Warning: Major You season 4, part 2 spoilers ahead. Tati Gabrielle wants a T-shirt with how You season 4 ends. “You know how you get those T-shirts like, ‘I survived the Tower of Terror.’ I hope they make T-shirts like, ‘I survived Joe Goldberg,’” she tells StyleCaster on a Zoom call in early February. “Anybody who reads this article, I want you to know Tati wants a T-shirt that reads, ‘I survived Joe Goldberg.’”
Gabrielle plays Marienne Bellamy, a single mother of one and the latest obsession of serial killer Joe Goldberg, in You season 4, which released its second part on March 9. Marienne was first introduced in season 3, which saw her and Joe meet at a library where she worked before she and her daughter, Juliette, moved to Paris for a better life, where Joe followed her to. The first part of You season 4 saw Joe find Marienne at a street fair in London before trapping her in an empty building before deciding to let her go. The next day Joe follows Marienne to a station as she boards a train back to Paris. Or so viewers thought. “[You creator] Sera [Gamble] gave me a rundown at the top of the season of what the season was going to be,” Gabrielle says. “But I didn’t know how that twist was gonna play out until I read the scripts.”
The twist she’s referring to comes in the second part of You season 4, where viewers learn that Marienne never boarded her train to Paris and was instead drugged and kidnapped by Joe—who has a psychotic break that causes him to disassociate from himself and not remember his crimes—and trapped in a glass cage for months. The second part also reveals that the real “Eat the Rich” killer is Joe and that author Rhys Montrose, who Joe thought was the killer, was just a figment of his imagination. “The Rhys Montrose thing, the Joe having this psychotic break that makes his psyche be a physical representation outside of him. I was like, ‘Sera Gamble is a freaking genius.’ She and the writing team, yo, you guys just continue to wow and top yourself,” Gabrielle says.
So does Marienne die in You season 4, part 2? The answer is no. In the finale, Marienne becomes Joe’s first main victim to survive after she fakes her suicide with the help of Nadia Farran, Joe’s student who discovers his true identity, and escapes his glass cage alive. “Marienne is doing everything she can to get out of this cage to get to her child. That is going to charge and fuel her to do whatever she’s got to do,” Gabrielle says.
Ahead, Gabrielle talked to StyleCaster about Joe’s twist in You season 4, if Marienne could return in season 5 and how even she had suspicions that Marienne could be the “Eat the Rich” killer.
Image: Courtesy of Tiziano Lugli. Dress & Boots: Iro. Earrings: Pianegonda.
How were you cast in You?
I was in Spain, where I was finishing filming Uncharted. I get a message from my agents saying, “Greg Berlanti really wants you for this project. They want to do a chemistry read.” I had big intentions after I wrapped on Uncharted to take a month off. I’ve been working the past three years straight. I wanted to go travel around Europe and take a vacation. I asked my agents “Well, what project is it?” They were like, “They won’t tell us. They just want you to do this chemistry read.” I was like, “OK, well tell Greg I said thank you so much. I appreciate it. But I really want to take this vacation.” Two weeks later, it was our last week on Uncharted, my agents come back and they’re like, “Hey, they went through all of their options, and they still really want you.” I was like, “OK, will they tell us what it is now?” They’re like, “They still won’t tell us what it is. But they want you to do a chemistry read with Penn Badgley.” I was like, “Well, now I know what it is!” I was a huge fan of the show before stepping in. I did my chemistry read, which was when I was in Barcelona. Penn was actually in the Grand Canyon at the time on a vacation of his own. It was my first time doing a chemistry read over Zoom. But it worked. We did the chemistry read. I got a call back within a week and met with Sera Gamble. I had a lot of questions before I fully accepted the job around how Marienne was going to be portrayed, in terms of race and culturally speaking. I wanted to make sure that, as a Black woman, the traits that naturally come with being a Black woman, were not going to be missed in favor of just moving the story along. Is she going to be oblivious? Because Black woman, due to the way most of us grow up, are very aware and clued into life.They’ve had to be from a survival instinct standpoint and that innate and generationally inherited survival instinct. Is that going to be real and portrayed? Sera was like, “Absolutely. We want to be as accurate as we possibly can. If you have any questions or humps along the road, please let me know.” She has been wonderful through the course of both season three and four. If I had a time where I’m like, “This doesn’t feel right,” then she would be like, “OK, let’s talk about it. Let’s change it.”
