You season 4 part 1 review: Penn Badgley’s Joe Goldberg finally gets a taste of his own medicine

You always know you’re going to be in for a wild ride with Netflix’s dark thriller You - and part 1 of season 4 doesn’t disappoint. Penn Badgley is back playing Joe Goldberg, the delusional serial killer who spends his days stalking women, obsessively falling in love and trying to find “the one”, or does he? Season 4 has flipped the script, with Goldberg finally getting a taste of his own medicine.

Season 3 ended with Joe poisoning his wife Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti), setting fire to his home and faking his own death, with the help of a few toes he chopped up and baked in a pie. Somehow, he has managed to make it to Europe, where he is trying to track down librarian Marienne (Tati Gabrielle), with him travelling to Paris and then London. After finally confronting her, she turns him down, with Joe vowing that he would prove Marienne wrong, he is not a killer (despite a hefty body count that would say otherwise). Joe is tracked down by a hit man who was sent by the Quinn family following Love’s death, but instead of ending him, he sets him up with the new identity of literary professor, Jonathan Moore. It is here where we meet Joe as he tries to lay low, but ultimately finds himself playing detective to reveal the identity of the “eat the rich” killer who is picking off London’s wealthy elite one by one. There goes his relaxing European vacation.

Joe has swapped the Quinn family and suburban influencers of Madre Linda for Lady Phoebe played by Tilly Keeper and her group of posher than posh friends who met at Oxford University. He once again has found himself falling into a crowd of people he despises, except for his new obsession (because he simply couldn’t exist without one), gallery owner Kate played by Charlotte Ritchie. However, Joe hasn’t got the time to fall back into his old habits, he needs to uncover who the killer is and why they’re trying to put the frame on him.

Season 4 doesn’t try to lean into the absence of Love, whose character offered Joe an explosive mirror image of himself. Instead they flip the script, making Joe the object of obsession for a mystery stalker who is picking off London’s wealthy elite one by one. Instead of his traditional narrative honing in on his obsession of finding the one, this time his sole focus is on uncovering the “eat the rich” killers identity. Joe is outraged at the idea that someone is stalking him and uncovering who he really is, considering what he has done in the last three seasons it is oddly satisfying watching him squirm. He keeps reassuring himself, under the delusion that he is better than the mystery killer, because what he has done was for “love”.

There are plenty of twists and turns to keep you entertained in this game of Cluedo, with the shocking part 1 finale taking place at Lady Phoebe’s country house estate revealing the killer’s identity and seeing Joe stuck in a tight spot, fighting for his life. Part 1 ends on a cliffhanger, with Part 2 already looking to pick up right where things leave off. However, its trailer which aired after the finale hints that Joe’s wife, Love Quinn might not be dead after all, offering us a scene of her reading in his infamous glass box sending fans into a frenzy as they try to speculate how she could have survived. We’ve seen it before with Candace, so it could be possible, or maybe You Season 4 will be a season without love altogether.

You Season 4 Part 1 is now available to watch on Netflix, Part 2 drops on the streaming platform on March 9.