You Season 4 is an insult to my intelligence

With Season 4, Netflix dared to do something new on two levels with You. The “Serial Killer Tells Us Why Stalking And Killing People Is Romantic” series became “Serial Killer Tries Knives Out-style to Find Out Who Kills Unbearable Rich”. In addition, the episodes did not appear at once. Part 1 of season 4 was available to stream in February, Part 2 since March 9, 2023.

The good: These new approaches make Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) and his completely misguided idea of ​​love more interesting again. The bad: Where the fourth season of the Netflix hit is goingis impressively dope even by You standards.

The following are spoilers for all 4 seasons of You, including the current season finale.

You Season 4 stumbles from one absurd murder situation to the next

In the first part of the fourth season, Joe builds himself a new life in London as the literature professor “Jonathan Moore”. on. Here he meets Kate (Charlotte Ritchie) and her circle of unsympathetic rich kids, who are suddenly being killed off one by one. Joe receives mysterious messages from the killer who implicates him in his crimes – and finally finds out: The killer is the best-selling author and mayoral candidate Rhys (Ed Speleers), who according to his biography had a similarly traumatic childhood as Joe. Exciting! Unfortunately, almost everything that happens in the following episodes makes absolutely no sense at all.

Watch the trailer for Part 2 of You Season 4 here:

First, a psychotic photographer appears who kidnaps Joe’s rich friend Lady Phoebe (Tilly Keeper) while she is celebrating her wedding to corrosive friend Adam (Lukas Gage). The photographer is just right for Joe. He can frame her for the Rich Kids murders on Rhys’ orders. Because Rhys has a bargaining chip in his hand against the newly minted professor: he has captured Marienne (Tati Gabrielle), Joe’s great love from season 3. From then on everything happens at once.

Joe is to kill for Rhys Kate’s father Tom (Greg Kinnear), who in turn knows Joe’s true identity. Joe’s favorite student Nadia (Amy-Leigh Hickman) now suspects her professor, finds the place where Marienne is being held captive based on a paparazzi photo in front of an Indian snack bar and we learn: Joe locked Marienne in a glass case. The murderous Rhys exists only in his imagination. Which Joe then finds out when he kills the real Rhys on behalf of Kate’s father Tom, and his imaginary Rhys turns up next to the body. A real Fight Club moment – or at least confusing to the max and as David Fincher ordered from Wish.

Plot twists instead of logic: Nothing makes sense in the new episodes of the serial killer spectacle

Below, Joe has a nervous breakdown, at least briefly. In the dream he is haunted by his ex-girlfriends, who show him his terrible deeds. Here also dives Fan favorite Love (Victoria Pedretti) up again.

Meanwhile, Marienne dies of an overdose of painkillers in the glass case, prompting Joe to make a difficult decision: If he wants to end the suffering of his loved ones, he must kill himself. Before that, however, he murders Kate’s father so that his beloved can finally step out of his shadow. Kate’s father, in turn, had just had Adam killed by BDSM sex workers because Kate was worried about her friend Lady Phoebe. Does a little seem like a lot at once? Absolutely!

But back to the main serial killer Joe: his murder of Tom goes almost without complications, although Tom Lockwood is said to be incredibly smart, powerful and wealthy. Joe then gains access to Tom’s accounts by solving a completely unexplained mystery in a book.

This could be the end now. So, the end of joe. Because he first pushes his evil alter ego, the imaginary Rhys, off a bridge, then jumps after it and seems dead. But no! He is rescued by the police and eventually confesses his past to Kate. Which doesn’t really seem to matter, after all, as a teenager, she made sure that several children got cancer (?!).

Also not dead is Marienne, who only faked her death with the help of student Nadia and antihypertensive drugs. But Joe doesn’t know that. What he does know, however, is that Nadia found out about him, so he kills her boyfriend and frames her for the murder. This also runs absolutely smoothly. The moral doubts that Joe before his suicide attempt busy, seem to have vanished into thin air. And all this happens in five episodes!

The ending of You season 4 is a huge disappointment – and keeps Netflix’s season 5 option open

The thing is, You’s fourth season has some really good scenes. Above all, the one in which the narrative perspective tilts and we see Joe as he really is. Not how he sees himself. The moments we experience through the eyes of Marienne, who is desperately looking for ways to escape from her “loving” tormentor, are incredibly strong and really scary.

Joe’s self-image as a misunderstood romantic who sometimes has to do terrible things built the Netflix series over the years. In Season 4 everything indicated that it will finally be deconstructed. After all, there’s even that scene where Joe realizes he’s the problem and jumps into the Thames to end himself. A perfect ending to a show that has repeatedly faced accusations of romanticizing serial killers.

But You is not just any series, but a success story for Netflix, which can’t just end like this. That’s why Joe is pulled out of the water, suddenly no longer has a problem thanks to Katherine’s enormous financial possibilities and can return to New York under his real name and buy a bookstore. This might be the perfect setup to keep more seasons open, but it’s not only cowardly, it’s also insanely frustrating.

Four seasons of drama, character development, and chilling revelations for… nothing. Joe is right where he started. Except that now he doesn’t even have to fear the consequences of his actions. The ultimate happy ending for a serial killer. Do I want to see You morph into a melodramatic American Psycho series knockoff? Sorry, Netflix, but no. Thanks.

Podcast Discussion: How do we like the changes in You Season 4?

Season 4 You has been available on Netflix since February 9, 2023. Serial killer Joe Goldberg fled to Europe and is being hunted by another killer. Hendrik Busch and Lisa Ludwig talk about everything that has changed in You and whether at least the first part of the season is worth watching.

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