When it comes to some of the latest Netflix shows, one of my favorites that has been ongoing for a couple of years now is You, the story of Joe Goldberg, a seemingly normal everyday guy who falls in love way too easily and will literally murder someone for that woman. In Season 2, he met Love, fell for her, and ended up getting married and having a kid.
But when You Season 3 came along, Joe and Love were certainly not the standard married couple, leading to plenty of shocking moments. From someone who binge-watched the whole entire season in a day, here are ten shocking moments that I am still not over.
And obviously, a big old SPOILER WARNING is needed.
When Love Straight-Up Murders Joe’s New Love Interest In Episode 1
Look, I know that Love, played by the wonderful Victoria Pedretti (from the Haunting of Hill House cast), is a bit psycho. That’s why she’s perfect for someone like Joe.
But let me tell you - my jaw dropped when Love goes full-on axe murderer against Joe’s new love interest, and it had me hollering at the screen. Here I was thinking we were going to follow this woman all season but nope, we jumped right into that.
When Joe Nearly Kills Cary - And Yet, Cary’s Group Accepts Him For Who He Is
Cary - as well as his wife, Sherry - are certainly an interesting and strange couple, but when Cary invites Joe out to a “manly” weekend in the woods, things take a turn when Cary eggs on Joe to get physical. Joe loses his temper at the man and pushes him off a cliff. For a moment, he believes him to be dead, until Cary emerges, bloody but alive.
But instead of turning on Joe, Cary and his friend group actually embrace his violence. Joe ends up crying because it’s the first time anyone has ever accepted him for who he was. Talk about a strange moment that also makes my mouth drop open.
When Love Actually Starts That Sexual Relationship With Theo
I genuinely thought that Love and Joe were perfect together, which is why it surprised me when Love actually began to sleep with Theo, despite Love showing that she still clearly loves her husband despite everything that was going on.
She tries to cut it off with the kid several times, but keeps stringing him along. Honestly, I felt bad for Theo. Poor guy just became infatuated with the neighbor’s wife but it ended badly.
When Love Sees Her Dead Brother In The Bathtub With Her
While it’s probably not uncommon for a person to text the phone of a deceased loved one for comfort or closure, I still felt myself surprised when, after Love sent her brother a text, Forty appeared in the bathtub opposite his sister, who was drinking heavily up to that point.
What made it feel even stranger was that it felt so real. It really did feel like he was there but then he was gone in the next scene, leaving Love alone. Even after all she has done, I still felt bad that she lost her brother, knowing how close they were.
When Dottie Basically Kidnaps Love And Joe’s Kid - While Drunk
When I tell you I freaked out when Dottie took Henry, I mean it. I’m pretty sure I almost spilled my drink. Dottie is a manipulative mother who was losing her grip on the last ounce of family she had left and when Love wanted to take time away from her, she lost her cool and stole their literal child after drinking too much.
What makes it even worse is that the baby wasn’t even in a baby seat - she was sitting in the woman’s lap, going to feed him a taco, saying he was the reincarnation of her son, Forty because his middle name is Forty. That’s just a ticket to looney town.
When Love Loses Her Temper And Blurts Out That She Killed Natalie - While Sherry And Cary Were In The Home
I was honestly surprised at first when both Joe and Love agreed to do the swinging bit with Sherry and Cary, but I screamed at the TV when Love lost her temper with Joe after she ran off once she saw Joe having sex with Sherry.
Love realizes while Joe is having sex with Sherry that he's thinking of someone else in the moment- someone that isn't her. This, combined with wine, no doubt, causes her to lose her temper at him, saying that she would do anything for him but here he was, thinking about another woman. She yells out that she was the one who killed Natalie for him - while Sherry and Cary were upstairs listening.
The impending fight that happened between them and the neighbors was because of that singular moment, and it had me pulling my hair out from the stress of it.
When Love Knocks Out Theo With A Fire Extinguisher
Again - poor Theo. He discovers footage of Joe driving in Natalie’s car and then sees the cage, and thinks that Joe is just the killer and Love is the poor woman he’s dragging down. Theo begs Love to run away with him, but she tells him to run and never come back. Even so, she still lets her anxiety about him talking get the best of her, and she knocks him out with a fire extinguisher.
She thinks that he’s dead - we find out later that he’s not - but that moment is so shocking considering they had a decent relationship. Obviously it wasn’t healthy, but never once did Theo deserve what happened to him. The kid was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
When Love Actually Doesn’t Kill Marianne
Let me tell you, the whole You cast is brilliant, because the scene with Love and Marianne (played by Tati Gabrielle, known for her role in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina cast) is tension-inducing as all hell. When Love finds out that Marianne is Joe’s new interest - after connecting the recent murder of Marianne’s husband and Joe’s bloody shirt - she invites her in for an adult talk while Joe is paralyzed and hidden. Love, meanwhile, has a carving fork behind her back.
However, Marianne makes good points when Love tells her what’s happening, and says that she should have known Joe was too good to be true and that Love needs to run too, saying that she deserves better.
Love ends up not killing Marianne, instead telling her and her daughter to run. I don’t know if that’s character development, or she knew that if she killed her, that little girl would be without a mother, but it’s definitely shocking for her to let Joe’s love interest go.
But Then Joe Goes And Kills Her - And Stages It All As A Murder/Suicide
The biggest twist of the finale was when Joe tells Love he knew she was planning on paralyzing him through plants from her garden, so he instead found an antidote to her aconite and took it beforehand, and then also stabbed Love in the leg with a syringe full of aconite.
The injection kills her, painfully, but he then drags her body towards the kitchen, staging the whole thing as a murder/suicide and writing a letter to blame her for the murders. He even cut off two of his toes to provide evidence. He sets the house on fire, and leaves everything behind. I mean, those last ten minutes are amazingly intense. And that last phrase that Joe says, that her story became “more famous even than Guinevere Beck” - chilling.
And Now, Joe Has Spread His Passion-Filled Wrath To The Rest Of The World - In Paris
Penn Badgley, known for his role in the Gossip Girl cast, really was the perfect choice for this role, because only he could play someone like Joe who straight up just leaves his life behind and moves out of the country. Joe, now going by Nick, has traveled to Paris, saying that he is looking for Marianne and would look the entire world for her. And you know what? I believe it.
The fact that Joe has now spread his dangerous habits to another part of the world teases a bold new storyline for You Season 4, and I know it’s going to be probably just as intense as this one was.
Alright, I think I need a break from these romantic thrillers - think I need to check out some romantic comedies, or maybe even just regular thrillers, because this show gets my heart rate going. Regardless, it’s still one of the best shows on Netflix to binge right now - and honestly, I kind of want to watch it again. Now we wait for Season 4.
