Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers forYouSeason 4.
After one long month of waiting, we can finally watch the five remaining episodes ofYouSeason 4 and discover the outcome of the serial killer duel between Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) and Rhys Montrose (Ed Speleers).
However,by Episode 7,Youpulls the rug under our feet again by revealing Rhys is actually an alter created by Joe’s fractured mind to justify his horrible crimes. Still, there is an actual Rhys Montrose living in London, which might make things somewhat confusing. After all, in Season 4 ofYou, when we are following the real Rhys or Joe’s alter?
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Who Is the Real Rhys Montrose?
The real Rhys Montrose is a member of the Oxford group who doesn’t actually hang out with his friends too much. Contrary to the rest of the Oxford circle, Rhys Montrose wasn’t born wealthy. His money comes from an inheritance process that only happened when he was already an adult after Rhys discovered he was related to an English Duke. Just like Joe, Rhys has a rough childhood that forces him to learn how to defend himself. His struggles are extensively reported in the autobiography “Good Man, Cruel World,” which became a best-selling book in London, skyrocketing Rhys to popularity.
Willing to bank on his public love, Rhys launches his candidacy for London mayor. Since Rhys is now filthy rich, he has enough money to go toe to toe with other wealthy candidates. However, his history as a man of the people buys him a lot of empathy from the working classes, making him the favorite in the mayoral race. That’s why he puts a target on his back, as rich men like Tom Lockwood (Greg Kinnear) don’t want someone in office who might actually change things and get in the way of their unethical way of life. That’s why Lockwood eventually manipulates Joe into killing the real Rhys Montrose, exploiting Joe’s hate for the writer.
While Joe has plenty of reasons to hate his alter Rhys, he never meets Rhys Montrose in Season 4 ofYouuntil their deadly encounter. The two men only make acquaintance when Joe knocks on Rhys’s door, ties him to a chair, tortures his genitalia, and kills the writer. Every other time Joe talks to Rhys, he’s actually just seeing an alter created by his mind. Which makes a lot of sense. As someone running for mayor, Rhys doesn’t want to be mixed with his Oxford friends, mostly spoiled brats. Partying so much with people who represent what he wants to fight in the political field wouldn’t do any good for his campaign, so Rhys takes some healthy distance from the Oxford group. The only scenes we see the real Rhys in are during his televised interviews and public speeches. But why did Joe create an alter? And why did his alter look and talk like Rhys?
Who’s the Rhys We See the Most in ‘You’Season 4?
After killing Love (Victoria Pedretti) and faking his own death, Joe goes to Paris to look for Marienne (Tati Gabrielle). In Joe’s mind, there’s still hope of building a relationship with Marienne, even though the woman escaped to Europe to hide from Joe. Joe follows Marienne to London, cornering her in an abandoned building. The woman, obviously, rejects Joe. Joe wants to see himself as a good guy, so he lets Marienne go. However, asYouSeason 4 underlines, Joe is obsessed with the idea of being loved and cannot deal with rejection. So, hedrugs Marienne, kidnaps her, and traps her inside a glass cage. And after this hideous action, Joe faces a dilemma. Every time he killed, tortured, or stalked someone, Joe convinced himself he had no other option. But with Marienne, he’s forced to face the fact he’s a serial killer moved by dark deeds.
While chasing down Marienne in Europe, Joe’s passion for books leads him to Rhys Montrose’s autobiography. Joe is mesmerized by Rhys’ story, as it proves a man who did some bad things in the past can still become a respected and beloved community member. Rhys is everything that Joe wants to be, so the killer’s obsessive patterns kick in, and Joe evolves into an erotomania relationship with Rhys. Joe spends hours without end scouring social media to find clues about Rhys’ favorite places in London, his political ideas, and the relationship he maintains with his friends. Since Rhys is such a public figure, Joe can imagine precisely how he would behave. That’s why, when Joe’s brain needs to create an alter, the killer starts to see Rhys everywhere he goes.
After kidnapping Marienne, Joe struggles with the morality of his actions. However, something snaps inside him when he accidentally breaks her former lover’s arm. Joe is no longer capable of sustaining two images of himself, so each alter keeps part of Joe’s personality. Joe can keep acting as a changed man, while the Rhys alter does all the dark deeds Joe wants to do. Every time we see Joe talking to Rhys, the conversation only happens inside his mind. That’s why we never see any other character interacting with Rhys and Joe always talks with his new friend when no one else is around. Season 4 ofYouhid the truth in plain sight, and we were too distracted to notice it. That’s how you write a plot twist!
In short, there is a real Rhys Montrose living in London. Nevertheless, the Rhys who’s a central character of Season 4 ofYouis actually an alter of Joe, a representation of every dark thought and impulse the killer has. Rhys is the part of Joe willing to kill anyone who crosses him and who lies to get what he wants. Rhys is the obsessive stalker, the brilliant man who always manages to evade justice, and bythe end of Season 4, Joe accepts Rhys as part of who he truly is. By unifying the two alters into a single mind, Joe has become more dangerous than he has ever been.
