America’s favorite stalker Joe Goldberg is back and running rampant through the streets of London, as Netflix’s “You” transitions to a European setting in its newly released Fourth Season. If you are unfamiliar with the crazed Joe (Penn Badgley), let’s just say that he has a history of not-so-good decision-making when it comes to romantic relationships. There’s a lot to unpack from the first few seasons, which is why it’s important to know why Joe must become the sharp and honest college professor “Jonathan Moore” in the newest season. Careful. Spoilers ahead.
Season 1
Season One begins when a young woman, Guinevere Beck, walks into the New York bookstore where Joe works, sparking his obsession with her. Joe’s determination to become romantically involved with her culminates in him kidnapping and killing her boyfriend, who becomes Joe’s first victim. With her boyfriend out of the way, Joe begins dating Beck, but soon discovers that Beck’s friend Peach is in love with her as well. Joe begins stalking Peach, and eventually attacks her in the park. Although Peach is unable to identify her attacker, she and Beck are shaken by the incident, prompting Beck to start going to therapy.
Beck then starts seeing a therapist, Dr. Nicky, and slowly starts catching on to Joe’s stalker tendencies. She confronts Joe about this and breaks up with him, unaware that Joe is also seeing Dr. Nicky (under a false name of course). Joe listens to Beck’s therapy tapes and, after discovering that she has self-esteem issues, does not fight the breakup. Nevertheless, a few weeks later, Joe breaks up with his current girlfriend to get back together with Beck. In the melee of the breakup, Joe’s ex warns Beck about a girl from Joe’s past named Candace.
Joe admits that his past relationship with Candace soured when she cheated on him, and assures Beck that nothing can happen between them, as Candace died in an “accident.” A likely story. His admission prompts Beck to admit that she cheated on him with Dr. Nicky. Nevertheless, they choose to leave the past behind them and make a fresh start. That is, until Beck discovers Joe’s “mementos” of her, aka proof that he was stalking her the whole time. Beck, understandably, freaks out, but Joe is one step ahead of her. He locks her in a soundproof cage until they can “work things out.”
Beck tries her best to trick Joe and escape, but is ultimately unsuccessful and becomes kill number three. Months later, Joe compiles Beck’s manuscripts and frames Dr. Nicky, who is arrested and charged with the murder. Joe thinks he’s gotten away with everything, when — guess who — Candace walks in the door, demanding to talk. This is a huge surprise because it’s implied that Candace was one of Joe’s prior victims. Her cameo in the season’s conclusion was the perfect lead-in for Season Two.
Season 2
Season Two begins all the way across the country in Los Angeles, where Joe’s first fake identity is introduced: Will Bettelheim. Joe quickly meets Beck’s replacement in Love Quinn, a young widowed woman who works with Joe at the grocery store her family owns. Love’s brother Forty struggles with substance abuse and people skills, making his and Joe’s relationship a bit complicated. Things get more complicated when the supposedly dead Candace tracks down Joe and starts dating Forty (after falsifying her identity, of course).
It’s revealed in a flashback that Joe attempted to bury Candace alive, who is reasonably upset and justified in her attempts to expose his true identity and character. Candace reveals the truth about Joe to Forty, who tries to tell Love that Joe is bad news before it’s too late. When Forty confronts Joe and points a gun at him, he’s shot by the police and is unable to stop Joe from whatever was about to happen. The clueless Love sides with Joe on this one and chooses to believe what he says about Candace just being the “crazy ex-girlfriend”.
The season ends with another twist when we realize that Love is just as crazy as Joe. Previously, Joe locked his neighbor, Delilah, in his murder cage for discovering his secret identity. When he goes back to check on her, she is dead. As Joe stands over the body, Candace locks him in and immediately calls Love to prove what a monster Joe is.
In a shocking turn of events, Love kills Candace. She reveals that she was the one to kill Delilah, and that she knew about Joe the entire time but “did what she had to to make it work.” She tells him her plan to cover everything up and start a new life together, but when she lets him out of the cage, he attacks her. However, upon finding out that Love is pregnant, Joe’s soft spot for kids leads them to move away and start a family.
Season 3
Season Three kicks off with Joe’s latest obsession, their new neighbor, Natalie. She invites Joe over for wine while her husband is away, and they immediately hit it off. They come close to beginning an affair when Joe’s conscience kicks in for once and he goes home to Love. Natalie befriends Love at a party, but doesn’t realize Love’s hatred for new women in Joe’s life. Love proceeds to hack her to death with an ax. While it’s not the cleanest way to end Joe’s obsession, it seems to work for Love.
When Gil, one of their neighbors, comes to check on Joe and Love’s measle-ridden son, Love knocks him out for getting too close. The couple locks their neighbor in the murder cage and hires an investigator to dig up dirt on him, who eventually finds out that Gil’s son sexually assaulted a girl in college. This piece of knowledge is so crushing to Gil that he commits suicide, an act that works to the advantage of the pair as they try to frame him for Natalie’s murder.
Joe’s budding obsession with a librarian, Marianne, is another problem for Love, and they start to have an “open marriage” for the time being. However, when they start arguing on a double date with another couple and Love mentions that she killed Natalie, one thing leads to another and the pair are forced to take the other couple on a romantic walk to the murder cage. As Marianne’s feelings for Joe develop, she invites Joe to move to Europe with her and her daughter, to which Joe wholeheartedly agrees. But there are a few problems. People are still locked in the cage, and Love is still his wife. His deranged, murderous brutally jealous wife.
When Joe asks for a divorce, Love reveals that she poisoned Joe’s dinner. Love calls Marianne over and reveals that Joe killed her abusive ex-husband. Love tells her to run away before it’s too late, but when Love is ready to finish the job, Joe stabs her with a syringe filled with a poisonous chemical. Joe expected her to poison him, and took an antidote prior to the meal. The season ends with Joe burning the house down with Love in it, staging both of their deaths and giving his kid away to a nice family. The locked-up couple manages to escape after finding a spare key in the murder room, and everyone lives happily ever after. We can probably expect similar levels of happiness in Season Four of “YOU.”
