The Beauty
Came out; 2026
Episodes: 11
Where to Watch: FX, Hulu or Disney Plus
Rated: TV-MA
Rating 6.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes
Tomatometer: 71%
Popcornmeter: 65%
Caution; Spoiler Alert
Staring:
Evan Peters as Cooper Madsen
Hudson Berry as Cooper after Transformation
Anthony Ramos as Antonio The Assassin
Jeremy Pope as Jeremy
Rebecca Hall as Jordan Bennette
Jessica Alexander as Jordan after transformation
Ashton Kutcher as Byron Forst
Vincent D'Onofrio as Byron before Transformation
Isabella Rossellini as Franny Forst
Nicola Peltz Beckham as Franny after Transformation
Rob Yang as Dr. Ray Lee
Ari Graynor as Dr. Dina Sterling
Premise: A drug known as "The Beauty" grants its users physical attractiveness through physical and genetic alteration. Though the drug is prepared to be distributed as a treatment, a sexually transmitted variant spreads rapidly, while the forces behind the drug work to conceal its spreading and the drug's lethal side effects. As deaths and public panic escalate, an FBI investigation and competing interests converge on those behind the drug and the epidemic it sparks
Overall Thoughts: You have been warned: You have to read the screen for certain scenes as they are speaking Italian. It's also a bit graphic so if you can't handle blood & guts this isn't the show for you
I wish they would have explained early on why some people blow up and other's don't.
The acting was fine (Love me some Evan Peters) and the story line was decent and it was definitely something different
The sound on this was hard to hear, FX shows are hit or miss when it comes to sound. I watched this on Disney Plus and it wasn't even close to hear able on Hulu
Episode 1: Beautiful Pilot
Amidst a Balenciaga fashion show in Paris, supermodel Ruby Rossdale suddenly goes on a rampage throughout the city, during which she exhibits erratically violent behavior, superhuman strength and resilience, and a fixation towards water before spontaneously combusting. While investigating the case, FBI agents Cooper Madsen and Jordan Bennett discover Rossdale, among other models who died under similar circumstances, all began their careers two years prior, had no social media presence beforehand, and all tested positive for a highly virulent sexually transmitted virus. Meanwhile, a lonely and directionless young man named Jeremy seeks to become more attractive, leading him to follow an internet chatroom recommendation for a mysterious "solution". He heads to a plastic surgery center called ANUU, where a specialist named Dr. Dilegre gives him a new facial structure. After being tricked into paying three women's bar tab, an incensed Jeremy returns to ANUU and shoots several employees until Dilegre agrees to give him an experimental treatment. Traveling to a hotel, Jeremy has intercourse with a mysterious woman named Claire, after which he undergoes a violent transformation and gains a new body.
Episode 2: Beautiful Jordan
Cooper and Jordan head to Venice to investigate a death connected to the virus. There, they find the Egyptian hieroglyph "Nefer", meaning "beauty", painted in blood on a wall near the victim, who they theorized was killed as part of an organized operation. They later uncover a video posted by a previous victim in which she repeatedly says "Don't do it" before learning an assistant editor for Vogue combusted in New York. During their last night in Italy, the pair discuss their sexual relationship, with Jordan clarifying her desire for it to remain casual and Cooper expressing his nihilistic belief that all human behavior is driven by sex and his disinterest in traditional monogamy or commitment; offending her. Later that evening, she has a sexual encounter with a mysterious man. Afterward, she undergoes a similar transformation as Jeremy; gaining a new body. Elsewhere, Cooper prepares to leave for New York. Though he is attacked by two unknown assailants, he eventually kills them. Meanwhile, in Rome, an assassin eliminates people on behalf of billionaire tech mogul Byron "The Corporation" Forst.
Episode 3: Beautiful Christopher Cross
In New York City, Harper Rose, an assistant editor for Vogue, goes on a rampage at Condé Nast before infecting numerous bystanders while combusting. In Venice, Cooper is detained by Italian police before FBI Supervisor Meyer Williams has him released and sent to New York after he tests negative for the virus. In Croatia, Byron tasks the Assassin with killing Dilegre for treating a contaminated client. Soon after, his estranged wife, Franny, informs him that their son Tig relapsed and is in a methadone clinic, but Byron refuses to visit him. Upon reaching him, the Assassin forces Dilegre to help him locate Jeremy before killing the former. The Assassin captures Jeremy and forces him to help him locate Marcy, a maid Jeremy had infected. While driving to her home, the Assassin tells Jeremy his belief that the world is cruel to those who are not beautiful before revealing he was hired by Byron to kill people for spreading the virus before his company's IPO. Upon their arrival, the pair subdue Marcy before the Assassin prepares to kill Jeremy. Seeing the latter's submissive behavior, the Assassin decides to recruit him as an apprentice instead.
Episode 4: Beautiful Chimp Face
In a flashback, Cooper and Jordan go on a date in Rome, during which they hint at sharing romantic feelings for each other. In the present, Cooper probes two survivors of Harper's rampage: her boyfriend Ashley Sanders, who is believed to have had unprotected sex with her beforehand and is potentially infected; and Manny, who Ashley claims is a sexual predator. Manny takes an interest in Cooper before going on his own rampage. Cooper pursues him to a high-security room containing full human skins donated by "beautiful" people before their deaths, where Manny transforms and attacks Cooper, blaming him for what happened. Cooper gains backup and subdues Manny. Sometime later, Jordan reunites with Cooper. Concurrently, the Assassin coaches an eager Jeremy while Byron takes booster shots to maintain his body's stability and declares "World Beauty Day" will be the official public launch of his new drug, dismissing concerns from a scientist named Dr. Ray Lee about lack of testing and third-party mutated variants, and orders production to be doubled.
