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How Many People Did Joe Goldberg Kill During ‘You’?

todayApril 25, 2025 1

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(SPOILERS for Netflix’s You will obviously be found below.)

At the end of You‘s fifth season, Joe Goldberg was revealed to be done and dusted in prison. This satisfying ending dovetails with what star Penn Badgley has felt that Joe deserved all along, which is perhaps a fate worse than death, and now, the object of Cardi B’s affections has lost his luscious locks and is inwardly blaming society for everything that he’s done.

So much for accountability, right? That final detail, in which Joe refuses to accept responsibility for his homicidal actions, is also commentary on how You viewers lusted over a serial killer. It also works out mighty fine that this show’s “Final Girl,” Bronte (a fantastic Madeline Brewer), got out alive, as did Kate (Charlotte Ritchie) and Marienne (Tati Gabrielle). Many did not fare as well, although we can guess that Dr. Nicky (John Stamos, not reprising his role in the fifth season) is feeling vindicated somewhere as a free man. Surely? Yet over 20 other people who encountered Joe did not make it out alive (whether by cage or through various other mechanisms), so let’s count ’em.

Season 1

Lifetime

Although this wasn’t Joe’s official first kill, the show started off with a bang when Joe kind-of deliciously killed Guinevere Beck’s boyfriend, Benji Ashby, which is rather annoying to recall because (dammit) Goldberg sometimes did what the audience secretly wanted him to do. Then there was spoiled literary heiress Peach Salinger, whose death (and the fact that Joe left behind some pee-evidence) resulted in the above ^^^ meltdown face. More murders followed including Ron Baker, abusive stepdad to Paco; Elijah Thornton (in flashback), a music exec with whom Candace Stone cheated on Joe; Jimmy Stone, brother to Candace; and Guinevere Beck, whose death was unjustly followed by Joe publishing her book and framing Dr. Nicky for her murder.

Subtotal: Six

Season 2

A flashback informed us that Joe killed his mother’s abusive partner to start his lifelong rampage. Additionally, horrendous perv Henderson lost his life to Joe, thereby ending a three-episode appearance by now-disgraced comedian Chris D’Elia, who was (in a case of art allegedly imitating life) accused of bad acts that bore a striking resemblance to his character. Penn Badgley’s baddie also took out Jasper Krenn, a fellow psychopath and mobster who probably would have killed Joe if given any more screen time.

Subtotal: Nine

Season 3

After literally marrying Love and growing obsessed with Marienne, Joe targeted her abusive ex-husband, Ryan Goodwin, who lost a brutal battle with Joe’s knife. Near season’s end, Joe was nearly killed by his then-wife, Love Quinn (who has her own separate body count), in a knock-down, drag-out, poison-filled fight that ended with her demise and Joe faking his own death and changing his identity before fleeing to Europe.

Subtotal: Eleven

Season 4

Despite this season being the dullest of the bunch, Joe managed to rack up his highest body count yet while pretending to be Professor Jonathan Moore. This rather convoluted season sees him dissociate, and the rest was bloody TV history. The wildest part about this season is that Joe doesn’t remember his murderous spree as the Eat The Rich killer, but nonetheless, he took out Vic, security detail to Phoebe; Malcolm Harding, a badly behaving professor; Simon Soo, a con-artist of an artist; Gemma Graham-Greene, whose throat was slit; Edward, who had uncovered the evidence of Joe’s crimes, Tom Lockwood, father to Kate; Hugo McNamara, bodyguard to Tom Lockwood; and Rhys Montrose, in both the literal and imaginary senses.

Subtotal: Nineteen

Season 5

This final tour of terror began with Joe back in his old stomping grounds while flying way too close to the sun. And although Bronte did grow worryingly close to permanently falling under his spell (You did not shy away from Joker-Harley Quinn comparisons with a certain episode title), she fought him like hell, which miraculously led to his imprisonment for life.

Before that happened, Joe took out Buffalo Bob Cain, mentor to Kate; Clayton, who hoped to vindicate his father, the wrongly convicted Dr. Nicky; Dane, a misogynist who began stalking Bronte; and A Random Cop, who had the misfortune of losing his life during Joe’s last stand after a nearly-drowned Bronte alerted the police. Do we have a total now? Yes.

Total: Twenty three. Rot in prison hell, Stalker Joe.



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