Holy crap! Is Kate a killer?!
It almost feels like Joe crossed the pond and stumbled upon a new version of Love, but there has to be more to the story of how Kate ended up holding a knife over Gemma’s body by the end of YOU Season 4 Episode 4.
The bodies are piling up and Joe is no closer to figuring out who his stalker is, and to say Kate has been a distraction is an understatement.
Joe sure as hell knows how to find a mess and embed himself in it, and everything about that trip to Phoebe’s getaway with no cell service and wi-fi was a steaming hot mess.
It was surprising that the police officers only wanted to thank Joe for his assistance which proved fruitful and pumped him for more information he could provide. Couldn’t they have reached out to him at his loft?
It seemed reckless on their part to pull him aside at Sundry when all eyes were on him. He had people shooting daggers at him, and it was beyond dramatic.
But with his lack of staying on most people’s radar, he could head to the Hampies unimpeded in hopes of getting close enough to the stalker to figure out who the hell they were.
It was a twist to learn that Roald suggested that he join them, not Phoebe. Until this point, Lady Phoebe and her desire to have this man around, who she feels was her personal cheerleader or life coach or something, is the only reason Joe has been in the circle for so long.
With Roald, it puts this character we haven’t spent much time with or knew much about front and center, and my goodness, that guy is sadistic as fuck.
He checks all things problematic and is one of the worst of the brood, excluding Gemma; may she rest in hell.
Roald must’ve clocked early on that there was something brewing between Joe and Kate, and he wanted to see it up close and personal, so he could end it.
He’s the possessive type, isn’t he? His obsession with Kate is actually creepier than whatever Joe thinks he has going on with her, which is saying something.
His camera revealing all those photos he’s taken of Kate when she didn’t know it, including the upskirts was enough to make you shudder, and he wasn’t listening to anything Kate was saying when she was shutting him down.
He’s obsessed with her, but not in a way where you’d think he’d go after her or try to hurt her. However, he has a fierce mean streak based on how he treats Joe and the help.
Roald laughed raucously when Gemma made a staff member get on his hands and knees like a dog so she could continue her croquet game.
Gemma: Is it true that American men are better in bed, or is it only the Jewish ones?
Joe Voiceover: Is it even legal to say that?
Gemma:Joking! We’re having a laugh. Please try and have a sense of humor, at least, Jonathan.
Joe Voiceover: I will if she starts being funny.
And it was chilling to see him with his hunting rifle trained at Joe’s back during their one-on-one excursion that served as some form of a one-sided dick-measuring contest with Roald laying his claim on Kate.
If not for Kate appearing and firing her weapon, would Roald have shot Joe? I don’t know if he would’ve shot to kill him, but he gleefully pushed Joe out of a freaking second or third-story window, so I wouldn’t put it past him to shoot Joe too.
As much as Joe is… Joe, it’s the last thing you want to see. Roald is not a reasonable person in the least bit, and he doesn’t even pretend to be one, and I don’t know what’s worse.
But I also doubt he’s the primary stalker and killer in all of this even if he may share a few disturbing and icky traits with Joe.
The guy knows nothing of love if he seriously thought it was a great idea to humiliate the woman he professes to love at the dinner table the way he did with Kate. It was so vile.
The group of people is the absolute worst, and the more time we spend with many of them, the easier it is to question why on earth someone like Kate at least spends so much time with them.
As much as it disgusted her how Gemma behaved, her horribly inappropriate comments, and how she spoke to people like Joe or the help, Kate didn’t check her once. She walks away from most of the behavior, but that’s about it, which is frustrating in its own right.
Everything in me says, “Let them die.” It’s perverse you’ve made me their protector.
Joe Voiceover
Ultimately, Kate only gets brownie points for her opposition to this type of behavior and treatment if she takes a strong enough stand.
And based on how all of these people act and treat others, if the person behind all of this isn’t someone of a lower income bracket, it’ll be a disappointment.
As awful as many of them were to Joe, it was long past due for them to bring up the connection between his appearance and all these people suddenly dying.
But it’s one of those things that doesn’t stick long enough as most of them are too fickle and self-absorbed to run with it.
