‘You’ Season 5
Credit: Netflix
The final season of Netflix’s hit thriller series You just dropped and it’s getting mostly positive reviews, though there’s a bit of a catch.
The series, based on the psychological thriller novels by Caroline Kepnes, follows Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley), a charming but dangerously obsessive man who becomes fixated on the women he falls in love with. Presented largely through Joe’s internal monologue–which is all second-person point-of-view–the series explores his habit of stalking, manipulation, and murder—all justified in his mind as acts of love and protection.
As Joe moves from New York to Los Angeles, and eventually to Europe, each season introduces new romantic targets—including Guinevere Beck (Elizabeth Lail), Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti), and Marienne Bellamy (Tati Gabrielle)—blurring the line between romantic pursuit and predatory behavior, including lots and lots of murder. Season 5 introduces Bronte (Madeline Brewer from The Handmaid’s Tale) as a new love interest.
While the fifth season does boast a “Fresh” Rotten Tomatoes score, it’s still by far the lowest the series has ever gotten. Here’s all five seasons of the show based on Rotten Tomatoes critic scores:
Season 1 – 94%
Season 2 – 89%
Season 3 – 93%
Season 4 – 92%
Season 5 – 71%
As you can see, this is a wild drop-off as far as critical reception goes. Audiences haven’t chimed in yet on the site, but it will be interesting to see how audience reaction holds up. If we compare seasons by audience or “Popcornmeter” scores we get:
Season 1 – 82%
Season 2 – 84%
Season 3 – 70%
Season 4 – 62%
The audience scores fell much more precipitously prior to this season, and were never as high as critic scores for this series. I’m not really sure why You has been so popular with critics over the years, but that seems to have finally changed in Season 5.
“You used to be fun, at least,” writes Rebecca Nicholson of the Guardian, “a guilty-ish pleasure, aware of its own over-the-top silliness… But as the seasons have ticked away, the satire has seeped out, leaving a mess of its own making that it tries, and inevitably struggles, to clear up.”
“Five series in the writers have run out of inspiration,” writes Emily Baker of iNews.co.uk noting that “all these twists are reused over the 10 new episodes. Perhaps it’s an attempt at a “best of You” finale tribute, but it just comes off as predictable and lazy.”
Over at the Daily Telegraph, Ed Power writes “The bodies continue to pile up as he goes along. But for many viewers, the first thing to croak it will be their attention-span as an already silly series commits the unforgivable sin of becoming indulgent and, finally, straight-up stultifying.”
Even some of the Fresh reviews cast shade. “You Season 5 will almost certainly disappoint, frustrate, and delight long-time fans in equal measure,” Lacy Baugher of Paste Magazine writes. “It’s a fitting final chapter to a show that’s been tonally and emotionally all over the place, but that remains impossible to look away from.”
Mae Abdulbaki of Screen Rant writes, “You’s final season has enough reflection and twists to keep us engaged, even as I became frustrated with some of the characters’ actions.”
Others are more upbeat. “A treat for fans of neuroticism and romance alike,” writes Rihaana Stark of Geeks Of Color. “The fifth and final season is much like the others before it — gimmicky, cunning, and bingeable to a fault — but it comes with a riveting twist that teases justice.”
Have you watched Season 5 yet? What did you think? Let me know on Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook. Also be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me here on this blog. Sign up for my newsletter for more reviews and commentary on entertainment and culture.
