In media, the satisfaction of a murdering meeting their fitting end can make or break a story. We love to see the bad guys lose in horror movies. But in shows like You, the villain can have a more fitting end.
Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) spend 5 seasons terrorizing women. When Joe met Beck (Elizabeth Lail), he masked his murderous ways behind a need to “protect” her. And it carried on through each season. His relationship with Love (Victoria Pedretti) ended in fire and his marriage to Kate (Charlotte Ritchie) wasn’t going much better.
Even when Joe was happy, he couldn’t stop his need to kill anyone who threatened his perceived happiness. And as satisfying as it may have been if his new obsession, Brontë (Madeline Brewer), killed him in cold blood, I think what You did with Joe Goldberg is more fitting than any blood bath would have been.
During season 5, Joe moved his love away from Kate and onto Brontë, a young woman who loved literature and worked at the book shop that Kate’s family bought for Joe. The two strike up a relationship and during their affair, we learn that Brontë only began speaking to Joe because she wanted answers to what happened to Beck, her friend.
It was a nice twist and allowed the show unpack the power that Joe has on women and his ability to quite literally get away with murder. Brontë was so determined to take Joe down but then justifies his actions, explains away a literal murder she witnessed, and allows herself to get roped into Joe’s world. But Marienne (Tati Gabrielle) makes her see reason.
The downfall of Joe Goldberg was delicious
You constantly found Joe winning, despite what his monologue would tell us. Even when he “thought” someone was out to get him or trying to take him down, he was the one in the wrong. And we, along with the women in his life, were dragged into Joe’s mess and the blame was always put on the women around him. But what season 5 did was force Joe to answer for his sins. Literally.
In the final moments of the season, Joe is cornered and like a rabid animal, he is begging to be put down. Brontë has the chance to kill him where he stands and rid the world of Joe Goldberg. But she is smart. She knows that without him there, all of the women he’s murdered and murdered for will not ever have their justice if he’s dead.
So instead of doing as Joe asked, she hurts him enough that he cannot run away and the police come to take Joe away. Sure, Joe getting shot in the crotch wasn’t on my You bingo card but it was a more fitting end then if he was to die right then and there. He is not the kind of villain I want to see lying dead in a ditch at the end of the movie.
He’s the one I want to see pay for his crimes and give answers to the victims. So I love that You didn’t just end Joe’s story with a bang. Instead, it ended with the clang of Joe’s prison cell and that was satisfying to me.
(featured image: Clifton Prescod/Netflix)
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