Victoria Pedretti Explains That Wild Plot Twist in You Season 2

Warning: Major You spoilers ahead. Do not read until you've watched the second season of You.

The second season of You sees the creepy yet inexplicably charming Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) up to his same murderous tricks. After killing Beck (Elizabeth Lail) and fleeing New York City, he moves to Los Angeles determined to turn over a new leaf. But that doesn't last long: He soon meets Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti), a woman with the same disposition and carefree attitude as Beck. A romance soon blossoms, but not without complications. Joe's ex, Candace (Ambyr Childers), who he thought he murdered, pops back up alive and ready to exact revenge on him. But then—seriously, stop now if you don't want to know the ending to season two—when Candace reveals Joe to be a psychopathic killer, Love does the unthinkable and murders Candace in an act of love toward Joe and the family she wants to build with him. (Oh yeah: In a micro-twist during this big scene, we also learn Love is pregnant. I know.)

It's a stunning, absolutely wild sequence of events that Pedretti was able to wrap her head around after giving it some thought. It turns out this type of behavior is ingrained in Love's psyche if you think about her environment—and specifically her brother, Forty (James Scully), with whom she has a deep connection with. Forty is at the center of You's other big twist. He too becomes determined to save Love from Joe's manipulative grip—but in a showdown in the season two finale, Forty is killed by a police officer. Now, Love, Joe, and their unborn child have to move on in the wake of so much tragedy. Below, Pedretti discusses the biggest twists from You season two and where she thinks Love and Joe go from here.

Glamour: What was your first impression of Love before you found out the twist?

Victoria Pedretti: I think she's very self-possessed, sexually empowered, free thinking, and brave. One of those people who, because they have been through a lot, they're aware they don't know what other people are going through. She's like some of the best people you know: the people who have been through a lot, and yet they still have the capacity to show others a tremendous amount of kindness. They don't use that as an excuse to treat people like shit. They use it as their drive to create more kindness in the world.

And then when you got to the twist that she was also a killer, were you shocked? What were your initial thoughts when you saw that?

Immediately it's like, "Wait, I need to understand. What is motivating this?" I personally can't step outside the character and judge them. That's not my place. I have to inhabit that character. So, it's only for me to figure out what is the justification for this. Is this person just a straight-up psychopath, or is there some larger justification? I don't think that killing people in any context is warranted. I believe in the preservation of life beyond all else. That's me, but that's not her. I think she sees that as a necessary action in order to protect her man and her child.

Were you able to get to a place where you completely understood why she might act the way she did?

When you're a mother, you do whatever it takes for your children. Her child could presumably have a nice life without their psychopath father. [But] she was motivated by love and these expectations she has for the family she wants.

What do you think it is about Joe that makes him be able to get away with so much?

Well, he's white. He's a man. He's visibly straight. He's able-bodied. He's benefiting from historically, us as a culture, being inundated with these stories in which we see our heroes looking like him and doing questionable things. And yet we have romanticized it in romantic comedies, dramas, and music. So, we've been programmed to accept a very low level of behavior and consideration from people like him. We praise them for being just basically good. Or nice. And that's not enough.

The social media phenomenon around romanticizing Joe was a huge talking point earlier this year. What did you think of it when it was first happening?

The idea that people actually want to be with the psychopath and the murderer is a joke. Nobody actually wants to cozy up at night with somebody they know is going out fucking murdering people. I think it's bullshit. It's a joke, it's funny. Ha, ha, ha! But it's making other people think that women actually want to do that. I don't like that kind of conversation in which, especially men, think that other people actually are drawn to these qualities in them.

In reference to the scene where Love murders Candace, did you ever think the two of them might team up and take Joe down together?

No, not really. Candace threatened her family. She put her brother in compromising situations. She'll do anything to protect her brother. I think that Love was just completely devoted to her family and her man. That sense of duty didn't allow her to consider that because this person was just ruining her dream. Her fantasy. Her perfect guy. And her image of him. If we want to represent something very true in the world, it's that women often turn against each other. There are a lot of issues with the other woman becoming the issue as opposed to them thinking about the way this man has actually abused and physically assaulted and buried in the ground this woman, who is so strong that she comes back. No, we don't want to believe those stories. We don't want to believe the person holding our hand and making us feel good is also capable of being incredibly cruel. No, I didn't think that she was going to get in cohorts with Candace, unfortunately. She's not that girl.

How do you think Love is going to cope with Forty's death?

I don't know. I think, so far, she has a tendency to cope very well—outwardly, she copes very well with a lot of the things she has experienced in her life. I think it's going to be devastating. He was connected to her. They're a part of each other. Grief is grief.

What do you think is going to shock viewers the most?

I think it's shocking at every turn. I think that's part of the show. I want to believe that the story plays in a way that once I'm killing people, it comes as a shock.

Were you ever tempted to talk about the plot twists? How were you able to keep them a secret?

It's easy, because I know that people who enjoy the show enjoy the surprise. If I took that away from them, they're not going to enjoy the show in the same way. So, I'm not serving them in any way by telling them what's going to happen.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, my mind was blow when I found out Love killed Candace.

Ambyr [Childers, who plays Candace] is so great. Her character is so incredible. Her performance is so great in the show, as one of the only sane people who's really fighting for some form of justice. [Love] doesn't really always understand her methods, but she's trying to protect people from this person who wronged her when she doesn't really need to. She could just stay in Italy and be safe. But I think we know that when something bad happens and we're scared it could affect other people, there's this courage that can come out of it.

I thought it was a badass feminist move for Candace to advocate for getting people to stay away from Joe.

I'm definitely a woman who believes in sisterhood and the important place that women supporting other women plays in the whole movement towards equality. It's incredible how in making up around 50% of the population, we are an oppressed majority. That has only been possible by us working against each other. That's because of the structures that be and whatnot. [But we're] reminding [people] that Joe is benefiting not only from the way in which we are programmed, but also by other people who protect him.

What do you hope viewers take away from the second season?

I think it's a mix of things. I think it's important to focus on how our instincts can't always show us everything, that it's important to be careful about the interactions we have and the people we interact with. And at the same time, there's so much beauty in taking risks and having trust. I hope we don't walk around just scared of each other because of this show. I think there's different things for everyone. Everyone's going to relate to it differently and take something else away from it. I hate to tell people what to think.

Would you be down for a third season?

Yeah!

Do you have any dreams for how it would go, or are you open to anything?

No. I think I learned pretty early on that I can't predict shit with this show, so I'm ready to be blown away.

You season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Christopher Rosa is the staff entertainment writer at Glamour. Follow him on Instagram @chris.rosa92.

Originally Appeared on Glamour