Summary
With the thrills ofYoufinally coming to an end, the story is complete and sends off theshow with a fitting endthat is both satisfying and relieving. Throughout the Joe saga, there were more than a few iconic and amazing characters that have left a mark on the viewer, regardless of whether they made it out alive or met their end at the hands of a killer. Many will have their favorites for different reasons, and each season brought a new cast of interesting characters that varied in their motivations, backgrounds, and levels of murderous rage.
After 50 episodes and countless loves and deaths, there were a few standouts in the cast that demonstrated a level of depth and enjoyment that just wasn’t present in the others. While it is hard to appreciate some of the characters in the background when a lot of the focus is on Joe himself, the supporting cast makes more than a splash and continues to subvert expectations and deliver laughs and shocks from start to finish.
8Kate Lockwood
The Voice Of Reason In A Storm Of Chaos
The main love interest in the final seasons of the show, and an incredibly layered and intriguing character indeed, Kate acts as Joe’s better half, in more ways than one, and stands apart from his previous love interests in a big way. As a gallery director, she commands a formidable presence. She shows off her sharp intellect and complexity in her interactions with the socialites in season four, as well as in her relationship with Joe. She doesn’t fall head over heels for the killer straight away. She is actually quite resistant to Joe at the start, matching him on an intellectual level and maintaining her distance and independence until things turn sour.
While others are drawn in by Joe’s varying masks, she actively challenges him, questioning his motives and keeping him at a comfortable distance until she is certain of her emotions. She has one of the more well-developed andcomplex backgrounds that involves a lot of traumarelated to family and privilege, adding some emotional depth that is often missing from characters in the show. Her grounded energy and her evolution from wary outsider to emotionally entangled partner in the final season feels natural yet still holds all the same intensity as the other relationships, culminating in an ending that is both unexpected and painful to watch. Though she doesn’t bring a huge amount of chaos or flair to the show and can sometimes be a bit of a downer, the mirror she casts to Joe and her great onscreen presence make her feel realistic and believable, and she is an absolute treat to watch at all times.
7Louise Flannery (Brontë)
Something More From The Past
No matter how hard he tries, Joe can never stick to just one love interest, and in the final season, Brontë turns up to enter his mind with her charms and intriguing nature. The two encounter one another at Mooney’s, the placewhere the whole show began, and it doesn’t take long for that same attraction to spring back up and for Joe to once again have someone to pursue. Her interest in classic literature immediately catches his attention, and he quickly does everything he can to find out more and to have her become more involved in his life, from offering her a job at the store, to allowing her to move into the apartment just above where the killing took place all those years ago.
Their relationship begins to grow, as Joe wrestles with being a father and a husband to Kate, and his new-found love interest that he simply cannot get enough of. It is a perfect storm that is just begging to collapse, as the same glass cage acts as a constant reminder of his previous life, and she takes more than just a simple interest in what else he might be hiding. As the series goes on, more details about her life get revealed, like her real name and her relationship to Beck, which leads to things becoming more chaotic and drastic, as she serves as a spanner to throw into his otherwise carefree life.
6Lady Phoebe Borehall-Blaxworth
Lovable, Kind, And A Different Spirit To Her Peers
While season four may have had its shortcomings, Lady Phoebe is certainly not one of them. A high-society figure with a striking blend of charm, privilege, and hidden vulnerability, she comes across as somewhat aloof and out of touch with the darker realities of life. Her life of wealth and status elevates her away from others, particularly Joe, but despite her polished exterior, she has more than a few insecurities and issues to grapple with that make her less than perfect.
What makes her stand out in the show is how her character adds a layer of complexity to Joe’s relationship with the privileged side of society and how he interacts with it. As someone born into wealth and accustomed to being adored, she is oblivious to Joe’s true nature and manipulation tactics, allowing him to weave his influence over her while she is none the wiser. She undergoes a powerful emotional journey as she begins to face the consequences of her actions and manages to avoid being pulled too deep into Joe’s web, unlike many of her friends and fellow aristocrats.
5Ellie Alves
One Of The Few To Make It Out Alive
One of the few characters who knows the truth about Joe but is allowed to live, Ellie is a youthful yet independent character who quickly becomes a key figure in the second season. She doesn’t show much of an interest in Joe at all, mocking him and questioning his actions right from the start, but eventually becomes more entangled in her life. She serves as a way for Joe’s moral complexity to be tested and pushed, offering a glimpse of hope in the midst of a dark and twisted mind.
