Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for Season 4, Episode 5 of You.Part 1 ofYouSeason 4 has revolved around a big whodunnit mystery, as Joe (Penn Badgley) must use his dark skills to find the Eat-the-Rich Killer that tried to frame him for murder. While the concept is fascinating, as it shifts Joe’s obsessive behaviors toward an evil person instead of an unfortunate love interest, things dragged on a little too long. Fortunately, Season 4, Episode 5, “The Fox and the Hound,” wraps up the mystery with a blast in one of the tensest episodes of the entire series yet. Episode 5 also teases what comes next for Joe in Part 2 of Season 4, when he’ll finally turn the tables and chase the man who’s been tormenting him and threatening to destroy his new London life.
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Love and Death
As soon as Joe catches Kate (Charlotte Ritchie) by the side of Gemma’s (Eve Austin) body, with a knife in her hand, he thinks he has figured out the identity of the Eat-the-Rich Killer. And if Kate is indeed the culprit, that means Joe is always falling in love with violent women, like the late Love (Victoria Pedretti). Still, Kate seems genuinely despairing about being involved with a murder and is afraid her father will use this as an excuse to control her for the rest of her life. She wants to hide the body and to make sure Joe will help her, Kate points out how he would be the primary suspect if anyone else found Gemma’s corpse. Joe strikes a deal with Kate, hoping that hiding a body together will allow him to gather proof that his latest lover is the Eat-the-Rich Killer.
While the Oxford club has a “fuck democracy” party in which they spill out their hate for “peasants,” Kate and Joe hide Gemma’s body in a wooden chest and roll up the bloodied carpet where the corpse was found. Their work is interrupted by Lady Phoebe (Tilly Keeper), who bursts into Kate’s room after catching Adam Pratt (Lukas Gage) talking with a servant as if they were lovers. Lady Phoebe is concerned about the future of their relationship and is afraid Adam has been keeping secrets from her. To wrap up the conversation as fast as possible, Joe tells Phoebe that Adam has a secret kink. And when that’s not enough, Kate asks Phoebe to leave the room so she can have sex with Joe. While Phoebe leaves Joe and Kate to their dark deeds, the killer couple has trouble transporting Gemma when the wooden chest she was shoved into breaks down. So, inspired by Roald’s (Ben Wiggins) Episode 4 attack, Joe decides to drop the body from a window. Kate guides Joe to the game larder, where the animals killed during hunts are kept before they are cleaned by the staff.
Once the body is hidden among the corpses of pheasants, Kate grabs a knife and threatens Joe. She wants to know why he’s so good at disposing of a body. Joe tells her a partial truth, revealing someone tried to frame him for the death of Malcolm (Stephen Hagan). Joe also talks about how he remained married to an evil woman for too long and helped her get away with criminal things. And when he finally ran away, he lost his son. Joe is a prick for not realizing that Love is not the monster he makes her into and that he’s an even bigger criminal than her. But Kate trusts Joe’s words. Kate’s emotional reaction also clears Joe’s suspicions. Still, before they are safe, fate immediately puts Joe in deadly danger.
Of Predators and Prey
Inspired by Joe and Kate, Lady Phoebe takes Adam to her sex room and pushes him to reveal his kink. Once he tells her he’s into golden showers, she offers to pee on him. Things don’t go as expected since Adam is obviously not into it. He explains that he likes when a servant pees on him because it represents a subversion of the power structure. Usually, he’s the most powerful person when dealing with servants, but in those special moments, he’s beneath them. The same couldn’t work with Phoebe because she’s superior to him. Saddened to learn that Adam doesn’t see her as an equal, Phoebe breaks up their relationship. As a result, Adam now sees Joe as a rat that spills his secrets and meddles in his love affair.
As for Joe, he is forced to return to the game larder after Kate realizes she might have dropped her bracelet there, a piece of jewelry engraved with her name. Meanwhile, Kate returns to her room to find Phoebe there, looking shocked at the blood stains on the floor. Kate tells the truth to her friend and convinces her not to alert the others. Phoebe, however, tells Kate the best thing to do is to warn the security personnel. And instead of telling them Gemma was in Kate’s room, they can just say she’s missing. That way, Kate doesn’t need to feel like she owes anything to her father.
Kate and Phoebe go tell the staff to leave the mansion and ask the security to keep close by. On the other side of the mansion, Joe is caught red-handed by Roald while recovering Kate’s bracelet. High on drugs and rage, Roald parades Joe in front of his wealthy friends, explaining how Professor Jonathan is actually the Eat-the-Rich Killer. Joe tries to defend himself, but everyone is too dumb, drugged, or both. And even Adam now wants Joe’s head served on a silver plate. Claiming his right to execute peasants, Roald condemns Joe to death and tells him to run for his life. When Kate and Phoebe come to the living room, Joe is already hiding in the woods, being chased by Roald. Kate sends the security personnel after them. And when they take too long to return with good news, she decides to follow herself. It’s good that she does, as both Roald and Joe would be dead without her.
It Was You All Along
In the woods, Joe hides from Roald until he can turn the game and knocks the rich prick down. Unfortunately, while Joe is still catching his breath, Rhys (Ed Speleers) shows up and hits Joe’s head with Roald’s gun. When Joe wakes up, he and Roald are chained to the secret basement of Hampsbridge, used by the aristocracy many centuries ago to hide their undesired children. Rhys is the Eat-the-Rich Killer, and he wants Joe by his side. Rhys promises to free Joe if he kills Roald. After that, they could pin the blame for all the murders on Roald and start a new chapter in their lives. Joe tries to play along, but when Rhys leaves the basement, he works to free himself from his chains. Rhys comes back sometime later, realizes Joe is not the man he expected him to be, and decides to go back to his previous plan: blaming Professor Jonathan for the murders. Rhys also challenges Joe to escape the basement and come find him in London if he can. As a parting gift, Rhys breaks an oil lamp and sets the wood structure of the basement on fire.
Racing against time, Joe manages to break his shackles. Roald also wakes up in the commotion and begs for Joe’s help. Although the world would be most definitely a better place without Roald, Joe helps him get out of his chains. They are still trapped inside the basement, though, and are only saved last minute when Kate follows the smoke and their scream, opening the iron grids from the outside and creating an exit. The flames engulf the Hampsbridge House, burning all the evidence inside. The police find enough to identify Gemma’s body, but Rhys is still on the run. Joe doesn’t tell everyone he saw the real killer’s face, as he wants to take care of Rhys himself. Still, everyone now knows for sure that Joe is not the Eat-the-Rich Killer, which will make it easier to navigate the complex social circle of Oxford friends.
When everyone is safe in London, Kate knocks on Joe’s door to ask him out for a drink. She has fallen in love with Joe, and he wants to reciprocate her feelings. However, due to his past and Rhys’s menace, Joe thinks he should keep Kate safe. And that means letting her go. She’s not happy with his rejection, and Joe might have thrown away a genuine chance for love. But we know Joe, and when he’s obsessed about someone, he can’t see anyone else. And now, he has his gaze set on Rhys, who announces his candidacy for London mayor on TV, taunting Joe by remaining free to do whatever he wants. We still don’t know how Part 2 of Season 4 will develop, but we can be certain Joe is going after Rhys with everything he’s got.
Part 1 ofYouSeason 4 is available right now on Netflix. Part 2 hits the streamer on March 9.
