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Is Love Still Alive, and Does Love Come Back in ‘You’ Season 4? Answered

What is Love? Who is Love? Where is Love?

Love in the You s3 finale

If there was a book that focused on the “good for her” trope, you’d likely find Love Quinn in it. People adore murderous women, especially they are played as fabulously as Victoria Pedretti plays Love. If we’re being honest, You season 3 wouldn’t have been good without her. She stole the show. Of course, given how Love married and had a child with Joe (Penn Badgley), she was living in borrowed time from the jump.

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After the events of the season 3 finale, people are very invested in the idea that Love survived everything. It’s not too silly to hope because You veers dangerously close to soap opera storylines. But is she actually dead and gone or has she made an appearance in You season 4? I’m here to tell you.

What’s Love’s fate in ‘You’?

The season 3 finale of You comprises of many nutty events. Love admits to accidentally killing her first husband, Love poisons Joe just enough to paralyze him, and eventually, Love is murdered by Joe with the same aconite solution. You was hinting at Love and Joe not being endgame all season, as Joe found a new obsession in Marienne (Tati Gabrielle). But many fans were likely shocked (as well as disappointed) that Joe made it out of this season alive. Meanwhile, Love was given an agonizing death, and her body was left to burn in a fire.

Both the showrunner, Sera Gamble, and Victoria Pedretti herself spoke about Love’s fate back in 2021 with Newsweek.

She is lying there [dead]. I’m not trying to be “was there a parachute under that seat in the airplane?” She is [dead]. We’ve done that before with Candace but you know, there were questions you could ask about that. I feel like you literally watch every second of [Love] dying, right on the screen.

– Sera Gamble (via Newsweek)

Victoria Pedretti was made aware that Love would be killed off when she took on the role. It’s truly a shame, because Victoria Pedretti is a fucking talent. But this is what she said to Newsweek back in 2021:

I’m pretty sure we had an understanding about how Love’s story was going to end before I even signed on to the show, so I’ve been prepared.

– Victoria Pedretti (via Newsweek)

Love wasn’t in You season 4 part 1. And it’s not looking great for Love’s return as a living person during You season 4 part 2. In order to cause Joe grief, the series has been known to bring folks back as hallucinations—for example, Beck briefly appeared in You season 2 to haunt Joe. And while that’s an exciting prospect if you’re still in denial, Love likely won’t return even as a hallucination, because Joe has moved on. If I’m wrong, you can shake your fist at this article in March.

(featured image: Netflix)

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Author
Vanessa Maki
Vanessa Maki (she/her) is a queer Blerd and contributing writer for The Mary Sue. She first started writing for digital magazines in 2018 and her articles have appeared in Pink Advocate (defunct), The Gay Gaze (defunct), Dread Central and more. She primarily writes about movies, TV, and anime. Efforts to make her stop loving complex/villainous characters or horror as a genre will be futile.

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