You Season 5’s Ending Explained: What Happened to Joe Goldberg?

Then, Bronte pulls a gun on Joe, demanding he revises the edits he made of Beck’s memoir. Various physical fights between the two ensue, as well as a terrifying chase through the woods.

But what about Joe’s ultimate fate? Well, he ends up being shot in the penis and imprisoned. He is convicted of the murders of Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti) and Guinevere Beck (Elizabeth Lail), as well as season 1 characters Benji Ashby (Lou Taylor Pucci) and Peach Salinger (Shay Mitchell). He also becomes the subject of a mocking meme about being shot in his private parts.

However, we watch as a fan letter is delivered to Joe in his jail cell, which describes sexual fantasies the writer wants to do with him. It causes Joe to question whether he is in fact the problem, or is it actually “you”? In quite a meta point, the show is asking, Are we perpetuating the notoriety and power of violent and criminal men like Joe by fixating on and sexualizing him?

It’s an interesting question to conclude with, acknowledging the obsession with Joe Goldberg from the show’s beginning. Why is there a Netflix hit show about a male stalker and serial killer? Why do some find his character sexy and sympathetic?

While You season 5’s ending may not “fix” its many storylines of violence against women and girls, it does ask us to explore our own psyche as well as Joe’s. Is he, as he says, a product of his environment? It certainly asks us to take accountability for contributing to an obsession with five seasons centered around a murderer of so many women, and perhaps what it says about us as a society.

What happens to the remaining women in You?

So let’s start with Bronte—she narrowly escapes and starts a new life as Louise (her real name). She reworks Beck’s manuscript and deletes Joe’s additions, and the newly released edition becomes hugely successful. It details her story with Joe and his murders. Kate (Charlotte Ritchie) makes her company nonprofit after taking over as CEO, after surviving a fire set at Mooney’s. She also supports and champions artist Marienne, who is safe to be in the public eye after Joe’s imprisonment.

Ritchie recently predicted a “mixed reaction” to the You season 5 ending. She told Radio Times: “I think this is such a larger-than-life character that finding an ending that satisfies everybody based on all of the various feelings they have about him, like in his life, I don’t think that’s possible. but I think it’s a nice nod to the kind of relationship we have with him, which I think is quite fun and quite kind of inclusive, weirdly.”

This article first appeared on Glamour UK.