Interestingly, You season 5, episode 4 does not pick up where episode 3 left off and bucks the trend by jumping ahead to the morning after Joe proposed the plan to Maddie of becoming her sister.
Kate is about to head out to see Reagan to fire her, but she again hits home that she is not okay with Joe’s views on how to protect their family, or really that she’s some damsel in need of protecting. As Kate heads to work, Joe hits the shower as he narrates his plan to us through his plan to replace Reagan with Maddie and bury the real Reagan, which will only help to sell to Kate that her plan worked. He gets some self-reassurance in his plan from the manifestation of Bronte, who greets him in the shower and helps him climax.
After getting a little handsy with himself in the shower, Joe goes to see Maddie in hopes that she’s given thought to his plan. She has, but her fear is that no one would be able to believe she’s Reagan and calls his plan a stupid plot pulled from a ‘90s movie. The plan is that Maddie pretends to be Reagan long enough to take away her power on the board, undo the prenup, and steal her husband, but what happens when she comes back and tells the world that wasn’t her? Joe assures her no one will believe it wasn’t her, and by then, Maddie will have everything she wants.
The conversation is cut short when they hear a crash from above. Joe races off to check things out and finds Bronte under a fallen bookshelf that tumbled when she was trying to rearrange things to create a better space. Joe isn’t sure about the opening happening so soon, but Bronte talks him into it and he pulls away before he lets himself get too invested. Funny enough, Bronte comes into the office to make sure he knows she knows they’re just friends, nothing more, as she then asks about his writing. This only makes Joe feel more seen by her, and further fans the flames of his growing infatuation with her.
At the office, Kate tells Reagan it’s time for her to leave the company, as she knows about her embezzlement and that this is her chance to leave quietly. Reagan is a fighter, though. She informs Kate that she found Bob’s guy, who told her about Kate framing a young woman for the murder of Rhys. She’s pieced together that Joe was clearly responsible for Rhys’ death and that he also likely killed Bob. Reagan is planning on having Bob’s body exhumed so that an autopsy can be performed, as it will be able to clearly show whether Bob hung himself or was hanged after he was already dead. Reagan tells Kate to resign, and she’ll keep her secrets; otherwise, she’ll happily turn the evidence over to the police.
Back at Mooney’s, Bronte asks Joe if he would mind reading some of her new work to give him feedback over coffee. He happily agrees and offers glowing notes as he gets her to open up about the male character in the story, which sparks a conversation about character types in books via the alignment chart of chaotic, lawful, neutral, good, and evil. As Bronte is walking him through the chart, Joe begins to question whether she could be the woman he’s been looking for who truly understands him. He also gets an idea from the chart in that the key to his plan is for Maddie to tap into her chaotic/evil persona.
Joe tells Maddie the key is not looking the part, but rather inhabiting it. He coaches her on how to tap into the chaotic/evil persona, to get her in the headspace of using her anger to inflict pain. Much to his surprise, it actually works as Maddie gives a truly chilling impersonation of Reagan in looking at her reflection in the glass.
You season 5 episode 4 serves up a killer twist
Things seem to be looking good for Joe, until he gets home and Kate tells him about Reagan knowing the truth and how she’s weaponized it against her now. Rather than fight, Kate is ready to resign and walk away, using money in her offshore accounts to help them start a new life.
She confesses to Joe that when she was looking at Reagan’s smug face, she realized she wanted her dead and was shocked by how easy it would be to come home and give him the go because it’s in her. Joe tries to tell her that he loves that about her, but she shuts him down in making it clear that she despises that part of her and she despises the fact that he won’t even try to control it in him. She reasons that all they need is one another and Henry, but Bronte’s conversation has inspired him to “beast out” and not let evil win.
Joe takes things into his own hands and heads to the home shared by Reagan and Harrison, where they’ve been alternating between and hones in on his target: Reagan. He sneaks up behind her, but much to his surprise, she’s able to use self-defense to fight him off. Reagan puts up quite the fight and manages to pull Joe’s mask off in their tussle, revealing his identity which is no surprise to her as she was onto him. It looks like Reagan might actually get the best of Joe, but he eventually gets to her as he bludgeons her with a bowling pin.
