So, the You Season 4 Part 1 finale was a lot.
After a whole slew of events including Joe (Penn Badgley) getting Joe’d, a wild whodunit akin to a chaotic game of Cluedo, and painstakingly watching London’s wealthiest be the absolute worst, the first half of the season wrapped up with a mansion ablaze and a serial killer on a mission. It’s all very wild. But if there’s one thing we can expect from Joe’s world, it’s a constant mess.
By the end of Part 1, we know the identity of the notorious eat-the-rich killer who’s been hunting down Joe’s pristine new posse. It’s none other than Rhys Montrose (Ed Speleers), the acclaimed author whose memoir is taking London by storm, with widespread public opinion even pushing him to run for mayor. Like Joe, Rhys is a part of London’s ultimate gang of nepo-baby socialites, with a rags-to-riches story Joe’s taken an interest in. And like Joe, he has a predilection for murder, rationalizing homicide as a means to an end.
After unmasking himself, Rhys leaves Joe chained in the basement of a country estate belonging to their pal Lady Phoebe (Tilly Keeper), which Rhys sets ablaze. Joe manages to escape and save his friends, but Rhys is on the run — and on the rise. Shortly thereafter, Rhys announces his mayoral candidacy. What the hell is going to happen to Joe in Part 2? And how did Rhys manage to outsmart Joe at his own game?
Let’s dive into all your burning questions.
How did Rhys figure out Joe’s real identity?
Credit: Netflix
On the London time and dime, Joe is now Jonathan Moore. He’s managed to escape his haunting past (and prison) by changing his identity and becoming a professor at an affluent university. Everybody accepts Joe is Jonathan — except Rhys, who manages to figure out Joe’s actual identity. Now, how did that happen?
Joe’s new identity papers seem to be airtight, considering they were handed to him by a creepy but reliable private investigator (more on that below). Plus, he left almost everything that belonged to him back in the States. Perhaps Rhys figured out Joe’s identity using Google Lens or something similar, but that lacks the pizzazz You is known for. It’s possible that Rhys could have hired his own private investigator — he has the money for it — or there could be someone from Joe’s past helping him.
While Joe is an insatiable murderer, we do know that he’s left some people alive bearing the burden of his big secret. And since Joe spared Marienne (Tati Gabrielle) in episode 1, it’s possible she had a role in this whole Rhys debacle during her time in London.
Have we seen the last of Marienne in You?
Credit: Netflix
Joe crossed continents for Marienne, but when he finally found her, he let her go. I should shed a tear at all this romance, but this is Joe we’re talking about. I have an inkling that this reliably unreliable narrator may not be the knight in shining armor that he thinks he is.
After searching Paris for her, Joe first finds Marienne in an art exhibit in London, where he immediately chases after her. They end up in a deserted building, with Marienne wielding a pocket knife and begging for mercy. Joe’s dumbfounded and can’t believe Marienne is afraid of him (cue the facepalm here), so he decides to let her go in an attempt to prove that he’s a changed man. But Marienne is still in danger, because she knows Joe’s true identity. In fact, the aforementioned P.I. informs Joe that in order to ensure his new identity is kept safe, no one in Europe should know who he actually is. So he tells Joe to kill Marienne as a means to keep everything locked down.
To get the P.I. off his back — and Marienne’s tracks — Joe follows her to a train station and steals her locket. This token will be his “proof” to the blackmailing private investigator that Marienne is dead and no longer a threat.
Technically, Marienne should be on a train to Paris, but something’s telling me that she isn’t. While You hasn’t sprinkled in any obvious clues pointing to that, we know Joe’s pattern. We know he’s as unreliable as a narrator gets. Marienne could be trapped in London, she could be dead, or she could actually be in Paris. But one thing’s for sure — she definitely has a larger role to play, and that may or may not include Rhys.
What’s going to happen with Elliot?
Credit: Screenshot Netflix
So, about that private investigator…
Elliot (Adam James) is a P.I. hired by the parents of Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti) — yes, the same Love that Joe killed in Season 3. Elliot was originally hired to find Joe and murder him as some form of poetic justice, but he has his own motives and is happy to work for the highest bidder. So, in exchange for whatever’s left of Joe’s money — which Joe had stolen from Love, mind you — he gives Joe a new identity. No more killings. No more getting his hands dirty. Just a self-proclaimed murderer running free in London in the guise of a grubby American professor.