Despite everything that is happening around her, she still manages to remain true to herself and, unlike many of Joe’s targets, she is aware of her own power and doesn’t shy away from using it when needed. An anchor in Joe’s life who both challenges him to confront his actions and ultimately forces him to make difficult decisions that he knows will change the course of his and her life. A refreshing addition to the show that brings a strong sense of control, whilst still showing vulnerability in a field of manipulation and lies.
4Forty Quinn
Comedic Relief Cutdown In His Prime
Forty Quinn is one of the most complex characters inYouand shows off a side to him that is hidden under a light-hearted exterior. As the impulsive and emotionally volatile brother of Love Quinn, Forty’s presence adds both chaos and humor to a series that is often caught up in a storm of violence and attraction. His reckless behavior and quick temper often put him at odds with Joe, but his vulnerability and desire for connection make him a tragic figure who has a good amount of genuine emotional depth.
What makes Forty such a fascinating character is how his journey reveals the darker side of privilege, combined with an exploration of mental health through his self-destructive tendencies. Despite his wealth and status, he’s constantly fighting his demons, paralleling Joe in a way, whether it’s battling his addiction or seeking validation in his work. His relationships, especially with Love, offer a window into the complexities of family dynamics and mental well-being and his emotional turmoil and erratic decisions make him an unpredictable force that ends with tragedy, leaving a lasting impact on the narrative, proving that no one inin the show is ever entirely safe from the consequences of their actions.
3Rhys Montrose
Crafty And Devlish With A Secret Nobody Saw Coming
A dangerous force to be reckoned with that has far more hidden away than it appears, Rhys Montrose is a charismatic, wealthy, and ambitious man, quickly captivating both Joe and the audience with his charm and intellect. As an author with a dark past, Rhys shares a similar loneliness and sense of moral ambiguity with Joe, which creates an unusual bond between the two and shows a kind of friendship that has otherwise been absent for most of the show. As the season progresses, it becomes clear that Rhys is not only a reflection of Joe but a deeply manipulative figure who plays on Joe’s emotions and sense of guilt, making him a formidable antagonist in the series.
The reveal in the later part of the season came out of the blue like a sledgehammer, and despite being an actual figure in the real world, a lot of the scenes where he appears were actually fabrications in the mind of Joe. It’s an incredible twist that then leads to the realization that Joe is the one who has been murdering the rich throughout the series, and comes as a major curveball that throws all of the previous control over his past out the window. A fascinating character that serves as the perfect reminder that Joe will never be free of the darkness inside him and that nothing is ever truly as it appears.
2Love Quinn
There’s Really No One Like You
The best of the lovers and for more reasons than her name, Love Quinn is a formidable woman who demonstrates time and time again that she isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty to keep her family together.First meeting Joe in season twoand meeting her fate 20 episodes later, she shows off her personality in a big way right from the start, and having quite a few surprises that suddenly turn her warm and charming exterior, into a facade that masks a hidden evil that comes out as and when she needs it to.
The expectations at the end of season two were for her to meet a similar end as Beck did, sticking to the tropes established, but instead, viewers were gifted with a whole extra season to enjoy her schemes and plots leading up to a nail-biting final encounter that felt like an eternity to watch thanks to the perfect performance and tension that simply dripped from the screen. Her affection knows no bounds, and at times she even surpasses Joe with her passion for her partner, adding a perfect counterpart to the already vicious killer, but not quite matching him in terms of chaos and determination.
1Joe Goldberg
The Main Man Himself
No matter how hard it may be to resist, Joe issimply too good a characternot to love, despite all the killing, of course. Driven by the talents of Penn Badgley, the psychotic and twisted mind is brought to life in all its blood-stained glory, and presents the audience with a disgusting and awful character that is irresistible in his charm and wit. The character arc he goes on is not that broad in the whole grand scheme of things, as no matter how hard he tries, he can never quite escape the clutches of the murderous demons that lie inside. Time and time again, it seems like he is about to get on the right track, but his consistency to fall back into his old ways is almost frightening, and every scene with just him and another character feels intense and chilling, even if no one ends up dead.
He is a character that has very clear flaws that the show really leans into, and despite dramatizing the serial killer side of his persona in an alluring and attractive way, the irredeemable nature of his actions keeps him at a comfortable distance where viewers can watch on with eager eyes, whilst retaining their moral superiority. The fate that befell him isn’t quite as poetic as many viewers may have wanted, but the ending to his story is just about due, and it makes sense to leave the perfection of his character intact and to close the chapter on him for good.