Following their fight, Joe drags Reagan’s body to Mooney’s and puts it into the cage with Maddie. Maddie is shocked as this wasn’t the plan they had, but Joe makes it clear there is one way out for her at this point: Use her insulin to kill Reagan, thus ensuring she won’t just run to the cops when Joe lets her out. While Maddie was willing to impersonate her sister, she won’t kill her which is when Joe makes it clear only one of them will make it out alive. When Reagan wakes up, he’ll give Reagan the same ultimatum and Maddie should consider whether Reagan will really pass up the opportunity to live even if that means killing Maddie.
Joe and Bronte enjoy the opening of Mooney’s as Kate meets with Teddy to tell him about her plan to leave. He makes it clear that he knows Reagan must have something on her, but Kate asks him to drop it.
Back at Mooney’s, Reagan comes to and is shocked not only to see her sister, but that they’ve found themselves trapped in the torture chamber. Maddie tells Reagan how Joe took her thinking she was Reagan because she was with Harrison at the time. She proceeds to tell her about how Joe wants Maddie to kill her in order to assume her identity. Reagan can’t help but to laugh at the plan as she quickly begins cutting Maddie down and belittling her with petty remarks. Maddie hits back that Harrison doesn’t even love Reagan and can’t even get it up for her, telling Reagan that she’s had time to think and sees her clearly now.
Maddie asks Reagan whether she knew she loved Harrison and if she used that to force her into becoming her surrogate. Rather than answering her, Reagan chooses to gaslight Maddie, who points out that everything her sister has should be hers, as she points out that she could have died giving birth, but all Reagan cared about was her own vanity.
Reagan admits she knew Maddie could have died and so did Harrison, as the doctor told them they could have to make a choice between Maddie and the baby. As she rises to look Maddie in her face, Reagan tells her sister that it would have been the easiest choice as Maddie is expendable, the lesser twin, completely and utterly irrelevant. Even as tears begin to stream down Maddie’s face, Reagan can’t stop herself from patronizing Maddie.
Upstairs, Clayton shows up to crash the opening night event. Bronte is noticeably shaken, but pulls him aside to try to talk to him. When Joe notices things getting physical, he steps in to send Clayton away as Bronte steps out to get some air. Joe follows after her and finds her in the alley behind the building, apologizing for stepping in and noting he didn’t mean to scare her. She tells him that he’s not allowed to protect her when he has a wife and child, nor is he able to write the most sensual, tender, complex, and beautiful things that someone would ever want to read about themselves, as she tells him about finding his latest pages in his desk. She reminds him that he’s married and it doesn’t matter what they feel, as she races away.
Joe heads back down to check on Maddie and Reagan. Much to his surprise, Maddie actually did it. She used her insulin to kill Reagan. “You were right,” Maddie tells Joe as she points out that the one person who should have respected her the most respected her the least as she demands to be let out of the cage.
You season 5 episode 4 ending explained: Does Maddie manage to fool the world by becoming Reagan?
With Maddie ready to play the role of her sister, Joe heads to the office ready to see if their plan actually works. After a few minutes of spiraling, Maddie shows up and makes her way to the boardroom, where Kate has gathered the group prepared to resign.
Kate attempts to find the words to tell the board she’s going to resign, which is when Reagan (aka Maddie) interjects and tells Kate to cut the crap. Reagan tells the board she’s decided to take a step back from her role at T.R. Lockwood Corporation to focus on some personal matters in her life. As she closes, Reagan says that she’s spoken to Maddie who will be resuming her duties and Reagan will be ceding her board vote to Maddie. Before the meeting draws to a close, Kate nominates Teddy for a board seat and is surprised when Reagan uses both of her votes to help the vote pass.
After the meeting breaks, Kate comes out to question Joe on what he did to get Reagan to flip. He assures her that he simply called Reagan’s bluff and found she had nothing on him in the end, but it’s clear Kate does not believe his story fully, just as Joe realizes his marriage is broken.
As the episode draws to a close, Joe returns to Mooney’s to find Bronte packing up with the intention of leaving. While she’s glad to know how they feel about one another, she can’t stay here as she thanks him for everything. Joe tells her he doesn’t want her to go and begs her to please stay, which works as the two finally give in to their feelings and have sex on his office desk.