Surely a morally ambiguous private investigator lurking around the corners of Joe’s life is going to amount to something later. I don’t think he’s involved with Rhys, because the last thing Elliot needs is his employers to find out that he spared Joe. But if Joe’s identity does come out, he’ll need to watch out for Elliot and the renewed wrath of the Quinns.
Does Nadia have a larger role to play?
Credit: Netflix
Nadia (Amy-Leigh Hickman) is Joe’s top student, and she’s also an Agatha Christie aficionado and an encyclopedia of all things whodunit. Nadia’s spent the first half of this season unknowingly helping Joe figure out who the killer is, so she may have a larger role to play in what happens next.
On the one hand, she could help Joe put an end to Rhys, leaving Joe unscathed and free to return to his murderous ways (bad). On the other hand, she could get hip to Joe’s true identity and try to put an end to him (good, but probably bad for Nadia — this is Joe we’re talking about here). She also had an affair with her professor, Malcolm (Stephen Hagan), the killer’s first victim. And while she does have an alibi, her attachment to Malcolm is a weakness that Joe can use against her if she decides to cross him. My advice to Nadia? Stay away, girl, and just try to get that degree instead.
What’s up with Kate’s dad?
Credit: Netflix
Kate (Charlotte Ritchie) is the new object of Joe’s desire, and she has a big secret to hide. While she initially presented herself to Joe as a struggling art curator, she’s actually the daughter of one of the wealthiest men alive. Her father is Tom Lockwood, an “activist investor” who’s got with his hands in every industry and an endless hunger to make money. Whether it’s by building cancerous water pipes across residential areas, siccing police onto protestors, or cleansing a CEO’s record of crimes, Kate’s dad just wants to rake in the big bucks, ethics be damned.
She describes him as the “worst man alive,” and yet she’s his favorite daughter. Although she’s been estranged from him for some time, it’s possible that we’re going to be seeing Tom in Part 2. Why introduce him if we aren’t going to get a glimpse of him? With Tom’s hands as bloody as ever, he may have a role to play with the eat-the-rich murders or with Joe’s future. While we can’t predict Tom’s exact role, it’s safe to assume that we’ll be seeing someone who makes Succession‘s patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox) look like Father of the Year. Let’s just hope he doesn’t decide to help Joe.
What did Joe tell Phoebe?
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In Joe’s first soirée with London’s elite, he meets Lady Phoebe. She’s the leader of their gang, and she’s got a good heart despite her status. Throughout the season, Joe becomes a regular invitee to all of the gang’s hangouts because Lady Phoebe’s taken a liking to him. Why? Well, he apparently said something life-changing to her when they first met, but Joe can’t remember what the hell he said.
Lady Phoebe keeps pushing Joe onto her all friends as this guru with words of wisdom ready to be bestowed on those who need it. For the life of me, I can’t picture Joe saying anything actually useful. What did he tell her? Did he give her a lesson on love? Did he enlighten her with the top 10 ways to get rid of a human body? I don’t know, but I’m hoping we get an answer in Part 2 or I’ll be hyper-fixating on this forever.
Who is Rhys going to target next?
Credit: Netflix
If the eat-the-rich killer keeps true to his name, he’s got a long list of people to get through. Out of all of Joe’s rich friends, Roald (Ben Wiggins) is likely going to be the next target, purely because he’s such a nuisance. But with Rhys having announced his mayoral candidacy, perhaps he should lay off the killings for a while and try to, y’know, run a political campaign instead.
What we do know is that there’s about to be a showdown between Rhys and Joe, and we might get an UNO reverse card when it comes to who has the upper hand. So far, Rhys has been winning the game, but Joe is Joe, and he always has a few tricks up his sleeve — not to mention a trail of bodies in his wake. Will Joe actually make it out of London alive? Let’s buckle up for Part 2.
You Season 4 Part 1 is now streaming on Netflix(Opens in a new tab).
