The Darkest Moments In You Season 4
Hello, you. The charming yet psychotic serial killer, Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley), continues wreaking havoc in Season 4 of "You" – and we are here for every minute of it. The hit series, which debuted on Lifetime in 2018 before getting picked up by Netflix in 2019, has had plenty of dark moments throughout the first three seasons, but Season 4 manages to up the ante even further. This time around, Joe is living in London and working as a literature professor under the name of Jonathan Moore. He's initially determined to leave his dark past behind, but when someone discovers the truth about his past and uses it against him, he gets entangled in a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse with terrible consequences.
Stalking, kidnapping, torturing, killing — this season of the show has all of that and more. So many disturbing things happen that it's hard to keep track of it all, especially since Joe's not the only one causing chaos. So what were the darkest moments in Season 4 of "You?" Keep reading to find out.
Warning: This article contains spoilers.
Joe disposes of Malcolm's body
At the beginning of Season 4, Joe seems ready for a fresh start in London, but it isn't long before things go sideways. In Episode 1 ("Joe Takes a Holiday"), after a long night of partying and drinking absinthe, Joe wakes up in his apartment to discover his co-worker, Malcolm Harding (Stephen Hagan), dead on the table. Joe is convinced that after he blacked out the night before, someone stabbed Malcolm to death and left the body there to frame him. So Joe does what any serial killer would do and forgoes calling the authorities to hide the body. He's disposed of many before, but most of the time the gory details aren't shown and the audience has to fill in the blanks — not this time, though.
During the gruesome scene, Joe brings Malcolm's body to a warehouse and dismembers it with a table saw while watching a soccer game. Things get off to a rocky start, with Joe throwing up after cutting off the first leg, but he handles the rest in a disturbingly efficient and methodical way. He puts Malcolm's remains into garbage bags, cleans up, then puts the bags into the trunk of a car. In his mind, he complains that disposing of body parts in sewer pipes and a river isn't how he planned on sightseeing, showing us that Malcolm's death is merely an inconvenience to him.
Simon gets artists addicted to drugs to steal their artwork
Joe isn't the only one who does terrible things in Season 4 of "You." In Episode 2 ("Portrait of the Artist"), we learn more about Simon Soo (Aidan Cheng), the rich artist who isn't interested in being friends with Joe. Joe decides to attend the opening of Simon's art gallery, sneaking in through the back door with help from Blue Cahill (Abigail Hardingham), who knows the entry code. While Joe is admiring some cat paintings, Blue splashes red paint all over them, yelling at Simon and accusing him of gaslighting her.
Joe and his new crush, Kate Galvin (Charlotte Ritchie), track Blue down and confront her at a rundown hostel. That's when we learn just how depraved Simon really is. Blue reveals that she's the one who made those paintings, not Simon. He got her addicted to drugs so he could steal the artwork and take credit for it. Simon's father is rich, so he didn't do this for money (not that it would be okay); he did it purely so he could be admired as a talented artist. Up until this point, we knew that Simon was rude, but we never knew that his ego could lead him to steal someone's work, ruin their life, and show no remorse for it.
If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
Dawn holds Phoebe captive, leading Joe to frame Dawn as the Eat the Rich killer
Episode 6 ("Best of Friends") kicks things off with Rhys Montrose (Ed Speleers) putting Simon's severed ear in Joe's freezer and forcing him to frame someone as the Eat the Rich killer. Shortly afterward, Joe attends an art gallery fundraiser, where a blonde waitress named Dawn (Alison Pargeter) tells Lady Phoebe Borehall-Blaxworth (Tilly Keeper) that authorities want her to take Phoebe to a safe room in the hotel. In previous episodes, we've seen Dawn following Phoebe and the others around while working as a photographer, so it's suspicious that she suddenly has a new job and is trying to isolate Phoebe.
Once they get into the "safe room," Phoebe quickly realizes that it's the exact opposite. Dawn padlocks the door shut and refuses to let Phoebe leave, telling her that it's for her own safety. Dawn is revealed to have erotomania and is convinced that she and Phoebe are best friends, reminding Phoebe that they even have matching "soul sister" tattoos. When Dawn shows Phoebe her tattoo and realizes that Phoebe doesn't have a matching one, she grabs a big knife and offers to do it for her. It's already a harrowing situation, but as always, things get even darker when Joe gets involved. With Phoebe's help, Joe convinces Dawn to open the door, and before the police arrive, Joe secretly puts Simon's ear into Dawn's bag to frame her for the Eat the Rich murders.
If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.
Kate reveals her backstory
If you thought Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti) was the most depraved woman Joe could fall for, think again. Joe quickly develops a crush on his neighbor Kate, a standoffish art gallery director who initially seems far less wealthy than her friends. As Joe gets to know her, he gets the impression that she has a heart of gold beneath her icy exterior, but he soon learns some dark secrets about her past.
