S05.E10: Finale

[Spartan Girl]

Quote

Hoping to decisively close the book on the past, Joe embarks on a risky new chapter. But as with every great story, one last twist awaits.

 

[NeenerNeener]

I should feel like Joe got what he deserved, but with the exception of Maryanne, most of the people he killed or tried to kill deserved it (Love, Kate and half her crew in England) or were just so unlikeable that I didn't care  (Beck, Peach, Bronte and her crew, the other half of Kate's crew in England). Joe was sort of the Dexter Morgan of love.

I also have a problem with them trying to retcon Joe into the classic serial killer type. He didn't kill randomly or compulsively.

Edited Friday at 02:22 PM by NeenerNeener

[Black Knight]

It does bother me the show routinely didn't include Candace, who was his first girlfriend/victim. And I know Jenna Ortega is very busy these days, but tying up Ellie's loose end would have been welcome too since IIRC the last we knew of her she was on the run with Joe sending her money periodically.

Anna Camp was a MVP this season. Maddie, Reagan, Reagan-as-Maddie, Maddie-lousy-imitation-Reagan, Maddie-excellent-imitation-Reagan, Maddie-as-Maddie-but-finding-her-own-steel. Phew.

I wasn't crazy about Louise being the final one who took Joe down. I liked Kate, Nadia and Marienne working together and would have liked Louise to join them and for the quad to take him down in the finale.

The show made a decision in S1 not to show us Joe actually killing Beck. I wonder if they always had it in mind to essentially show it in the finale with Joe strangling his last victim.

It had become exhausting watching Joe fall "in love" with woman after woman, and I liked how this season kind of twisted that by showing how increasingly desperate and blind he was becoming in his choices. Louise was clearly never a woman who was going to be down with the murdering no matter how much he kept insisting that Louise saw and loved all of him, and he ignored all of those signs in her throughout the season even as he was quick to pick up Kate souring on him which sent him looking elsewhere in the first place.

I appreciated that Joe didn't get the quick out of death and was sent to jail, and that Louise listened to his final big rant and reminded him that he wasn't the victim. That was another cathartic thing this season after four seasons of You, multiple women recognizing his bullshit and not giving in to the manipulation anymore.

[Chaos Theory]

Ok.  May take me a little while to process this fully but I really enjoyed the finale.   Everything about it worked for me.   I think in the end Bronte even worked as a character.   She is the stand in for the universal "You".  The woman who falls for Joe even knowing who and what he is.   Why do women still fall for him.   I think Marienne said that to her nicely last episode and Bronte said it to Joe.   Women fall the for the fantasy of a guy like Joe because they have to deal with the reality of a guy like Joe.    I know people are upset that it was  Bronte who brought Joe down but it kinda had to be her.    Kate was too connected to Joe's sins to be the one to bring him down and I think that killing Joe would have been the easy way out.  Sometimes a worse fate especially for a guy like Joe is being subjected to a trial and  dick jokes.  

My favorite scenes though was when Joe was talking to Henry.  The  "You're the monster." scene hit me harder then it should have considering how true it was.  I also liked what the show Is ultimately saying about Henry.    That it is ultimately up to him what kind of man he wants to be.  I also liked the ending for a lot of the surviving characters.   I also really appreciated Nadia's ending.  

I have been watching this show since it was on Lifetime and I am glad that Netflix picked it up and kept it going.  I was a fun dark show and I am glad it ended on a good note.  Joe being killed would have left him believing he was the hero of the story.  The last scene I am not sure was needed but I think it was there to show that Joe is never going to change but also show that it is ulitimately us that allow men like Joe to exist.  Women will continue to send Joe love letters even in prison which gives him an excuse to put blame on other people and not himself.  

Edited Friday at 11:45 PM by Chaos Theory

[Spartan Girl]

Joe’s comeuppance was glorious perfection. Not only does he spend the rest of his life behind bars with no one but crazy fan letters to keep him company (which he can’t even enjoy because they’re so nuts he can’t project his fantasies of them)…he got his dick shot off. He is neutered in every sense of the word. I never dared to dream of such a perfect insult to injury, and it was all for social media to mock.

