Abhiroop Das
Created by Ryan Murphy and Matt Hodgson, FX’s ‘The Beauty’ reimagines the world laid out by Jeremy Haun and Jason A. Hurley in comic form, and brings to life the stories of Cooper Madsen and Jordan Bennett. When the two seasoned FBI agents are sent on a globetrotting mission to examine a string of deaths, things quickly take an inexplicable turn. As it turns out, conventionally attractive people all over the world are blowing up from the inside out, and all of it connects back to a mysterious medical treatment known as the Beauty.
Born out of the nefarious ambitions of Byron Forst, the richest man on the planet, the Beauty is at once the biggest invention of the modern era, and perhaps the most dangerous. Over the course of this sci-fi body horror series, Cooper and Jordan experience firsthand how the Beauty can turn one’s life upside down forever. In the season finale, titled ‘Beautiful Betrayal,’ their battle with Byron reaches its grand climax, only to reveal that nothing is as it seems. SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Beauty Finale Recap
‘The Beauty’ season 1 episode 11 begins with a musical sequence, as Tiger and Gunther descend down the stairs and enchant their mother, Franny, with a dance, before subtly injecting her with a shot of the Beauty. By the time Byron sees her again, Franny’s transformation is already complete, leaving her in a profound state of unhappiness. Realizing the horrors that the Beauty is doomed to usher into this world, she decides to take her own life in protest and slashes her throat with pieces of a broken vase. Byron, who once favored nothing but looking down on Franny, now lies helplessly on the ground, begging for help as his wife bleeds profusely. From there, the scene shifts back to the story of Bella, who we last saw accepting her friend’s suggestion to get an off-the-books treatment of the Beauty.
After meeting with Glenn, one of the people working in Byron’s company, she learns that sexual transmission is one of the two ways a person can get the Beauty, but that it also comes with its risks. To ensure that she gets the most potent shot, Glenn claims that he snuck in a second dose for himself that same morning, but this turns out to be a mistake. After the duo has sex and Bella returns home, her transformation turns out to be unlike any we have seen thus far. By the time her mother realizes that something is up, it is already too late. What comes out of the room is not an aestheticized version of Bella, but rather, a mutated, horrifying physical form, resulting from the side effects of her unconventional treatment.
As news about mysterious side effects, flare-ups, and abnormal transformations reaches Byron’s ears, his entire company is left in chaos. Feeling an enormous sense of guilt, he orders a drastic step: to pull out all treatments of the Beauty from across the globe, and settle in every lawsuit thrown their way. Until a permanent cure is secured, Byron plans to keep the booster doses flowing free of charge, even if it means bankrupting the company. Tiger, however, strongly disagrees with the idea and instead harbors ambitions to scale the company above and beyond. This puts him in direct cross-hairs with his father, and with neither the means nor the ability to one-up him in a straight battle, Tiger resorts to Byron’s fiercest enemy: Diana. As she reunites with Cooper, Jordan, Jeremy, and Antonio, an entirely different kind of deal between them begins to take shape.
The Beauty Ending: Does Cooper Turn Back to Normal? Is He Still a Child?
While season 1 of ‘The Beauty’ ends on a cliffhanger, all things point towards Cooper regaining his adult body following a reversal treatment. After hoping to get infected via sex and then accidentally turning into a child, Cooper is desperate for just about any way to turn back. The opportunity comes when Diana reveals that a serum can seemingly erase Beauty’s effects and give a person their original body back. While she claims that this invention came from Ray, the scientist who originally created the Beauty, things don’t appear to be that simple. Earlier in the board meeting with Byron, she asserts that her deacons are deconstructing the Beauty to figure out a cure, which directly contradicts what we now know. The most likely possibility here is that Ray was killed by none other than Diana, who now has sole monopoly over the cure.
After getting injected with the Beauty’s antidote, Cooper seemingly goes through the same process a second time, with the bodily contusions, the cracking of bones, and lastly, the cocooning phase, all happening in quick succession. By the end of it, Cooper’s cocoon is much larger than before, unlike the last time when he came out as a kid. If this size difference isn’t enough, the last shot we see of him is his hand tearing its way out of the cocoon, fully resembling that of an adult. Although the season ends abruptly to keep the element of surprise, all visual elements point towards the experiment being a success, meaning that Cooper is now patient zero for the reversal of the Beauty’s effects. However, the sole caveat in this entire chain of events is Jordan’s reaction to it all.
