Is Victoria Pedretti’s Return in ‘You’ a Hallucination or a Fan’s Dream Come True?
Someone has been reading my dream journal! *WARNING: SPOILERS FOR SEASON 4*
Hello, You.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past week, you know that everyone’s favorite baseball cap-wearing serial killer made his way back to our TV screens last Thursday. And, since Joe seemingly “died” at the end of Netflix’s You season 3 when he framed his wife, Love Quinn, for his murder, our pal is living across the pond as a bearded college professor named Jonathon Moore.
However, as you could probably expect with Joe’s track record, things haven’t been going swimmingly as he’s been living amongst the Brits. Bodies are dropping left, right, and center, and shockingly, it’s not entirely by his hand. And, thanks to a sneak peek of Season 4 Part 2 provided by the show’s Instagram, it seems like Joe’s biggest threat is coming back to haunt him.
That’s right, baby, Love Quinn is back from the dead! Or, perhaps reaching out from the grave. Either way, the show has confirmed that Victoria Pedretti will be gracing us with her presence in the second half of the season. But what does this mean for Joe? Is she a ghost? Did she somehow escape his murder attempt? Let’s put on our darkest baseball caps and break it all down!
Where does Joe stand at the end of season 4 part 1?
As I mentioned earlier, Joe is NOT having a good time in London town. He has managed to befriend some of the wealthiest and elite members of society just in time for another serial killer to start taking them out one by one, including the boyfriend of his newest obsession (cue eye-roll), Kate Galvin. As he tries to protect the spoiled bunch of narcissists from meeting their doom, Joe starts receiving messages from the culprit, nicknamed the “Eat the Rich” killer.
Somehow, the killer knows all about his past in New York and Los Angeles, threatening to expose his crimes if he speaks a word about their existence. So, naturally, Joe does spill the beans about everything to Kate in a messed up, sweet way to gain her trust because he thinks she is behind it all. But, it turns out that was all for nothing when it’s revealed in the final episode that Joe’s murderous pen pal is Rhys Montrose, a member of the friend group who came from a working class background before being lifted up in society due to his previously unknown father’s connections. Joe ends the first half of this season swearing to stop Rhys from continuing his murderous plot and bid for London mayor.
How does Love factor into Joe’s story now?
Love, much like Rhys, is the perfect foil to Joe in every way. Both are cunning, manipulative, and great at hiding in plain sight. And, most of all, both can see Joe for what he truly is: a monster. Joe likes to think of himself as above others like him because he thinks his actions are virtuous, but he’s just as depraved as Rhys and Love. He just doesn’t want to admit it to himself.
Hell, that was a major reason why Love and Joe didn’t work as a couple in season 3. She was way too much like him, and that turned him off. Love returning to the show would be another mirror held up to Joe’s face to make him come to terms with who he is and what he’s done—not just to her and the Quinn family, but to Beck, Peach, Ellie, Delilah, and so many other lives he’s destroyed during the show’s run.
Is Love really not dead or is she another ex-lover ghost?
Joe is no stranger to having hallucinations about his dead exes, as he continued to see and talk to Beck for the first part of season 2. Love appearing as a spirit could be catalyst of Joe’s annual “I’m a good person that is always forced to do bad things” meltdown. She could appear to reinforce that Joe is a killer and doesn’t deserve a nice person to settle down with. He deserves someone like her or Rhys, someone who understands his dark nature and doesn’t run from it.
Or, and this is just my dream, fanfiction storyline, Love is back on the show because she really didn’t die when Joe left her at the end of season 3. Somehow, she managed to escape, recover from her injuries (I mean, her family is mega rich, so it’s not really out of the realm of possibilities), and tracked Joe all the way to London. The Quinn family did send a P.I. who managed to find Joe at the beginning of the season, but what if it wasn’t Love’s father who sent the investigator, but Love herself?
My biggest piece of evidence of why maybe, just maybe Love could be alive is that the outfit she’s seen wearing at the end of the teaser is not something we’ve seen her in before. When Beck’s ghost visited Joe, she was in the outfit she died in. Love appears in a new outfit, and she’s holding Rhys’ book! I’m not a ghost expert by any means, but I don’t think they can hold and read books. I’m just saying.
Whether Love is a ghost or alive ultimately doesn’t matter because it’s just great to have Victoria Pedretti back on the show. I’m beyond excited to see what part she plays in the final half of the season, and if she really is back from the dead, everyone owes me a cookie!
You season 4 part 2 will premiere on March 9, and you can watch part 1 right now on Netflix.
(featured image: Netflix)
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