By Sienna Thompson, Second Year, English
The second and final part of You (2018-) season four has dropped, and I can safely say it landed with a bang. This was a rollercoaster of emotions from start to finish, with so many twists and loops for our infamous serial killer protagonist Joe Goldberg.
After seeing Joe (Penn Badgley) almost burn to death in a house fire with Roald (Ben Wiggins) after unveiling Rhys (Ed Speleers) as the ‘Eat The Rich Killer’, Joe is left in a complicated situation as Rhys is running for Mayor of London.
We continue directly on from the first half, with Joe harbouring Rhys as his latest obsession, who he refers to as ‘You’ (as he did with past obsessions). He faces further blackmail by text to pass on the blame for the murders and has even become involved with Kate’s father, Tom Lockwood (Greg Kinnear), who was portrayed, in the first half, as some superior power to be feared and a figure whom Kate (Charlotte Ritchie) has distanced herself from.
The murder mystery seems over for us as an audience and, whilst others continue the investigation, Joe has got new problems to worry about. The only member of the elite socialite group that seems at all concerned with the events of their weekend away is Lady Phoebe (Tilly Keeper) whose interest is replaced with her own issues.
Joe still pursues his relationship with Kate and continues this form of more pure and genuine love; they appear to have the healthiest relationship out of those Joe has had up until this point.
However, I did not feel the passion as much in this second half, but this could be due to many other different plot holes developing. I much preferred seeing Kate navigate problems in her own personal life with her father than seeing her interact with Joe.
Phoebe and Nadia (Amy-Leigh Hickman) have become favourites of mine, as they seemed to oddly be the more ‘normal’ characters of this chaotic season. Phoebe’s battle against money-driven and gaslighting boyfriend Adam (Lukas Gage) and Nadia sniffing out Joe’s oddities, gave nice breaks from Joe’s erratic plotline.
Joe becomes more unhinged as the season goes on, eventually spiralling into what is the biggest plot twist so far. The entire trajectory of the show was turned on its axis and will give fans an entirely new perspective of everything that has been experienced up to this moment.
All the previous seasons have, retrospectively, supplied hints to this; however, whether this was intended all along or a rushed concept is debatable.
Penn Badgley started to influence the later episodes with production, and his acting remains phenomenal. His character has been romanticised online for quite a while, but this season showed a much more sinister Joe than before, which seemed to be Penn Badgley's intention. He is not the good guy we believed he could be in part one.
Even though there are still cringe scenes and sometimes wayward plot lines, the grip this show has over me, and many others who are currently watching this final part, is contagious.
I do feel this half of the season redeemed the first, and definitely gave explanations to some unanswered questions. However, I do sense that Netflix forced a way to set up for another season when there were certain points where the story could have been concluded and tied up nicely.
Featured Image: Courtesy of Netflix on IMDB
Have you caught up with the latest season of You?
