Netflix’s You used the series finale not only to break the fourth wall — but to ask Joe Goldberg’s biggest fans whether they were the problem.
During the last season, which premiered on Thursday, April 24, the final scene showed Penn Badgley‘s Joe reading letters from his supporters while in prison.
“Why am I in a cage when these crazies write me all the depraved things they want me to do to them? Maybe we have a problem as a society. Maybe we should fix what’s broken in us,” Joe said while a version of Radiohead’s “Creep” played in the background. “Maybe the problem isn’t me. Maybe it’s you.”
The cast of the hit series was thrilled by the creative commentary approach. Natasha Behnam, who played Dominique, enjoyed the nod at the audience, exclusively telling Us Weekly at the red carpet event on Wednesday, April 23, “Everybody fell in love with Joe Goldberg because it’s a TV show and we love it. But I think having that layer of ‘Hey, remember that he is a serial killer.’”
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She continued: “We’re having fun with the show — but let’s all come together and remember this person caused horrible atrocities.”
Pete Ploszek, who played Harrison, showed his support too.
“That was masterful. It’s such a big and beautiful swing by the writers. As we’ve all witnessed this over the years, supported it, been intrigued, curious and have demanded more and more,” he noted. “You do have to pause and reflect on that. Especially with social media and this digital age we live in, [it is important] how we treat each other and how we regard each other.”
You, which originally debuted on Lifetime in 2018, introduced 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.
While fans were divided on how they wanted Joe’s story to end, Badgley never wavered, telling Salon in February 2023, “The show is never a clinical portrait of either a serial killer or a man with mental illness. So the fun that we’re able to have when we do all of this is that this is not meant to be real. And to me, that doesn’t take anything away from it. It’s meant to be an exploration, an exercise. There’s an element of fantasy and camp to it that lets us do a lot of things, and, again, I think we benefit from it.”
He continued: “If you’ve done things that Joe has done, change would mean reconciling in yourself that you have murdered more people than you can count readily on one hand. If you’re really there, I think what would require your reconciliation, let alone that with any kind of judgment in society, is more than you’ve indicated at this point you’re capable of, because you’ve done those things.”
Joe’s ending ultimately showed him going to prison for every crime he committed during the last five seasons — and he got shot in the penis. Charlotte Ritchie, who played Kate, sounded off on the narrative decision.
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“I don’t believe in the death penalty and I don’t believe he should just die,” she shared with Us. “Sometimes I wonder if there’s a missing part when he doesn’t reflect because — and it’s a shame that he never gets an inward moment of reflection — but that seems appropriate for him. It doesn’t feel like he’s capable of that.”
The actress, 35, noted that Joe still didn’t take any responsibility for his actions.
“Where we leave him, he’s just not even vaguely capable of looking at the blame anywhere else except for somewhere else,” Ritchie said about Joe’s brutal injury. “I was like, ‘That’s full on. I guess symbolically it’s very important. But there is something about his brain that is the scariest part of him in the way we see him. He’s really violent in this series where he shows brutality and physical violence that’s very specific in this show. But broadly his threat is his mind and his ability to talk to people.”
She continued: “In a way it’s symbolic but it’s like he still retains the part of himself that is manipulative and controls people. He sorts out his heart and his head. Whatever happens to his penis is neither here nor there.”
You is currently streaming on Netflix.
