After five seasons — and a growing list of victims — Joe Goldberg is about to receive a fitting farewell. But what happened leading up to You‘s series finale?
In case you need a refresher, it’s been two years since we last saw Penn Badgley‘s killer character. The show originally debuted on Lifetime in 2018, introducing Badgley as a serial killer whose obsession for a girl grew to terrifying heights. Based on books by Caroline Kepnes, the series found larger success after it moved to Netflix in its sophomore season.
The fourth season uprooted Badgley’s Joe to London under the fake guise of professor Jonthan Moore, but he ultimately learned that there’s no place like home. Joe’s final journey, which starts streaming on Thursday, April 24, has him back where it all started — in the Big Apple.
Keep scrolling for a refresher — and a sneak peek of what awaits Joe:
‘You’ Season 5 Trailer Teases Joe’s Demise: What to Know About Final Season
Where We Started
When season 1 aired on Lifetime, Joe was working at Mooney’s bookstore, which is where he met and fell in love with Beck (Elizabeth Lail). It didn’t take long for that interest to become an obsession that led to several murders including Beck’s ex Benji (Reg Rogers) and Beck’s best friend Peach (Shay Mitchell). Joe ended up killing Beck and causing her therapist Dr. Nicky (John Stamos) to take the blame.
Flash forward to season 2 and Joe made the move from New York to Los Angeles. There he found himself infatuated with Love (Victoria Pedretti) and the death continued to follow Joe on his pursuit of a happily ever after. What Joe wasn’t expecting was for Love to not only be onto him — but to want him despite knowing about his murderous side.
Season 3 took Us to a fictional suburb in California where Love and Joe attempted to start a life with their son. The only problem? Joe once again fell in love and this time with Natalie (Michaela McManus). That didn’t last long though once Love figured out what was going on and Joe redirected his attention to Marienne (Tati Gabrielle). Like any toxic relationship, Joe and Love faced off in the finale and she ended up dead while he faked his own death.
Where We Left Off
The last time we checked in with Joe, he was taking a crack at academia with a trip overseas. The change made Joe take on the alias Jonathan Moore and long story short, Joe’s psyche turned him into the Eat-the-Rich killer without his knowledge.
Joe initially thought a London politician named Rhys (Ed Speleers) was to blame. It wasn’t until Joe killed Rhys that he realized what was going on, which kicked off a deadly chain of events. Joe wasn’t only a risk to himself — but Marienne who was now his hostage.
The twist? Marienne didn’t actually die of an overdose because of Joe. She got help from Joe’s student Nadia (Amy-Leigh Hickman) and escaped to Paris. Joe, meanwhile, tried to end his life but was saved by his latest love interest Kate (Charlotte Ritchie). Before we knew it, Joe once again escaped any responsibility after silencing Nadia from exposing him by framing her for murder instead.
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What’s Next
The fifth and final season picks up with Joe returning to New York with Kate and Henry but things are very different now that he’s an official member of the lavish Lockwood family. From Kate’s half-sisters — the cutthroat Raegan and the wild child Maddie (with Anna Camp playing double duty) — to Kate’s loyal half brother Teddy (Griffin Matthews), Joe’s world has only gotten bigger.
Gone is life in obscurity with Joe being in the public eye like never before. But Joe has never met a challenge he wasn’t intrigued by … which is where Madeline Brewer‘s Bronte comes in.
You uses their final season as a cumulation of everything Joe worked so hard to hide bubbling back up to the surface. Between those surprising twists, needle drops of the Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo and Chappell Roan variety, fun cameos and gruesome kills, the Netflix thriller’s last episodes are sure to make a larger statement about the internet’s favorite anti-hero.