As much as Louise annoyed me this season, she redeemed herself quite nicely with that. Bravo.

Kudos to Penn Badgley. You can tell he’s been waiting for this moment forever. Finally, Joe’s mask was off. All that incel misogyny that he’d been keeping in his internal monologue broke out for us all to see. It was horrifying and satisfying all at once. 

“The fantasy of a man like you is how we cope with the reality of a man like you.” Yup, there it is. 

2 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

My favorite scenes though was when Joe was talking to Henry.  The  "You're the monster." scene hit me harder then it should have considering how true it was.  I also liked what the show Is ultimately saying about Henry.    That it is ultimately up to him what kind of man he wants to be

Loved that too. I’m a little leery of Kate keeping custody of him—I thought he’d go back to his Madre Linda dads, but she’s the only parent he really knows. Maybe he can still visit them though?

It was good to see Nadia and Marianne get their lives back, and Beck and the other victims finally get the justice they deserved. Not so sure Harrison and Maddie deserved their happy ending, but as long as Gretchen is happy.

As completely insane as this final season was, it managed to get us where we needed to be. I don’t care if some people will whine it was too much fan service, I needed the catharsis. Poor Penn is going to find it difficult to go back to playing actual decent male characters though.

[bettername2come]

I like that they had Taylor Swift in season 4 and series finales, though I would personally like "No Body, No Crime" for the show.

"It wasn't enough that you took her life, you had to take her fucking voice too?" Such a great line. 

Henry calling his dad a monster was so good. And so mature. Penn Badgley is such a good actor. The breakdown he has after that while he says "I love him so much" is really well done. He sounded kind of resigned when he said he got away with it before like he doesn't want to keep getting away with it. When the phone would dial I wanted to yell at her to say "Hey, Siri, call 911." Yay for the cat's ears! Didn't expect them to stay in the wound. A pretty good ad for those. "The fantasy of a man like you is how we cope with a man like you." Well put. I was ready to be happy with him being embarrassingly arrest in his underwear looking like a deranged lunatic, but then she shot him in the dick. "Joe doesn't deserve a dick."🤌 I didn't see that coming. Social media really is his downfall. 

I am so glad Maddie didn't have to serve time. So fair! Kate's alive! And of course they called it "Bronte's Inferno." I hope she has him in contact with Madre Linda dads. Hopefully with her representing Marienne and Marienne being friends with them some sort of relationship can be maintained. I thought she was going to be meeting them at the restaurant instead of her brother and his husband. I feel like seeing them and Ellie would've been an improvement.

I'm glad Beck's book has been corrected. The fantasy of her signing the new version at The Strand was nice. 

Penn Badgley must be so happy with how this ended. It was so good. 

[DrSpaceman73]

I knew Bronte was going to be the one that caught him and turned him in. But thought it was a good finale. 

Was mich like the finale of Barry.  Murderer meeting his end at the hands of those he long abused. Tries to justify doing it for his son.  

[Spartan Girl]

33 minutes ago, bettername2come said:

"It wasn't enough that you took her life, you had to take her fucking voice too?" Such a great line. 

Even more so because Beck wasn’t the only voice he took. He stole Candace’s voice (by faking her Facebook/social media posts after he thought he killed her) Peach’s voice (fake suicide note), and Love’s voice (ditto) not only to cover his tracks, but also because he always wanted to control the narrative and have the last word. He even did it to Nadia, he didn’t kill her but he made her too afraid to speak in her own defense for three years.

Now he’s the one sitting in prison without a voice.

[Artsda]

It was a good ending, I like that Kate lived, Maddie got the family she wanted. 

Everyone has a little more fear and darkness in them but they all finally got their lives back to move forward.

While Joe sits in a cell forever with crazy people letters. He had enough childhood trauma, surprised they didn't do the insanity plea. I guess they wanted to leave it more closed ended with jail.