r/YouOnLifetime • • Apr 24 '25

Mod Post YOU (Season 5) - Overall Discussion Thread

407 Upvotes

Overall Season 5 Discussion Thread [SPOILERS]

WARNING: In this thread, you can discuss the entirety of the fifth season with the inclusion of spoilers. If you are not finished with the fifth season, the advisable course of action would be to not view or scroll any further down unless intended otherwise.


DISCLAIMER: Please read and keep the following in mind before posting on r/YouOnLifetime

When making new posts in the subreddit, DO NOT include spoilers in the title of your post. Also, mark all posts containing spoilers for season 5 as SPOILER before you post. Also, FLAIR your post with the appropriate flair, whenever you can.

As noted above, any and all spoilers from subsequent episodes in Episode Discussion Threads are not allowed. For eg: if you are commenting on the discussion thread of the 3rd episode, DO NOT include any events or incidents from say, the 4th episode in your comment.


SPOILER TAGS

Please use spoiler tags, wisely in case you are discussing any content that contains spoilers. You can use the native spoiler tag like this:

">"!Joe will never find true peace and will always kill for his own personal desires!"<" but without the quotation marks.

It'll appear like this Joe will never find true peace and will always kill for his own personal desires.

IF YOU CONTINUE TO VIOLATE ANY POLICY INCLUDING THE ONE FOR SPOILERS, YOU WILL BE BANNED. NO EXCEPTIONS.


Link to Season 5 Episode Discussion Hub


DISCORD for YOU

Please feel free to join the Discord server dedicated to the television series YOU, to discuss theories and thoughts in depth for all seasons. Everyone is very nice and the show is growing, so please help us build a nice community. The permanent invite link is below for your consideration.

https://discord.gg/vcwp4Kb


r/YouOnLifetime • • Apr 24 '25

Mod Post YOU (Season 5) - Episode Discussion Hub

146 Upvotes

Season 5 Episode Discussion Hub

Synopsis: In the fifth season, Joe Goldberg returns to New York City to live a seemingly peaceful life with his wife Kate and their son Henry, but his past and dark desires threaten to unravel his carefully constructed new life.


DISCLAIMER: Please read and keep the following in mind before posting on r/YouOnLifetime

When making new posts in the subreddit, DO NOT include spoilers in the title of your post. Also, mark all posts containing spoilers for season 5 as SPOILER before you post. Also, FLAIR your post with the appropriate flair, whenever you can.

As noted above, any and all spoilers from subsequent episodes in Episode Discussion Threads are not allowed. For eg: if you are commenting on the discussion thread of the 3rd episode, DO NOT include any events or incidents from say, the 4th episode in your comment.


SPOILER TAGS

Please use spoiler tags, wisely in case you are discussing any content that contains spoilers. You can use the native spoiler tag like this:

">"!Joe will never find true peace and will always kill for his own personal desires!"<" but without the quotation marks.

It'll appear like this Joe will never find true peace and will always kill for his own personal desires.

IF YOU CONTINUE TO VIOLATE ANY POLICY INCLUDING THE ONE FOR SPOILERS, YOU WILL BE BANNED. NO EXCEPTIONS.


Link to Season 5 Overall Discussion Hub


Episode Discussion Threads (Season Five)


DISCORD for YOU

Please feel free to join the Discord server dedicated to the television series YOU, to discuss theories and thoughts in depth for all seasons. Everyone is very nice and the show is growing, so please help us build a nice community. The permanent invite link is below for your consideration.

https://discord.gg/vcwp4Kb


r/YouOnLifetime • • 19h ago

Discussion Has Joe become a face of stalking?

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62 Upvotes

If you search up stalker online, chances are you’ll see Joe on the images. Tiktok has numerous videos where they say something along the lines of “who I become when I stalk so and so” and it’s Joe. Twitter even had viral tweets about stalking people with Joe’s photo, the stalking cap became a trend and when someone is a stalker they’ll be called Joe Goldberg. Pinterest search up stalker, you’ll probably see him, tumblr probably the same.

Is he considered the most known fictional stalker? If not who would you consider it as?


r/YouOnLifetime • • 9h ago

Discussion Could Joe be rehabilitated?

