Who is Joe's stalker in You season 4? The mysterious texts explained

9 February 2023, 16:26

Watch the You season 4 part 1 trailer

By Sam Prance

Joe Goldberg finally meets his match in You season 4. Who is texting him though and why are they stalking him?

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Joe Goldberg is everyone's favourite fictional stalker but You season 4 changes things up and gives Joe a stalker of his own.

You season 4, episode 1 opens in typical You fashion. After moving to London and taking on a new fake identity, Joe gets up one morning to learn that he has killed his colleague Malcolm after a night out. Unsure how it happened, Joe covers up the crime by cutting up the body in a warehouse and disposing of it in the River Thames. Pretty standard Joe behaviour.

However, at the end of the episode, Joe received a very mysterious text that reads: "Hello, you. You surprised me. Handling Malcolm like that. Here I thought when I left him on your table, you'd go down for my sins. You're not who I figured you for. Who are you?" In the immortal words of Mo'Nique, when you do clownery, the clown comes back to bite.

In other words, Joe didn't kill Malcolm and he now has a stalker of his own but who are they? Their true identity is revealed at the end of You season 4, part 1.

WARNING: YOU SEASON 4 PART 1 SPOILERS BELOW

Who is Joe's stalker in You season 4? The mysterious texts explained. Picture: Netflix

Joe's stalker is none other than Rhys Montrose. Joe befriends Rhys at a private club that Malcolm and his rich friends go to. Rhys is an author from a working-class background who fell in with Malcolm's elite crowd while studying at Oxford. At first, Joe has no idea that Rhys is the one sending him messages nor that he tried to frame Joe for Malcolm's murder.

After Malcolm, Rhys kills off Simon and Gemma, all while sending Joe an array of cryptic messages and ensuring not to let slip his identity. However, in the final episode of part 1, Joe goes to Lady Phoebe's country estate and his new rich friends begin to suspect that he may be behind all of the murders that are happening. This leads Rhys to intervene.

Rhys locks Joe and an unconscious Roald in a secret room. He doesn't explain why he's been killing all his friends but he asks Joe to kill Roald so they can frame him for the murders. Joe refuses and Rhys then sets the room on fire and teases that he will talk to Joe back in London if Joe manages to make it out of the room alive.

Who is the Eat the Rich killer in You season 4? Picture: Netflix

Of course, Joe does escape and he even saves Roald in the process but Lady Phoebe's entire estate burns down. Joe goes back to London only to find out that Rhys has stopped texting him. However, there's a twist in the final moments of Part 1. Via an interview on TV, Joe sees that Rhys is now running to be the Mayor of London.

It looks like part 2 will follow Joe as he attempts to stop Rhys and protect his secret identity. Can he do it though? Who will Rhys target next? Will Marienne come back? We'll have to wait until March 9th to find out.