Netflix's You finally brought justice upon Penn Badgley's Joe Goldberg in the Season 5 finale, and the show's star has confirmed what everyone was thinking after THAT ending. After the seven-year journey of the womanizing serial killer, You officially ended with the newly-released Season 5.
After a season-long journey toward his capture, You culminated with Joe Goldberg violently pursuing his former lover Bronte before he was finally arrested by the police and locked in prison to live out the rest of his life.
Netflix 'You' Producers Explain What the Ending Really Meant
You Season 5 co-showrunners Michael Foley and Justin W. Lo spoke with several outlets after the series finale to explain the true meaning behind Joe Goldberg's chilling fourth wall break and the horrific events that led to it.
The acclaimed Netflix original ended with a d***less Joe locked in prison and receiving letters from admirers. From his cell, the serial killer turned to the audience in a fourth-wall-breaking moment to deliver a monologue and ponder, "Maybe the problem isn’t me. Maybe it’s… you:"
“Why am I in a cage when these crazies write me all the depraved things they want me to do to them? Maybe we have a problem as a society. Maybe we should fix what’s broken in us. Maybe the problem isn’t me. Maybe it’s… you.”
Foley explained to TVLine that Joe is addressing "society" with his final monologue. Since much of the audience has been rooting for Joe across You's 50 episodes and five seasons, the ending was about "waking us all up to the fact that he's a horrific monster:"
“We lump ourselves in with the audience in terms of people who’ve rooted for Joe for 50 episodes, and it was about waking us all up to the fact that he’s a horrific monster."
He added how, even after being brought to justice, Joe "still won't take the blame" for his actions. As such, it was "very much intentional that he would break the wall" in the ending to blame the audience and society for him:
"We wanted him to blame us. Despite getting his quote-unquote comeuppance, and even being made to see himself as a monster, he still won’t take the blame for it. It was very much intentional that he would break the fourth wall in that final moment.”
Foley echoed a similar sentiment to The Hollywood Reporter as he explained they were trying to "pull the civilization out of him" and expose Joe for the monster he is, which is "why the back half of the finale was a horror film:"
“We were trying to pull the civilization out of him. It was all about the animalistic nature of Joe, and that’s what I was speaking to with Penn in terms of, in the end, we just need to see the monster for what the monster is. That’s why the back half of the finale was a horror film.”
To culminate that slasher horror sequence, Brone actress Madeline Brewer got her hands on a gun and shot him in the genitals before his arrest. Lo explained that, as many suspected, the moment symbolized "[taking] away Joe's powers, his manhood, and what makes him a romantic icon:"
"That was obviously to take away Joe’s power, his manhood and what makes him a romantic icon, a sexual icon. It was important to us, and definitely important to Penn, to take as much as we could from Joe at the very end of the series."
Discussing how the ending came about, Foley revealed the team was "definitely all not on the same page" with how to close out You. That said, they landed on Joe being imprisoned because "it was all about taking away his power:"
“We were definitely all not on the same page, and in the end, we just thought that death was too easy and that that wasn’t punishing enough,” he explains. “We liked the idea of a final image of Joe in a cage of sorts, but most of all, it was about taking away his power, taking away his ability to know the touch of a lover, etc.”
You fans were kept waiting for over two years for Season 5 to finally premiere while the series' cast and crew pieced together the perfect ending. Like many major Hollywood productions, You was delayed due to the 2023 Hollywood strikes that held up writing and delayed production by many months.
'You' Star Penn Badgley Breaks Silence on Joe's Series Finale Ending
Joe Goldberg actor Penn Badgley was also interviewed by TVLine about You Season 5's ending where he was asked if he feels his character got what he deserved, with only three real options for his fate - jail, death, or freedom.
In response, Badgley revealed he does believe Joe's fate was deserved, but with only three options for his ending, the show was really about "how we get there:"
"I do, because you're right it's those three options. Everyone's like, 'How's it gonna end?' But if you think about it practically there are just three options. So it's not so much about what it is, it's about how we get there."
He went on to discuss the intriguing "process of deconstructing him not in the cage but in the bedroom" as he was confronted by Bronte, finally exposing him as the "sexual predator and horrid abuser that he is:"
"And, to me, the process of deconstructing him not in the cage but in the bedroom. Like we do it in the cage, Episode 9 is the deconstruction in the cage, he's locked in the cage and he's confronted by all the women who are alive who he's betrayed, that doesn't do it, he gets out. But where does he caught and he never gets out is the bedroom in his underwear, finally revealed to be the sexual predator and horrid abuser that he is."
As Joe and Bronte entered a violent fight, the You star pointed out how it is "the first time you see him really [attack a woman] with his fist," as he has usually used some weapon that gives a sense of detachment:
"That's the first time you see him really [attack a woman] with his fist - and I'm sorry to say it because it's visceral but it's what the show is about - where he hits Bronte with his fist. Yes, he hit Peach with a rock, there's a little bit of separation there and comedy even. He does hit Kate in Episode 9 with a sledgehammer, crazy but he does that. Not with his fist, you know, it's different."
He continued to discuss their "fight to the death," pointing out how it was "important to finally show" him being violent with his fists:
"This is a moment where you see him half naked with a woman that a moment ago he was trying to make love to. He's in a fight to the death, and that's visceral, that's really intense. It was important to finally show that, and I think it's really good that we didn't do that a bunch along the way because that could start to feel like its own kind of exploitation."
Read more about why Netflix just ended You after Season 5.
