Charlotte Ritchie’s Kate Lockwood remains one of You’s most complex figures, her icy exterior masking a ruthless past of corporate violence that rivals Joe Goldberg’s murder spree As the art director who sees through Joe’s facade in Season 4, Kate’s self-loathing and ambition forge an unlikely alliance with the serial killer, setting the stage for their toxic partnership in the final season
While Bronte (Madeline Brewer) emerges later as Joe’s Season 5 obsession-a book-loving “manic pixie dream girl” who mirrors his younger self-Kate’s Season 4 arc reveals her own monstrous history Ritchie’s character, once a cutthroat business prodigy responsible for environmental harm, becomes Joe’s dark counterpart: “She’s probably been responsible for more pain on a structural level than Joe,” Ritchie told Tudum
Though Bronte’s role unfolds in Season 5, her arrival ties directly to Kate’s unresolved tension with Joe. The final season sees Kate’s desperate bid to escape their marriage, culminating in a fiery confrontation at Mooney’s bookstore-a full-circle moment for the couple whose bond was always rooted in mutual destruction
