New York, hold onto your bagels and bolt your basement doors because Joe Goldberg is home. That’s not a good thing.
The fifth and final season of Netflix’s mega-hit YOU has finally landed, and it is every bit as deranged, unsettling, and mesmerizing as fans hoped or feared. Penn Badgley returns as the charming bookstore manager turned stalker turned serial killer turned husband turned widower turned professor turned whatever he is now. And let’s say the man is still spiraling.
Back where it all began —the chaotic, grimy, unpredictable hellscape that is New York City. Joe has come full circle. But don’t expect a tidy redemption arc with him sipping coffee and journaling in Central Park. No. This is Joe we are talking about. The man turns love into love, bookstores into torture chambers, and red flags into dating profiles.
FOR THE UNINITIATED: WHO IS JOE GOLDBERG?
Let’s take a moment to acknowledge the absolute madness of what we have witnessed over the past four seasons.
Joe Goldberg is not just a romantic. He is not just a hopeless idealist. He is a full-blown delusional psychopath who genuinely believes stalking, kidnapping, and, yes, murder are all just part of the journey to faithful Love. He Loves walking, whispering, brooding paradox. He quotes Kafka while disposing of bodies, gaslights his girlfriends with Shakespearean elegance, and narrates his sociopathy like it is a TED Talk on intimacy.
He has killed lovers, friends, frenemies, neighbors, rivals, and a few innocent bystanders just for good measure. And somehow, despite it all, we still cannot stop watching.
SEASON 5: THE BLOODY HOMECOMING
Joe is back in the city that made him, and if that line from the trailer did not send chills down your spine, you might want to check if you have one. Season 5 is being marketed as the final chapter, but let’s be real. If Joe does not die, get arrested, or get eaten alive by rats in the subway, we are going to riot.
The teaser trailers have already revealed glimpses of Joe strolling through Manhattan, looking like a hot substitute teacher with a secret basement full of teeth. But what is truly terrifying is how comfortable he seems back in the city. It is like Gotham welcoming back the Joker. Except this time, the Joker is emotionally codependent and alphabetizes his murders.
THE 5 MOST UNHINGED JOE GOLDBERG MOMENTS (SO FAR)
Because Joe’s most significant hits deserve to be enshrined in a hall of horror.
1. Beck’s Death: Where Romance Dies and the Nightmare Begins (Season 1)
Remember Beck? Sweet, poetic, just-trying-to-finish-her-novel Beck? Joe locked her in a basement after she dared to discover his box of horrors. Phones, tampons, teeth, a real Etsy murder starter pack. She finds the evidence. She tries to escape. And Joe? He “has no choice” (spoiler: he always has a choice) but to kill her off-screen. And then he writes a book about it. Therapy? Not in this zip code.
2. Natalie’s Bloodbath: Suburbia Doesn’t Save You (Season 3, Episode 1)
The suburbs were supposed to tame the beast. Spoiler alert: they did not. Joe becomes obsessed with neighbor Natalie faster than you can say “restraining order.” He collects her things in a creepy box. He fantasizes. He plans. But it is Love, his loveably homicidal wife, who goes full rage mode and murders Natalie in the kitchen. The couple that slays together stays together. Until they try to kill each other, of course.
3. The Peach Problem: Suicide by Joe (Season 1)
Peach Salinger was not just Beck’s rich bestie. She was Joe’s most dangerous enemy because she saw through his fake Mr. Darcy routine. Joe tries to kill her once but fails. Then tries again. Succeeds. And writes a suicide note for her. The audacity. The sociopathy. The font choice on that forged note. It is giving murder with a side of literary flair.
4. The Glass Cage: Joe’s DIY Dungeon of Doom
What once housed rare first editions now traps real, terrified human beings. The glass cage is Joe’s twisted version of setting boundaries. Want to break up with Joe? I hope you like soundproof walls and no cell service. Every time a character was introduced, fans began a mental countdown to when they would end up in the cage. It’s JJoe’ssick’s little panic room, and it’s iconic.
5. Stalking Beck: The Birth of a Thousand Red Flags (Season 1)
The scene that started it all. Beck walks into a bookstore. Joe smiles. You think, “Oh, meet-cute.” But instead of asking for her number, he finds her social media and her address and watches her from across the street through her window. In his mind, it is protection. In reality, it is a felony. And that, dear viewers, is how this spiral of horror began.
WHY DO WE LOOK AWAY (EVEN WHEN WE SHOULD)
Let’s face it. Joe Goldberg is terrifying, but we are obsessed with him. He is a walking contradiction. We hate him, but we want to know what he will do next. We know he is lying, but we lean in when he speaks. His internal monologue is a twisted lullaby, rocking us to sleep while he sharpens a knife.
And that is the genius of YOU. It dares to ask the uncomfortable question. What if the monster thinks he is the hero?
SEASON 5: PREDICTIONS, THEORIES, AND FINAL JUDGMENT
So what now?
Will Joe finally face justice?
Will he die? Will he disappear? Will he find someone worse than himself?
Fans are frothing at the mouth with theories. Some think Beck’s ghost will return. Some hope the whole thing ends with Joe trapped in the glass cage, forced to narrate his final days to himself. Others are rooting for a wholeDexter-style twist. Joe fakes his death and lives in the woods. With a beard. And another cage.
But whatever happens, YOU Season is a guaranteed thrill ride. One last dive into the deranged mind of a man who turned Love into a lovely sport.
THE FINAL VERDICT
YOU Season 5 premieres today, April 24, 2025, exclusively on Netflix. Prepare for gore, gaslighting, and guilt-free bingeing. Cancel your plans. Lock your windows. And if a hot guy at the bookstore says your name without being introduced?
RUN.
One last note. If Joe Goldberg ever tells you he is not like other guys, believe him.
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