Although Netflix has a lot of thriller TV shows, You is still one of its most exciting and surprising series. You premiered on Lifetime in 2018 and moved to the streaming service for seasons 2 through 5. Penn Badgley played Joe Goldberg, an aspiring writer in New York City with an alarming secret: he’s a serial killer. The fifth and final season streamed in April 2025, and the series finale definitely evoked strong emotions and opinions from fans who had been following along with Joe’s bleak life for several years.
When you want a fantastic thriller to binge, Netflix is a smart place to start, thanks to recent successes like The Beast in Me, which has great performances from Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys. But no other thriller really compares to You, and there are a few reasons why it works so well.
‘You’ Is Still One of Netflix’s Best Thriller TV Shows
You is a surprising success story because, when you watch Season 1, it’s hard to tell that it would become such an impressive five-season series. Could a show with a campy tone and wild premise of a charming, cute, and somewhat likable serial killer really last that long? Could it introduce fresh, fun, and interesting new characters each season, and keep fans engaged? Wouldn’t people become bored and want to see Joe punished right away, rather than watching him pursue various love interests for 50 episodes? Most importantly of all, can Joe really hide for so long?
Honestly, You is better than it should be. Rather than feeling formulaic and dull, each season is as much fun as the one before it. Perhaps most amazing of all, the You series finale perfectly weaves the entire story together. Instead of falling apart, You is at its most intriguing in its fifth and final season. That’s all thanks to Joe’s wife Kate Lockwood (Charlotte Ritchie), who finds out who he is in the You fourth season finale, and Joe’s Season 5 partner Bronte (Madeline Brewer), who knows the truth about him as well. Watching Kate and Bronte interact with Joe, who thinks he’s untouchable, is fascinating.
You is full of surprises, especially since it might seem like Joe would stay in New York City forever. Instead, Joe lives in a new place in almost every season, from New York City (Seasons 1 and 5) to California (Seasons 2 and 3) to London (Season 4), and keeps changing his identity. The twist involving Joe’s Season 2 and 3 love interest, Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti), is smart, shocking, and perfectly timed, ensuring that the stakes are raised at a crucial moment. Joe’s partners each have their own personalities and aren’t carbon copies of each other. It’s clear why they care about him, and You does a great job showing how master manipulators like Joe get away with their pattern of behavior.
From afar, You is closer to a corny, guilty pleasure thriller than masterful storytelling. And, yes, it can definitely fit into the guilty pleasure category. But instead of focusing on cheap twists, blood, and gore, the series is about the emotions at the core of the story. You’s deaths are all sad, and these moments matter so much because of the strong character development. Every time Joe kills someone, it’s so disturbing because you feel like you really know his love interests and the people in their lives. His partners are fully formed people, especially single mother Marienne Bellamy (Tati Gabrielle) and Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti), who has a complex family life. You shouldn’t work as well as it does, but it’s an exciting five-season ride.
