The popular thriller TV series You has been in Netflix‘s global top 10 numerous times, but all good things must come to an end. Season 5 went out with a bang (no pun intended), as Joe Goldberg’s battle against his love interests finally came full circle, and the killer learned who was actually the real savior. You’s main character with a hero complex has done some good things, like protecting women from predators. The only problem? He was the biggest predator of them all, casually covering himself with a blanket of self-serving heroism.
The series finale of the captivating Netflix series features a niche horror trend that takes Bronte (Madeline Brewer) beyond the traditional final girl role to become something much more fearsome.
Release Date
2018 – 2024
Network
Lifetime, Netflix
Directors
Marcos Siega, Lee Toland Krieger, Cherie Nowlan, DeMane Davis, Kellie Cyrus, Marta Cunningham, Martha Mitchell, Victoria Mahoney, Erin Feeley
Writers
Justin W. Lo
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Elizabeth Lail
Guinevere Beck
The Final Girl in Netflix’s ‘You’ Season 5
How many times has You made it seem as though one of Joe’s love interests will turn around her deadly fate and escape the killer’s hands? The answer is many. You made fans believe that maybe, just maybe, Joe’s (multiple) lovers turned enemies might survive this horror love story. Alas, they never did. But then came Bronte. Joe’s love interest in the last season of You was initially on the same path as the other women. She was caught up with him for a second, but then dedicated herself to ending Joe’s bloody murder spree.
As an experienced people hunter, Joe still got dangerously close to killing Bronte in the ending of You Season 5. The last episode of the hit Netflix series showcases an epic final battle between the two, where Bronte is left all alone with Joe in a remote house in the woods. Looking at all the women Joe killed before her, Bronte is the last woman standing. Sound familiar?
The final girl is a well-known trope in the horror genre. The term describes a female character in a horror movie who is often a part of a group targeted by a serial killer. One group member after the other is hunted down and gruesomely murdered until the last female character is the final girl standing. Rather than going down the classic damsel-in-distress route, the final girl turns it all around and puts the woman in charge. The final girl is not only the last character alive, but she is also the one who defeats the perpetrator. As the sole survivor, she is the last one left to confront the killer, save her own life, and seek revenge for the ones who didn’t make it.
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Bronte is the final girl. When the two arrive at the house in the middle of nowhere, running from the law, Bronte knows that Joe needs to be stopped. She is aware that she is facing a serial killer, and she is the only one left who can stop him and seek revenge for Joe Goldberg’s victims. In classic final girl nature, she outsmarts Joe and uses his vulnerability against him. Intimacy. Bronte seduces him, only to turn against him with a weapon. Unfortunately, the final girl trope briefly seems to fade out there, as he prevails and ends up drowning her (or so he thought).
Bronte as Femme Castratrice in ‘You’ Season 5
Netflix
After almost drowning to death, Bronte turns her fate around yet again and is, metaphorically speaking, reborn. Bronte’s transformation brings back the theory of the femme castratrice or the monstrous feminine, a term coined by Barbara Creed in 1993. The femme castratrice, also known as the female castrator or castrating woman, describes a vengeful woman in horror movies who is forced into the position of being the one who is castrated — stripped of her power — and eventually takes on the position of the one who castrates. She is a woman who experiences abuse, but later seeks revenge and fights back against the abusers.
The ending of You Season 5 shows how Bronte has Joe at gunpoint, waiting for the police to come and arrest him. Joe jumps up, though, which leads Bronte to shoot him in his crotch. This wasn’t merely an accidental shot, as this scene in You has a much deeper meaning. In this situation, Bronte is the femme castratrice. She is the woman who quite literally castrates the male abuser.
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Again, both meanings behind Creed’s term apply to this scene in You. For one, Bronte ensures that Joe is stopped from showing his dominance through the use of his genitals by either forcing sexual intercourse or masturbating. In addition to this, she cuts off Joe’s toxic masculinity by turning his castration anxiety against him and taking away his distorted idea of a male hero and savior. Bronte’s transformation from lover to final girl to femme castratrice captures the essence of her dangerous relationship with Joe, and brings Joe’s abhorrent behavior to a conclusion.
You is available to stream on Netflix.
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