Despite the commitments of marriage and fatherhood, Joe Goldberg remains on the lookout for new romantic interests and unsuspecting victims. In Season 3 of You, Joe relocates to Madre Linda with Love, his victim from Season 2, and their son, Henry.
Feeling constrained by the suburban lifestyle and his relationship, Joe begins to revert to his old habits. His new environment is populated by tech entrepreneurs, mommy bloggers, and troubled college students, further tempting his darker inclinations.
Love and Joe’s twisted marriage spirals into chaos and murder (Photo: The You/Berlanti Productions, Alloy Entertainment, and A+E Studios)Recap of the Season 3 Finale
As Season 4 approaches, a refresher on the dramatic events of the Season 3 finale of You is essential. Before binge-watching the new episodes on Netflix, here’s a detailed explanation of the ending of Season 3.
Joe’s Obsessions
While married to Love and raising their child together, Joe becomes fixated on other innocent women. His first obsession is Natalie, a realtor and neighbor who makes advances toward him despite being married.
Love takes drastic measures, killing Natalie to eliminate Joe’s temptation, but his attention soon change to Marienne, his boss at the library. As Joe attempts to maintain his marriage while pursuing Marienne, he convinces her he is ready to leave Love. She agrees to run away with him, envisioning a new life together with their respective children, Henry and Juliette.
A Deadly Game
The plan quickly unravels when Love discovers Joe’s affair with Marienne and plots to poison him—just as she had done in her first marriage. Joe feigns paralysis from the poison until he regains his strength, finally killing Love with a syringe filled with poison.
Staying true to his character, Joe meticulously cleans up the crime scene, connecting all evidence back to Love, including Natalie’s murder and framing their neighbor Gil for it.
Covering His Tracks
In a shocking twist, Joe creates a meat pie containing his severed toes to fake his death and implicate Love. He pens a letter, supposedly from Love, confessing to the crimes and admitting to coercing Joe into her schemes. Finally, he sets the house ablaze, ensuring that all evidence is destroyed in the fire.
A New Beginning
With everything in ashes, Joe flees the country in search of a fresh start. His current feelings toward Marienne remain ambiguous, especially after her likely discovery of his supposed demise in Madre Linda. Season 4’s trailer reveals him in a new setting, alone and seeking to begin anew.
Henry’s Future
Before his escape, Joe entrusts Henry to his library coworker, Dante. Dante and his partner have been striving to adopt a child for years, marking this act as one of the few genuinely noble decisions Joe has made throughout the series.
