You Season 5 Ending Explained: Does Joe Finally Face Justice? What Happens to Bronte?

You Season 5 Ending Explained: In the series finale of Netflix’s fan-favourite crime-thriller TV show You, we follow Joe Goldberg as he drowns in marital bliss with Kate Galvin and his son Henry. However, peace is not easy to come by when you’re a prolific serial killer, and soon, his eyes catch a glimpse of Bronte, the nerdy girl of his dreams. He is immediately smitten and relentlessly pursues her while his once-perfect relationship with Kate deteriorates. Of course, pissing off a bunch of women can only take Joe so far and this time, karma comes once and for all to get her due!

You Season 5 has 10 episodes, each with a runtime of around 60 minutes.

-Spoilers Ahead-

You Season 5 Ending Explained

Season 5 comes to an explosive end with dues being paid. The season starts off with a rundown of Joe’s life after the end of season 4 — he has been living the high life with Kate in New York, who has erased his past misdeeds and given him nothing to fear. Of course, some people know some of the truth, but there’s almost no way to prove it anymore. His home life with Kate and Henry is at an all-time peak, and he even makes public appearances with Kate, who is now the CEO of her father’s corporation.

However, as with life, things start to take a turn when Joe gets a whiff that someone is out there to dig up Kate’s past and use it to get her off the CEO post. A little bit of digging and manipulation gets him to realise that Kate’s uncle is behind the mess, someone whom she trusted blindly, along with Reagan Lockwood, who desperately wants the throne. Trying to keep the trouble at bay, the couple decide to let Joe get rid of her uncle in order to protect her secret.

Also Read: Netflix’s You Season 3 Review: Toxic Love Story

After the deed, something wakes up inside Joe that he has been keeping hidden for all this time. However, at the same time, Kate feels extremely guilty, especially because Raegan starts to question the validity of this sudden death just before he was about to expose her. Kate and Joe butt heads almost instantly because Joe wants her to understand and validate his perspective, while Kate sees all of it as a mistake.

In the midst of this strife, Joe runs into Bronte at Mooney’s, which Kate has brought for him, and is instantly smitten by her. Her free-spirited nature and knowledge of literature catch his fancy immediately, and even though he tries to stop himself, he isn’t able to control his feelings for her. The two start an affair after a while, which creates a bigger distance between him and Kate. Of course, it doesn’t help that Kate realises that Joe is cheating on her and sees the proof with her own eyes.

Also Read: You Season 4 Part 1 Review | You Season 4 Part 2 Review

Soon, things start to get complicated for Joe after Kate starts to dig, now with her binders off. She comes across several troubling allegations that she had initially brushed aside. In the midst of this madness, Henry gets into trouble at school with Raegan’s daughter, which sparks a stand-off between the two parents. As Reagan pushes for Henry to be taken off the school, Joe is left incensed. It doesn’t help that Raegan goes after Kate with her past life, and he tries to convince his wife to let him make her disappear. Kate objects to this, and eventually Joe decides to do this on his own.

This goes as badly as one can imagine because he abducts the wrong sister, and Maddie finds herself trapped in the Mooney’s basement. With no other option other than to keep her locked, Joe manipulates Maddie’s bad relationship with Raegan and uses her to his benefit after he is able to kill Raegan. He asks Maddie to act as Raegan so as not to ruffle any feathers with her absence.

Who is Bronte? Why does she go after Joe?

As we see in You Season 5 Episode 8, Bronte was a student of Guinevere Beck and was devastated at her death. She did not believe that Dr Nicky was responsible for her death and thus decided to do her own snooping to get to the bottom of the mystery. Through her research, she finds herself in a group that also shares her ideology, with one of them being Dr Nicky’s son. Together, they come up with a plan to research Joe and keep a tab on him — his movements, interactions and every little thing.

While doing this snooping, Bronte finds herself in Mooney’s and meets Joe by accident. Although the group strictly tried to stay away from Joe’s radar, they now had an in after Bronte lands a job at Mooney’s and eventually starts an affair. The group creates an elaborate backstory for Bronte but she eventually butts heads with Clayton, Dr Nicky’s son, who is out for blood. With rising dissent, Bronte finds herself getting lost in her created story and in Joe’s lies and gets serious about the relationship that she shares.

Also Read: Netflix’s You Made Us Feel Things We Didn’t Know Existed – Season 2 Review

Her quest for revenge gets muddled, which results in her cutting ties with her friends. However, the rising voices around her convince her to cut her losses, and she runs away from Joe. However, Clayton decides to take matters into his own hands and “breaks into” Bronte’s cottage to incite Joe, which ends in him killing Clayton to protect Bronte. With more mixed feelings, Bronte decides to rekindle her relationship with him, but things don’t go according to plan.

What happens to Joe in the end of You show?

Kate realises that the person she has been married to is a monster after she digs deep. We learn that she used her resources to make Nadia take the fall for Joe’s past crimes, and the icing on the cake is when she learns that Joe was the Eat the Rich killer, which absolutely breaks her heart. With the only goal of protecting Henry from his father’s influence, she decides to get Nadia out of prison and get as much evidence against Joe as possible to get him in jail.

In the You series finale, we realise that Kate has found Marienne Bellamy as well to testify against Joe. Faced with the realisation that things are not going his way, a fight ensues, which results in Mooney’s getting burned down. However, Bronte is able to save Joe from the fire, and Kate comes out with a nasty scar.

Also Read: No, Joe From ‘You’ Isn’t Romantic – He’s Unstable.

In the aftermath, Bronte and Joe find themselves running from the authorities. They take shelter by breaking into an old house in the countryside, where it comes to light that Bronte isn’t actually saving Joe but making sure that he gets justice. They get into a fight as well, and after getting beaten mercilessly, Bronte is able to call the police while fleeing from Joe’s rage. In the midst, she makes Joe scratch out everything that he had added to Beck’s manuscript and finally gets the revenge that she has been searching for when he is finally arrested.

In the last scene of You Season 5 Netflix, Bronte is seen happy and fulfilled after Beck’s book is republished without Joe’s words in the mix, and Joe is in prison, desperately trying to find a way to pass the time. The last scene is of him lamenting about his decisions until he comes across a fan mail, which piques his interest once more.

Also Read: You Season 5 Review: One Last Murder For Love… or Revenge