After starting off the final season with a banger of dual episodes, Netflix’s thriller series You delves into the identity crisis, which is expected given Joe made a ludicrous mess by abducting the wrong Lockwood sister in the previous episode. The ludicrous and sinister extent of Joe’s machinations comes to light as he tries to convince Maddie to side with him. The subplot involving mysterious playwright Bronte gains momentum as Joe’s craving for validation and desire to unleash his inner violence distance him further from Kate and the prospect of a good future. With Raegan making it her mission to ruin Kate’s life and that of her family and oust her from Lockwood Corporations, Kate and Joe take different approaches to deal with the present crisis, which sows the seed of a familial conflict in the future.
Spoilers Ahead
Joe’s Psychotic Plan
It’s funny how Joe, who has practically made a career out of conning, gaslighting, and tricking women for so long, gets easily dissected by Maddie, whom he considered to be a simpleton. Maddie not only identifies his true motivation by connecting the dots with Kate’s allegations but also reads Joe like an open book: a miserable, cowardly pervert with abandonment issues who tries desperately to belong. Joe, who doesn’t really want to kill Maddie to avoid suspicion, fails to convince her to keep this situation under control by maintaining secrecy if he lets her out of the glass vault. Even blackmailing Maddie with stopping her necessary daily supply of insulin or exposing her affair with Harrison to Raegan doesn’t seem to be effective.
In the meantime, Kate feels pressurized by Raegan’s threats, and Joe, who is just itching to let his inner demons out, tries to convince her to eliminate Raegan from the picture. However, Kate is trying to reform herself and feels alienated from Joe after realizing how easily he normalizes the act of taking lives, whereas she is having difficulty processing her guilt of being an accomplice to so many of his crimes. An opportunity to blackmail Raegan arises out of nowhere when Kate learns about Maddie’s affair with Harrison, that too from Raegan herself, and threatening public exposure, Kate tries to convince Raegan to back off. The narrative takes a huge stretch as Raegan pretends to be Maddie after going live on social media, confesses about the affair, and approves giving up her (Maddie’s) seat on the board of directors of Lockwood Corporation to Raegan Lockwood. Thereby ensuring Kate doesn’t have the chance to convince Maddie to vote for her to keep her instated as the company’s CEO. The inevitable question arises: what was Raegan’s game plan in case Maddie wasn’t caged in Mooney’s basement, as her ruse would have been caught in the first second in that case, but the episode story never addresses that. Anyway, Raegan’s impression of Maddie has even Kate fooled, which gives Joe a brilliant, or shall I say nonsensical, idea of eliminating Raegan and having Maddie, who will hopefully be more agreeable comparatively, pose as Raegan. Thereby ensuring Kate remains a CEO and her family never comes in harm’s way.
Also, Joe is able to learn from Maddie that Raegan has spited her throughout her life, looked down upon her, and even made Maddie be a surrogate mother to her and Harrison’s daughter, Gretchen, solely because Raegan didn’t want to look bad during pregnancy. Maddie and Harrison love each other and want to set up a family together, but thanks to prenup arrangements made by Raegan, Harrison is doomed to stay with Raegan forever unless he prefers living as a pauper. There is a lot of bad blood between the Lockwood twins, and Joe plans to use this to his advantage by trying to convince Maddie to take Raegan’s place in her absence.
The Truth About Bronte
With the slightest hint of marital dispute, Joe goes back to his promiscuous, pathetic tendencies as he falls for Bronte sooner than expected. The poetic flair present in both of them finds expression through their shared love of passionate fiction writing. However, eventually Joe gets to learn Bronte is hiding her true self while attending a literary salon. Clayton, Bronte’s toxic ex-boyfriend, insults her by presenting first drafts of fantasy fictions written by her and reveals Bronte’s true identity to be a certain Louise Flannery, who formerly worked as a medic in Ohio and is living a pretentious bohemian life to fit in in the literary community of the city. Ashamed, Bronte leaves, and Joe does a preliminary search on the net to corroborate the revelation made by Clayton. Louise spent a major part of her youth taking care of her ailing mother and checking her Goodreads list. Joe also gets to know that she is familiar with Guinevere Beck, his lover’s posthumously published book of poems, which Joe had completed. Joe decides to verify whether Louise is trustworthy by offering her a sense of assurance and changing the topic to Guinevere, which evokes genuine curiosity in Louise’s mind. Unlike Kate, Louise appears much more appreciative of Joe’s murder fantasy fiction, offering Joe a sense of freedom he can only enjoy in her presence.
Did Maddie kill Raegan?
Teddy brings evidence of Raegan’s financial embezzlement, which gives Kate a leg up in her ongoing battle against her half-sister. However, as she presents the evidence to Raegen, she reveals that she is aware of all the vile misdeeds Joe and Kate committed back in London and threatens to expose Kate and destroy her family unless she quits the company for good. This really puts Kate on the back foot, and despite having the urge to sic Joe against her, like she did with Uncle Bob, Kate restrains her dark thoughts. Joe, after learning of Raegan’s latest threats, begs Kate to let him take her down, but Kate, unwilling to ever go down that path ever again, is unwilling to do so. Kate decides to step down, take her family away from the city, and also apologize to Teddy—as without her backing, there is no chance for him to stay on board any longer.
However, Joe goes to abduct Raegan anyway by infiltrating her mansion , which results in a hilarious chase as Joe gets a good, deserving beatdown before finally knocking Raegan out. Trapping her in the same glass vault with Maddie, Joe uses the longstanding animosity between sisters to trick Maddie into believing that without killing Raegan, she will not get her freedom. Joe leaves, and after getting her senses back, Raegan doesn’t spare a single chance to target Maddie’s insecurities, insulting and mocking her to her heart’s extent. Raegan even mentions that Maddie is so insignificant that during the surrogate-birth complications of Maddie, she wouldn’t have hesitated to make a choice between her newborn child and twin sister’s life. Maddie finally snaps and kills her sister by injecting insulin into her system. With Maddie now pretending to be Raegan, Kate retains her position as Raegan (Maddie) resigns from her role as CFO, not before reinstating her own seat back as a member of the board of directors. Kate’s proposal to assign Teddy in Raegan’s place on the board gets approved as well. However, Joe realizes that Kate has suspected foul play on Joe’s part, as she knows Raegan all too well and is aware that she is not the type to simply let Kate win so easily. Kate doesn’t buy Joe’s lame excuse of calling Raegan’s bluff and wonders about the worst possibilities, given Joe is involved.
Joe attends the re-opening party of Mooney’s, arranged by Louise, where he gets a chance to play his favorite white knight savior role by defending Louise from Clayton. Louise distances herself initially, but a day later, as she decides to leave Mooney’s for good, she finds encouragement and support in Joe’s words. The duo finally consummate their feelings for each other, and it goes without saying that Joe’s adultery will ruin his marriage with Kate for good.
