Kate’s Destiny in ‘You’ Season 5, Defined by Charlotte RItchie

Warning: Main spoilers forward for season 5 of Netflix’s “You.”

The ultimate chapter of Netflix’s hit collection “You” has arrived, and star Charlotte Ritchie is (principally) thrilled that her character, Kate Lockwood, made it out alive.

The fifth season of “You,” launched on Thursday, picks up three years after Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) and Kate transfer again to his hometown of New York Metropolis on the finish of season 4. Every thing goes effectively for the now-married energy couple, however Joe’s darkish aspect can solely be suppressed for thus lengthy, and as soon as it reemerges and reinvigorates him, their relationship turns into fraught.

Ritchie advised Enterprise Insider that Kate has recognized all alongside that that is who Joe is — she’s simply been in denial about it. This season is “an actual lesson in accepting the fact of your scenario,” Ritchie stated.

When Kate lastly sees clearly, she decides that the one strategy to cease Joe is to kill him.

“She is genuinely afraid of him and what he can do,” Ritchie defined. “I believe she simply sees how this man persistently will get away with every part, and he or she’s like, ‘He has to not exist anymore for us to be protected. There is not any system on the earth that would maintain him from us.'”

Kate recruits Joe’s season three love curiosity Marienne Bellamy (Tati Gabrielle) and season 4 character Nadia (Amy-Leigh Hickman) to assist her. That is a method the ultimate season weaves collectively unfastened ends from the collection and offers closure for different fan-favorite characters.

“What I like about this collection is that they actually lean into the style. They actually lean into the historical past of the present,” Ritchie stated. “I believe it does the entire narrative justice.”

In a single dramatic second within the penultimate episode, after getting right into a bodily altercation, Kate and Joe find yourself on the ground of Mooney’s basement because the bookstore goes up in flames.

Resigned and extra truthful than ever and considering they’ve each reached their finish, Joe admits that he killed Kate’s dad and murdered Love. Relieved, Kate reveals that she secretly recorded Joe’s confession and might be sending it to the authorities.

“You bought me,” Joe says. “You’ll be able to die completely happy.”

It is a scene that, like many within the present, finds the humor in unconventional moments.

“I like that that is in there, simply Kate and Joe each fairly dryly commenting on how absurd it’s and the way unhappy that they are each going to die,” Ritchie stated. “I simply assume it is an excellent scene. I believe it is rather well written.”

Neither Kate nor Joe dies in that second, and Ritchie has sophisticated emotions about her character escaping the hearth.

“I used to be so completely happy as a result of I’ve grown to actually love this character, and I discovered it was so enjoyable to get to be proper within the midst of getting him,” Ritchie stated. “However I additionally felt like if there’s ever a poetic justice in demise, there was some justice in Kate taking place with him.”

“I actually do not consider in folks dying as a result of they’ve performed dangerous issues, however on the earth of the justice of this present, there’s such a redemptive aspect to Kate’s demise that it will’ve been OK,” she added.

With Joe locked up for all times within the finale, Ritchie stated she’s completely happy that Henry has a constant and secure dad or mum. However nonetheless, Kate’s not harmless.

“She’s performed some fairly dastardly issues and he or she’s obtained herself into scrapes and been chargeable for lots of people’s downfalls,” Ritche stated. “So yeah, I used to be on the fence as to what ought to occur to her, however I used to be clearly actually happy that she comes by way of.”

“You” co-showrunners Michael Foley and Justin W. Lo beforehand advised BI that they’re ready for followers to have various reactions to Joe’s destiny within the finale and their option to put him behind bars. Ritchie, too, remains to be grappling with that conclusion.

“I really feel so blended about it,” she stated.

After a number of seasons of seeing Joe do horrible, grotesque issues, she’s undecided what ending might adequately bookend his story.

“There is no such thing as a destiny that matches a life like that,” Ritchie stated. “However I do really feel just like the isolation is an effective punishment for him. The factor is, I simply do not get any sense that he will mirror or develop. It is not going to be a formative or non secular expertise for him. Broadly, it is not for folks. So far as I can inform, solitary confinement simply appears to put on folks down, apart from some form of wonderful exceptions.”

Living proof: within the last scene, Joe reads a creepy fan letter and says that perhaps the issue is not him — maybe it is society.

“I do discover the letter-writing factor fairly an attention-grabbing twist, and his capability to show it again onto his admirers and these ladies who’ve been asking to be concerned with him,” Ritchie stated. “He’ll by no means settle for duty.”

Because the press tour for season 5 winds down, Ritchie already misses the forged and crew, together with her frequent scene accomplice Badgley.

“I like Penn,” Ritchie stated. “I believe he is such a good and considerate and dedicated actor. He is such a stunning pal. He is very humorous. And he commits to that position in a manner that signifies that if you find yourself working with him, you are able to do the identical.”

After seeing Kate go from closed-off and chilly to blossoming within the last season, Ritchie goes to overlook exploring extra sides of her.

“And I will miss the outrageous eventualities which are fixed. Like, the nonstop drama, the every day, totally different high-octane conditions the place persons are consistently about to extort any person or about to kill any person,” she stated. “That form of stage of excessive drama, I will miss.”

Season 5 of “You” is now streaming on Netflix.