Following Cooper’s reverse transformation, the screen largely focuses on the reactions of Jordan, Antonio, and Jeremy, which lend themselves to a much more ambiguous reading. Jordan, in particular, seems to sport the exact same look from when Cooper turned into a child, and that fills the final scene with an ominous dread. However, unlike her, the two assassins seem to share a look of awe, similar to what one might feel while looking at the first case of the Beauty’s effects being undone. Even in the scenario where Cooper makes a full recovery, however, there are still numerous thematically linked conversations to be had. Cooper’s uncanny metamorphosis manifests as a direct result of his flawed approach to the crisis, and while the new serum can hypothetically give him a second chance at life, it matters more how he chooses to use it.
Is Tiger Lying to Jordan, Antonio, and Jeremy? What is His Plan?
Cooper’s second transformation is only made possible because Diana chooses to join hands with Tiger, gaining all of his resources and insider knowledge in one go. However, what makes this combination a tricky one is the fact that, on the surface, both characters have completely different goals and desires. This contrast is even more noticeable in Tiger and Jordan, or Tiger and Antonio, which is why the final alliance between Diana and Tiger, as well as Cooper, Jordan, Antonio, and Jeremy, can come off as a confusing one. It is likely that this group is formed on layers upon layers of lies, both between the two parties and amongst them. To begin with, it is self-evident that Tiger isn’t being honest about why he wants Byron killed, and goes as far as to pin Franny’s transformation on him to gain sympathy.
The real ambiguity in this dynamic lies in Diana’s court, specifically in whether she is being played by Tiger or is a manipulator herself. At least on a superficial level, all the parties seem to be together purely because of their joint hatred for Byron, but for Diana in particular, all of this boils down to a question of money. There is a good chance that she already has a deal with Tiger in place, which can simultaneously fund her research into deacon technology while keeping up the Beauty’s production. The flip side, however, is that Tiger has his own plans for the deacons, and just as he is lying to Cooper and Jordan, chances are that he is merely using Diana and her brains to get what he really wants: supremacy over his father’s company.
In the final moments of the season, Tiger, who earlier displayed a poor business acumen, seemingly comes up with a plan that can put him way ahead of his opposition. By simultaneously producing the Beauty, its boosters, and its cure, he can control both sides of the market, including those who want the shot, or those who are upset or affected by the results. This innovation effectively takes away the most damning aspect of the Beauty: its irreversible erasure of one’s bodily autonomy. We see this chain reaction play out on a microcosmic level among Cooper, Jordan, Jeremy, and Antonio, as three out of four of them are more than happy with their new physical forms. However, what they don’t know is that Tiger plans not only to maintain, but expand the Beauty behind their backs, and sooner than later, this alliance is bound to cost Cooper and company.
Is Franny Dead or Alive? Why Does Byron Change His Mind About the Beauty?
‘The Beauty’ ends its first season with the confirmation that Franny is alive, but also that the narrative landscape has changed forever. Byron, the once insurmountable antagonist, no longer wants to be a part of the empire he himself created. After Franny tries to take her own life, Byron flies in the best medical minds on Earth to bring her back from the brink of death, in stark contrast to his first move of the season, wherein he flew in the world’s richest to make them younger. Ironically, the events he kick-started that day are now responsible for this ghastly turn of events, and he only realizes it when Franny is the one affected by it. While she may be alive for now, she has already resigned to her fate, which renders Byron completely defeated.
Throughout the season, Byron tries his best to impress Franny, showcasing the marvels of his de-aging innovation and how it can change the world and heal the family. In reality, the finale reframes all of this as his desperate attempts to regain her validation, which also explains his drastic change of mind. Franny’s suicide attempt marks the ultimate rejection of his product, which is what compels Byron to open his eyes at last and see the horrors of his creation. In a cruel twist of fate, the most aesthetically pleasing of forms now resemble a cage, trapping not just people in body, but also in spirit. Byron’s attempt to feed on the insecurities of millions is ultimately revealed to be his feeble attempts at masking his own, all for it to end in tragedy.
While Franny’s near-death experience marks the primary turning point in Byron’s character arc, there are also other, more expansive reasons that explain his newfound hostility towards the Beauty. While this entire time he remains convinced that the Beauty’s aftereffects can be contained, his desire to speed things up also means there are basically no large-scale medical trials. As a result, the Beauty gives birth to hundreds upon thousands of abnormalities, with at least 20% of the transformations turning out to be duds, or worse, something much more gruesome. With both public and government pressure mounting upon him, Byron is left with no choice but to pull the plug on his twisted magnum opus, but ironically enough, it is now his own children who want to take over the reins. Alongside Franny, it is Byron’s children who respond to his abuse in the most damning of ways, signaling that the Beauty’s journey is far from over.
Read More: Is Lifetime’s Pushed off a Plane and Survived Based on a True Story?
You must be logged in to post a comment.