Episode 5: Beautiful Billionaires
In a flashback, Byron joins a group of fellow billionaires in gathering for an exclusive trial of an experimental gene therapy developed by Ray. After transforming, Byron kills the other billionaires and witnesses before kidnapping Ray to ensure he becomes the sole proprietor of Ray's work. In the present, Cooper verifies Jordan's identity and embraces her. Upon learning what happened to her, he promises to help her avert the infection's side effects, insisting she eschews contact with the authorities to avoid being quarantined. Meanwhile, the Assassin and Jeremy torture a man named Nate for information, who contracted the virus from a sex worker and spread it to several people, before Byron orders the Assassin to eliminate Cooper. As Cooper and Jordan return to the former's apartment, they find Nate's corpse and the "Nefer" hieroglyph on the wall.
Episode 6: Beautiful Patient Zero
In a flashback, shortly after kidnapping Ray, Byron notices side effects and agrees to let him live to perfect the formula while killing anyone who has the virus to prevent it from becoming a street drug. Byron later attempts to convince Franny to take the drug, outlining his plan to use himself and the extreme cosmetic appeal it grants to amass power and circumvent the FDA's laws, but she declines and threatens to expose him. Ray discovers the virus causes "ignition ketosis" after 855 days and promises to find a treatment that Byron can sell alongside it. Meanwhile, Ray's colleagues Mike and Clara bond over insecurities related to their appearances and social confidence. Following an experiment with a chimpanzee, Mike steals two vials and administers them to himself and Clara. Two years later, the Assassin executes Mike in Rome to prevent the virus from spreading beyond Byron's control.
Episode 7: Beautiful Living Rooms
Cooper takes Jordan to a safe house, where she confesses her love for him. Byron visits Meyer and his wife Juliana, offering to cure their daughter Joey of her progeria using the Beauty, plus doses for them and financial compensation, in exchange for shutting down the FBI investigation and handing over Cooper. They accept Byron's deal. Elsewhere, Jeremy pushes the Assassin to reveal his history and name, Antonio, and the two bond over similar family trauma. Meyer arranges for Cooper to access the NIH and collect a DNA sample before the Assassin and Jeremy ambush him and Jordan at the hospital. The Assassin forces Cooper to surrender by threatening Jordan, whom he reciprocates feelings for as they are both taken captive. Subsequently, Meyer, Juliana, and Joey all undergo the Beauty procedure and reunite as a newly transformed family, as Byron watches on proudly.
Episode 8: Beautiful Brothers
As Byron prepares his presentation for the Beauty's upcoming launch, he cuts down his company's budget and disbands its other divisions to reinvest the drug, disaffecting roboticist Dr. Diana Sterling. He later uses the Beauty procedure on his estranged sons, Tig and Gunther, to save them from drug overdose; for which Franny swears vengeance on Byron. Elsewhere, the Assassin is betrayed by Byron before he, Jeremy, Cooper and Jordan are taken to an NIH quarantine facility, where the survivors of the Condé Nast incident had previously been killed by mercenaries. Jeremy and the Assassin clash over the latter not informing the former about the Beauty's side effects, before Cooper stops them. He is then summoned by Meyer, now an NIH supervisor, and told to follow orders. Upon his return, Cooper and the others are extracted from the quarantine zone.
Episode 9: Beautiful Evolution
Believing her "Deacon" robots are superior to Byron's drug and wanting to regain the rights to her own work back from his corporation, Diana joins forces with Franny to formulate a plan to assassinate him. After masterminding Cooper, Jordan, the Assassin, and Jeremy's escape, she asks for their help. As Byron knows what they all look like, Cooper must take the Beauty and use his new appearance to get close to him. Cooper agrees as long as he contracts it through sex with Jordan rather than injection so that he can spend more time with her first, despite Diana's warning that the drug is more stable. Jordan, the Assassin, and Jeremy are alarmed as Cooper's transformation, unlike their own, turns out to be longer and more painful and are shocked when Cooper emerges as a healthy adolescent.
Episode 10: Beautiful Beauty Day
Following Cooper's transformation, he, Jordan, the Assassin, and Jeremy devise a plan to assassinate Byron, but are too late as the Beauty is suddenly launched and released all over the world a day earlier than anticipated. A week later, high school student Bella Grant becomes fixated on the Beauty after her best friend Ruthie, who had a botched nose job, undergoes the Beauty procedure with successful results, and is treated to a luxurious high-end experience her parents paid for. However, since Bella cannot afford "the shot" officially and her parents do not approve of it, Ruthie gives her a card with a number to call for a backdoor method of obtaining the Beauty for free.
Episode 11: Beautiful Betrayal
Tig and Gunther dose Franny with the Beauty against her will in an attempt to please Byron, leading her to attempt suicide, though Byron has doctors keep her body stable with the Beauty's regenerative properties. Meanwhile, Bella undergoes a Beauty transformation via sexual transmission from a man named Conor, who had taken a second dose beforehand to increase the strength, leading Bella's mother to find her with grotesque mutations. After Byron learns the public and government no longer support the Beauty due to widely reported side-effects, he halts sales and closes down the operation to reinvest in cures and fixes, while providing boosters for free. Diana convinces Byron to allow her to "improve" the Beauty using AI. Wishing to continue distributing the drug and inherit Byron's business, Tig enlists Diana, Cooper, Jordan, the Assassin and Jeremy's help to assassinate him. In exchange, Cooper is given an untested drug developed by Diana's AI systems, building upon Ray's research, to reverse the Beauty's effects, and the others are stunned when he emerges from his offscreen transformation.
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