Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for Episode 6 ofYouSeason 4.
Netflix has finally released the last five episodes of Season 4 ofYou, taking Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) into a new and exciting direction as the killer is forced to face his inhuman actions. Part 1 of Season 4 was structured as a whodunit, as Joe raced against the clock to find the identity of theEat-the-Rich Killer. Now that the truth is in the open, Part 2 pushes Joe to use his grim serial killer abilities to hunt down Rhys (Ed Speleers), London’s wannabe mayor who hides dark secrets.
Now that the whodunit section of the series is done, Part 2 ofYoualso goes back to the series' roots by exploring how people can dangerously mistake obsession for love. However, this time, Joe is not chasing a new romantic partner and manipulating the truth to get to them. Instead, it’s Rhys who’s after Joe, as the Eat-the-Rich killer seems determined to make a new friend. It’s no wonder that Season 4, Episode 6, “Best of Friends,” is all about how toxic friendships can truly be.
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Hiding in Plain Sight
When Episode 6 starts, we learn things haven’t changed much since Part 1’s finale. Rhys is still running for mayor in London and using the Eat-the-Rich murders as a platform to explore his supposed concern for the poor masses of the English capital. As for Joe, he’s determined to find proof that Rhys is the Eat-the-Rich killer, a task that’s made impossible because his nemesis lives in a well-secured home filled with cameras. Even worse, Rhys seemingly only leaves his home to attend public events, giving Joe no opportunity to attack. Joe’s breakthrough comes when his student Nadia (Amy-Leigh Hickman) reveals she crossed paths with Rhys in a park during the morning. The writer uses his weekends to prepare to run a marathon, the only thing in Rhys’ busy agenda that can give Joe the upper hand.
While Joe is thinking about how to get to Rhys in the park and have a quiet chat far away from curious eyes, the killer breaks into Joe’s apartment. To Joe’s surprise, Rhys is not avoiding an encounter. On the contrary, Rhys is excited to keep a twisted relationship with Joe, who he calls a friend. Rhys is tired of keeping secrets from everyone and sees Joe as someone with whom he might share his darkest deeds. For instance, Rhys doesn’t take long to confess every Eat-the-Rich victim had something that could derail his mayoral campaign.
Malcolm (Stephen Hagan) was blackmailing Rhys due to the killer’s excessive gambling, a future mayor couldn’t be involved with Simon (Aidan Cheng) after his recurring abuse of women became public, and Gemma (Eve Austin) was an immoral sexual affair from a time when Rhys was still married. So, instead of leaving things to chance, Rhys eliminated everyone who could threaten his political ambitions. The only loose thread is the figure of the Eat-the-Rich killer, as Rhys must choose someone to pin the blame on for all the murders if he hopes the police to stop investigating the matter.
Thrilled to have someone to discuss his killer habits, Rhys demands Joe offer him proof of friendship. If Joe doesn’t want to be framed for the Eat-the-Rich murders, he must choose the person who’ll take the blame. Rhys promises to take care of the how, but it’s up to Joe to send an innocent person to jail. After everything he’s done, Joe still believes he’s a good person, and Rhys wants him to be adamant he does awful things for self-preservation. It’s a dangerous game the two men are playing, and one that will hurt many more people before the season ends.
The Frame Job
To find the perfect suspect to pin the blame for the Eat-the-Rich murders, Joe keeps buzzing around the Oxford friendship group. By talking to Lady Phoebe (Tilly Keeper), Joe discovers Connie (Dario Coates) doesn’t have an alibi for the murders, making him the perfect candidate for the frame job. And after meeting Connie for lunch, Joe even convinces himself that sending the poor man to prison might do him some good. Connie has a history of drug abuse and seems to have hit rock bottom. So, while it might hurt to be convicted of crimes he didn’t commit, taking time to clean up and rethink his life could be good for Connie. Besides that, no one would really miss him.
At the beginning of Season 4, Episode 6, we see a mysterious woman (Alison Pargeter) taking pictures of Joe while he tries to follow Rhys. The same woman infiltrates Kate’s party, disguised as a staff member. And when everyone is distracted, the woman tells Lady Phoebe the killer is nearby and that she must be escorted right away to a safe place. The woman, named Dawn, is a delusion fan of Lady Phoebe, who imagines they are best friends, even though they’ve never met before. Dawn wants to keep Lady Phoebe safe and kidnaps her to protect her friend from the Eat-the-Rich killer.
Once she realizes Dawn is unstable, Lady Phoebe convinces the woman to let her go. The resolution to this dire conflict only comes when Joe finds out where Dawn keeps Lady Phoebe. Lady Phoebe convinces Dawn to let Joe inside the locked room, threatening to break their imaginary friendship. And once Joe is inside, he rips off the band-aid and tells Dawn she needs psychiatric help, as the supposed friendship is a symptom of a pathological obsession. While Joe is distracting Dawn, Lady Phoebe overpowers the woman and takes off her knife. Meanwhile, Joe plants Simon’s ear inside Dawn’s bag, framing her for the Eat-the-Rich murders. Dawn is guilty of kidnapping Lady Phoebe anyway and needs medical treatment. So, in Joe’s head, there was not much harm in pinning the blame for Rhys’ murders on the poor woman. Sadly for Joe, Rhys wants much more than a simple frame job.
All Is Fair in Love and War
While Dawn was arrested before harming Lady Phoebe, she still managed to do some damage. For instance, she revealed Adam (Lukas Gage) is on the brink of bankruptcy and willing to use Lady Phoebe for her money. That’s only half true since Adam seems to genuinely care about Lady Phoebe, but since he’s been hiding his dire financial situation, his marriage proposal does sound like a scam. So, while Adam bets his precious car collection to get a diamond worthy of Lady Phoebe’s hand, she still says no to him, saying that the only way to prove his love is to get his life together on his own.
While Lady Phoebe and Adam’s relationship might have ended, Joe finally stops struggling with his desire for Kate. In Season 4, Episode 6, Joe realizes he’s jealous when Kate meets a handsome former lover, Niko (Ben Starr). Niko is not only dreamy but also rich, buying Simon’s entire art collection just to impress Kate. Unfortunately for Kate, she soon finds Niko is just a pawn being used by her father, Tom Lockwood, to further control her. And when Joe sees Kate kicking Niko out of her apartment, he decides to go to her. They agree to forget the past and never question each other about whatever they did before. That way, they can move forward with whatever relationship they’ve built in the past weeks.
Joe’s privileged window view helps him to stalk Kate. But it also allows Rhys to peek as Joe and Kate get together. And when Joe gets back to his flat, Rhys is there with cold beers and murderous intentions. After complimenting Joe for how he framed Dawn, Rhys revealed his endgame: he wants Joe to help him kill Tom Lockwood. Tom is funding one of Rhys’s political adversaries, and the old man has been causing much pain to Kate. So, why not take him out? Joe doesn’t like to think of himself as a killer, but Rhys might force him to plan and execute a dangerous murder.
To complicate matters, Joe has awakened suspicion in Nadia’s heart during Kate’s party. His student was there, and once Lady Phoebe disappeared she realized Joe had a strange knack for thinking like a killer. Considering how Joe apparently was oblivious to murder mystery literature, she wonders if he might be hiding something. And as a charged episode ends, Joe is trapped in a web of mystery that threatens his new identity and the peaceful life he so desperately wants.
