Who is Minty Fresh in You? What Happened to Her?

Netflix’s ‘You’ focuses on Joe Goldberg’s romantic endeavours and how he turns every single one of them into a nightmare for the women who dare fall for him. In the final season of the show, all the bodies that he thought he had buried are dug up, bringing his worst crimes to the fore. Once he comes under scrutiny, all the people whose lives were touched by him somehow come out to share their experiences. One of those people is Karen Minty, whose name is mentioned as “Minty Fresh” in a conversation that comes up in the final season. SPOILERS AHEAD.

Karen Minty is One of the Few People to Survive Joe Goldberg

Joe Goldberg’s track record shows him as a man who is destructive towards everyone he loves. His love, especially for women, often turns into obsession, which leads things to go pretty badly. Karen Minty, however, escaped all of that while Joe was still starting on his journey of violence. She meets him in the first season, when he is still entangled with Beck. She is the sister of his neighbor, Claudia, who is struggling with a drug problem. Karen is there to help her sister through this dark time and care for her son, Paco, who also forms a strong bond with Joe. When Joe breaks up with Beck, he finds reprieve in Karen, who seems to be the person he needs to keep him in line.

Like almost every woman Joe crosses paths with, Karen is also taken in by his charm. She is particularly impressed with the way he is with Paco. She sees him as a kind and caring person, and despite his love for Beck, she is open to a relationship with him when he is single. Slowly, however, she notices that what Joe feels for Beck is more than simple love for one’s ex. She starts to see that it is clear that Joe is more interested in chasing after Beck, who also becomes more interested in him after their breakup. This toxicity between the duo shows her that she is stuck in something too complicated and destructive, which will not turn out well for anyone. So, when Joe eventually breaks up with her, she is not heartbroken, but relieved.

Karen Credits Beck for Saving Her From Joe

A fortunate thing about Karen is that despite being in a relationship with Joe, she never really catches his fancy. Or at least, she doesn’t interest him enough to become his next obsession. She doesn’t have to find ways to shake him off, or run off to another country to escape him, or fake her death so he would stop coming after her. Much of this concerns the fact that at the time, Joe is too occupied with Beck to pay any mind to her. The way he chases her and engages in toxic behaviour, it becomes clear to Karen that he is not the kind of person she would want to be with. In fact, after the breakup, when she crosses paths with Beck, she thanks her for bringing out Joe’s dark side and becoming the excuse for her to leave Joe behind.

By this time, she has also received enough hints to know that Beck is not the only ex he is obsessed with. She also finds out hints about what may or may not have happened to Candace and how Joe is still stuck on her. She mentions as much to Beck as a way of warning. But this is the extent of her interaction with the woman who dies soon after. Karen is so done with Joe that she moves out of her sister’s place and goes so far away that she never crosses paths with him again. The next time we hear of her is in a police station, where the cop asks Bronte about “Minty Fresh” on social media, who talked about Joe’s obsessive behaviour while she was dating him. Thankfully, things don’t go so far that she has to appear in front of the cops to tell her side of the story. If anything, she would feel lucky to have come so close to death and escaped, especially when several other women did not get to be so fortunate.