Ryan Murphy’s The Beauty Is Wildly Entertaining and Surprisingly Smart

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Ryan Murphy consistently keeps audiences guessing. One month he’s on Netflix with a dark true-crime series, and the next he’s on Hulu with a star-studded, but somewhat superficial, show about powerful women. In February, he’ll release an FX anthology focusing on real-life love stories, starting with JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy. But his most unusual project yet, The Beauty, debuting in 2026, defies easy categorization. Surprisingly, unlike many of his recent ventures, this one actually works.

The new series kicks off with two episodes on January 21st, and its core idea strongly resembles the dark comedy horror film The Substance, a 2024 Best Picture nominee that garnered Oscar nods for director Coralie Fargeat and star Demi Moore. The series centers around a groundbreaking biotech product called The Beauty, which triggers dramatic physical changes – through a somewhat disturbing process involving a fleshy cocoon – transforming people who are old, sick, or considered unattractive into young, healthy, and beautiful versions of themselves. Most showrunners would likely try to distance their work from a recent, popular film. However, creator Greg Murphy is known for being bold. Interestingly, he cast Ashton Kutcher – famous both as an actor and a venture capitalist, and for marrying Demi Moore when she was 42 and he was 27 – as the mastermind behind The Beauty.

It’s understandable to wonder if the connection between the show’s themes of appearance and reality, and the casting of Demi Moore (who recently appeared in Feud: Capote vs. the Swans), would be distracting. However, I quickly forgot about that clever casting choice as I got into the 11-episode season. That’s a strength of Ryan Murphy’s storytelling style – he rarely lets any single element overshadow the bigger picture. But lately, as he’s created more and more shows, his work has often felt overwhelming – a chaotic mix of over-the-top style, glamour, familiar story elements, celebrity cameos, and pointed social commentary. The Beauty throws all of that at you right away, starting with a violent scene featuring model Bella Hadid in Paris. But unlike many of Murphy’s recent shows, The Beauty weaves these different elements into a more focused and energetic story. Instead of relying on one shocking moment after another, the show changes pace and mood frequently, keeping things fresh and largely avoiding repetition.

Okay, so the premise of this show is pretty straightforward, even though it throws a lot at you as it goes. It follows FBI agents Jordan Bennett, played by Rebecca Hall, and Cooper Madsen – yes, Cooper, very Twin Peaks – portrayed by Evan Peters, who are sent to Europe to investigate some seriously disturbing deaths involving supermodels. They have a… complicated relationship. They’re friends with benefits, but have decided romance is off the table, and they see the world in totally different ways. He’s all about accepting flaws, while she’s constantly striving for something ‘better’ – whether it’s a nicer hotel or even cosmetic surgery. Honestly, they clearly mean a lot to each other, even if they don’t fully admit it. In a show that’s full of Ryan Murphy’s trademark darkly playful moments and often asks its amazing actors to play fairly outlandish characters, their connection feels genuinely real and is a standout.

The investigation reveals a disturbing connection: a sexually transmitted virus is causing victims to rapidly transform – from unhealthy to beautiful, and ultimately, to death. This suggests a calculated effort towards achieving physical perfection. Ashton Kutcher plays The Corporation, the world’s wealthiest man, who has secretly created “The Beauty” – an injection that reverses aging and illness, despite being ethically, legally, and medically questionable. While designed to enhance appearance, it fundamentally changes the human body, raising complex issues about gender and disability. The illegal spread of the virus, through the STI version, threatens The Corporation, creating a dangerous black market and resulting in gruesome public deaths for those who use it. To contain the situation, The Corporation employs a hitman (Anthony Ramos) to eliminate those infected before they can spread the virus. The show depicts The Corporation as a ruthless sociopath – similar to Elon Musk – and the hitman as a character with surprisingly specific musical tastes, echoing Patrick Bateman from American Psycho. The Corporation embodies arrogance, famously stating, “Billionaires, we don’t need friends. We have staff.” This role, full of bluster and self-importance, is perfectly suited for Kutcher’s talents.

If the series focused solely on its central antagonist, like many of the simplistic villains in creator Mike Murphy’s other successful shows, The Beauty might feel a bit overwhelming. Instead, inspired by comic books, the show doesn’t make either Ashton Kutcher’s character or the FBI agents constant focal points. It’s more than just a chase; the show uses the standard crime procedural format to explore a whole world transformed by The Beauty, doing so in a psychologically insightful and surprisingly captivating way. We see touching moments, like a story about a transgender scientist and her colleague, a heartbreaking family drama where parents face an impossible choice regarding their sick daughter, and even a miniature teen drama that playfully uses familiar tropes within this bizarre new reality.

“The Beauty” is a wildly unpredictable film – it jumps between action, sci-fi, horror, romance, and even sharp satire of the ultra-rich. It’s often lighthearted and fun, but can also be surprisingly emotional and impactful. A shocking event during a scene set in a fashion magazine’s cafeteria has the potential to be even more memorable than “The Devil Wears Prada.” Isabella Rossellini delivers a fantastic performance as a former society wife who now sharply critiques the world of beauty, offering a unique perspective on its pressures and pitfalls. Her character shares some similarities with Moore’s in “The Substance,” but her struggles with aging are more complex, representing just one example of how society’s obsession with beauty affects people of all ages.

The show avoids dwelling on any single idea for too long, keeping things moving at a good pace. Instead of the nuanced approach we don’t usually get from its creator, who tends to state things directly rather than hinting at them – whether it’s about AIDS, Ozempic, or the Sackler family – we get a quick shift between different ideas, and a smart connection between them. Like the unpredictable shows Atlanta and Reservation Dogs, the fun comes from not knowing what each short episode will be about.

Compared to other shows in the genre, The Beauty doesn’t quite measure up. The writers, Murphy and Hodgson, try to do too much at once, and not all of their ideas land successfully. One early plotline features a particularly lazy and uninspired portrayal of an isolated, resentful character. Once the show establishes its typical scary elements, the scenes showing characters changing become repetitive. The dialogue occasionally goes from amusingly bad to simply poor. Like many Hollywood productions, the show casts very attractive actors in roles meant to be plain, which feels contradictory given the show’s overall message. (The actress playing Peters is far from unattractive, for example.)

Okay, let me tell you about The Beauty. It lays all its cards on the table, which means there aren’t a lot of hidden meanings or things to overthink. Honestly, though, it’s just fun—and surprisingly relevant without being depressing—so I almost feel bad for even wanting it to be a groundbreaking work of art. It’s one of those rare shows that’s intelligent, but doesn’t try to be subtle about it. Watching it, I actually wondered if the creator, Murphy, had somehow unlocked a secret to becoming his best possible self, at least for the run of this show.

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2026-01-21 20:07