On April 24, 2025, You released its final season. I’ve been watching this show for years and have seen its fair share of ups and downs yet it was still enjoyable. So, when the trailer dropped, I was excited. This seemed like the season where Joe Goldberg would finally be exposed as the serial killer he had become in previous seasons. From what I saw in the trailer, I thought Joe had been exposed and was on the run. However, when the season premiered, it started off pretty slow, focusing on some drama between his wife, Kate Lockwood, and her sister, Reagan Lockwood. I didn’t mind it, since I know shows often take time to ramp up.
In typical Joe Goldberg fashion, he wants to protect his wife by eliminating her sister, just as he had done to Kate’s uncle. Overall, the season wasn’t bad; it was actually pretty enjoyable, except for the ending.
In the first few episodes, Joe is feeling a rift in his marriage with Kate because she refuses to accept him as a murderer and forbids him from killing her sister. As seen in previous seasons, Joe tends to fall out of love when his partners won’t accept him for who he is. He gravitates toward another woman, convinced she will accept him. His new victim is Bronte, a girl who broke into his bookstore. He gives her a job and lets her stay in his old apartment. Soon enough, they’re having an affair, and he starts protecting her from threats in her life. Little does he know, those threats were all fabricated to trap him.
Near the end of season five, it’s revealed that Bronte is actually Louise Flannery, a friend of Guinevere Beck, Joe’s lover from season one, whom he killed. Bronte had been following him along with a few friends to expose him. Her twist is revealed when her friends manage to record Joe killing one of their own, believing he was protecting Bronte. I was genuinely surprised by this reveal and thought this would be the end for Joe; he was caught on video committing murder. But somehow, Joe still isn’t convicted, which I found ridiculous. Sure, he may be rich now, but he killed someone, and it was posted online.
Following this disappointment, Kate Lockwood chooses not to turn Joe in, even after he kills her sister. She had the power to do so but hesitated, knowing she’d be complicit. Thankfully, she eventually decides to convict Joe, but instead of turning him in, she decides killing him would be better. She plans to force a confession or let him die. Kate manages to trap him in his infamous cage in the basement, but Joe escapes because he had hidden a key inside his arm.
When that scene came up, I thought it was absurd. If he had the foresight to hide a key, why let himself be captured in the first place? It didn’t make sense. Then things got even more ridiculous. After escaping, Joe shoots Kate in the stomach but gets trapped himself when Kate’s second sister, Maddie Lockwood, burns down his bookstore. In the confusion, Kate strikes him on the head with a mallet. Despite their injuries, Kate manages to record Joe’s confession. She finally got him and she was prepared to die in the process. I thought this would be the ending: both Kate and Joe dead, and Joe’s crimes finally exposed. It felt like the perfect end to his delusions.
But then Bronte ruined it.
She returns, still caring for Joe, and tries to save him. When she sees Kate’s body, she realizes Joe truly is a killer. Instead of leaving him to die, she pretends to still love him, trying to get him to confess to killing Beck; even though Kate had already recorded his confession. They leave Kate behind and head toward the Canadian border.
At the end of the finale, it’s revealed that Kate somehow survived being shot and trapped in a burning building. Seriously? We’re supposed to believe that Kate Lockwood managed to survive while bleeding out and surrounded by flames? That’s stupid.
Back to Bronte and Joe’s journey, they stop at an abandoned house to rest. Bronte surprises Joe with a gun and demands he confess to Beck’s murder. Joe tries to manipulate her again but fails. He lunges at her to wrestle the gun away and ends up shooting her in the stomach. She runs, but with a sprained ankle, she doesn’t get far. She also managed to call the police during the chase. Joe catches up and strangles her, but she stabs him with a blade. She runs again, this time toward the water. Bad idea. Joe tackles her and drowns her.
So, Bronte is dead, right? Wrong. She survives again. While Joe is hiding from the police, Bronte somehow grabs a gun from a dead cop he killed. Keep in mind, Joe had already ran into a forest to hide. Yet Bronte, who was shot, and drowned, swims up from a lake and makes it to the forest with a gun. Either she’s some kind of super soldier or a hallucination. It’s not a stretch to say that since Joe had a history of hallucinations in the previous season. So, the idea that Bronte survived all of that is just bad writing. Then Joe gets arrested after being shot by Bronte and everyone lives happily ever after while Joe’s rotting in prison.
The finale of season five was terrible. It let characters who should have died survive, and it ruined Joe’s arc. For Joe’s story to end meaningfully, he needed to change. He should have accepted the monster he had become instead of continuing to deny it. His own son called him a monster, that should have been his turning point, the moment he turned himself in. Alternatively, his story could have ended in the fire, with him finally realizing his fantasy of true love would never come true because he’s an erotomaniac. The season was still a fun watch, it was just the ending that ruined it for me.