This YOU plot hole proves Joe Goldberg’s deadliest weapon isn’t a knife, it’s bad writing

Netflix’s YOU has finally come to a satisfying end, and while the final season did wrap up many of the storylines in a pretty package, a glaringly obvious plot hole suggests it should have been a body bag.

Literature plays a major part in YOU, not only because of Joe Goldberg’s own fascination, but also because books are a reflection of society. Much of season one is centred around Mooney’s, a bookstore where Joe basically grew up under the somewhat abusive care of his adoptive father, Ivan Mooney. Soon enough, Joe is using the basement’s clean room cage to conduct his villainous business, locking up – deep breath – Benji, Claudia, Beck, Joe, Will, Delilah, Gil, Sherry, Cary, Marienne, Bronte, Maddie, Reagan, and Dane. He loved that damn box so much that it went with him across the globe.

Only six people made it out, according to Netflix, with those being Claudia, Joe, Will, Sherry, Cary, Marienne, Bronte, Maddie, and Dane. But despite the basement cage being so central to the plot, it low-key proves that the only thing that kept Joe alive was plot armour.

One of YOU’s biggest plot holes centred around the cage

After five seasons we practically know every inch of that damn basement as well as Joe Goldberg himself. When Bronte finds herself locked in the cage in season five, she’s locked in there for hours until Joe can come to her rescue. There’s no signal in the basement, hence why she couldn’t call for help.

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As the viewers, we are told time and time again that phone signals do not work in there, and yet, there are numerous instances where this is proven to be false. In episode nine, Trial of the Furies, Kate gets a notification on her phone about Bronte breaking into Joe’s apartment while she is standing two feet away from the cage.

Another instance came during episode seven, #JoeGoldberg, when the influencer journalist is interviewing him INSIDE OF THE CAGE. Apparently, the iPhone they were using to record the live stream can somehow get a signal down there.

As one person detailed on Reddit: “Even though they’ve established that you get no service in the basement this season and MANY times in previous seasons (with Brontë getting stuck and not being able to call Joe), the livestream conveniently has stellar service when they make an impromptu trip down there?”

Joe also gets notifications whenever someone is in the basement, so there has to be a signal.

Though one person on Reddit pointed out that “wifi/service doesn’t work in the CAGE, it works in the basement”, this just isn’t concrete enough. Why would a signal work below the ground and through concrete but not through glass? Just to further hammer home my point, numerous contracting websites state that glass can weaken signals but NOT cut them off. Yes, you could make a murder cage that inhibits radio waves, but its original intended purpose was as a book clean room.

The writers should be jailed, not for being complicit in Joe’s crimes, but for some lazy writing.

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Featured image by: Netflix