Warning: There are major spoilers ahead for You season three on Netflix.
Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) might have managed to present himself as a mastermind in hiding his body count in season one of You, but season two of the Netflix hit series introduced the infamous anti-hero to his nemesis in the form of Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti).
The initial episodes of season two show them as potential love interests as Joe attempts to replace Beck with Love as the new target of his affection. It is not until the season’s end that the viewers were introduced to a rather unexpected and murky secret about the cheerful heroine – who turned to be as obsessive, jealous, and murderous as her male counterpart. After all, she was the one who killed his brother’s au pair as a child and viciously murdered Delilah and Candace toward the end of season two.
Season three treated us to another chapter of the pair’s lives. Joe and Love got married and had a boy named Henry. The sprawling lawns of the Californian suburbia where the married couple settled offered plenty of opportunities for them to navigate a marital relationship and parenthood, encounter and resolve jealousies and infidelity, as well as devise methods to conceal their inclination to murder from their newly-made friends of Madre Linda.
Along with the intriguing encounters, affairs, and more bone-chilling obsession-induced murders throughout the series, Love and Joe could be seen at loggerheads with each other, keeping the audience guessing at the culmination of their budding toxic relationship.
In the season finale, we get to see the end of Joe and Love’s marriage for good, which is tied to Love’s fate. Let’s elaborate on what exactly happened to Love.
How did Love die on ‘You?’
Joe’s obsession with finding the right woman continued in season three when the very first episode showed him being infatuated with his neighbor, Natalie. The latter was murdered by Love following her discovery of Joe’s attraction to her, leading Joe to perceive Love’s actions as an obstruction to his conquest.
In a span of 10 episodes, we get to see bodies piling up, as well as a particularly creepy scene of the couple locking up their friends Cary and Shirley inside a glass cage in a later sequence. Joe’s constant lookout found him another prospective soulmate in librarian Marianne who was blackmailed by her former husband and feared losing custody of her daughter leading Joe to kill him.
Upon discovering her husband Ryan’s death, Love became aware of Joe’s developing crush on Marianne, causing her to decide to put an end to the affair. Meanwhile, in episode 10, “What is Love,” Joe made the decision to leave Love for good and begin a new life with Marianne, her daughter, and his son Henry.
Before this beautiful union could materialize, Love poisoned Joe with aconite, the same drug she used on her late husband. “This time I am letting it absorb through the skin,” she said as Joe became paralyzed and fell on the floor, but not before grabbing hold of the knife on the table which was smeared with the paralytic aconite.
We are then introduced to Love’s plan of killing Marianne, who she invited over to their place under the pretext of an emergency masquerading as Joe. However, an interaction between Love and Marianne — where the latter denied having any feelings for Joe and Marianne’s daughter popped in at that very moment — changed Love’s perception of her. She gave up on the idea of killing her and instead blamed Joe for their complicated relationship.
As she attempted to decapitate Joe with a cleaver, he regained consciousness and immediately stabbed her with a syringe containing aconite. He then recounted his suspicion of Love growing something in the garden. On discovering that it was aconite, he created an antidote. He then took the antidote to counter the impact of the drug.
As Love lay motionless on the ground, Joe forged a confession by Love, admitting the murders including Joe. He cut off two of his toes as evidence of his murder and stuck one of them in a pie, after which he set the house ablaze and left the house as a free man with his son leaving Love’s body inside.
Is Love really dead?
The shocking ending of the series left many fans wondering if there’s more to it, most significantly whether Love is still alive. As the character managed to acquire a swelling fanbase of her own even more than the male lead, fans aren’t ready to let go and are longing to see more of their favorite character’s viciousness.
There have been many theories about Love being alive, since her body was never shown burning. So, there are chances that she might have escaped the house and is still alive.
However, that doesn’t take into consideration the vast amount of aconite in her system and its deadly nature as reiterated in the show. Pedretti spoke on the subject in an interview with Collider where she said, “A question for the writers but I am still under the impression she’s dead. She seems pretty dead”.
As the new season approaches, fans are expecting more thrills and revelations.
You is currently streaming on Netflix.