Did you know Marienne would survive season 3 and return in season 4?
Sera told me off the jump. At the start of season three, she was like, “You don’t die. I just want you to know that.” I said, “OK, cool.” I knew I would be a part of season four. I didn’t know what capacity yet. But I did know she would be carrying on.
What was your reaction when you were told the twist that Joe was the “Eat the Rich” and he kidnapped Marienne?
I was like, “No way.” Sera gave me a rundown at the top of the season of what the season was going to be. But I didn’t know how that twist was gonna play out until I read the scripts. The Reese Montrose thing, the Joe having this psychotic break that makes his psyche be a physical representation outside of him. I was like, “Sera Gamble is a freaking genius.” She and the writing team, yo, you guys just continue to wow and top yourself. I was actually really excited that I was going to be in the cage. It’s probably not healthy how excited I was to be in that cage .The cage in every season has always been a really important part of the show. To me, it’s been a study of how the devolution of somebody’s psyche can happen in captivity, and you see it differently in every season. I was excited and immediately thinking, “How can I bring a different version with Marienne?” Marienne would have been the person in the cage the longest throughout the course of the show, so I wanted to make that her arc through that time period.
Image: Courtesy of Tiziano Lugli. Suit: Alberta Ferretti. Rings. Lilou. Earrings: Pianegonda.
What was it like to be in the cage for the first time?
I remember it vividly. They had just built it in our studio in London, and it was a week before we were supposed to start my cage work. I just stepped in it for about 10 seconds. Immediately I wanted to start crying. Though this was technically the cage that we built in London and they didn’t ship it over from the States, my subconscious knowing what’s happened inside this space, what was coming for Marienne, I had such a visceral emotional reaction. I got severe anxiety all of a sudden. I was like, “OK, getting out of here. Don’t need to be in here until I have to be. My spirit and my body already knew what this is going to entail.
What was it like to film the twist where Marienne fakes her death?
Penn directed that episode. It was difficult because I had a hard time separating, “Though Marienne knows she’s not actually going to lose her child, this is for the audience and to put on a show for Joe to make her think that.” I remember that day, I was getting so frustrated with myself because I felt like I couldn’t get to the place that I wanted to get to as far as showing a distraught mother that was about to lose everything or the thing that meant the most to her in the world. After we finished the scene, I was in tears, but in tears out of frustration, not even in tears from the scene itself. I was hyperventilating and crying. I was like, “Penn was that [OK]?” He’s like, “Tati, I need you to calm down. The fact that you’re like this right now means we got exactly what we needed to get. Take a second to just step outside.” People brought me juice. But it was very difficult to play that twist and try to block out parts of information, as well as compartmentalize Marienne. I also struggled with thinking that, “Well, Marienne is not an actor, how would she be able to put on this huge emotional show for Joe?” Then I had to change my sort of way of thinking about it like, “Well, she’s a mom, it doesn’t matter. She doesn’t have to be an actor.” Marienne is doing everything she can to get out of this cage to get to her child. That is going to charge and fuel her to do whatever she’s got to do.
Do you think Joe actually loves Marienne?
To a certain extent, yes. He does, very much so. That’s why it does affect him so much when she dies. Though he was in a state of disassociation, I don’t think he ever intended to do to Marienne what he did when he realized he had done. On one hand he does actually love Marienne and care about her incredibly. On another hand, as we know, Joe is delusional. That’s me acknowledging the fact that Joe is a psychopath. I do think he’s capable of certain emotions, but not as deeply as the average person. I don’t think I could say he doesn’t love Marienne because otherwise finding her body would not have affected him at all. It would just have been another body in the grave.
Of all of Joe’s victims, who do you think he loves the most?
