Episode 6 of You Season 5, titled "The Dark Face of Love," yanks the rug from under us yet again, delivering one of those classic, gut-punch plot twists the show does so well. Just when it feels like the walls are finally closing in on Joe Goldberg, the writers swing the pendulum back, keeping the engine of chaos humming along beautifully.
We pick up in the aftermath of the beach house ambush. Joe (Penn Badgley) is arrested for Clayton's murder. It’s the first time in a long while that Joe seems truly cornered, and for a moment—a fleeting, delicious moment—it looks like this could finally be it. His past sins, his bloody hands, all catching up to him.
But this is You. And it would have been far too early for Joe to face true justice—with four episodes left, there’s still so much more chaos to unleash.
Enter Kate (Charlotte Ritchie), who sends in her army of high-powered lawyers to whisk Joe away from the cops. It’s a brutal reminder that in Joe’s world, survival is often just a matter of who has the better legal team.
Meanwhile, the show peels back Bronte’s (Madeline Brewer) layers in a series of flashbacks that reframe everything we thought we knew. We learn that Bronte was once a student and friend of Guinevere Beck (with Elizabeth Lail returning for a timely cameo). Their relationship was marked by warmth and mutual admiration—Beck even supports Bronte’s decision to leave school to care for her sick mother.
But when Beck is murdered, Bronte doesn’t buy the easy narrative. Instead, she dedicates herself to uncovering the truth. Along the way, she connects with Dominique, Phoenix, and Clayton (yes, that Clayton), forming a vigilante trio hell-bent on exposing Joe. Sorts like You's own version of the Scooby Gang.
Their investigation spans years—a dogged, obsessive hunt that continues even after Joe fakes his death. When they discover he’s not only alive but thriving in New York high society, their mission reignites with ferocious clarity.
Initially, Bronte’s plan is clinical: seduce Joe, gain his trust, catch him slipping. But somewhere along the way, something complicated happens. She starts believing he might be innocent. That perhaps the man she’s supposed to destroy is different from the monster they’ve painted.
As we saw in episode 5, "Last Dance", Bronte's internal conflict crescendos when she tries to flee to Atlantic City. Joe, in classic obsessive fashion, follows her—and fate intervenes in a twisted, violent way. Clayton, furious and unhinged, attacks Bronte. Joe kills him, stepping neatly into the role of saviour.
In her interview with the police, a confused and uncertain Bronte spins the event into a story of self-defense—a narrative that saves Joe from the abyss just as he was staring into it. It’s a twist that fits so perfectly into You’s pattern of near-escapes and moral murkiness.
Back at home, Joe’s momentary relief curdles into a new nightmare. He discovers that Kate had him sign custody papers for Henry during his legal debacle. If Joe steps out of line—if he so much as thinks about crossing her—he'll lose his son. Permanently.
A pissed-off Joe Goldberg is not a force to be reckoned with, and unaware of Bronte's self-defense disclosure to the police, believing she deliberately set up the beach house catfish, and now discovering a hidden camera she'd planted in the apartment above Mooney's, Bronte have inadvertently booked herself a date with Joe's rage.
"The Dark Face of Love" is a masterclass in how You keeps the tension taut even as it shifts the playing field. Every time Joe seems one step away from disaster, some twist—legal loophole, emotional manipulation, sheer dumb luck—grants him a reprieve. It's infuriating. It's brilliant.
The show knows exactly what it's doing. We’re not supposed to root for Joe. And yet, Penn Badgley’s performance remains so magnetically complex that we can’t help ourselves. Even when we know he deserves to fall, we find ourselves leaning in, desperate to see how he wriggles free.
Madeline Brewer continues to be a force, layering Bronte with just enough ambiguity to keep her unpredictable. Was she genuinely torn? Or was her allegiance always to herself? Either way, she’s helped give the season some of its sharpest, most disorienting moments.
With four episodes left, You shows no signs of slowing down. The stage is set for a bloodier, messier, and possibly more tragic endgame. If Joe thought he could waltz into a fairy tale ending, "The Dark Face of Love" reminds us: in this story, love has teeth.
And it's still hungry.
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