"You" Final Season 5 Trailer Review: Joe Goldberg's Last Chapter Comes Full Circle Back to Where It All Started

 "You" Final Season 5 Trailer Review: Joe Goldberg's Last Chapter Comes Full Circle Back to Where It All Started

Netflix's popular psychological thriller "You" Season 5 has finally dropped its first teaser trailer, offering viewers a look at what is in store for Joe Goldberg's last chapter. Premiering on April 24, 2025, the trailer brings Joe back to New York City, where his sinister journey began. The new season promises to take the story full circle as Joe is confronted with the repercussions of his actions. With Joe's signature voiceover narration, the return of old favorites from earlier seasons, and a revisit to key locations, the trailer hints at a gripping finale that will test our complex hero like never before.

The Highly Anticipated Trailer Release

Following months of anticipation, Netflix premiered the initial teaser trailer for "You" Season 5 in January 2025, accompanied by the confirmed release date of April 24, 2025. Fans reacted with bittersweet sentiments as it solidifies that season five will be the final installment of the series. Since its launch in 2018, "You" has been one of the largest hits on Netflix, with the first four seasons totaling a whopping 1.1 billion viewing hours. The trailer's release is the start of the end of Joe Goldberg's sinister journey.

The teaser begins with Joe, who is clean-shaven now after having a beard in Season 4, strolling through the streets of New York City3. He heads to a place he knows - Mooney's Rare & Used Books, the very store he used to work at in Season. This going back to where things first started already portends that the last season is going full-circle, setting Joe face to face with his beginnings and how he got to where he presently is.

Joe's signature voiceover monologue is heard over the imagery, directed at his typical "you." But the trailer artfully establishes that he's actually talking to the glass cage in the basement of the bookstore—the imprisonment where he's kept so many victims over the course of the series3. The added eerie undertone to this common narrative convention implies Joe may be facing off with his own demons during the series finale.

Back to New York: A Trip Back in Time

The trailer is unequivocal that Joe's trip back to New York City shall take center stage in the last season's plot. As the logline states: "In the epic fifth and final season, Joe returns to New York to enjoy his happily ever after. until his perfect life is threatened by the ghosts of his past and his own dark desires"1. This return to his home turf is not to be taken lightly, as New York is where Joe committed some of his earliest known offenses.

Mooney's Books is also of special importance since it is where Joe encountered and subsequently jailed his first significant victim, Guinevere Beck. The basement of the bookstore with its notorious glass cage is the materialization of Joe's worst inclinations. In returning Joe to this place, the show seems to be making him face where his criminal life began and maybe even hinting at a comeuppance being imminent.

The trailer is full of flashbacks and visions of Joe's previous love interests and victims, such as Guinevere Beck (Elizabeth Lail), Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti), Marienne Bellamy (Tati Gabrielle), and Kate Galvin-Lockwood (Charlotte Ritchie). Two of these women are alive, which shows the horrific trail of destruction left by Joe. These visual cues are used to highlight the magnitude of Joe's past and indicate these previous relationships will come back to haunt him in the last season.

The Risks of Returning Home

Joe's return to New York places him in a dangerous situation. After staging his own death at the end of Season, his return to the city where numerous individuals are familiar with him could reveal his survival. The trailer's focus on his previous victims is an indication that individuals from his past may know him, thereby putting his new life with Kate at risk.

By the end of Season 4, we saw Joe embracing his killer side completely as he returned to New York with Kate, who has bought his made-up story about what transpired between him and Love in Season. Yet, there remains one individual who is aware of the truth about him—Marienne. Her information might come in handy during the last season, perhaps as she tries to reveal Joe's real character and have him arrested.

The tone of the trailer is ominous and implies that something from Joe's past is catching up with him in a very important manner. His monologue contains the lines: "A lot has happened these many years together: identities, cities, loves, complications. But all that led me here, to now, to where I was always meant to be". This points towards a sense of fate or destiny, implying that Joe is not able to avoid the fallout of his deeds for long.

The Return of Familiar Faces

One of the most intriguing aspects of the trailer is the suggestion that we'll see the return of several characters from previous seasons. The footage includes glimpses of Beck, Love, Marienne, and Kate. While some of these characters are deceased, their appearance could indicate flashbacks, hallucinations, or some other narrative device that brings them back into Joe's story.

The return of these characters is accomplished for several purposes. For the old viewers, it brings a feeling of nostalgia and closure. As a story device, these characters stand in for various stages in Joe's life and various parts of his psyche. Their return underlines the show's theme of Joe's failure to break free of his past and implies that the last season will call upon him to deal with the full consequences of his actions.

New Cast Members and New Challenges

While the trailer concentrates on Joe and his history, Season 5 will introduce new cast members into the series. The new cast members include Madeline Brewer, Anna Camp, and Griffin Matthews. Although the trailer doesn't expose their roles, these new actors will bring with them new challenges and complications as Joe tries to uphold his pretenses in New York.

Having introduced new cast members in addition to the returning originals indicates that Season 5 strikes a balance of looking back as well as looking forward with its story. Through this, it is possible to pay homage to the show's past while maintaining the provision of fresh thrills and surprises on its last run. The combining of old with new should achieve a fulfilling completion of Joe's narrative.

Recalling the Impact of the Series

Since its initial broadcast, "You" has intrigued viewers with its different point of view and morally ambiguous hero. Penn Badgley's acting as Joe Goldberg has been specifically commended, with numerous viewers commenting on how he can make a very disturbed character somehow likable24. As one critic said, he's "very believable in being a lovable psychopath".

The series has been likened to other psychological thrillers such as "Dexter," with one critic pointing out that although "You" is not on the same scale, "it definitely stands on its own"4. The series has never failed to surprise with its shocking twists and complicated character relationships that keep audiences hooked in spite of the gruesome subject matter.

What sets "You" apart from other thrillers is its narrative perspective. By placing viewers directly inside Joe's mind through his voiceover narration, the show creates an uncomfortable intimacy with its villain protagonist. This technique has been a hallmark of the series from the beginning, and the final season's trailer suggests it will continue to be central to the storytelling.

Conclusion: Anticipating the End

The teaser trailer for "You" Season 5 succeeds in generating buzz for the season finale without giving away too much of the plot. By centering around Joe's return to New York and the emotional baggage of his past deeds, the trailer advertises a final season that is simultaneously a nod back to the series' origin and a fulfillment of everything that's transpired since.

As we count down to the April 24, 2025 release date, the fans can anticipate more promotional content that will most likely shed more light on the last season. For the meantime, the trailer provides enough suspenseful moments to create hype while keeping the audience guessing on how Joe Goldberg's tale will eventually conclude.

Will Joe ever get his comeuppance for his misdeeds? Will his former victims play a role in his downfall? Or will he again manage to wriggle out of the repercussions of his actions? The trailer promises that "You" Season 5 will provide a "killer finale" that does so while remaining faithful to the psychological nuance that has made the show so engaging.