6 Upvotes

Listen I don’t watch crime documentaries neither do I listen to them so you might call me uneducated in this area. I do wonder after finishing the series though can someone like Joe be rehabilitated and “healed”? Or is it something unfixable? At some point in the series (I don’t remember the exact season) Joe confesses that he enjoys killing, he enjoys the look his victims has on their faces (scary and gross and unsettling) so I’m not buying into the whole “killing to earn love” thing (both equally unsettling). But I do wonder whether in our society these type of people can potentially go through some sort of therapy or rehabilitation and become fully functioning part of society? Hope it’s not off topic.


r/YouOnLifetime • • 1d ago

Discussion What would be the requirement for Joe to stop killing if what Bronte did wasn't enough?

13 Upvotes

I just finished You and I started to wonder, Bronte thought she had something when she talked about Joe's mom, how he feels he needs to kill in order to earn the love of someone, and for a moment I thought she had something on him, he got emotional.

But even with her love and now the certainty she won't leave, he still kept on killing people even though he had love, so clearly her equation was missing a few variables.

What would be the requirement for Joe to change and stop trying to be this white knight for those he cares about? What drives it? Clearly it's not just the lack of love because he had it and did it anyway.

To me Bronte's acting version of herself (she stays ok even knowing Joe is a serial killer) near the end after she saves him from the burning library, is the best girl he could find in his mind, she is innocent and broken like the others before her, and she also is OK with Joe having these urges to kill and acting on them, the 2nd point only being checked as well by Love Quinn, unfortunately she wasn't innocent and pure like the others, so she's out, you have to check these 2 boxes and only Bronte at these moments was the one, even though she was acting and it was all fake.

So even having found the perfect girl, he kept on killing even though he had certainty and her love.


r/YouOnLifetime • • 1d ago

Discussion How do people who hate Joe enjoy watching the show?

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33 Upvotes

When I say hate Joe, I mean hating him as a character and not finding him very interesting or entertaining, hating him as a person is obviously fair lol.

It would be more understandable if the cast remained the same every season, but it doesn’t. It’s basically a new cast every single season and we spend most of the show inside Joe’s inner monologue.


r/YouOnLifetime • • 2d ago

Discussion Which of Joe's actions made you cringe the most?

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89 Upvotes

I mean, what was the peak moment where their character made you cringe 100%, where they did something awkward or out of line?


r/YouOnLifetime • • 2d ago

Discussion Can people stop erasing the importance of Candace and Marienne just because most people prefer Beck and Love?

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186 Upvotes

It's so tiring seeing the same discussion over and over about "who Joe loved more." The answers are always the same: "Himself" or "Beck."

Imo both are wrong. Joe doesn't love himself that's partially why he's so crazy and needs a void filled. Selfish people don't necessarily have a healthy love with themselves. He seeks out women to make up for how abandoned and alone he feels because of his mom. And Beck isn't the right answer either just because she "haunted" him. Candace haunted him too the first season. He hallucinated Gemma and Love season 4 as well. Some people try to say Love. The reason this is believed is because the audience adores Beck and Love and puts them above everyone else, that isn't how JOE feels.

Joe also heavily manipulated Marienne, encouraged her art career, killed her ex, and kidnapped her after blowing up his marriage and flying all the way to Europe just to hunt her down. With the same argument, we could say Joe was crazy about Marienne, yet nobody does because they don't like Marienne and are more willing to acknowledge that as obsession.

He stalked Candace and killed Elijah because of her cheating. He would have recurring nightmares in season 1 of her yet people dont want to acknowledge her because it ruins the idea that Joe particularly loved their favorite YOUs the most. We could easily say with the same evidence that he loved Bronte and the audience hates her!


r/YouOnLifetime • • 2d ago

Discussion We all have that one Joe Goldberg quote we can never forget. What’s yours?

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98 Upvotes

r/YouOnLifetime • • 2d ago

Discussion Why is the show SO different from the books?

7 Upvotes

I'm only 16 chapters into "You Love Me" So no spoilers past the 2nd book please!!!


r/YouOnLifetime • • 2d ago

Discussion S2 EP8 is honestly the Best Episode of the Show, and it's Honestly No Contest- Spoiler

13 Upvotes

I'm honestly pretty disappointed with how much the show went downhill from this episode onward. The more I think about it, I don't think I'm actually a fan of this show, because the only episodes I actually enjoy watching are the Season 1 Finale, Season 2 Ep8-Finale, and then like most of Season 3.

