Netflix's YOU season 2 ends in a way audiences may not have expected, with the future looking different than viewers - and Joe Goldberg, for that matter - assumed going into the season finale. Originally premiering on Lifetime, YOU is based on the novel of the same name by Caroline Kepnes. Only finding a limited audience on its original network, YOU found much larger acclaim and popularity when it debuted on Netflix. Though Lifetime had already renewed the show, they ultimately relinquished the rights and allowed it to officially become a Netflix Original. The streaming service rapidly followed through on producing YOU season 2, based on Kepnes' follow-up novel, Hidden Bodies.
Starring Penn Badgley, YOU follows the self-narrated journey of Joe Goldberg as he attempts to find true love - by any means necessary. Season 1 saw Joe focus that goal on Guinevere Beck - a young NYU grad student and fledgling author. Subverting traditional rom-com tropes, Joe resorted to stalking, breaking and entering, and even murder in pursuit (and then in maintenance) of a relationship with 'Beck'. Events inevitably took an even darker turn when Beck uncovered the toxic depths of Joe's devotion. Unable to convince Beck to share his delusional way of thinking, Joe imprisoned and then ultimately murdered her. Framing Beck's therapist, Dr. Nicky, for the crime, Joe seemingly got away with his crimes. Immediately turning his attentions upon a new target, Joe's world was upended by the cliffhanger reveal that his seemingly dead ex-girlfriend, Candace, was still alive.
To escape Candace's desire for retribution, YOU season 2 sees Joe flee to Los Angeles. Operating under the stolen identity of Will Bettleheim, Joe vows to make a fresh start and curb his more deranged tendencies. Old habits die hard, however, when he crosses paths with Love Quinn. Immediately infatuated, Joe systematically ingratiated himself into her life. As well as manipulating his way into a job at her parent's trendy grocery store, he indispensably endears himself to Love's troubled brother. Simultaneously, despite still covering his tracks regarding past crimes, Joe finds himself relying on familiarly dark methods in service of protecting his 15-year-old neighbor, Ellie. Each of those threads and more ultimately culminated in a finale packed full of twists and more than its fair share of bloodshed.
What Happens In YOU Season 2's Ending
YOU season 2's finale set the table for a wholly different formula in a yet-to-be-confirmed third season. Though Joe managed to avoid being arrested or killed in revenge for his crimes, he still found himself in what he described as a prison of his own making. After Forty Quinn learned the full truth about Joe, he demanded a confrontation. And after failing to infiltrate Lucy and Sunrise's wedding, Forty lured Joe to Anavrin. Though Love tried to calm her twin brother down, he pulled a gun. Despite calling out his sister for her own dark issues, he resolved to kill Joe in order to protect her from suffering the same fate as Beck. Unfortunately, a last-minute intervention from Officer Fincher ensured Joe's continued survival.
With Forty dead, Joe Goldberg's dark secrets remained buried. Equally, it allowed him to shift the blame for Henderson's earlier murder away from both himself and Ellie. Despite that, Joe confessed to the teenager that her older sister, Delilah, was dead and convinced her that she needed to leave town for her own safety. Vowing to support her financially, Joe directed her to venture east and start over. Despite declaring that she hated Joe, Ellie acquiesced and was later revealed to be regularly taking Joe up on his offer.
Joe himself, meanwhile, had reaffirmed his commitment to Love despite her own recently revealed secrets and his own doubts. After helping her through her grief over Forty's death, they were last seen moving to a new house in the suburbs. With Love now heavily pregnant, Joe resolved to be the best father he could possibly be. Regardless, clouds hung over Joe's seemingly perfect life. Despite getting everything he had been seemingly been chasing - a love that both saw and accepted him unconditionally, murderous ways and all - Joe remained discontent. Equating his new situation to a punishing exile, a cage, and even a trap, Joe uses his customary voiceover to lament the new status quo. To further drive the point home, it's quickly revealed that Joe has already latched onto a new victim. Upon hearing a chuckle from next door, Joe spies on his new neighbor through a crack in the fence. Now seeing the undisclosed female as his destiny and the primary solace of his new circumstances, he vows to find his way to her and declares that he'll see her soon. All of which perfectly sets up YOU season 3 and what will no doubt be a tense conflict between Joe Goldberg and the equally deranged Love Quinn.
YOU's Love Quinn Twist Explained
Throughout YOU season 2, Joe pursued Love Quinn under the pretext that she was his ideal woman. Joe often declared that he hadn't actually known true love until he met the widowed chef. Equally, Love served as the benchmark against which Joe measured his supposed desire for redemption and to be a good person. In the final few episodes, however, it was shockingly revealed that Joe's perception was little more than a continuation of his deluded projection. Similar to how his viewing of Beck as perfect belied her very human flaws, Love revealed that she didn't belong on the pedestal that Joe had placed her.