That’s hard. I don’t know if I’m even in a place to answer that question because I think they’ve all done something different for Joe. I think he’s loved all of them in different ways.
Do you think Joe can change?
Oh, no. No, poor baby. I think he’s—excuse my French—but properly fucked up. Even in the course of season four, the man had a full psychotic break. I’m so excited to see what happens in season five from an audience perspective. How much crazier can he get? I don’t think you can change. I think he has a deep, deep, deep wanting to. I do think that Joe wishes he could, but I don’t think he’s capable.
Marienne doesn’t die in You season 4. What is it like to be Joe’s first main victim to survive?
It’s an honor. It’s really an honor. I feel like it’s a big medal to carry. You know how you get those T-shirts like, “I survived the Tower of Terror.” I hope they make T-shirts like, “I survived Joe Goldberg” Anybody who reads this article, I want you to know Tati wants a T-shirt that reads, “I survived Joe Goldberg.” It is mind blowing to me, especially with what this show is, “It’s like, whoa.” You even saying that to me. I never even put it in my head.
Would you want Marienne to come back in season 5?
I just want Marienne to be able to find her peace and happiness. She deserves that. She’s been through enough alone. If Marienne was going to be in season five, I would want it to be in the capacity to see Joe’s demise. I really want that for her. But ultimately, I just want her to be happy. After everything she’s been through in life, and through the month or two she was with Joe like in London, she deserves a bit of happiness and peace.
When I was watching the first part, I actually thought for a second that Marienne could be the killer.
That’s actually awesome to hear. Because that’s what this season is. The whodunit. I even thought that for a second, even though Sera told me what was gonna happen. She told me early on in January. We didn’t start shooting until March. So things can change. Writers will change things. So I’m reading it like, “Wait a minute, is it me?” That one of the beauties of how they’ve done this season. It does keep you guessing and make you develop crazy theories to try to figure out what’s going to happen.
Image: Courtesy of Tiziano Lugli. Set: SER.O.YA. Rings & Necklace: Lilou.
How do you think You will end for Joe?
I do think a worser punishment than death is being locked away for the rest of your life. That is to me the grandest punishment because you’re forced to sit with everything you did for the rest of your life. You don’t get death as an escape. In that way, I would love to see Joe survive but only survive in the capacity that he has to ruminate in everything that he’s done forever.
Where would you want Marienne to be now?
I either want her to be in Paris having the best life and forgetting about all of it. Or I want her to be secretly devising a plan to fully take Joe down. The coolest thing is if Marienne was like, “He can’t get away so easily. This isn’t fair.” And was secretly like, “I will take him down now that he thinks I’m dead and I’m the best to be the one to come after him.”
You’re also in another Netflix show, Kaleidoscope, which can be watched in any order. What order did you watch the episodes in?
I’ve now watched the show twice in two different orders. I have a favorite order. I’ve seen the discord of the right way to watch it and I truly don’t think there is any best way to watch it. That’s part of the magic of the experience that Eric Garcia and our creative team did in making the show. Every audience member should have their own experience going through it. I do think the only order I will denounce is watching it chronologically. Because I think that misses the whole point of the show because it’s not about just the story, it’s not about just the heist, it’s about these characters and why this heist even happened. In that way, white should always be last. My favorite order is the rainbow order. Starting with any order that starts with red is going to be my favorite of the orders. Because I like the Tarantino-esque way where you start where you’re gonna end, and then you go back to it in the end.
What order did you film the episodes?
We filmed all over the place. We filmed in blocks, though. We did two episodes at a time. Each two episodes were directed by different directors. So we did white and red together, yellow and blue, pink and orange, and then green and violet. Before shooting anything, all of us were required to read all of the scripts. Because you kind of have to, or else there’s no way to fully understand your character or understand what your character is doing in any given episode unless you read all of them.
You is available to stream on Netflix.
Credits:
Photographer: Tiziano Lugli
Stylist: Oretta Corbelli
Hairstylist: Suzette Boozer
Makeup Artist: Elie Maalouf
Stylist assistant: Allegra Gargiulo
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