Joe Goldberg returns in the fourth season of the Netflix series “You,” where he finds himself in a new nation with a fresh start. He appears to be trying to start over, but blood and mayhem seem to follow him, and this time, someone else has their sights set on him. One can’t help but wonder what lies ahead for Joe and what the appearance of a new foe might signify for his future after the plot takes such intense twists and turns in only five episodes. Here, we review the first half of “You” Season 4 and consider what it may signify for the main character moving forward. Spoilers follow.
You Season 4 Part 1 Recap
At the conclusion of Season 3, Joe travelled to Paris in search of Marienne after killing Love and fabricating his demise. By the start of Season 4, he has given up trying to find his long-lost love and has created a new life for himself using a different name. He is now Jonathan Moore, a professor at a London-area institution. He has tried to keep himself tidy and refrain from developing new obsessions. But with him, nothing is ever easy.
Joe receives an invitation to join his friends from his coworker Malcolm, a member of upper-class English society. Following a night of drinking and partying at a prestigious and exclusive club, Joe awakens the following morning in his apartment to find Malcolm’s body on his table. Joe initially thinks that he killed the victim while intoxicated, but after receiving a mysterious text message, he realises that someone else is trying to blame him for the crime. Joe concludes that given how near they had to be to the victim, it had to be someone in Malcolm’s group.
You Season 4 Part 1 Ending: Who is the Eat the Rich Killer?
As soon as Joe discovers Malcolm’s dead body inside his flat, he disposes of it using a tried-and-true procedure. For a while, he is able to conceal Malcolm’s passing, but when one of Malcolm’s friends, Simon, passes away, the media picks up the story and portrays it as an assault on London’s affluent class. It appears to outsiders as though someone is killing the upper class one by one in order to express their contempt of them. Malcolm’s friends share this viewpoint, but Joe is aware that this person has a very different agenda.
Kate, Phoebe, Adam, Simon, Gemma, Sophie, Blessing, Connie, Roald, and Rhys are in Malcolm’s group. Joe is unaware of the complexities in their relationships, despite the fact that they are a close-knit group with strong ties. Even so, he begins to round out his suspects since he believes that one of them is the murderer. Simon, who is a relatively more reclusive and shadier-seeming member of the group, draws his first suspicion. Simon is slain, forcing Joe to reevaluate his entire theory before he can explain his motive for killing Malcolm.
Joe suspects everyone, from Kate, Malcolm’s girlfriend, to Roald, Kate’s friend who is also romantically interested in her, as the situation becomes more convoluted following the second murder. Over time, especially after the murderer suggests Kate could be the next victim, Joe begins to doubt Kate’s involvement in the killings. Joe ends up falling for her while trying to keep her safe, and their relationship intensifies when Gemma is murdered and Joe discovers Kate next to the body holding the murder weapon.
Although Kate claims that Gemma was already dead when she entered the room, she is aware of how the situation may make her appear. Joe makes a connection between this and his own predicament and tells Kate about the unidentified assailant who has been extorting her. They jointly decide to conceal Gemma’s body until they can determine how to handle both it and the murderer. However, before that can happen, Roald discovers Gemma is dead and accuses Joe of being to responsible.
Regardless of their conflicts, the entire group never reached a point where they would have to kill one another. During supper, Gemma makes the observation that the murders began soon after Joe arrived. Joe is the only one they don’t know well enough or trust enough, making him the outsider for them. Joe learns, however, that there is a second member of the group who feels alienated. Rhys had modest origins and only gradually became wealthy. Additionally, he complains about his pals and appears less enthusiastic and active in their activities and get-togethers.
After Gemma’s death, Roald pursues Joe to Hampsbridge House, accusing him of being the murderer. Roald is successfully knocked unconscious, but Joe is ambushed by Rhys before he can escape. Joe awakens in a cellar that is below ground. He and Roald are both restrained, and Rhys admits that it was really him all along. He instructs Joe to murder Roald and blame it on him. When Joe declines, Rhys sets the building on fire. Just in time, Joe and Roald escape from the situation. While this is happening, Rhys leaves, leaving no one aware of his involvement in the killings.
Why Did Rhys Kill Malcolm, Simon, and Gemma?
Joe understood that Malcolm’s murderer had to be a member of the group when he learned that Malcolm had been killed by someone else. He understands that if he could determine the reason for the murderer’s actions, he would also be able to identify them. Malcolm had been investigating his pals’ lives and blackmailing them, or at the very least, he planned to, according to a brief check into his life. He was going to use Adam’s fetish against him because he was aware of it. He also learned that Simon had been plagiarising the work of other artists, damaging their careers and presenting himself to the world as a genius in the process. Simon had a good reason to kill Malcolm since Malcolm intended to reveal him.
Joe is forced to go through the entire group again when Simon dies, but it isn’t until he realises that Rhys is the murderer that the real reason for the killing is revealed. Joe had previously learned that Rhys intended to run for mayor. A person has to have a spotless record in order for the electorate to trust them while running for a position of authority. Rhys continued to present a positive front to the public. He acknowledged in his book that he didn’t come from a wealthy family, which helped the general population relate to him. His thoughts and stances helped him gain fame.
Rhys understood that despite all his efforts, one negative mark on his reputation might make everything for him fall apart. He could not be seen hanging around with the wrong people or being affiliated with them. Unfortunately, he was at the mercy of those in his own gang who might easily sabotage his plans. So he made the decision to remove them from the scenario. Because he had learned Rhys’ secret and had been extorting Malcolm about it, he killed Malcolm.
Simon was the next person who could stop Rhys from pursuing his political goals. Rhys was aware that Simon was stealing the creative work of the helpers he had employed. He would force them to paint something, then take pride in it. He drugged them up so that none of those folks would ever speak out against him. He treated Blue the same way after Blue broke into his exhibition and accused him of being a fraud.
Simon was able to silence the voices of people like Blue and wreck their lives thanks to his reputation, wealth, and connections. Rhys made the decision to get rid of Simon before he could do any damage since he knew that he was about to be discovered. Rhys gained sympathy points from the audience as a result of the passing of his close friends because he used the narrative to his advantage and benefited from the affection and care of both the upper class and the working class, of which he was already a member.
Gemma also posed a threat to Rhys’ reputation, like Malcolm and Simon did. She had a reputation for saying things that were egregiously rude. She could be simultaneously sexist, racist, and anti-Semitic, and she never bothered to pause and consider her remarks. Being around someone like them was like watching for a bomb to go off. Rhys’ enemies would use her affiliation with him to malign him in the event of one incorrect tweet from her, and vice versa. He simply couldn’t afford that, therefore he decided it would be best to also murder Gemma. From the way things have been going, it appears that Rhys has a far longer list of victims, which will present Joe more issues because Rhys seems determined to utilise him for the killings that he has planned.
