In times when stories are told in a maximum of four seasons, even when they are of the same caliber as House of the Dragon, the longevity of You, especially on a platform adept at short-lived shows like Netflix, is enough to make you scratch your head. Until the third season, the series that follows the psychopath Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) as he chooses, pursues, conquers and discards his victims worked wonderfully, but the fifth – and final – is just a repetition of formulas that not only fail to surprise, but also prepare us for what is going to happen, with very few – and forced – “surprises”.

Badgley’s dark and ironic voice-over narration is still the series’ biggest secret: he can get blood out of a stone, he brings subtlety to his interpretation, and it’s terrifying how everyone insists on underestimating a killer as violent and dangerous as Joe, which is the main point of the series. Furthermore, to bring about change, the dead survive the impossible, and the drama stretches out over 10 long episodes. The problem is that, like Joe’s victims, we start out obsessed with seeing him pay for what he did, and we still laugh when he gets away with it. Until when?

Unbelievably, after leaving a trail of blood and suspicion in New York, Los Angeles, and London, Joe returns to Manhattan rich, famous, and raising the son he abandoned now that he is married to corporate heiress Kate (Charlotte Richie). Everything is fine until it isn’t, and Bronte’s (Madeline Brewer) entry into the killer’s life only confuses things. If you haven’t watched the previous four seasons, you’ll miss a lot of quotes, but none of them really make a difference.

With such current and relevant themes, You had everything it needed to be equal to or better than Dexter, but it gets lost in clichés. Penn Badgley holds his paradoxical role of hero and villain as much as he can, but he can only go so far. And so, we say goodbye with the feeling that it has been on the air for too long…

Since You premiered in 2018, the series has won over a legion of fans who are fascinated — and scared — by the obsessive mind of Joe Goldberg. What many may not know is that the story was born in the pages of the books by writer Caroline Kepnes, who, with her sharp and insightful writing, introduced us to this protagonist who is as charismatic as he is disturbing.

The first book, You (2014), follows Joe as a bookstore manager in New York, where he falls in love (or becomes obsessed) with Beck, an aspiring writer. Hidden Bodies (2016), the second volume, follows Joe to Los Angeles in search of a new beginning and, of course, a new love. In You Love Me (2021), he tries to reinvent himself once again on Bainbridge Island, now interested in a librarian named Mary Kay DiMarco. And, more recently, For You and You Only (2023) continued the trail of blood and seduction that he leaves wherever he goes.

The Netflix series, although initially quite faithful to the first two books, took its own direction from the third season onwards, which allowed Joe to transform not only into a stalker but into a perverse metaphor for our search for connections in digital times. Throughout the seasons, You also made a point of filling its narrative with striking literary references, from Crime and Punishment to Frankenstein, reflecting the intellectual and moral ambitions of its protagonist-narrator.

Now, with the confirmation that season 5 will be the last, You has brought Joe’s arc to a close — a character we tried to understand, justify, or condemn, but who always kept us watching, page after page, scene after scene. The end of a cycle, both for the adaptation and for the internal journey of this modern anti-hero who forced us to face the dark side of love, obsession, and self-image.

In its final twist, we say goodbye to Joe with a narrative corrected to draw attention to the real-world pitfalls for predators like him. Some who don’t have the same final fall.