In Culture
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These ‘YOU’ fan theories might help you sleep at night

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We’ve already established how addictive Netflix’s show YOU is. The show had such a deliciously shocking ending, but it also left us with a bunch of question and we. Need. Answers. Since not much is known about the second season, some fans have taken it upon themselves to come up with a bunch of theories to help us sleep at night. If you’re guilty of thinking about the shows and the characters more than you should too, let me walk you through some of the fan theories.

Warning: This contains major spoilers so best to go back here when you’ve finished the season.

Beck is alive

So in the show, just when we think Joe and Beck have already worked through their sh*t, Beck learns the dark truth about Joe. A big turn-off to say the least, so she tries to run away and naturally, he locks her in the glass box. Beck is eventually given the chance to escape but of course that didn’t go as planned. The last time we see Beck, she’s attempting to unlock the basement door and Joe is coming up the stairs behind her. The ending reveals Joe has posthumously published Beck’s book about the events that led to her death.

Fans think she’s still alive because we didn’t actually see Joe kill Beck, plus we never saw a body or anyone attending a funeral. Of course, that might be a conscious choice from the showrunners as the scene might be too graphic. In Caroline Kepnes’ original novel, Joe choked Beck which eventually killed her. Still, we know shows don’t always remain faithful to the novel they’re based on. Case in point: In the book, Joe actually ended up drowning Candace, but in the show, she reappears in the end.

That is another reason why fans continue to hope that Beck is alive. If Candace survived, surely there’s a chance for Beck too. One fan pointed out, “Remember at the end he says to Beck ‘I don’t kill people I love. You’re not listening.’”

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What happened to Candace?

Again, when he saw Candace in the ending was a big shocker. This leads us to question what really happened to her. Though we are given a few flashbacks, just like Beck, they didn’t show what Joe did to Candace. There are four major theories here. One is that Candace was actually just a figment of Joe’s imagination. In the previous episodes, Joe started dreaming and hallucinating about her, so this makes sense. But this is actually already disproved by YOU co-creator Sera Gamble who confirmed in an interview with TVGuide that Candace is alive and even pointed that the other people in the bookstore can see her.

If she’s alive, then this other theory is more plausible: Joe tried to kill Candace but she somehow survived. Judging from Joe’s first attempt to kill Peach, we’re already aware that he’s no “professional” killer. In the books, Joe drowned Candace at the beach after she broke things off with him.

Refinery29 writer Kaitlin Reilly speculated that Joe took Candace’s body out on a boat, then dumped her in the water believing she was dead. She noted it was revealed that Joe has some sailing experience: “There’s a potential clue of what Joe did to Candace in the episode ‘Amour Fou.’ In the episode, Joe is stopped by a police officer while driving Mr. Mooney’s car around Connecticut, where he is stalking Beck and Peach. In order to get the cop off his back, Joe pretends he is a wealthy Greenwich type with his own boat—he’s able to rattle the name of the specific kind of boat offhand. It’s in this very episode where Candace, as a ‘ghost’ or hallucination, is most prominent,” Kaitlin wrote.

If this is true, the mystery lies in why she didn’t call the cops on him immediately after surviving. One theory says it’s possible Joe ran to Mooney for help thinking he had murdered Candace. Then, in an attempt to properly dispose of her or check on the crime scene, Mooney discovered she’s actually alive  “and told her to disappear and promised he wouldn’t tell Joe the truth. Not wanting the fact that she survived to get back to Joe, Candace went off the grid and started a new life for herself with completely new friends.”

Another is that Joe had dirt on Candace. Remember, Benji and Beck tried to bargain their way to freedom. Maybe Candace succeeded where both of them didn’t. “From what little we’ve seen of Candace, it definitely seems like she might have her own dark side lurking underneath her hipster veneer, so we wouldn’t be surprised if Joe had some seriously twisted blackmail material on her,” the theory noted.

It’s possible Candace only returned when news of Beck reached her. To exact revenge, or to make sure he won’t hurt anyone again.

Could Paco be the next Joe?

Paco is one of the key characters in the first season. In the end, we see him moving away with his mother, hopefully to start leading a happy life. But it might not be that simple. After all, he has seen Ron get murdered, plus he’s a critical witness to Beck’s “murder.” That’s some traumatic sh*t. Some fans can’t help but wonder what the future holds for him. They speculate it might affect him enough to turn him into a murderer just like Joe. It’s also possible Joe reasoned to him, “Some people deserve to die,” the same way Mooney did with him.

Mooney’s fate

Flashbacks throughout the show reveal that Mr. Mooney’s sick ways of trying to discipline Joe is actually what led his apprentice to become a psychopath. In episode 9, we discover that the bookstore owner is in fact still alive, albeit severely disabled. Joe confessed to Beck that his mentor had a stroke which left him paralyzed and mute. This arouse suspicions in some viewers, especially since he admitted he was the one who found him after the stroke.

It’s too convenient a story, and they say maybe Mooney was another one of Joe’s failed attempts at murder. Motives include Mr. Mooney knew too much about his crimes, Joe got fed up with his treatment, and “Mooney is also just an old-fashioned sociopath that Joe saw the need to stop in his tracks.”

The next season might hold the answer to this. Sera Gamble did hint to The Hollywood Reporter that “there’s a lot more to explore about Joe from earlier in his life. Those are the things we’re starting to get into for season 2.”

Dr. Nicky is the answer

Again, we know Joe Is not a seasoned killer. He has left critical clues that might lead to his indictment. Like that jar of pee he left at Peach’s house. Another big one is Dr. Nicky, whom he framed for Beck’s murder. Lest we forget, both he and Beck were his patients and those sessions were recorded. A fan on Reddit noted: “Dr. Nicky would have to be an absolute MORON to not see the parallels in their stories.”

Gossip Girl crossover

Okay, so this one’s so absurd yet too good to not put here. Get this. Some fans actually think it’s possible Joe is just Dan Humphrey from Gossip Girl. They make their case by saying Dan is basically just a stalker. Pop Buzz noted, “In the final episode of Gossip Girl, viewers learned that Dan was Gossip Girl and that he’d, not only been stalking the Upper East Side’s elite, but using his alter-ego to foster his relationship with Serena.”

Huh. That actually makes sense.

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Art by Marian Hukom

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