Dhruv Trivedi
In ‘You’ season 3, Joe’s wife, Love, has a penchant for jealously murdering women that her husband gets obsessed with. Ironically, it is her murderous nature that Joe is repulsed by and soon begins to dream about being with other women. Marienne, his boss at the library where he volunteers, is a strong but troubled single mother for whom Joe begins to develop feelings. However, to protect her from Love, he keeps his romantic entanglement with Marienne well hidden.
Joe’s wife has discovered his secrets before and does so this time as well. After realizing that they plan to run away together, she sedates Joe and calls an unsuspecting Marienne to their house with the intention of telling her Joe’s dark secrets and then murdering her. As Joe watches in horror, his “happily ever after” plan with Marienne goes up in smoke as Love reveals to her the crimes he has committed. So does Love go ahead with the next step of her plan and kill Marienne? Let’s find out. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Does Love Kill Marienne?
After paralyzing Joe using a topical version of a toxin called aconite, Love calls Marienne over to the house. She plans to reveal Joe’s murderous secrets and then kill her, which Love believes through her twisted logic will help fix her marriage. Sure enough, Marienne arrives, and Love begins to spill Joe’s secrets. The confused single mother doesn’t believe at first that Joe is capable of committing murders in cold blood. However, she remembers how her troublesome ex-husband Ryan disappeared soon after he met Joe, and things become clearer.
Once Love is sure she has convinced Marienne, she moves forward, intending to stab her with a carving fork. Joe remains helplessly paralyzed and can only watch as Marienne unknowingly awaits her death. A knock on the door interrupts Love, and Marienne’s violent murder is averted by her young daughter Juliette who comes in looking for a bathroom. Seeing the young girl, Love has a change of heart and realizes how close she was to killing a mother.
In the tense moments before Marienne leaves, the two women give each other helpful advice. Love tells Marienne to run away with her daughter so that Joe can never find her. In return, Marienne, thinking Joe is the real villain in the relationship, implores Love to not put up with him and leave if she feels mistreated. When Juliette returns from the bathroom, Love allows them to leave, and Marienne never realizes how close she was to getting killed.
After escaping, Joe tries to track her down but cannot since Marienne has changed all her contact details. This shows how seriously she has taken Love’s words and is now likely hiding from Joe. In the end, instead of killing her, Love saves the young single mother not just from herself but also from getting involved with Joe, which would have undoubtedly lead to some form of dramatic violence in the future.
Read More: The Full Recap of You Season 1 and 2