In Episode 4 ("Hampsie"), Joe discovers that Kate's father is Tom Lockwood (Greg Kinnear), one of the richest and most powerful businessmen in the world, making her far wealthier than all of her friends. She tells Joe that she isn't close with her father because he's a bad person, mentioning that he falsified water toxicity reports while having a pipeline built, leading to multiple children getting cancer.
However, in Episode 7 ("Good Man, Cruel World"), we find out that Kate lied to Joe; she was actually the one who caused those children to get cancer. She used to work with her father and was considered a prodigy because of how merciless she was, not caring if her actions hurt others as long as she was making her father proud. She claims that she's different now, yet doesn't seem to care when Joe murders Rhys, even going so far as to help him cover it up afterward.
Joe tortures and murders Rhys
In Season 4, Part 1, Rhys is introduced as a successful author with a rags-to-riches story, before he's revealed to be the Eat the Rich killer who has been blackmailing Joe. In the first episode of Part 2, Joe had hoped that framing someone for the murders would be the last of Rhys' demands, but Rhys reveals Joe's final task is to murder Kate's father. Although Joe is reluctant to do it, Rhys raises the stakes, saying he has Joe's former love interest, Marienne Bellamy (Tati Gabrielle), locked in a cage and will kill her if Joe doesn't comply. Right before Joe is about to kill Tom in Episode 7 ("Good Man, Cruel World"), Tom convinces him to kill Rhys instead, providing him with Rhys' current location so he can get the job done.
That's when things get gruesome. Joe confronts Rhys, knocking him out and tying him to a chair. He then tortures Rhys with some horrific method involving a zip tie and Rhys' genitals, which is just brutal, even by Joe's standards. He demands that Rhys tell him where Marienne is, but Rhys insists that he doesn't know Joe or Marienne. Enraged that Rhys seems to be playing dumb, Joe strangles him to death. Just then, another Rhys appears and Joe realizes that the Rhys he killed was telling the truth, but we'll get more into that later.
Tom Lockwood's hitmen kill Adam
One of the rich snobs in Joe's new social circle is Adam Pratt (Lukas Gage), an American ex-pat with some shocking secrets; he loves being humiliated sexually and he's actually on the verge of becoming broke. To solve his money problems, he proposes to his rich girlfriend, Phoebe, who's been suffering from PTSD since she was held captive by Dawn. Kate knows he's manipulating Phoebe and taking advantage of her weakened mental state, so she tries everything she can to stop them from getting married. Unfortunately, her efforts are in vain and they tie the knot anyway.
When Kate's father unexpectedly visits her in Episode 9 ("She's Not There"), she tells him how frustrated she is about the whole situation. He's so determined to get on Kate's good side that he responds by sending some hitmen to kill Adam. The hitmen pose as sex workers, tying Adam down to a bed before beating him to death. When Kate confronts her father about it, his nonchalant attitude implies this isn't the first time he's hired hitmen to kill someone, and he has absolutely no remorse for what he's done.
Joe has erotomania and has been disassociating for most of the season
After Joe tortures and kills Rhys in Episode 7, a different version of Rhys appears, explaining that Joe has been the one behind the Eat the Rich murders and Marienne's kidnapping. It turns out, Joe has erotomania and has been disassociating for most of Season 4, which is why he doesn't remember committing the crimes. Upon moving to London, Joe read Rhys' book and became obsessed with him, relating to the way Rhys grew up poor and made mistakes, then became successful and gained the admiration of others.
So Joe put on his trusty baseball cap, instantly becoming undetectable as he stalked Rhys. His obsessive pattern was going as usual until his psyche split, leading him to become completely delusional and hallucinate an evil version of Rhys that manipulated him into committing heinous crimes. Joe desperately wanted to believe he was a good person, which is why he subconsciously separated the dark part of himself, represented by Rhys. This allowed him to stalk, imprison, and murder people as he pleased without having to deal with the guilt of being a horrible person.
If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.
Joe breaks Marienne's arm and locks her in the glass cage
At the beginning of the season, we think that Joe had the opportunity to kill Marienne, but let her escape because he wanted to leave his violent past behind. Well, that all changes at the end of Episode 7 when it's revealed that Marienne has been locked inside the infamous glass cage for most of Season 4. Joe didn't let Marienne go; he slipped a sedative in her drink at the train station, then kidnapped her in broad daylight and took her back to an apartment. He held her captive there until he could rebuild the glass cage in the basement of a creepy vacant building.
