You season five

After years of obsessions, aliases and dead bodies piling up, You is back for a binge-worthy fifth and final series. The fourth season saw Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) flee to London, where he adopted the identity of an English professor. There, he fell for art dealer and, later, Lockwood Corporation CEO, Kate (Charlotte Ritchie). Ultimately, she decided to remain with Joe despite him confessing to a series of murders (he fails to acknowledge, however, that Kate’s father is among those he killed). The deliciously dark fifth season starts with Joe – in uncharacteristic honesty – living under his own name in New York, as he and Kate enjoy an idyllic celebrity lifestyle. But that equanimity is broken as the couple’s respective sordid pasts threaten to catch up with them.

Since its debut in 2018, You has been the seminal small-screen disquisition on toxic masculinity. For years, Joe has been killing people with apparent impunity, his wealth and privilege (not to mention his unmatched manipulative powers) enabling him to evade capture. But this time, he has staved off murder and copes with those persistent violent fantasies by channelling them through his visceral writing. It’s now Kate who is engulfed in darkness, while Joe, the erstwhile sociopath, is suddenly acquiescent to her whims and desires. This narrative revision is rather jarring, as it seems that the writers don’t quite know what to do with Joe anymore. It’s hard to believe that someone as conniving and amoral as he can allow the hunter to become the hunted.

The series has long traversed a fine line between exposing misogyny and romanticising its abusive protagonist. But there are consequences to indulging in such exaggerated displays of male violence. With the likes of Andrew Tate influencing countless boys and men the world over, the series does a disservice to manosphere critique by catalysing Joe’s downfall through a woman’s trickery. That said, Badgley does a superb job of ensuring that Joe is never overtly sympathetic (the actor has stated that he believes his onscreen counterpart is a sociopath, undeserving of viewers’ sympathy). Moreover, the series excels as a thriller, with the narrative moreish enough to satisfy long-time fans’ thirst for macabre entertainment.

A fascinating portrait of a narcissist’s downfall, the series ends with a rising crescendo. With enjoyable performances, slick direction and darkly climactic pacing, You is an unapologetically over-the-top indulgence. 

Antonia Georgiou

You season five is released on Netflix on 24^th April 2025.

Watch the trailer for You season five here: