YOU: Season 5 – Review | Netflix

YOU Season 5 on Netflix will be the final season of the extremely successful series about Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley). I’ve enjoyed all the seasons for various reasons and was very happy with this one as well. Read our full You S5 review here!

YOU Season 5 is now on Netflix, and this fifth season truly does offer an epic finale. Not only are we (yet again!) treated to a largely new cast of stellar actors, we’re also back where it all began: New York.

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Joe is back to being Joe Goldberg after spending most of season 4 in London as Jonathan Moore. After season 4, it seemed like everything was finally going Joe’s way and that he was truly ready to settle down. Of course, Joe is still Joe, so you just know he’ll find a way to mess it up.

Continue reading our You S5 review below. Find all 10 episodes on Netflix from April 24, 2025.

Joe Goldberg is back in New York

In this final season of You, there’s a time jump, so we pick up three years after Joe and his new wife Kate (Charlotte Ritchie) left London for New York City. Thanks to her immense wealth and what that buys, Kate managed to make all Joe’s previous issues disappear.

She even got him his son, Henry, back from where he left him at the end of season 3.

In New York, Kate is CEO of the Lockwood Corporation, taking over from her father, who died in season 4. Joe is her loyal husband and has even been dubbed Prince Charming in the media. As always, it didn’t take more than him standing by his wife to be adored as the perfect gentleman.

When we meet then, they’ve both been living up to the pact they made at the end of season 4; To stick together and always help each other do good. For three years, Joe Goldberg has done well.

Married into wealth and power

Of course, anyone who has watched You will know that Joe Goldberg finds misadventure everywhere. Usually by his own doing, though he never sees it that way. Hearing his inner voice (exactly like horror fans know from Dexter Morgan), we are acutely aware of his struggle.

In You Season 5, Joe Goldberg starts spending more time in his beloved bookstore, Mooney’s, in New York City. Yes, still with his glass cage in the basement. However, he is no longer the anonymous working-class man he was when he last lived in New York.

Instead, Joe Goldberg is part of the Lockwood family. His wife is an actual billionaire, and while he is a devoted husband and upstanding (if often absent and absent-minded) father, something is missing for the fatally romantic Joe.

Joe will be Joe

It’s not that he’s bored. With the power-hungry relatives of his wife, there is always drama brewing. Especially thanks to the identical twins, Reagan and Maddie Lockwood (both played by Anna Camp), who are also part of the family business.

In fact, casting Anna Camp (Hysteria!, From Black) as these twins was a total scoop and super power move. She is perfect in this role. Anyone who remembers her from True Blood will know that she is perfect for campy, kitsch, and powerful roles and stories.

And then there’s the free-spirit Bronte portrayed by Madeline Brewer. From the casting of Madeline Brewer (Cam, Braid) alone, you just know that she will be a key player. In the vein of Joe’s previous romantic misadventures, it seems obvious that she will be his new “You”.

Watch Season 5 of You on Netflix now!

With this final season of You, we’re getting back to the “bookstore Joe Goldberg”, but with the wealth of his wife, he feels freer. Should he? Well, with his track record, you know he’s bound to do something messed up.

You know, like falling for someone and killing people. All while being convinced it’s the “right thing” to do. It’s fascinating, and the tongue-in-cheek comments about women loving the fantasy of “He’s a 10, but he kills people” type are perfect.

Also, it feels like art imitating life as Penn Badgley (who continues to be perfect in this role) has always said that you’re not supposed to root for Joe Goldberg. Sure, he’s charming, but he is also a literal serial killer. The kind who tends to end up killing the women he claims to love.

While I was very happy to see Madeline Brewer in a key role, I have to admit that Anna Camp was the runaway hit for me. Obviously, both are great, but with Anna Camp playing very different twins, she has so much to work with. It was so damn delicious in all the best and craziest ways.

Once again, we’re getting 10 episodes in a season of You, and as always, you will want to binge-watch the entire season. Each episode tends to end on a cliffhanger, and episode 6 is from someone else’s point of view.

You Season 5 is on Netflix from April 24, 2025.