You season 4 part 1 ending explained: Your biggest questions answered

Joe Goldberg is back – and this time he's taking London by storm. After faking his own death at the end of season 3 when his married life in the Californian suburbs went sour, our antihero is starting afresh in the English capital under the alias Jonathan Moore, a professor of English Literature. While trying to keep a low profile, Joe finds himself ushered into the inner circle of Lady Phoebe and London's wealthy elite – right as the group starts to be targeted by a serial killer. It's safe to say Joe's plans for a European holiday aren't quite going to plan. 

The new installment of the Netflix show is releasing in two parts, with part 1 streaming now. But what exactly goes down in episode 5? There are plenty of twists and turns to keep up with, and we've done our best to give you the lowdown on every juicy, gory detail.

As you might expect, there are major spoilers for You season 4 part 1 ahead. Proceed with caution if you haven't seen the new episodes yet and don't want to know what happens!

You season 4 part 1 ending explained: a recap

The end of You season 4 part 1 finds Joe and his new friends-slash-foes on a weekend away at 'Hampsie', Lady Phoebe's country residence. That's everyone except the recently deceased (Malcolm and Simon) and Rhys Montrose, who we can assume is busy preparing his campaign to be Mayor of London. It's anything but a relaxing getaway, though, as we discover that another of the group has quickly bitten the dust when Kate finds Gemma's dead body in her room. Joe helps her dispose of the corpse in the manor house's game larder. 

Afterward, once they're back in Kate's room, Kate realizes she left her bracelet – inscribed with her name – in the larder with Gemma's chopped up body, and Joe goes to retrieve it for her. Roald intercepts him on his way and gets him at gunpoint in front of the rest of the group, announcing that Joe is the 'eat the rich' killer. Of course, Joe in turn suspects Roald after he discovers that Roald is infatuated with Kate and has been taking intimate photos of her without her knowledge. Roald also recently pushed Joe out of a first floor window, which hasn't made relations between the two any smoother.

After their confrontation with the group, Roald releases Joe into the woods and begins seemingly hunting him for sport. Suddenly, Rhys appears. He calls Joe by his real name, before knocking him out with the barrel of a gun. That's right, Rhys is the 'you' who has been texting Joe anonymously and, therefore, the 'eat the rich' killer. 

Joe wakes up in the basement of the house, chained up next to an unconscious Roald. Rhys wants to team up with Joe and pin the murders on Roald – but not before Joe kills Roald first. Joe refuses and Rhys starts a fire in the basement. He says that if Joe can escape they can "revisit" this conversation in London.

Joe manages to get himself and Roald out of the chains and Kate helps them out of the basement before it's completely engulfed by the fire. Back in London, Joe swears to get back at Rhys and, in a TV broadcast, Rhys announces his candidacy for Mayor of London. 

Who dies in You season 4 part 1?

Malcolm, Joe's neighbor and fellow professor at Darcy College, is the first victim of the 'eat the rich' killer at the end of episode 1. Joe wakes up after a big night at Sundry House to find Malcolm impaled with a knife on his kitchen table and no memory of how he ended up there – talk about hangxiety. Oh, and Malcolm's corpse is also missing a finger.

Arrogant artist Simon is the next person in the group to bite the dust in episode 2. His body is found backstage at his art show after he's confronted by a young artist who he took advantage of. In what seems to be emerging as a pattern for our serial murderer, one of Simon's ears has been removed from his corpse. Finally, Gemma is the last victim of the 'eat the rich' killer in episode 4. After the murder mystery party, Kate finds her body on the floor of her room. Like Malcolm and Simon before her, she has also been stabbed.

Who killed Malcolm? Who is Joe's stalker?

In episode 5, we discover that Joe's stalker, the sender of the cryptic anonymous texts, and the 'eat the rich' killer is none other than respectable, rags-to-riches, Mayor of London candidate Rhys Montrose. He reveals himself to Joe at the end of part 1 and expresses a desire for the two to team up and frame Roald for the murders of Malcolm, Simon, and Gemma. 

What happened to Marienne?

After Marienne escaped Madre Linda with her young daughter Juliette at the end of season 3, she starts a new life in Paris as an artist. Season 3 ended with Joe following her to the French capital, but he fails to find her, only a stall selling her artwork. The stall's proprietor tells him that he can find Marienne in London, as she's selling her wares at an art fair there, and so Joe follows suit. After pursuing her through the streets and into an abandoned building – and scaring her senseless – Joe ultimately lets her go.

Later, he is confronted by a man hired to kill him by Love Quinn's father (remember Love? Joe's now-deceased wife whose death he staged along with his own as an elaborate murder-suicide back in Madre Linda after she, in turn, tried to kill him?). The man, however, does not want to kill Joe. Instead, he gives him a new identity – Jonathan Moore – and tells him to disappear. However, there's a catch: Joe needs to kill Marienne, as she knows he's really alive. 

It seems like Joe really has turned over a new leaf, though, as he doesn't kill Marienne. Instead, he follows her to St. Pancras railway station where she's about to board a train back to Paris and sneakily steals her necklace, seemingly to show to Mr. Quinn's henchman as proof that he did murder her. As far as we know, Marienne boarded her train back to Paris and returned to her quiet life with Juliette.

When does You season 4 part 2 arrive on Netflix?

While You season 4 part 1 (AKA episodes 1-5) is now available to watch on Netflix, episodes 6-10 won't arrive until March 9. This means there's a whole month to wait between part 1 and part 2, with the streamer following shows like Stranger Things season 4 in releasing in a two-part structure.

Caught up on You season 4? Check out our picks of the other best Netflix shows that you can stream right now, and the other best new TV shows coming our way in 2023.