What if Love had become the main character in You season 4?
By Cori Chapman
You has become a major success for Netflix with fans fawning over Joe Goldberg a.k.a. Will Bettelheim as he obsesses over different women so much that he even kills for them. Despite all of his atrocities, fans can’t help but love this serial-killing protagonist and even root for him in many situations (after all, there would not be a show otherwise).
Despite this beloved murderer being our protagonist, fans fell in love with Love played by Victoria Pedretti. She stole the show after the big reveal at the end of the second season that Joe had indeed met his match: Love is also a killer and is willing to kill for him.
Her penchant for violence in the third season essentially made her the new “Joe” as we knew him at the beginning. With Joe being mostly reformed, this created conflict that became kill or be killed in the finale. Of course, Joe won, but what if he didn’t? What might You season 4 have looked like if Love succeeded in killing him?
What if Love Quinn hadn’t died before You season 4?
For starters, Love would need a new identity and location because Sherry and Cary managed to escape the cage by finding a hidden key. She also thought she killed Theo, but Joe found him and took him to the hospital before their showdown in their home. Even if Love managed to track down and kill Sherry and Cary, Theo’s statement paired with Matt’s suspicions and evidence would all point to her.
Because Love is more impulsive than Joe, it is unlikely that she would take the same route that he did by faking her death and framing Joe. Instead, she would likely disappear with a new identity with the help of Quinn family resources. The same man that Joe encounters in the fourth season would give her everything that she needs for a new life.
Love would begin her new life in Paris. The series has pointed to Paris in every season, foreshadowing the inevitable trip there. First, Peach wanted to move to Paris with Beck, then Love suggested culinary school in Paris to Ellie in season 2, and finally, Marienne takes Juliette to Paris to escape the drama in Madre Linda. With Love’s money, she likely has done a fair amount of traveling and fell in love with Paris leading her to create her new life there.
While Joe followed Marienne to Paris, it is unlikely that Love would follow her, or anyone. She had her chance to kill Marienne, but let her leave unscathed after an uncomfortable heart-to-heart.
While in Paris, her and Henry would both take on new aliases. Because her motives revolve completely around family, leaving Henry in the care of anyone else is highly unlikely. In fact, her main focus would be Henry because of what drives her.
Love and obsession drove Joe to live the way that he did, but Love mostly focused on relationships for the purpose of starting a family, which she got with Henry. Romance would not be off the table for Love, but Henry would always come first. In fact, her love life has always been dependent on her obsession with family.
For example, she did carry on a fling with Theo, but he appealed to her to fill the Forty-shaped hole in her heart. She likes to have someone to protect, and for most of her life, that was Forty. Therefore, any romance she would develop as the show’s new protagonist would likely share characteristics with Forty, and if any harm would come to her new beau, she would deal with the problem the same way she dealt with her abusive childhood au pair.
Love’s primal instincts are ingrained in her at this point, but Joe brought out the worst in her. With her new life in Paris, she would follow the same path as Joe and try to ease up on her murderous tendencies. If not for her, then for Henry. This may sound all too similar to Joe’s storyline, but keep in mind that Love is a lot more impulsive therefore making her more trigger-happy. Trying to rein in the violent streak would prove a high degree of difficulty, especially when she detects the tiniest amount of harm that comes to Henry or an unnamed Forty-like love interest.
Watch You season 4 part 1 now on Netflix.