Episode 4 begins with a flashback to a memory of Cooper and Jordan in Italy, where they make a wish at a fountain before sharing a tender kiss. Snapping out of it, Cooper–now in New York–is summoned to interview his subject.
Inside an interrogation room, Cooper interviews Ashley Sanders, a Condé Nast staffer who was within the blast radius. During the interview, when questioned about Harper, Ashley insists that he “loved her” and confirms that they slept together multiple times. Upon hearing this, Cooper calls in two men in hazmat suits to take Ashley away. As Ashley flees in panic, the men chase him down and sedate him.
Furthering his interrogations, Cooper speaks to Manny, Harper’s friend, who was present at the incident. Inside a quarantined room, Manny appears visibly ill and sweaty. Cooper asks Manny whether he remembers who Harper may have been spending time with. Without warning, Manny jerks backward on the bed, his body contorting as he breaks free of his restraints. After attacking two men, he bolts, leading Cooper into a chase through the lab.
Inside an operating room, two doctors are in the midst of performing a facial transplant on a woman whose face was mauled by a chimp. Manny bursts in, then escapes through another door that locks behind him. Cooper forces one of the doctors to open the door. Inside, Cooper weaves through rows of tubes holding preserved skin grafts from donors—whom the doctor refers to as his “epidermis angels.”
Suddenly, Cooper comes face-to-face with Manny, now transformed and charging straight at him. The two clash before Manny flees into yet another room. A doctor hands Cooper a tranquilizer syringe as a SWAT team closes in, surrounding Manny. Manny lunges at Cooper again; Cooper manages to inject him, but Manny recovers moments later and rises. Finally, Cooper tases him, successfully knocking Manny unconscious.
Meanwhile in Rome, Antonio takes Jeremy out to buy stylish clothes, then gives him a lesson on having protected sex without exchanging bodily fluids. Their lighthearted moment is cut short when Antonio receives an unexpected call summoning them to the CDC.
At a pharmaceutical lab, Byron Frost confidently walks in for his monthly injection, informing Ray, a scientist, that September 9th—World Beauty Day—will serve as their official launch date. Ray insists they need additional time for testing, but Byron dismisses the concern, saying it won’t be necessary.
The episode closes with Cooper visiting an elderly woman to retrieve his cat, Nine Lives, only to learn that the cat died two months earlier. Later that night, Cooper jolts awake from a nightmare about the chimp-faced woman and discovers the new Jordan standing at his door.
Episode 4 pushes the show’s sense of fun and absurdity to exhilarating new levels. Much of the episode centers on Cooper chasing Manny (played by Ben Platt) as he undergoes a chaotic transformation. Platt delivers a committed, comedic performance as the uppity gay man, wailing as he crashes into walls, his body constantly twitching and contorting. Once the transformation is complete, the new Manny—now played by Isaac Cole Powell—battles Cooper while completely naked, resulting in a juicy spectacle. From this point on, the episode feels rushed and somewhat disjointed, briefly checking back in on Antonio and Jeremy’s storyline in Rome. Viewers learn they are being summoned to the CDC, a plot point that is left hanging without follow-up. In an attempt to introduce new information, Byron Frost also steps off his yacht for the first time, appearing in a lab to announce his plans to launch the product on September 9th. The connective tissue between the varying plotlines remains weak. Additionally, at this point in the series, Byron Frost still fails to come across as a compelling antagonist—his character carries virtually no stakes in relation to Cooper, the main protagonist. They have yet to encounter—or even be aware of—each other, preventing the plotlines from escalating in a truly engaging way. Perhaps, had the episode focused entirely on Cooper’s journey through the hospital and reserved the other plotlines for the following episode, it could have served as a fun, self-contained break in the series, fully embracing the body-horror elements that make the show so entertaining. But still, the episode concludes on a satisfying note, with Cooper meeting the new Jordan, setting up a host of conflicts to occur in the next episode.
Rating: 7/10
The Beauty — Pictured: Jeremy Pope as Jeremy, Anthony Ramos The Assassin. CR: FX