Episode 11 of The Beauty—the season finale—begins with Tig and Gunter, Byron’s sons, dancing through the mansion. They circle Franny, playfully performing for her. Suddenly, Tig appears behind her and injects her with The Beauty. Later, Byron meets the newly transformed Franny (played by Nicola Peltz) for the first time and gazes at her in awe. Franny, however, is deeply unhappy with her new appearance. She insists that she was more beautiful before, identifying the visible signs of age—stretch marks, wrinkles—as what once made her truly beautiful. She breaks a vase onto the floor and uses one of the shards to slit open her neck. Byron rushes to her, crying out for help.
The episode then picks up with Bella. After calling the number on the card, she meets with Conor—the worker from the treatment center who slipped the card to Ruthie. He tells her that there is a version of The Beauty that can be transmitted through sex. Bella admits she’s a virgin, but ultimately agrees to go through with it. Conor walks her back to a hotel room, and they share a kiss before going inside. Later that night, after waiting for hours, the transformation finally begins, and her body starts to twist and contort.
By morning, Bella’s mother finds her in the closet—only to discover that her daughter has transformed into something grotesquely mutated and deformed.
The episode then cuts to a board meeting with Byron and his lawyers, who inform him that the company is facing a wave of lawsuits due to the harmful mutations caused by The Beauty. They also warn that the FDA is preparing to ban the drug. Accepting the situation, Byron says the company should settle the cases and pay out the claims. Suddenly, Tig and Dr. Diana enter, interrupting the meeting. Tig argues that instead of settling, they should stall and deny the accusations. Byron pushes back, explaining that he plans to refocus the company’s efforts toward developing treatments and resources for those harmed by The Beauty—and especially for Franny, who now lies in a coma. Dr. Diana adds that the AI models she has been developing could lay the groundwork for nanotechnology capable of treating, and possibly even reversing, the effects of The Beauty. Byron tells her to move forward with the project.
The scene then shifts to Cooper, Jordan, Antonio, and Jeremy stepping out of black Jeeps, dressed in sleek coats and dark sunglasses. They enter a room where they meet with Dr. Diana and Tig. Tig explains that they share a common interest when it comes to his father: he wants Byron eliminated so he can inherit the family business. He lies to them, claiming that it was Byron who injected Franny and ultimately led her to attempt suicide. Dr. Diana adds that after accessing Ray’s computer, she discovered a cure for The Beauty that he had been developing. She offers the cure to Cooper in exchange for their help in assassinating Byron. After a moment of hesitation, they agree to the deal.
Inside a padded room, the others gather around Cooper as Dr. Diana injects him with the cure. The effects take hold almost immediately, and his body begins to convulse. Moments later, Dr. Diana leads Jordan and the others back into the room, where they find a sac sitting before them. A hand suddenly pokes through it from inside. Jordan stares in shock at what’s emerging—but before the audience can see it, the episode ends.
Episode 11 of The Beauty toys with interesting ideas, but ultimately fails to deliver a satisfying season finale. After eleven episodes of buildup, viewers are not given the anticipated showdown between Cooper’s team and Byron. Instead, much of the episode’s screen time is devoted to Bella’s storyline. While her arc effectively highlights the dangers of The Beauty, it diverts attention from what could have been a more central focus involving Cooper’s arc. The episode also presents a sudden shift in Byron’s character. Following Franny’s near–suicide attempt, he claims that she is the most important person in his life—a sentiment that hasn’t been clearly established throughout the season. In an argument with Tig, he even insists that taking The Beauty should have been Franny’s choice. The cliffhanger at the end also falls flat, largely because much about The Beauty’s cure remains unclear. While it’s possible the cure might not have worked on Cooper, the audience has no real understanding of what that would entail, making the finale’s ending confusing. Still, despite these inconsistencies, the episode still manages to lay the groundwork for a potentially compelling second season.
Rating: 6/10
Photos credit: Courtesy of FX Networks