Was You's Season 4 Plot Twist Too Obvious?

Spoiler alert: This post contains spoilers from You Season 4, Episode 8.

You Season 4 hit fans with the most ambitious plot twist the show’s ever attempted. Not since the reveal that Love Quinn was a murderer has the series pulled off such a shocking character fake-out as Rhys Montrose’s. But, even though the revelation that Rhys had been nothing but a hallucination in Joe’s mind all along was pretty bonkers, many fans actually did see it coming. That’s because there were quite a few clues pointing to You Season 4’s big Rhys twist, and after the fan theory that the murderous author/politician wasn’t real became pretty prominent, the actual moment kind of lost its punch.

Part 1 of You Season 4 ended with the reveal that Rhys was the Eat The Rich Killer, which wasn’t exactly difficult to put together. But Part 2 added a new layer to the madness: Joe had been imagining Rhys all along. Turns out, Joe became obsessed with Rhys when he first moved to London, fixating on the author’s story of reforming from a criminal into a beloved citizen. After relentlessly stalking him, Joe created an alter-ego of Rhys within himself, which he used to block out all the horrible actions he couldn’t justify to himself, like kidnapping Marienne or killing Malcolm, Simon, and Gemma.

The turn of Joe realizing Rhys was a figment of his own mind would have been a totally jaw-dropping moment... if many fans hadn’t already figured it out. Here are all the clues that heavily hinted at Rhys’ twist before it was revealed.

1. Joe only spoke to Rhys alone.

If you paid attention during Part 1, Joe and Rhys only have their conversations away from anyone else. There was a hole in this aspect of the theory, though, as fans pointed out that Rhys delivered a euology in front of everyone at Simon’s funeral, and was also shown interacting with other people there. But Part 2 explained that away, with Imaginary Rhys informing Joe that Simon’s funeral was the only time he’d actually seen the real Rhys, who made time to show up for his friend’s funeral.

2. Joe blacked out before each murder.

Another big giveaway had to do with Joe’s condition before each murder. When Malcolm died, Joe was knock-out drunk; when Simon died, Joe had fallen asleep on a bench; and when Gemma was killed, Joe was unconscious after falling from a window. He couldn’t remember killing them because he had reverted to his Rhys persona while knocked out.

3. Joe had memory loss.

Speaking of Joe constantly losing time, Part 1 also highlighted his memory loss issues. In particular, Joe couldn’t remember for the life of him what he said to Lady Phoebe at Sundry House the night they met that apparently changed her life. Sure, he was wasted, but he also may have been in Rhys mode then.

4. Joe and Rhys had too many similarities.

The show wasn’t even really trying to hide that Joe and Rhys were the exact same person. When they first met, Joe fawned over Rhys for having the exact same background, interests, and ethos as himself. They both came from nothing, have severe mommy issues, are obsessed with books, have the toxic ability to justify unforgivable misdeeds, and think they’re better than everyone around them. Joe thought he’d finally met his true equal... because he had.

5. You loves a good hallucination.

Weird hallucination twists are kind of part of the You tradition now. From Joe’s drug trip in Season 2 to Love’s imagined reunion with her dead brother in Season 3, the show has been nudging fans into this sort of hallucinogenic reveal for a while now.