Joe has enamored Phoebe for so long, and we see that she’s this neglected girlfriend who feels like Adam doesn’t appreciate her now that he has her.
Her solution was to trick Joe into coming to her boudoir, which was hilarious. The phallic candles made from molds of the penises of her previous lovers were hilarious.
Joe managed to wiggle his way out of that situation surprisingly well, appealing to Phoebe’s feelings and reassuring her how much Adam does love her by fudging his past experience as a married man.
But it was all for naught when Phoebe saw Adam declining the advances of one of the staff members who must, um, shower him with a good time.
She’s already assumed the worst and has no idea that Adam intends to propose to her. It makes you feel awful for her, as much as you can for any of these characters.
Although, Adam’s chat with Joe about his money issues and how he doesn’t want to be under a microscope while married to Phoebe was hard to parse through.
Does he love Phoebe, or is he now in this position where he’s comfortable with her and more so likes what her family’s money can do for him and his social and professional standing?
He weighs the pros and cons of what marriage would do for him, and he comes from a place of awareness and depth that surprises, but so little of it has to do with Phoebe at all.
It’s hard to figure out how he really feels about her, even though the two always seem to be attached at the hip or something. They’re a hard couple to make sense of, but out of the socialites, they feel the most grounded the more time you get to know them, excluding Kate.
Kate is very self-aware, which remains striking as we learn more about her.
The revelation that her father is who she envisions as the devil puts many things into perspective about her. In some ways, she never stood a chance.
She had a mother who taught her to bury her feelings and act as if she didn’t have them and a father who lacked empathy and a conscience.
It’s no wonder she carries herself the way that she does. It also explains how she subjects herself to some of the relationships she had, like Malcolm, or how she surrounds herself with these people.
My father is the worst man alive, and I am his favorite daughter.
Kate
And it also explains why and how she’s formed the connection she has with Joe. Part of her knows something is off, and we see that often in some of their interactions. Her gut instincts are at war with her tingly bits, attraction, and longing.
She sees right through Joe and his bullshit one minute, calling him out on it, and doesn’t want any parts of it. But then, moments later, she is drawn to the fact that she feels seen by him and seducing him or having sex.
Interestingly, they’ve added a sexual relationship to Joe’s fixation on Kate, but it still feels very different than his previous obsessions with women he thought he loved.
I still don’t know how to process that or what that dynamic means. He genuinely cares about Kate, and there are moments when he’s afraid that he could and may fall for her, but unlike Beck, Candace, Love, and Marienne, he hasn’t thrown himself into the deep end with his rendition of true love.
And with the pacing and the slow realization and care that he has for Kate, it’s actually the most realistic depiction of what it’s like for most ordinary people when they start to fall for someone. It’s an unusual thing all around for Joe.
He and Kate also don’t have the same type of chemistry that you gravitate to either, so despite their attraction to each other and the artfully filmed moments of growing desire; their dynamic has been as unique as this season as a whole.
The push-pull nature of their bond has been intriguing. But what does that mean now that Kate is sitting over a dead body?
Ironically, as much as Joe sniped in his head about how he was put in charge of protecting these awful people from this killer, he only cared about Kate.
Joe I can’t possibly know what it’s like to feel cursed by your past and your blood. And to see every slip as proof that you can never get away.
Kate: What happened to you?
Joe: My story isn’t as exciting as yours, but I know the feeling.
Kate: I actually, I believe you.
Joe: Well, I believe you can be the person you want to be. In fact, I think you’re already her.
Joe Voiceover: No, what is happening? No, I can’t fall for her.
He never even considered who could be next on the list. And he hasn’t factored in that Kate could be a killer.
Will Kate see the side of Joe that we know now that she’s shocked, holding a murder weapon and kneeling over a dead body?
How can they explain what happened? Hell, what did happen?
It’s possible that Kate wandered onto the scene and found Gemma like that. But they did a decent job of building up Kate’s contempt for Gemma and openly admitting how much she hates her.
Was this part of the stalker’s plan or just a coincidence?
And where were the security men who were supposed to be watching Kate?
Over to YOU! Did Kate really kill Gemma? Do you think Roald is the killer? Sound off below.
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.
