‘You’: Why Penn Badgley was Not a Fan of the Season 2 Ending
If you watched season one of You, then you were probably preparing yourself for the craziness that would surely ensue with season two. You’s premiere season showed us the mind of Joe Goldberg, the wildly attractive and charming sociopath who always ended up killing the people that he loved.
When season one ended with the death of Guinevere Beck and the reemergence of Joe’s first “murdered” love Candace Stone, fans wondered how Joe could ever get away with what he had done and most importantly, how season two could live up to its predecessor.
Well, if we are judging by the level of craziness displayed and number of twists and turns involved, then season two far surpassed the premiere season of You.
But even with the rave reviews that the second season has received, Penn Badgley, who plays Joe, recently admitted that he was originally disappointed with season two’s ending.
How does ‘You’ season two end?
If you haven’t seen the most recent season of You, then don’t read any further because there are some major spoilers ahead.
Throughout the entire season of the show, Joe tried to prove that he was good enough to be with the object of his affection, Love Quinn. Unfortunately, after his neighbor, Delilah found the box where he kept his prisoners, he was forced to lock her up. When Love found Delilah handcuffed inside the box, instead of setting her free, she killed Delilah in an effort to save Joe, revealing that she too was a psychopath.
Which kind of made the two characters perfect for one another.
“Love, who is essentially the polar opposite of Beck in that she wants to be with Joe,” Badgley told Entertainment Tonight. “He’s not pursuing her in the same way. It’s a different dynamic, so the fact that he is a predator, the fact that he is delusional, has all these different manic compulsions, they’re all challenged in a very different way. You see him struggling with himself and hope in a new way.”
“She is theoretically a perfect match because she wants to see somebody the way Joe wants to be seen, and vice versa. They both want to be seen,” he continued. “You understand more and more [that] she has a mania there too.”
Why didn’t Penn Badgley like the ending?
Badgley didn’t expect Love to also be a murderer.
“With this one, it was actually a bit of a reveal for me,” Badgley told Entertainment Weekly. “I was only able to get through the second season because I was like, ‘Well at least they’re made for each other in the end.’ If I had gone through a second season knowing that anybody was going to die, it’s hard.”
“When I found out where it was headed, I was kind of crestfallen because, just selfishly, I wanted there to be a more positive resolution,” he continued. “But just like Beck dying in the first season, I realized that this was the most accurate, the most reflective of reality, the most responsible to be like, ‘No, Joe doesn’t get to have that.’”
But Joe did kind of get a happy ending. He and Love moved out to the suburbs and are now expecting a child. That’s pretty good for a serial killer, right?
