Warning! Spoilers for You season 5 ahead!
You season 5 brought Joe Goldberg’s story to the perfect close, but one particular death truly marked a definitive end. In all, there were, surprisingly, far fewer deaths in You‘s final season than in previous installments. In the past, Joe (and sometimes others) took out character after character, determining that anyone who became a particular sort of nuisance needed to die. At the end of each season, one significant death typically brought that arc to a close. Beck, Candice, Love, and Rhys served as the big deaths of You seasons 1 through 4, but season 5’s final death was far more unconventional.
You season 5 marked the first time that Joe’s efforts to kill were largely thwarted. He began the series deeply in love with his wife, Kate Lockwood, but in typical Joe fashion, that quickly fell apart. Joe is known for murdering those who lose his interest, and Kate certainly would have gotten the same treatment if it could have been helped. However, Kate walked away alive in You season 5. After Kate, Joe fell in love with Bronte, and, once again, he turned on the subject of his obsession. Still, Bronte lived as well. At the end of it all, the final death of You wasn’t a person at all, but Mooney’s Bookstore.
The Death Of Mooney’s Bookstore Cemented The End Of Netflix’s You
This Is Where It All Began
Mooney’s is Joe’s beloved bookstore in You, but it’s really so much more complicated than that. This is the setting of the first scene in season 1, where Joe met Beck and his first on-screen obsession began. Of course, Mooney’s is also where Beck died at the end of You‘s first season—a tragically full circle moment. Still, the store’s significance goes back far beyond this specific story. Joe was raised by Mr. Mooney, a fierce disciplinarian who would lock the young boy in the basement cage. It was through this that Joe learned one of his more violent tendencies.
After the events of You season 1, Joe was forced to leave Mooney’s behind for a time. Each season brought him to a new location as he attempted to escape his crimes, but after marrying Kate in You season 4, he was granted the sort of immunity that would allow him to reclaim his old life. Mooney’s Bookstore came with that, and this location allowed You season 5 to recapture the feel and tone of Joe’s first outing in the Netflix series. Mooney’s was essentially another character that Joe loved, which naturally meant that its fate was sealed.
With this key location gone, it was as if Joe’s own facade had fallen away.
The old bookstore burned down at the end of You, just after Joe escaped from his old cage and Bronte was made to acknowledge the truth about her lover. With this key location gone, it was as if Joe’s own facade had fallen away. There was no longer anything hiding the monster that was Joe’s true self. The death of Mooney’s Bookstore marked the beginning of the end of Joe Goldberg as the world was made to see him.
Why Mooney’s Bookstore Had To Burn Down In You’s Final Season
There Could Be Nothing Left To Continue Joe’s Legacy
Mooney’s Bookstore burning down was certainly symbolic. You season 5 used this event to establish a definitive end for Joe’s story. The place represented Joe himself—an academic, sophisticated exterior overtop a dark hole in the ground that housed an ugly, miserable cage. At the same time, the place was another character he loved, so its burning down represented the final death in a long line of passion-based murders. Still, the necessity of getting rid of Mooney’s Bookstore went beyond this. You season 5 played around with the idea that a new Joe could arise, so it was important that Mooney’s no longer be a factor.
Joe’s son, Henry, has a wide-open future ahead of him. He has been through a lot, and it’s certainly possible that Henry’s experiences could cultivate the same sort of violence that existed within Joe. You leaves Henry’s story ambiguous, but there are hints that he will choose a different path than his father. When Mooney’s burned down, Kate nearly went down with it, and it was precisely this that made Henry turn on Joe. Had Mooney’s not burned and Joe’s legacy remained, Henry might have taken up use of the bookstore’s hidden cage one day. It’s better off that You‘s ending was far more concrete.
7/10
- Release Date
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2018 – 2025-00-00
- Showrunner
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Sera Gamble, Greg Berlanti
- Directors
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Marcos Siega, Lee Toland Krieger, Cherie Nowlan, DeMane Davis, Kellie Cyrus, Marta Cunningham, Martha Mitchell, Victoria Mahoney, Erin Feeley
- Writers
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Justin W. Lo
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Penn Badgley
Joe Goldberg
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Elizabeth Lail
Guinevere Beck