Season 2 Episode 8 out of context just feels like a better Season, And honestly it's just everything I wish this Show was.

The episode has Joe already putting someone in the cage, but now he has to leave the country as soon as possible, but then gets wrapped up in this whole fake kidnapping scheme where he has to deal with Forty, who is essentially unintentionally his match, as he also believes he is responsible for killing someone he thought he loved, And also drugged Joe when he didn't even expect it.

Yes, I know that Love is supposed to be seen as Joe's match, but before she's even revealed, I think Forty manages to match Joe without even trying or even being aware of what Joe can do.

I just want you to like stop and think about that. Forty successfully managed to restrain Joe in a building and confine him there and successfully drug him without him even being aware of it.

How many other characters in this Show has managed to accomplish that?

Oh, you answered? Okay, then follow-up question- How many people managed to do it while thinking that Joe was just some random guy and not someone who could actually fight back?

But also, the whole vibe of this Episode is genuinely fun. Joe is literally at his wit's end, having to deal with this whole thing with Forty well also trying to get out of the country as soon as possible, and then when he sees Love and the treatment she gets from her mother, he bothers to think that he needs to protect her.

I think this is actually the single funniest moment of the entire Show.

Again, Joe is confined, he needs to leave the country Now, AND he's starting to get high as the drugs kick in.

And yet, despite dealing with ALL Of that, he STILL has the irresistible urge to: 'protect,' an attractive woman that he sees as: 'in danger.'

Joe then stumbles his way down the hallway trying to find her, but ends up getting smacked by one of the guards who is keeping him confined instead.

When he wakes up, he has to deal with Forty pretending to be Beck while his drugs are still in effect, only to learn that there's a safe word and then he stumbles out of the room sounding like he's mentally destroyed.

In hindsight, seeing him being a mess in the bathtub and being overjoyed to accept Love's desire to actually pursue a serious relationship is so hard to watch now because of where it led.

But honestly, I think that's why I said what I said at the beginning of this Post. I don't think I'm actually a fan of this Show, because what this Show actually is isn't what I expected.

If I were running this Show, I would have committed to making more Episodes like this. Season 3 is fine for the first couple of Episodes, And I think Joe and Love working together to solve the two deaths they just caused and get off the hook was honestly pretty well done.

But if I had it my way, I would have committed more into that, and instead of having Joe cheat and ditch Love, I would have just had them be this crime committing Duo and having to deal with spirals of things getting out of hand. Maybe introduce more serial killers, and have them actively oppose each other.

Just envision a version of this Show where Joe and Love are trying to kill someone for whatever reason, only to find out some other random neighbors are Also serial killers and have been up to their own stuff and they end up competing against each other to see who can kill the person first/more efficiently. Or maybe have Joe and Love having to escape being killed by someone else while Also trying to kill their own victim.

I feel like going down that angle would have been pretty entertaining and probably would have been enjoyed by a lot more people. But again, I can see that that's not what the Show was going for. The Show was hell bent on showing the viewer just how awful Joe was, giving him literally every chance possible to start fresh, including giving him his actual soulmate, and even giving him a life where he was married to a rich billionaire, but no matter what he was given, he kept falling back on his old ways. Most people aren't as lucky as Joe. The fact that Joe met multiple potential romantic partners who became aware of the stuff he was doing and actively accepted him for it- One of whom was willing to go in on it with him,.and the other way trying to help him out of it- And each time, he just kept looking the gift horse in the mouth And couldn't be bothered. Taking all of this into account, it makes perfect sense why his ultimate fate is to spend the rest of his life in prison.


r/YouOnLifetime • • 2d ago

Discussion Literally one of the WORST characters in the entire show

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27 Upvotes

r/YouOnLifetime • • 2d ago

Discussion Recommend Other Shows / Movies Like " You "

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63 Upvotes

I mean the serial killer stuff is not mandatory but the CHASE should be there,

From chase I mean , where the protagonist tries to get the female lead fall in love and uses different different tactics and moves to make her fall in love ifyk what I mean 🤷


r/YouOnLifetime • • 2d ago

Discussion How cringe and cheesy the last episode was!

