Diksha Sundriyal
The fifth season of Netflix’s ‘You’ brings Joe Goldberg’s story full circle as he returns to New York, hoping to get his life back together. Being married to Kate Lockwood has changed things for him in the best way possible, including the return of his son Henry, who had been absent for the entirety of the fourth season. His absence was noted back then as well, and his sudden return poses many questions about where he had been all this time, and how he came back to the father who had abandoned him while being on the run from the law. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Henry was Left Behind for his Own Good
The third season of ‘You’ follows Joe and Love in their suburban life in Madre Linda, California, where they try to move past all the bad things that they have done and start anew. Even as he tries to bond with his young son, Joe notices a distance between them, and the child does not seem to have any affection for him. This struggle to connect leads Joe to worry whether he is a bad father, and if the trauma of his childhood is so deeply embedded in him that he is passing all of that on to his son.
His efforts to stay good for his son are soon unravelled, and by the end of the season, things are so bad that Joe cannot stay in California anymore. He ends up killing Love, who warns him that despite all his manipulations and lies, young Henry will see through him one day and recognise Joe for the monster he really is. Joe doesn’t care about his words but wants his son to be safe. He also knows that Love’s death would pose all sorts of questions towards him, and it would be very easy for the cops to find him responsible for the death of his wife. So, he comes up with a plan for both him and Henry.
To save himself, Joe fakes his death. He makes it look like he, too, was killed in the same fire as Love. This means he will have to leave California, but he cannot go on the run with his son, whom he wants to have a stable home and an everyday life. By this time, the only people he can trust to care for his son are Dante and his husband, Lansing. Joe met Dante during his visits to the library, and they became good friends over time. At times, Dante and Lansing would even babysit Henry, and it is from this that Joe gets the confidence that they would treat his son as their own. When Love and Joe are officially declared dead, Dottie, Love’s mother, tries to get Henry’s custody, but Joe’s dying wish to have his son with Dante and Lansing takes preference, and so, the boy spends the next couple of years of his life with them.
Kate’s Intervention Brought Henry Back to Joe
When Joe left Henry behind, it was to come back someday. He even leaves a letter for Dante and Lansing, which they had intended to give to the boy when he grew older. But then, fate takes quite a turn, and Joe returns to life. Not only does he return to America, but he also has Kate by his side, the CEO of a billion-dollar company, who has all the resources required to get whatever she wants. When Joe comes clean to her about his past, he also tells her about Henry and wanting him back.
So, Kate pulls all the necessary strings to get the boy back to his biological father. It isn’t until much later that Kate feels that pulling him out of a loving household was a bad decision. Because Dante and Lansing were given official custody of the kid, they were ready to fight for him, too. But Kate and the Lockwood family’s power was too much for them, and eventually, they had to give in. Thus, Henry finds his way back to Joe, though he remains too young to understand what has happened. However, he is old enough to know that his father is probably not who he made himself out to be.
