Episode 8 of You season 5 ended with Kate realizing that the only way to take Joe Goldberg down is by killing him. Though, he may have flipped the tables on her with some help in episode 9, "Trial of the Furies." Here's a look at what happens in the penultimate episode of the final season on Netflix, and our thoughts on these events. SPOILERS BELOW.
Everything becomes one big mess thanks to Joe's silly actions trying to clean things up and get himself out of trouble. He betrays Maddie and Harrison and gets them framed for Raegan's murder. I mean, technically yes Maddie did do it. But she was forced to thanks to Joe's manipulations. Joe is able to do so because he kept Raegan's teeth. Ugh. Though later, Harrison takes the fall and tells police Maddie had nothing to do with it, resulting in her being let go.
And this leads to the big, fiery mess that happens at the end of the episode. We'll get to that in a moment. But first, we need to rewind a bit. Kate sort of makes these preparations like she's not going to make it out alive confronting Joe, and that's a very valid thought to have. She hands over the CEO position to Teddy, and we see her, Nadia, and Marienne get Joe locked up in his own cage. It feels so satisfying seeing him in there!
Marienne's appearance is of course a shocker to Joe as he thought she was dead. We get the impassioned speeches from these women Joe has wronged, and Marienne catches sight of Bronte. She helps give her a bit of a wake up call that Joe is a bad person, a serial killer, and even relates to her in terms of how easy it is to fall for him. Finally, Bronte realizes the dangers of Joe but decides she wants to play hero. Cue the eye roll.
In a "plot twist" the writers are trying to throw at us, Bronte wants to go back to catfishing him and believes she's the only one who can do so. As Maddie arrives angry at Joe, she burns the bookstore down, not knowing her sister is in there. Joe tries to tell her but Maddie doesn't believe him. We also need to mention how psychotic Joe is and how he thought to literally sew a key into his arm to get out of the cage. OMG.
Joe and Kate have a sort of goodbye moment and she even gets him confessing to Love's murder in what seems to be her final moments. And of course, Bronte comes in and saves Joe and accepts his marriage proposal because now, she thinks she's the only one who can stop him. Just, shaking my head. You could have just left him in there to die!
Honestly, it just feels like the writers needed something dramatic to happen in the penultimate episode, but also needed a way to keep Joe alive for one more episode. And this was the way to do it. But, it just feels repetitive and kind of silly at this point if I'm being honest. The writing has been so off this season, and it's truly a shame that's the case. I think You season 5 episode 9 brought everything to a head of sorts the way a penultimate episode should. But, a lot of it got undermined with this completely unnecessary plot twist on Bronte's part. Episode grade level: C.
You season 5 is now streaming on Netflix.