'You' Season 5, Ending Explained: Does Joe Goldberg Get Caught?

You—the Lifetime-turned-Netflix hit about a charismatic serial killer—has finally ended Joe Goldberg’s (Penn Badgley) murderous antics. The fifth and final season is now streaming, and its 10 episodes take Joe back to New York for one last adventure at his beloved Mooney’s bookstore. He’s still married to the wealthy Lockwood Corporation heir Kate (Charlotte Ritchie) whom he met in London in season 4 and has custody of his son Henry (Frankie DeMaio), but that doesn’t stop him from becoming infatuated with a woman assuming the literary pseudonym Bronte (Madeline Brewer) who has been hanging around Mooney’s. He falls in love, as Joe is wont to do, but Bronte’s motivations will soon come to the surface and threaten to bring him down once and for all.

So, how does the thriller series based on the books by Caroline Kepnes end? What is Joe’s final fate? Read on to learn how You wraps up its five-season run.

Does Joe Goldberg get caught at the end of 'You?'

Yes. You doesn’t end with Joe burned to death in the basement of Mooney’s, as much as you may have been screaming at your TV to allow that to be his fate. Halfway through the series, we discover that Bronte has planted herself at Mooney’s to enact revenge in the name of her former TA, Guinevere Beck (Elizabeth Lail), Joe’s main love interest and victim in season 1. After Kate’s sister Maddie (Anna Camp) sets fire to the bookstore with Kate and Joe in the basement, Bronte arrives and saves Joe so that she can handle him herself. She continues to fake feelings towards him as they leave the city and head to a secluded home.

Bronte sets her plan in motion just as they’re about to have sex, pulling out a gun and holding him at gunpoint. But instead of pulling the trigger quickly, she hesitates, and he pounces. She’s able to escape and runs towards the water, desperately trying to call the police at the same time. Just as Joe arrives and begins to taunt her with details of Beck’s murder, the phone line connects, and the police ostensibly hear his confession.

Joe is hellbent on finishing the job, holding Bronte underwater long enough to assume she’s dead. He’s startled by police sirens and shifts his attention to escaping the squadron that has descended on the home. He kills one police officer but is finally stopped by Bronte, who is thankfully alive and finally strong enough to pull the trigger. Joe is shot in his nether regions, and the police handcuff him.

The series ends with an epilogue that details his trial and the lack of public support before visiting Joe in his jail cell. He’s reading, of course, when he receives a letter. It’s fan mail. You’s final scene posits a question towards our true crime-obsessed culture: Maybe he’s not the problem. We are.

Does Joe kill Kate Lockwood at the end of 'You' season 5?

We don’t see how, but Kate escapes Mooney’s the night of the fire and lives. In the epilogue, she wears a burn scar down her entire right arm with pride—a symbol of her survival—and focuses her time and energy on raising Henry and collecting art by Marienne (Tati Gabrielle), another of Joe’s targets from seasons 3 and 4. Her brother Teddy (Griffin Matthews), whom she named Lockwood CEO, has turned the company into a nonprofit, a feat she happily says would anger their late father.

What is Bronte’s fate at the end of 'You' season 5?

After avenging Beck’s murderer, Bronte’s next focus is to re-edit Beck’s book that was published with Joe’s input. The new edition gets released to acclaim and is even more popular than the original.

As for Bronte’s own playwriting aspirations, the final episode (aptly titled “Finale”) doesn’t reveal if she finds success on her own. But for now, based on the final shots of her walking happily down the streets of N.Y.C., she seems content with what she’s accomplished.

What happens to Joe’s son Henry at the end of 'You?'

While Bronte is holding Joe at gunpoint in the bedroom, he receives a call. It’s from his shady fake passport dealer, who has found a way to hack into Henry’s gaming frequency and patches Joe through to talk to him. But Henry isn’t as gullible as he may look: He quickly reads Joe for filth, relaying that he knows Joe hurt Kate and calls his father a monster before he hangs up. It’s the last time we see Joe speak to his (and his victim Love Quinn’s) son. The conversation visibly shakes Joe—Henry has been Joe’s only liferaft and connection to reality—but it ultimately doesn’t change his actions.

As the episode closes, Bronte’s voiceover doesn’t offer much of an update on Henry’s future. Instead, it ends on a hopeful note. As Henry lies next to his adoptive mother, we see him notice and examine her burn scars—a physical reminder of the violence his father inflicted on her. “He’ll have to decide what kind of man he wants to be,” Bronte says, leaving his fate in his hands.

Do any characters return in 'You' season 5?

There are a few familiar faces that pop up in the back half of season 5, most notably Nadia (Amy-Leigh Hickman), Joe’s former student, who he framed and was sentenced to prison, and Marienne, who faked her death to reunite with her daughter. Kate pulls strings to get Nadia out of jail once she realizes she’s innocent, and enlists her to help take down Joe. Marienne is similarly summoned and plays a crucial role, helping Bronte to realize that she’s been manipulated into believing that Joe is innocent. After Joe is imprisoned, Nadia goes back to writing and begins teaching a course to women who are processing trauma and grief, while Marienne pursues her art career.

What happens to Maddie Lockwood at the end of 'You' season 5?

Kate’s other sibling, Maddie, also gets her happily ever after. Earlier in the season, Joe pits Maddie against her cutthroat twin sister, Reagan (also played by Camp), which ends with Maddie killing Reagan and assuming her identity. At first, Reagan’s husband, Harrison (Pete Ploszek), who was having an affair with Maddie, takes the fall, but is released from jail after 48 hours. Similarly, Maddie’s charges of arson and murder (which are completely valid, by the way) are dropped. Once reunited, Maddie and Harrison become a couple, and Maddie ends the series pregnant (with twins, of course).