While the marketing for YOU season 2 indicated that Joe would meet his match, many believed that a vengeful Candace would serve that function. In actual fact, that mantle firmly belonged to Love Quinn. After Candace trapped Joe in his own cage alongside the dead body of Delilah, she called Love so that she may see the truth. In a shocking twist, however, it was revealed that Love had long known Joe's true nature. Flashbacks served to highlight that not only had she read Beck's posthumous novel and concluded that Joe was the one who killed her, but she'd long known about his cage and even the serial killer-esque trophies he kept. Though Candace always vowed to force Joe to face himself, it came in an entirely unexpected form when Love herself emerged as that psychotic reflection.
Further flashbacks revealed that, like Joe, she had also killed someone at a young age under the pretense of protecting a loved one - in her case, the au pair that had been abusing her then-underage brother. Equally, she harbored her own desire to be seen and accepted and to form a family better than the one she had known. To that end, she had stalked and attempted to manipulate Joe with equal fervor. Recounting this to an increasingly (and somewhat hypocritically) disgusted Joe, Love then revealed that not only was she pregnant with Joe's child but that she had killed both Delilah and Candace to protect Joe's secrets and, therefore, their relationship. Though it was a surprising development, there were clues peppered all throughout YOU season 2 - from the way her play-fighting attacks always targetted the neck in foreshadow of her throat-slashing ways to Love outright telling Joe she is crazy with a dark past. Only to be dismissed on the latter.
Henderson, Candace & Delilah's Murders
After it was revealed that the well-known comedian, Henderson, was a sexual predator and rapist, he quickly found himself in Joe's crosshairs. Similar to the dynamic with Paco in YOU season 1, Joe quickly struck up a friendship with his 15-year-old neighbor, Ellie Alves. Customarily a book-lending mentor and fiercely protective, Joe took to watching out for her when he discovered that Ellie was interning for Henderson. That goal only intensified when he realized that Ellie's older sister, Delilah, had been one of Henderson's previous victims. Eager to bring Henderson to justice (while also maintaining a new no-kill rule), Joe forcibly tried to elicit a confession. Unfortunately, those plans went awry and Joe ended up accidentally murdering the famous comedian anyway.
The heat that was generated by such a high profile death plagued Joe throughout YOU season 2. That fact was only exacerbated by the fact that Joe had several connections to the victim. As such, Joe came under suspicion on multiple occasions. The most prominent time came courtesy of Delilah. As an investigative journalist, she had an immediate and instinctual distrust of Joe - despite the occasional begrudging attraction. After Officer Fincher planted seeds of the idea, Delilah looked into Joe and ultimately uncovered the truth. Unfortunately, Joe managed to trap her before she could do anything with the information.
Despite intending to release Delilah once he had escaped from Los Angeles, Joe emerged from an unwanted LSD trip to find that her dead. Refusing to believe that he would have done the deed, Joe was ultimately proven right when Love confessed to the crime. Equally, Love admitted to taking care of Candace just minutes before. Unlike the situation with Henderson, however, it remains unclear whether either of those crimes could resurface to plague the murderous couple. While a newly deceased Forty ended up being blamed for Henderson's death - the investigation of which the Quinn family used their considerable resources to kibosh - the same can't be said for Delilah and Candace. How Love and/or Joe disposed of the bodies or whether Forty also took the blame for those, also, remains unclear. As such, an investigation could one day surface regarding either disappearance. That is especially true in Delilah's case, given that Ellie is still out there and armed with a version of the truth. As well as the fact Officer Fincher harbored feelings for Delilah.
Joe's New Obsession For Season 3
The bulk of fan anticipation for YOU season 3, however, will no doubt be centered on Joe's mysterious new neighbor. Apart from being female and fond of reading, nothing is known about the character. Though Netflix has yet to officially renew the show, and the third book has yet to be released, there are ideas in place for where Joe Goldberg's story goes next. As such, theories will no doubt be rife over the next few months. Principal among them so far is that Joe will have yet another love interest or be plagued by another vengeful blast from the past. Though there would no doubt be plenty of options for either scenario - and it could generate considerable conflict between Joe and Love - both run the risk of retreading the formula of previous seasons. As such, it would be a waste of the subversive potential the YOU season 2 finale set the stage for.
A more interesting theory is that it's Joe's mother. YOU season 2 shed light on his relationship with his mom. Equally, it was repeatedly touched on how Joe's relationship with his mother shaped the monster he had become. It was also left ambiguous what ultimately happened to his mother, with Joe himself remaining coy as to whether she was even alive. As such, the timing of her physically showing up would fit and the story potential of tackling the root of his issues would be infinitely more interesting than if Joe merely obsessed over another love interest or faced an identical threat to Candace. Whatever the case, however, fans will no doubt remain on the edge of their seats for the next batch of episodes of YOU to be both commissioned and then released.