During dinner one night, Joe attempts to drug Marienne's drink so he can easily lock her in the cage, but Marienne isn't going down without a fight. She pretends to drink the sedative and pass out, then once Joe brings her to the basement, she grabs a hammer and takes a swing at him. Joe dodges the attack and overpowers her, pushing her to the ground and breaking her arm. Marienne is clearly in a lot of pain and distress as she tries to convince Joe to let her go, but that doesn't stop him from locking her inside the cage.
Marienne nearly starves to death in the cage
As if imprisoning Marienne in a cage wasn't bad enough, things get worse after Joe forgets that he left her there. Episode 8 ("Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?") shows us that Joe would initially stop by to bring her food, but one day while they were talking, he got so upset that he slammed his head against the cage. After that, his dark side completely took over and he forgot that he kidnapped or imprisoned her, inadvertently leaving her there to starve.
The cage is a mess; Joe doesn't leave Marienne any activities, she's in pain from her broken arm, and she eventually runs out of food and water. To add insult to injury, Joe had given Marienne a bottle of pills before forgetting about her, which is terrible considering that she has struggled with addiction in the past. We can see that Marienne is tempted to relapse, yet she finds a source of inner strength and resists taking the pills.
If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
Joe attempts to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge
In Episode 9, Joe has a nightmare involving the obnoxious socialite, Gemma Graham-Greene (Eve Austin), his ex-girlfriend, Guinevere Beck (Elizabeth Lail), and his serial killer ex-wife, Love Quinn — all of whom he has killed. The nightmare leads him to the conclusion that ending his life is the only way to stop the cycle of violence that follows him wherever he goes. That's why we find Joe and the evil part of himself, represented by Rhys, at a very high bridge in the season finale ("The Death of Jonathan Moore"). Since Rhys is the part of Joe that wants to survive and continue killing people, he tries convincing Joe not to jump off the bridge, telling him that they can figure things out and have a future with Kate. Joe doesn't believe that he won't hurt anyone else though, so he throws Rhys off the bridge, then jumps off of it himself.
Still alive underwater, Joe instantly regrets his decision and tries to swim up for air. However, he's unable to get to the surface in time and thinks of Kate before dying. We later learn that authorities find Joe and bring him back to life, so his suicide attempt is ultimately unsuccessful, but it's chilling to know that his inner turmoil led him to do something so drastic.
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by dialing 988 or by calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
Joe murders Edward and frames Nadia
Nadia Farran (Amy-Leigh Hickman) is a brilliant college student with a bright future ahead of her — at least, she was until the season finale. As one of Joe's students, she interacts with him a lot over Season 4 and becomes suspicious that he knows more about the Eat the Rich murders than he is letting on. She investigates Joe and discovers Marienne trapped in the cage, forgoing calling the police for some reason and helping Marienne come up with an elaborate escape plan instead.
She manages to get out of these situations unscathed, but her luck runs out when she tries to find evidence to prove what Joe has done. She sneaks into Joe's apartment when he's away, with her boyfriend Edward (Brad Alexander) keeping watch outside. After taking pictures of Joe's creepy souvenir box filled with Rhys' stuff, she goes to meet Edward at the getaway vehicle, only to run into Joe and find out that he slit Edward's throat. He puts the knife into Nadia's hand and reveals his plan to frame her for Edward's death: he's going to place the box of Rhys' stuff outside her bedroom and then give the police an anonymous tip about it. They'll find the box, assume that Edward brought it over, and Nadia killed him after finding out he murdered Rhys. And it goes without saying that Joe also deletes the photos from her phone to make sure she has no evidence against him.
Joe gets away with his crimes and accepts the dark side of himself
Until the end of Season 4, Part 2, Joe was always at war with himself, wanting to believe he was a good person, yet struggling with it because of all the horrendous things he continuously did. That all changes after he survives his suicide attempt and Kate accepts him for being a murderer. He fully accepts his dark side for the first time, which leads him to frame Edward for Rhys' death and Nadia for Edward's death, getting away with everything.
Although Joe has hurt a ton of people, his public image actually improves by the end of Season 4. Kate now has full access to her father's wealth since Joe killed him — which he conveniently "forgot" to mention to her — and helps Joe look like a hero. She pays off enough people to clear Joe's name, with the media now reporting that Joe barely escaped from Love at the end of Season 3, then faked his death and fell in love with Kate. They present themselves as a power couple determined to change the world for the better.
But Joe's inner monologue at the end of Episode 10 reveals the dark truth about his newfound wealth and power: "I have so many tools now. Sure, killing's one of many, but it's certainly not a one-size-fits-all solution." He admits to himself that killing will be much easier to get away with now, though. The season ends with him giving us a haunting smile, making it clear that he has become an even worse version of himself.