joe finally facing justice, the show then holds a mirror up to viewers as Joe continues: 'Maybe we have a problem as a society. Maybe we should fix what is broken in us. Maybe the problem isn't me… Maybe it's you.' Netflix
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Penn Badgley Says He Can't Keep This 1 Piece Of False Information Off His Wikipedia Page
You actor Penn Badgley has admitted that, despite his best efforts, there's one piece of false information he just can't keep off his Wikipedia page. Earlier this week, Penn made an appearance on The Tonight Show, where host Jimmy Fallon began by asking his guest about his recent announcement that his wife, Domino Kirke, is expecting twins. '[Our] four-year-old, he's stoked, because he wants to be a big brother,' the former Gossip Girl star explained. 'And the 16-year-old, he's excited, but he's actually like, 'I'm gonna leave in two years…'.' The host then reminded Penn that there was something he wanted to 'clear up about your private life' during their chat. 'Yeah,' the actor responded. 'This is a very weird thing to say, but our littlest… who is four… his name is not James.' Penn clarified: 'The internet, on Wikipedia, for many years, his name was James. And we'd get it removed, but it would go back. His name is not James! And I feel weird saying that, but I just thought, 'well, you know what, I have a platform, why not clear the air?'.' He then revealed there are even people 'close to the family, who haven't seen us in a while' who will write 'James' in cards, despite that not being Penn's son's name, after looking it up online. 'Because he's four, his name will remain undisclosed for as long as we can manage,' Penn added. 'It's a good name, though!' As well as the four-year-old Penn shares his with his wife, and the identical twin boys that Domino is currently expecting, the Netflix star became a stepfather to her son when they tied the knot in 2014. Elsewhere in his Tonight Show interview, Penn revealed why he's 'very ready' to leave his role in You in the past. Penn Badgley Shares His Take On The Controversial You Season 5 Finale Penn Badgley Had To Throw This Personal Rule 'Out The Window' For You Season 5 Sex Scenes Penn Badgley Makes Honest Admission About Why He's 'Very Ready' For You To Be Over
Express Tribune
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Badgley destroys Joe once and for all
This article contains spoilers from You Season 5. After five deliciously dark seasons of Netflix's hit show, Penn Badgley finally got what he always wanted: Joe Goldberg, exposed as the monster he truly is. No more pretending he's the "troubled romantic" or the "misunderstood antihero." In season five, Badgley helped rip Joe's charming mask clean off, and it was glorious. Talking to The Hollywood Reporter, Badgley pulled no punches about his mission for the final season: "It was critical that Joe finally be undeniably and viscerally perceived as a sexual predator, because that's what he is," he said. No more "aww, he's just lonely" TikToks. No more problematic crushes. Joe is not your dark academia boyfriend. He's the guy who strangles women after stalking them. Period. And if you thought the show would let him off easy with a poetic death, think again. Badgley was adamant that Joe's downfall happens in the bedroom - the place where he spun his most dangerous fantasies. His twisted seduction finally backfired when Bronte (Madeline Brewer), Joe's final obsession, shot him in the genitals, leading to a public trial and life in prison with no parole. "Putting him in the box would've been too clean," Badgley said. "It's out there, in the messy real world, where he had to finally be caught." Badgley got deeply involved in making sure Joe's end felt earned. He worked closely with the showrunners to make Joe as horrific as possible this season. And trust: it worked. From that jaw-dropping first episode (Joe's caught masturbating on a New York street) to his animalistic unravelling in the woods during the finale, it's clear: this man is a predator, not a misunderstood sad boy. The art of acting evil Reflecting on his wild ride with the series, Badgley called it a "technical" acting challenge, especially since Joe is basically the whole show. "It's a show called You starring me, and I've never had something like it before. I'll never have something like it after," he said. Over 50 hours of Joe's internal monologue, smirks, and icy stares, Badgley brought his A-game. (Okay, he admits there were a few moments he could've tightened up.) Even though Joe's downfall was brutal, Badgley was weirdly sentimental about wrapping things up. Filming the final season back in New York, where it all began, felt fitting. And although Joe was second nature to him at this point ("for better or worse"), Badgley trusted the writers to stick the landing. "When I saw the final episode, I thought it was really gratifying," he said. "We did what we came to do and we put this man to bed the right way." And about that "punishment" for Joe? Don't expect Badgley to be fist-pumping about it. "There's no end that's satisfying," he said thoughtfully. "It's a tragedy. Justice isn't about retribution or vengeance. The only kind of satisfaction comes with time." Still, Badgley admitted it was refreshing to finally pull the curtain back and shatter the illusion. "There were moments in earlier seasons where it felt like the narrative was letting him off too easy," he said. "We were too close to his point of view. This season made sure we zoomed out." The show's creators agreed. Executive producer Sera Gamble noted that allowing Joe to be viewed from the outside - not just through his unreliable narration - was the key to cracking the final chapter. Viewers no longer heard his rationalisations; they saw the damage, the manipulation, the trail of ruined lives. Onset camaraderie Don't worry, there were still some fun moments on set. Asked if Joe would've had a favourite TikTok trend, Badgley joked that the cat POV videos would've distracted even a serial killer. "There's something feline about Joe," he laughed. As for Bronte's revenge twist, her true identity as someone avenging season one's Guinevere Beck, Badgley was all in. "I remember feeling a sense of betrayal, just like Joe would have," he said. "You want the love story to work, even when you know it can't. But in the end, it was perfect." And that ending was a thematic full circle. Joe began as someone who cloaked his violence in romance, and he ended up exposed, grotesquely and publicly. The final courtroom scene, filled with faces of survivors and families of victims, wasn't just a send-off. It was a reckoning. "The audience needed to see what accountability looks like, even if it's imperfect," said Badgley. Fans may miss the twisted narration and darkly comic kills, but the show's final act didn't compromise. It told the truth. Joe Goldberg wasn't a love interest. He was a symptom of something darker, our willingness to romanticise control, obsession, and violence. Season five held up a mirror, and it wasn't pretty. So what's next for Badgley post-You is probably a long break from saying "Hello, you" in that chilling whisper. And maybe, just maybe, some actual peace. After all, Joe Goldberg is locked up forever. And Penn Badgley is free.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Madeline Brewer Slams ‘Rude' You Fans Amid Season 5 Backlash
, who stars as Bronte in Season 5, faced a barrage of criticism from fans of the series on social media. They had rudely accused the actress of ruining Penn Badgley's psychological thriller-drama by simply appearing in it. Brewer has now addressed the criticism via social media and reacted to the rude comments. Here is how Madeline Brewer reacted to fan criticism towards her You Season 5 appearance. In the wake of You Season 5's release, Madeline Brewer faced a flood of harsh comments on Instagram from angry fans. Accusations quickly surfaced, claiming Brewer had 'ruined' the beloved psychological thriller just by joining the cast. Standing her ground, Brewer clapped back directly. When one user bluntly wrote, 'You ruined the show,' she simply replied, 'No I didn't.' But the criticism didn't end there. Another fan labeled Brewer as the 'worst love interest' for Penn Badgley's Joe Goldberg. In response, Brewer sarcastically jabbed that the commenter was just upset they didn't get to kiss Joe themselves—something she proudly did onscreen. Yet another fan accused her of ruining Season 5 with her looks, leading to Brewer responding by saying she didn't. Madeline Brewer responds to rude 'You' fans saying she ruined the show in her IG comments byu/pinkstarrfish inFauxmoi The Reddit thread that shared the above post, was however supportive of Brewer and critical of the fan criticism. 'You fans are being completely awful to her and the final season, and proving the show's final message right,' one fan wrote. Another fan who claimed that they hadn't seen the show since Victoria Pedretti's Love Quinn died called the fan criticism towards Brewer, 'jobless behavior.' Several fans even praised Brewer's boldness, with one user sharing they became an even bigger fan after seeing her clap back at the rudeness. Oddly enough, Brewer had anticipated fan backlash towards Bronte. In a Vanity Fair interview earlier this month, the actress acknowledged how fans would not be welcoming towards her character. She noted that they would hate her 'for one reason or another.' 'They'll love to hate her—or hate to love her. So that part I'm just gently preparing myself for,' Brewer added. 'If that means I'm not on Instagram for a while, that's fine.' Brewer then stressed at the time that she had other things to focus on. She expressed hope that fans would be 'chill' with her character. However, she also admitted that she would be fine if they did not like Bronte. The post Madeline Brewer Slams 'Rude' You Fans Amid Season 5 Backlash appeared first on - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.
