WHY DOES THE SEASON 3 FINALE OF "YOU" NEED TO END IN ONE MORE DEATH? (SPOILER WARNING)

Nothing is as it seems in Madre Linda...

On its surface, the show would have you analyzing the meaning of a soul mate. Everyone has an opinion about soul-mates. Whether they exist or not (they don't), it's hardly the point when a couple is engaged in a petty competition in psychopathy. In fact, they forfeit their right to a soul-mate and the happily-ever-after that comes with them.

The real journey of YOU 's third season is about protection from a woman so psychotic and narcissistic that she makes Joe look down-right heroic. That's the original point of the story. Joe is a dynamic villain. Sometimes, that's hard to remember in comparison to his wife. The lights are off upstairs with Love. It's visible in her face: that wide-eyed thousand-yard stare when faced with her responsibility in the relationship's failing.

That's the look of evil. That is narcissism. There is no reasoning with it or fighting it. All one can hope to do is run and hide. It's the only answer for any victim of narcissistic abuse : No Contact. This is where Joe finds himself when he marries Love and Henry, their son, is born. It's only a matter of time before the bodies start to pile up and Joe finds himself falling back into old patterns.

He finds a woman with whom to obsess. Over the last three seasons, Joe exhibits a clear habit of vacillating his obsessions. He zeroes in on a girl while fantasizing how she could be a soul mate/perfect match, but she never is. The girls he stalks are incredibly flawed and sadly disposable. He stalks, fails to establish a connection, kills her, and moves to the next city in search of his next victim.

Before Season 1: Candace
Season 1: Beck
Season 2: Love
Season 3: Natalie and Marienne

This is a sick strategy that will never result in a meaningful relationship. When will he learn? He won't because he's not searching for a soul mate. Instead, he is subconsciously seeking an escape. With childhood and upbringing as awful as his, I'm sure this was his survival mechanism. Of course, the lifetime abuse takes its toll on Joe turning him into a cold-blooded killer. Sure, he has his share of problems, but he's not a narcissist.

Unfortunately, his wife is. His young marriage with a killer more cold-blooded than he gives him more of a reason than ever to escape into fantasy. His life at home is volatile, and he itches for every excuse to run out the door. Love is not a stable woman, and Joe cannot stand to be around her. Thus, the rate of his obsessions increases. His behavior unravels. He is always in search of a better life. He doesn't want a soul mate. He just wants peace and normality. Love's narcissism makes that impossible.

Joe isn't the only one spiraling out of control, but his addiction is not as violent or IMPULSIVE as hers. As Joe's obsessions skyrocket, so do her murders and attacks. All in the name of protecting her family. I honestly expected the words "Family comes first" to exit her mouth at any moment.

Love has an unbelievable lack of insight. Like a textbook narcissist, she never once takes personal responsibility for her actions. Que the gaslighting statements, and she is quite the pro.

Here is a small sample of her steadfast denial:
"If I'm not enough for you, you'll kill me."
“Why does everybody think I’m impulsive?”
"You made me kill her."
"You're a monster... but it looks like the only murderer in this room is you, Sherry."
“I don’t even recognize myself.”
"I'm not the problem. My husband is the problem."

The gaslighting isn't the worst of it. That honor lies with her hypocrisy. Why do so much to "save" her family when she was planning to kill Joe from the beginning. It's unclear how long she tends to her garden in the backyard, but those Wolfsbane plants look very mature in "Swing and a Miss". I'm willing to bet she planted that garden as soon as they moved to Madre Linda, which required several months of planning. She suspects problems ahead. She knows she has a problem because of her previous marriage. So, she plants her little insurance policy to "stop him from leaving" and it devolves into attempted murder. All she needs is an excuse to kill him.

And she gets it through Marienne, her love rival. Suddenly, family no longer comes first. How convenient...

With her hypocrisy on the table, this leaves the following question unanswered. What is she doing in Madre Linda if it isn't there for her family?

The answer is probably not what you would expect and nothing to which she would ever admit. And she doesn't. It's a dirty, little secret for many narcissists when they look to turn over a new leaf. She's in search of a new identity after the end of Season 2. Until her reveal in the finale, she wears the mask of a grieving widow and the ideal wife. Joe sees her as a victim and another opportunity for him to play Savior. He doesn't realize until it's too late that her façade is a lie.

The truth is she is more psychopathic than he. With her brother passed away and wealthy divorcing parents going broke, and a bun in the oven, she finds herself at a crossroads. It's time to stop relying on her family and stand on her own two feet. Thus, she and her new family (husband and infant son) move to Frisco suburb Madre Linda. It's her chance at one final clean slate. Mommy and Daddy are no longer able to buy her way out of trouble. Her murderous, impulsive actions will finally come with consequences. Let the pressure commence.

She needs to fit into this family-centered community, complete with mommy influencers. It's a psychopathic couple's living nightmare. Certainly Joe's. While he broods in his contempt, Love takes a different approach. She develops a pathological need to fit in with the other stay-at-home moms even though she never could.

This is especially evident in her attempts to befriend Queen Bee Sherry Conrad. Very little about this woman's public persona is genuine, but Love doesn't care. While she craves Sherry's attention, she ultimately rejects the friendship of genuine women like Natalie. In fact, she kills Natalie when given the opportunity. Yet, she leaves the Conrads alive. Captive, but alive. That alone symbolizes her rejection of honest people in favor of power.

Another woman she leaves alive is Joe's new obsession Marienne. It looks like this sassy librarian's pep talk about being her own "soulmate" inspires Love and saves her life. Nope. Love sees a new person to emulate=. After failing to copy the perfect couple (the Conrads) and leaving them to rot in her basement, she is once again on the hunt for a new identity, and she finds it in the "noble" single mother. Note how quickly she adopts Marienne's phrasing. "That voice in the back on my head..." blah, blah, gaslight, blah, blah, blah. The whole time she sharpens the knife she would use to end her husband. It's safe to say the only voice in her head is the one telling her to kill everyone when she's not abusing, invalidating, or copying them.

Fortunately, Joe has one more trick up his sleeve. He is the one with the self-preserving little voice, not her. It saves his life and ends the reign of terror once and for all.

"I finally had to stop you."

He stops her all right, and a wave of relief sweeps over Madre Linda when the toxic couple disappears and the truth of her guilt comes out. The truth frees and heals the town. The survivors pick up the pieces of their lives and find a way to thrive again. But it only happens after she's gone.

Of course, that doesn't address the problem of Joe. He's still a villain and a murderer. He too must answer for his crimes. Hopefully, that day will come with Season 4. I can say one thing about him. What little conscience and empathy he has do not make him a narcissist. That honor remains with Love. He needs treatment, intensive psychotherapy to deal with his abandonment issues. That way, his pathological need for escape is no longer necessary. If left untreated, however, he could become narcissistic.

Let us hope that his murder spree ends and he sees justice before he crosses that line once and for all. We'll see it in Season 4.