Summary
You Season 2, Episode 9, “P.I. Joe” has our main character sweating over a “whodunnit” trail, as time is running out to save his life in LA.
This recap of Netflix Series You Season 2, Episode 9, “P.I. Joe” contains significant spoilers.
- Read the Season 2 review.
- Read the recap of Episode 10.
- Read the recap of the previous episode (8).
- Access the archive of all the episode recaps.
I kind of suspected that a twist like this would occur in Season 2 but let’s discuss later in this recap.
Episode 9, “P.I. Joe” opens up with a flashback; it shows a young Joe looking at his father, dead, on the floor — murdered. In the present day, he’s staring at Delilah (Carmela Zumbado) who has been brutally murdered in his glass cage. Joe wants to figure out who killed Delilah. Joe starts to retrace his steps in his mind; he can’t move her body in daylight so he throws bags of ice on her. Will rings Joe all happy with Gigi; weirdly, he offers to help Joe — Joe tells Will what happened.
Will is just as strange as Joe; why on earth would you ring someone who kept you captive and stole your identity.
Love comes over to see Joe; they kiss. Love confesses she is not ready to leave the city again — Joe is happy with this because he needs to know who killed Delilah, even if it was him. Ellie walks in and reveals Joe was on acid the night before; she wants to know where her sister is; she’s found a death threat note that is related to Henderson. Another flashback shows a young Joe hiding in the closet and his mother saying “he’s never going to hurt us again”.
Joe suffers another flashback from the night before; he remembers Calvin hitting him in the back with a baseball bat; he left the hotel while tripping. Officer Fincher is looking for Delilah – Joe gives Fincher the death threat note to look like he’s helping out and overkills it with his words. Joe then goes to meet Calvin who found his trip hilarious – Calvin reveals Joe asked for Cheetos; Delilah loved Cheetos. But the biggest reveal is that Forty was with him. Meanwhile, Love is getting to know Ellie.
Joe goes to meet Love’s mother Dottie in hope that Forty is there. Dottie tells Joe that he knows that Forty confessed to murdering the au pair. Flashbacks show a flower on Forty’s head — there was a flower right next to Delilah’s body. When Forty shows up, he seems fine. When Joe asks Forty what happened after they visited the store, Forty acts weird, making Joe believe Forty killed Delilah. But Forty reveals he feels guilty because he went to see Candace. Forty then claims Joe booty called Delilah.
At the midway point of Episode 9, “P.I. Joe”, Joe is starting to think it may be Candace — flashbacks show that Forty gave Joe the flower on his head.
Ellie is freaking out in Joe’s apartment; Joe tries to comfort her as she’s worried that something has happened to Delilah. Joe hugs Ellie and lets her know everything is okay – Love watches Joe, looking proud.
Candace goes to meet Forty but he tells her that sleeping together was a mistake. He raises how Joe booty-called Delilah and that’s the only reason he rang her. Candace tells Forty she is trying to protect him and that he has figured out the lines between the script — it’s Joe in the book. “Don’t come crying to me when he kills your sister”. Forty looks into Dr. Nicky — the man accused of killing Beck.
Candace digs further; Forty sent her a video the night before and Joe is in the background holding a flower — Forty mentions Delilah again. As Joe is about to sort out the dead Delilah, Candace walks into the storage unit and locks Joe in the glass box. She tells him it is over and that she was always going to catch him eventually.
Joe is defeated in Episode 9, “P.I. Joe” — trapped in his own glass box. He starts to self-reflect, wondering if all this time he has fooled himself — “Have I been refusing to face who I truly am?”. Flashbacks show a young Joe shooting his father dead with a gun his mother hid.
Candance texts Love with Joe’s phone to ask her to come over to the storage unit. When Love turns up, she appears shocked and heartbroken at what she sees. She asks Joe to tell Candace that it isn’t true; Joe, surprisingly, admits everything. He admits that he thought he was doing it for the best reasons; that he killed Beck and tried to kill Candace — “I never knew love until I met you”. Joe states that he wanted to be good enough for Love. Joe admits to killing Delilah and Henderson as well. Shellshocked, Love walks off and Candace chases after her.
“Is this how I was always destined to end?”.
Joe wonders if he had different parents would he have been different — flashbacks show his mother explaining to a young Joe that he was protecting her: “You would never hurt anyone”. You Season 2 have painted a serial killer’s mind, how his childhood shaped him into the man he is now. In the present day, Joe is accepting of his fate, he’s done with excuses — he’s ready to face the consequences of his actions; Joe has accepted that he’s not a good man.
You Season 2, Episode 9, “P.I. Joe” ends with the twist; Joe grabs a spare key to get out of the cage and throws it on the outside so he cannot free himself. Meanwhile, Candace tries to calm Love down, but Love turns around and slits Candace’s neck with a broken glass bottle. With Joe accepting defeat, Love returns. Joe asks Love where is Candace — “I took care of it”.
The reason I saw this twist coming is because the writers outrageously called Joe’s new romantic interest Love. Throughout all of Season 2, Joe has battled with what he finally calls “true love”. Everything is metaphorical — Love is metaphorical to the notion that you’ll do anything for real love. Joe has spent all of Season 2 trying to rid his demons and try and become a “good man” to Love, who truly loves him back. Also, the fact that Forty killed his au pair when he was a boy, and it remained a family secret, including his sister, foretold the story to come.
It’s still an excellent twist though, even if the story is still bonkers (and entertaining)
Disturbing Thoughts
- “I’ll rest when there’s not a murderer on the loose”.
- “If we’re together, we’re okay”.
- “Never has a threat held such a luxuriant veil”
- “I know what you see Love — a good man, but I have my doubts”.
