The Beauty Series Premiere Review: A WTF Opener That Locks You In

Critic’s Rating: 4 / 5.0

4

The Beauty locks you in from the first act, making it impossible to look away from the screen.

The Beauty series premiere has you screaming “WTF!” from the first spontaneous combustion. Yes, people are literally blowing up, adding a whole new meaning to Nip/Tuck, and at first, nothing makes sense.

Within three episodes, there are details that leave you needing more, and while absolutely crazy at times, Ryan Murphy really has done it again.

The Beauty Season 1 Episode 1, “Beautiful Pilot,” sets the tone for the series, and not just with a woman exploding after demanding water.

We get pulled into the investigation, making it clear that this isn’t an isolated incident.

Why aren’t more people talking about it? I have to admit, I wonder about this because people suddenly exploding would certainly make the news in the real world.

However, even the incel who is always on the computer isn’t someone who cares enough to look into these explosions.

That’s because he’s too busy trying to get laid, and he spends the whole episode going through surgery to find that magical cure to get the girls.

What we really see, though, is that the real price of manufactured beauty turns those ugly on the inside into something worse — he is a shallow member of society who could end up becoming dangerous.

You know that the storylines are going to converge eventually, but for now, Incel Jeremy’s arc is completely separate. The only thing that clearly conveys they will converge is the black widow-type woman who gives him some sort of STI to look good.

That’s what it turns out to be. This magical cure to make people look amazing is as if rabies and HIV got high on steroids and created a baby.

Sex is the main way to pass on the infection, making it a beauty STI, but it can also be passed via other bodily fluids.

I can see why the magical cure isn’t being heavily marketed, and I can also see why some guy is going around killing those who have any sort of connection to it.

One thing I don’t understand is why nobody thinks it is odd that all these overweight, traditionally “ugly” people are all of a sudden models and just shells of their former selves.

Why is nobody questioning how this is possible? It’s not like surgery has got to this point, is it?

There are some graphic moments, but The Beauty remains relatively tame for a Ryan Murphy series, so they’re pretty easy to sit through. It’s more like an early American Horror Story rather than Monster.

A Permanent Gag Order

I do appreciate that three episodes of The Beauty dropped at once. I’m not sure this series would work with just one episode per week from the beginning.

The first episode certainly made us go “WTF,” but then it slowed down quickly. It was only toward the end of the episode that we felt a threat in the air.

The Beauty Season 1 Episode 2, “Beautiful Jordan,” helps to push the intrigue and danger forward.

This comes into focus upon the reveal of the permanent gag order. People are literally being killed for being part of passing on the STI.

You see, it’s some sort of beauty drug that nobody wants marketed just yet. Someone is keeping it for themselves, offering it only to those who “deserve” it.

The ironic thing is, Ashton Kutcher’s Byron Frost says a line that he follows himself: “Beautiful people don’t think the rules apply to them.”

Byron has literally hired a guy to kill for him, so doesn’t it seem like he thinks that the rules don’t apply to him, as well? The hypocrisy runs ripe on this one!

In between all the killing and the mystery of dead bodies, though, the show struggles with its leads.

Evan Peters and Rebecca Hall try throughout The Beauty Season 1 Episode 2, but I don’t believe their characters’ relationship at all.

I don’t believe that Cooper wants more, as he didn’t show it at all throughout the first episode, even when they were in bed together.

Jordan is vain, and while not quite at the level of those literally infecting themselves with an STI, she’s vain enough to undergo procedures that she probably doesn’t need.

There’s a disconnect in the scenes that I’m not sure is even meant to be there, and in the end, I’m not bothered about Jordan hooking up with some random guy and getting infected.

Maybe had this happened three or four episodes in, I’d care a little more. I just need to get to know characters well enough to even care if they get hurt.

It’s the same with Cooper, who is attacked and almost killed by the end of The Beauty Season 1 Episode 2. As much as I love Peters, I just don’t care about this character; I’m more intrigued with the people exploding.

However, it adds another layer to the story, as the attacks have now become personal.

Jeremy’s Arc Is a Little Predictable

Again, though, I’m just glad we got three episodes, as The Beauty Season 1 Episode 3, “Beautiful Christopher Cross” delivers more of the Assassin’s and Jeremy’s stories.

These are the two I find more intriguing, and that’s because they have depth and backstory — the Assassin more than Jeremy.

The downside of Jeremy’s arc is that it becomes predictable, since he’s already been labeled an incel. He thinks that the world owes him, and he’s going to listen to anyone who tells him so and how to achieve greatness.

It turns out that the Assassin is 65, and he’s taken a purer form of this STI. That means he’s not exploding after two years, but it begs the question of why or how the formula was changed.

The assumption is that Byron also took the miracle beauty cure at some point, considering he’s sending the Assassin after everyone who is passing on the STI without approval.

This should have meant killing Jeremy, but at this, the Assassin halts. It’s not out of sympathy, but more out of intrigue himself.

He sees a protege in Jeremy, and this is the start of a beautiful friendship — and a dangerous one at that. Well, maybe not quite a friendship, as I don’t think the Assassin can manage those feelings, but a partnership.

I do find myself tuning out of the Venice and FBI storylines here and there, but I don’t mind that, as it happens with any show.I wonder what parts of the story are most intriguing to you, so please share them with me in the comments below.

We get a lot of names thrown at us for people who look very similar, which can make it a little convoluted compared to the explosive moments, but The Beauty is finding its footing. Murphy has a habit of making things a little confusing before the story finds its groove.

I wound up watching the episodes twice just to figure out who was who among all the dead people at first, but the hardest part is that it’s just not as interesting as the Assassin’s arc.

That being said, the end of The Beauty Season 1 Episode 3 pulled me in, purely because it contained all those who had been exposed to yet another woman exploding. It reminded me very much of The Stand, and I’m here for dystopian horror.

Overall, there’s enough to keep me hooked, and I want to understand more about this weird virus that is causing people to explode after making them beautiful. The FBI story not so much, but I’ll give that time to pick up.

It’s the Assassin who is going to have me obsessed week after week. I need to know more about him and how he and Byron ended up working together.

The Beauty airs on Wednesdays on FX and Hulu on Disney+.

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