You season 5 episode 6 brings everything full circle by tying Joe’s (Penn Badgley) present back to Guinevere Beck (Elizabeth Lail), whom he murdered back in the first season.
Here’s what happened in You season 5 episode 6, “The Dark Face of Love.”
You’re a snake
We start off with a flashback to when Beck and Joe were dating. The two are on a phone call, but Beck hangs up to meet with a student: Louise, aka Bronte (Madeline Brewer). It turns out that Louise knew Beck. This entire thing has been a setup from the beginning, and now it’s Joe’s word against hers. Kate’s (Charlotte Richie) lawyers have already bailed him out because it’s the “Lockwood” way to shut it down and deal with it internally.
When questioning Bronte, the detective starts off by sharing how Bronte’s friends said Bronte moved to New York to catfish Joe. She admits that it’s true and explains they wanted justice for Beck.
Thanks to more flashbacks, we get more of an idea of the dynamic between Beck and Bronte before the latter had to drop out to care for her mom. Specifically, Beck helped her with her writing and encouraged her to hold onto her love for it. The name Bronte is actually inspired by a quote that Beck wrote in a book for her student before she left.
When she saw what happened to Beck on the news, Bronte kept their connection alive by reading her book. However, she realizes that parts of the book were not really written by her, leading to her falling down a rabbit hole on Reddit, where she discovers a group of vigilantes who want to bring Joe down, including Clayton (Tom Francis). Dr. Nicky, who Joe framed for Beck’s murder, is Clayton’s father. This allowed Clayton to have access to his therapy recordings of Beck and Joe’s individual sessions.
You’re not in trouble
Originally, they were only supposed to get close enough to keep an eye on him while staying invisible, but that wasn’t enough for Bronte, which is why she broke into the bookstore. Her friends quickly realize something is off and follow her, seeing her come out of Mooney’s after meeting Joe for the first time.
She tells the detective about Joe’s murder fantasies and shares that reading them made her realize he’s a romantic, which gave her the idea to make him fall in love with her. Clayton’s job was to give him someone to protect Bronte from. Everything, even Bronte’s socials, was orchestrated. The problem is that Bronte actually began to believe that Joe is innocent despite her friends telling her not to let him fool her. She really struggled with the entire thing, feeling like she was losing herself.
Despite her attempt to call the plan off, Joe still showed up at the house because of Clayton’s Instagram Story with the message “If you love someone, let them go. If they come back to you, they are yours.” Bronte continues to explain the incident at the diner to the detective, painting Clayton as the villain for the situation he created, and concluding that what Joe did was self-defense rather than murder.
You did this to yourself
Meanwhile, Kate is doing her best to get the video taken down from everywhere, but it’s not easy. When Joe gets home, she goes off on him, even bringing up Reagan (Anna Camp) and how Maddie (Camp) told her everything. He tries to point out that Maddie is the one who did the murder, but Kate makes it clear that he is the one who killed her. She says she doesn’t want him anywhere near them, but Joe is prepared to drag her down with him.
Thinking ahead, Kate sent Henry to safety, away from Joe. It turns out that when Joe signed the agreement from their lawyers at the police station, there was a temporary custody agreement in the paperwork, meaning that he has agreed that he is not fit to care for his son. He charges at Kate, but she pushes him back and threatens him with armed bodyguards who are in the other room. As long as he behaves, he will have access to her family’s resources, but if he tries to come back or run, he’s on his own.
Joe goes to stay at the apartment above the bookstore, only to find a camera that Bronte had hidden in a book.
All episodes of You season 5 are now streaming on Netflix.