‘You’ Season 4, Part 1 ending, explained

Warning: The following article contains massive spoilers for You Season 4, Part 1.

Joe appears to have undergone some significant growth in the first half of the fourth season of You, despite being a stalker-ish serial killer, and all. If you’ve yet to catch it — seriously, avert your eyes because we’re going straight in.

While his pursuit of Marienne quickly got put on hold, no thanks to the efforts of a hitman hired by the Quinn family, Joe (or Jonathan Moore, nowadays) quickly found himself in hot water once again after discovering Malcolm’s bloodied corpse on his dining table after a night of unwanted binge drinking. 

After receiving a cryptic text message from an anonymous someone who quickly learns a thing or two about his past, Joe quickly shed his long-established role of predator and became prey in what was a nail-biting ‘whodunnit’ arc.

Of course, we now know exactly who’s gone and done it, and it seems that when we next see Joe, he’s going to be reverting to the role of hunter – but perhaps with a fair few more complications than ever before. Let’s break down everything we learned by the time the credits rolled on You season four’s fifth episode, “The Fox and the Hound.”

Who is the ‘Eat the Rich Killer’ in You?

After Roald discovers Joe searching Gemma’s body for Kate’s bracelet, he is marched in front of the group of drugged-up, sleep-deprived, and partied-out aristocrats, who decide to forego the democratic process and deem themselves judge, jury and executioner, like ‘old times’.

This leads to an intense chase sequence through the forest as an armed Roald attempts to gun Joe down. Of course, the proverbial Scooby Doo villain mask was finally peeled off the Eat the Rich Killer after Joe managed to get the upper hand on Roald, only for Rhys Montrose to emerge and cold-cock Joe with Roald’s gun, shackling them both in a dungeon. 

Rhys guarantees Joe’s freedom if he agrees to kill Roald, but Joe refuses to do so. Rhys then sets the dungeon ablaze and leaves the pair for dead. Joe manages to free himself of his bindings, and reluctantly assists Roald in doing the same, despite him chasing Joe with murderous intent minutes earlier. 

Kate helps Roald and Joe escape the dungeon in the nick of time, and a large chunk of the mansion gets torched. Back in London, and finally having seen (some of) Joe’s true colors, a previously closed-off Kate invites Joe out for a pint, but he refuses — as he truly seems intent on not falling into old habits, and besides that, he has bigger fish to fry.

Rhys appears on Joe’s television screen, publicly confirming that he is throwing his name in the hat to be the next mayor of London. Rhys seems to stare at Joe through his television screen, and Joe knows what he needs to do next.

There’s plenty of conundrums and unanswered questions that the second half of You’s fourth season is sure to answer. First, and most importantly, how is Joe going to be able to dispatch this high-profile and dangerous target without drawing attention to himself?

Will Joe eventually succumb to his nature and make it official with Kate? Will the Quinn family, their hitman, or Marienne reenter the picture somehow? Joe has been around a fair few paparazzi and a few highly public appearances during his time in London, is someone from his past going to recognize him? 

We’re just going to have to wait and see when You Season 4, Part 2 hits Netflix on March 9.