‘YOU’ Season 2 Marks The Return Of Fan-Favorite Candace, But For How Long?

Warning: Spoilers for YOU season 2 ahead. As Ambyr Childers told StyleCaster, YOU “isn’t a show about unicorns and butterflies”—season 2 included. So does Childers’ character Candace die in YOU season 2? Well, if you’ve seen the Netflix series’ second season, you know that answer is complicated. YOU season 1 ends with a twist: Candace, Joe’s ex-girlfriend, is alive after a season’s worth of episodes suggesting that Joe killed her when their relationship went south. Candace returned in the final moment of season 1 to hold Joe accountable for his actions, which consists of her entire storyline for season 2.

But before we dive into whether Candace is alive or dead at the end of season 2, let’s talk about what happened to her. Season 1 didn’t explain what happened to her after she and Joe broke up. Turns out, when Candace tried to end the relationship, Joe knocked her unconscious, drove her deep into a forest and tried to bury her alive. When Candace woke up, she was able to push through the dirt and go to the police. However, after the officer doesn’t believe her story (given that she has no evidence), Candace becomes discouraged. The officer then suggests that she hide and change her identity if Joe thinks she’s dead. She stays hidden until she sees Beck’s book, which details Joe’s abuse. Once she does, she tracks down Joe and then follows him to Los Angeles, where she threatens to expose his secrets.

Image: Netflix.

Flash forward to episode 9 season 2 where Candace (again—spoilers ahead) locks Joe in his glass cage after discovering him there with Delilah, who’s dead in a pool of her own blood. (Little does Candace know that Joe isn’t the one who killed Delilah. The episode continues with Love finding both Joe and Candace. Unbeknownst to both of them, Love is crazy and obsessed with Joe. When Candace tries to convince Love that Joe is insane and a murderer, Love stabs her in the neck—and thus, kills her. Episode 10 starts with YOU revealing to viewers that Love is equally as crazy as Joe and killed Candace to protect him, in fear that Candace would expose Joe’s secrets and incriminate him.

So to answer the previous question, yes, Candace dies in YOU season 2. After surviving Joe’s abuse and him burying her alive, she meets a tragic end in episode 9.