Season 5 ‘You’ Review

Netflix original series ‘You’ has captivated our screens since 2018 and after 7 long years and 5 seasons, the series has finally concluded. Some people may argue that the finale is a little on the nose in its commentary on our society’s behaviour and patriarchal views but in actuality I think the social commentary about men has always been there, since season 1. I, myself didn’t even realise it until the final episode but the entire series was meant to make us think, you're just not supposed to realise it until the end which is the most brilliant part. 

Many people hate how socio-political many of our favourite TV shows and films have become, and in some ways this isn’t an unreasonable complaint. There should be more content created just for entertainment, rather than to force politically correct storylines at its audience. The world is increasingly becoming a terrible place, our society is riddled with injustice, discrimination and violence, but sometimes we turn to fiction to escape that. After all, if we wanted to see all that, we would turn on the news, right? However, in the case of ‘You’ this can be forgiven. 

‘You’ entertained us for 5 seasons and minus the last 10 minutes of the finale episode, its commentary is so subtle you might not even notice it. For the most part, the entire series is from Joe’s point of view, we watch his life, through his eyes even hearing his internal narration. Social media has flooded with many a post about how f***ed up it is that we sympathize with Joe, that as an audience we root for Joe, that we romanticise Joe. The complexity of our feelings for Joe, in particular the female audience, has never been lost on us. Yet in finishing the final episode it becomes clear that we were supposed to feel like that. 

The show is designed to make us love Joe, just as all his girlfriends did in the show and just like those characters we open our eyes in the final episode and see him for what he is; an abuser. Bronte/Louise’s character is representative of the audience watching the show. She questions herself for feeling the way she does about Joe despite knowing all the terrible things he has done. 

Joe is a textbook narcissist. In his internal narrations, the show is famous for, we hear how he excuses his behaviours, we hear how he victimises himself time and time again despite racking up a huge list of victims. Bronte/Louise highlights that his victims are not just victims of murder but of narcissistic manipulation. The series is ultimately a display of what relationships with narcissists are like. While there are absolutely countless relationships which involve murder and violence on a horrific scale as is seen on the show, more people will be able to relate to the more subtle aspects of Joe. 

The manipulative and narcissistic characteristics are those many men possess and many women will recognise in men they know or have dated in the past. In the final episode of the series, as well as Joe's narration we also get to hear Bronte/Louise’s internal narration and in the final part of the episode her escape from Joe, the justice she brings to herself and Joe’s victims breathes a breath of optimism. Some women do get out. Some women escape and despite the trauma they leave with, thrive after narcissistic abuse. 

The end of the episode still leaves the audience with that dreaded comment on society, that feeling of realism that makes us all a little uneasy when watching TV. Unfortunately for the most part, inspiration for fiction comes from real life and love it or hate it sometimes that can’t be avoided.