The Beauty (FX): The Lethal 'Glow Up' That Will Obsess You This Winter
Ryan Murphy is back with a premise so dark, it makes 'Black Mirror' look like a Disney cartoon. A virus that makes you hot? It’s the ultimate satire of the Ozempic era, and we need to talk about it before the premiere.
You didn’t hear it from me, but the frantic texts have been circulating in Hollywood group chats for weeks. "Have you seen the pilot?" "Is Ashton actually... terrifying?" The answer to both is yes. While the rest of the world waits for January 21, the buzz around FX's The Beauty is already deafening.
Let’s be honest: Ryan Murphy has always had a knack for taking our collective anxieties and turning them into campy, bloody spectacles. But this? This feels personal. In a world still reeling from the "Instagram Face" epidemic and the Ozempic gold rush, The Beauty arrives like a perfectly manicured slap in the face.
"Modern society is obsessed with outward beauty. What if there was a way to guarantee you could become more and more beautiful every day? What if it was a sexually transmitted disease?"
That’s the elevator pitch. It’s simple, gross, and undeniably brilliant. Based on the Image Comics graphic novel, the show posits a reality where a new STD doesn't give you sores; it gives you abs. It clears your skin. It melts your fat. It turns you into the version of yourself you filter for on TikTok. The catch? (There's always a catch, darling).
👀 The Deadly Fine Print (Spoiler Free-ish)
The virus, affectionately dubbed "The Beauty," burns you from the inside out. Spontaneous combustion isn't just a metaphor here; it’s the expiration date. You get two years of perfection, and then you're ash. The terrifying part? In the show's universe, most people take the deal.
What fascinates me isn't just the body horror (though, knowing Murphy, expect plenty of squelching sounds); it's the casting. Evan Peters returns to the Murphy-verse as a detective, which is comfort food for American Horror Story fans. But the real curveball? Ashton Kutcher.
Yes, that Ashton. He’s playing a tech billionaire named Byron Forst (think Elon Musk meets a vampire), and insiders are saying it’s the darkest performance of his career. Then you throw in Bella Hadid—a casting choice so meta it almost hurts—and you have a recipe for viral chaos.
This isn't just a show about vanity; it's a critique of the "Optimization Economy." We live in an era where we bio-hack our sleep, track our glucose, and inject semaglutide to fit into sample sizes. The Beauty just takes that logic to its terminal conclusion. It asks the question we’re all too polite to ask at dinner parties: If you could be perfect for 24 months and then die, would you sign the contract?
Look, the reviews will likely be polarizing. Some will call it exploitative; others will call it a masterpiece. But one thing is certain: come January 21, you won't be able to scroll past it.
Snob ? Peut-être. Passionné ? Sûrement. Je trie le bon grain de l'ivraie culturelle avec une subjectivité assumée. Cinéma, musique, arts : je tranche.