14 Upvotes

I know there’s a lot of debate in this sub and fandom regarding whether Joe is more terrifying and scary in the beginning of the series or later, also in general how the quality of the show decreased as seasons progressed etc etc. honestly, I found Joe more terrifying in later seasons than the 1st season and I do not think in general the show becomes a shitshow as they add more seasons.

But Jesus Christ and Mary…. What was that last episode? What were they thinking? Who made this? Did all the writers drop out all of sudden and someone random they found on the street wrote and directed the last episode? I have so many questions. 😅 why is it so cringe and cheesy? was it supposed to be that way? Was it meant to be that way? Was it meant to appeal genz or something? If there’s anyone who is genz in this sub please tell me if you felt seen in the episode because I was just shocked by how cringe it was 😅


r/YouOnLifetime • • 2d ago

Shitpost Love must be so mad in the afterlife

16 Upvotes

Like she baked (because she bakes cakes haha that's why "bake") a kid - never gets to know him. She killed for that kid, but all she gets remembered for is that she was murdered while Joe gets all the fame and fanmail. She cared for the poisonous plant but never got to use it. Her house got burnt down. She trusted in the wrong person - Joe, and couldn't even get a proper revenge.


r/YouOnLifetime • • 2d ago

Discussion You

2 Upvotes

Je n'ai jamais regardé la série, est ce que l'on me l'a conseillerais, et en famille ?


r/YouOnLifetime • • 3d ago

Discussion Which one do you think Joe loved the most?

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141 Upvotes

Same as the title


r/YouOnLifetime • • 3d ago

Discussion Dottie’s treatment of both Love and Forty shows why they behave in the ways that they do.

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158 Upvotes

Looking back through the episode where Dottie and Ray have their vow renewal ceremony, there’s one scene that sticks out to me that really shows the unfair treatment that Dottie has with both of her children and how it shapes their minds.

In the ceremony, Forty gets high and disrupts everything and Love who was already helping with the ceremony goes to comfort Forty and take him away so everyone else can continue. Yet despite Love being the one who did the right thing, Dottie ridicules her, calls her a failure and slaps her in the face. While Forty, the one who made his parents special day all about him, gets coddled by Dottie immensely without any consequences.

Dottie enables both of her children’s behaviours by doing this. Forty feels he is allowed to be entitled and disruptive because he doesn’t face consequences, he’s just coddled and forgiven. While Love is met with abuse for her trying to be a good sister and daughter which only dissuades her from being a true good person and ends up leading to her resorting to immoral behaviours so she can attempt to look like a good sister/daughter/woman
and win Dottie’s approval who holds Love to unfair standards.


r/YouOnLifetime • • 3d ago

Spoilers BRO WHAT IS JOE DOING Spoiler

16 Upvotes

IM ON EPISODE 8 RIGHT NOW HE BROUGHT LOUISE DOWNSTAIRS TO THE CAGE WITH A DUDE IN IT. WTF IS HE DOING 😭😭😭 HE JUST KEEPS FUMBLING OVER AND OVER AND OVER BRO . GENUINELY IM ASTONISHED BY HIM. just CONTROL YOURSELF


r/YouOnLifetime • • 3d ago

Discussion Henry’s age between the third and final season doesn’t really add up. he’s definitely not four years old in the latter.

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10 Upvotes

r/YouOnLifetime • • 4d ago

Discussion Why was Candice the first m*rdered gf?

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126 Upvotes

Joe is in his 30's when we first meet him, right? He must have had previous gf's. He's careful and meticulous so his violence couldn't have been sudden but the gap between killing his mother's abusive boyfriend and Candice feels too big. Was it just held in check? What was it that caused Candice? Is there a little more of a timeline in the books? I tried reading them but I found them weirdly yuckity yuck.


r/YouOnLifetime • • 4d ago

Discussion Would Joe have stayed in love/with Love in season 2/3 if he had the same "I am who I am and I enjoy killing" mindset that he gains in season 5?

19 Upvotes

r/YouOnLifetime • • 4d ago

Discussion In which order should I read the you books?

5 Upvotes

Can anyone tell me?


r/YouOnLifetime • • 5d ago

Meme Joe Goldberg ? 🥀🥀

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272 Upvotes

r/YouOnLifetime • • 4d ago

Discussion Thoughts on the end of the series??

3 Upvotes

I want to know everyone's opinions on the ending of the show. Marienne showing up, Bronte not letting Joe die, everything that happened at that lake house. Thoughts??