Joe Goldberg’s blood-splattered journey in ‘You’ has come to an end. No, he didn’t end up in a shallow grave or go up in flames and become ash like many of his victims; instead, his story ends in prison.
However, the satisfaction of seeing Joe getting his comeuppance is followed by a heavy blow. The man remains delusional until his final moments in the Netflix series. He doesn’t accept responsibility for his actions, but breaks the fourth wall by putting the blame of his actions on society as a whole.
‘You’ Series Finale Ends With Haunting Remarks By Stalker-Killer Joe Goldberg
Joe Goldberg was never one to see the devastation he caused with his crimes. He always had a way to justify his murderous actions. Behind his charm lay a monster who needed things to go exactly his way. His romance took no time in becoming dark and dangerous. His justification? “Sometimes, we do bad things for the people we love. It doesn’t mean it’s right; it means love is more important.”
So, Joe kills his darlings and anyone else who gets in the way of his fantasies. After five seasons, ‘You‘ brings his story to a close. Joe is exposed, and it’s the women he wronged who band together to seek justice. His last obsession, Bronte, even shoots off his genitalia before cops get him. Joe is convicted and gets multiple life sentences. But the closing remarks are what turns the onus on viewers. Joe questions the human condition of following serial killers and being fascinated by them.
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If you thought Joe would take culpability for his crimes, the ending is another horrifying story. In the last scene of the series, he looks at fan mail and says, “It’s unfair, putting all of this on me. Aren’t we all just products of our environment? Hurt people hurt people. I never stood a chance… Maybe we have a problem as a society. Maybe we should fix what’s broken within us. Maybe the problem isn’t me. Maybe it’s you.” Of course, Joe’s life spiraled, his mind broke, but his conviction remains the same.
Penn Badgley Thinks Joe’s Ending Is “Frustratingly True” And A “Cop Out”
Perhaps, there’s no one who hates Joe Goldberg more than the actor who had to embody this vicious character for so many years on screen. Penn Badgley repeatedly laughed and warned fans about loving the twisted antagonist of ‘You.’ People sympathized with Joe, yet were disgusted by him. But the finale closed his chapter without any redemption or resolution for his sinister personality. He got what he deserved. He can’t hurt anyone else, and maybe that’s enough. Joe built a cage, and he will die in one.
“It’s both. It’s a cop out from him but it’s also true because, at the end of the day, he’s not real and we are,” Badgley explained to Entertainment Weekly. “And so we’ve been watching a show about him and he no longer exists, so it is about us. It couldn’t be about him. He’s not real. So that’s kind of plain and simple to me.”
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What about those who think Joe needed to change? The actor has a response to that, too: “I mean, I think again: do we need to see him change? What would actually be the conditions for him to change meaningfully? Is that what anybody wants to see? That would actually be a very different show with a very different pace and tone and ethos, and it wouldn’t be as popular as it is. So it’s frustratingly true, I think, his statement in the end.”
‘You’ is socially relevant. It lays bare the “cultural-level love addiction, which is not at all actual love.” This is the reason Badgley thinks the ending served its purpose in showing that it’s about how the real world is, rather than Joe’s fractured mind. “But there is a version where that’s such an emotional and psychological and moral cop out from him because he’s still skirting responsibility,” he added.
It’s a messed-up fact that many women fell for Joe, both in the story and as fans who saw him on screen. But the actor doesn’t think the audience is at fault. He is well aware of the temptation Joe brings, and that was his intent in playing the character as well.
Badgley reflected on Joe’s popularity: “He has always been a romantic icon. That’s what he’s meant to be, while also wearing the hat, so to speak, of a killer to deliver this satire and social commentary, you know? People are meant to fall in love with him and see him as a romantic figure. That is actually the point. And so I think all throughout, I was trying to make that point, which is like, ‘Let’s just remember the point of the exercise, though.’ And now the exercise is over.”
Indeed, maybe time in prison will bring some perspective to the man who copped out with his last, haunting speech.
